Without giving it a moment’s thought, she walked into the middle of the group, turned on Annabelle and leveled a look into her eyes meant to put the fear of God into the girl.
“Enough,” she said quietly. “I suggest you girls leave right now.”
Trish latched onto Annabelle’s arm. “She’s right. We should go.”
The others waited to see what Annabelle would do. Her face was flushed, and her eyes sparked with anger, but she managed a careless shrug. “Who wants to waste the day at a dumb fall festival anyway?”
Once Laura was sure they were gone, she turned back toward where she’d last seen Katie and Misty, but they’d vanished, as well.
So, she thought, now she knew. For reasons she didn’t understand—and wasn’t sure she had to—Annabelle Litchfield was bullying Misty. What she didn’t know was whether what she’d seen was the worst of it or only the tip of the iceberg.
* * *
J.C. had spotted Laura talking to a group of girls, her expression intent. As soon as the girls had walked away, he approached her. Her expression alarmed him.
“What the hell just happened?” he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Laura, you’re shaking.”
“I am about as furious as I’ve ever been in my life,” she told him.
“Let’s go sit down and get you something to eat. You can tell me.”
“I have things I should be doing,” she protested.
“After you’ve eaten and we’ve talked,” he said with just as much determination. “Doctor’s orders.”
She managed a weak smile at that. “I’m a little old to be getting advice from a pediatrician.”
“That’s my specialty, not the only medicine I know,” he countered patiently, already steering her toward the food booths. “What’s it going to be? Hot dog? Corn dog? Hamburger?”
“I really don’t think I could eat right now,” she argued.
“Ice cream,” he said decisively. “Nobody turns down a chocolate-vanilla swirl cone. Sit, and I’ll get you one.”
He came back with ice cream, corn dogs and fries, plus two diet sodas. She looked at the food and laughed.
“Your patients must love your food guidelines.”
“Comfort food,” he said. “I just barely managed to turn down the fried-mac-and-cheese balls.”
“Thank heaven for small favors.” She wiggled her fingers and took the ice cream. “It’ll melt if I don’t eat it first.”
He watched with pleasure as she devoured the cone, then after a thoughtful look at the rest of the selections, reached for the corn dog.
“Are the fries still hot?” she asked as she took her first bite of the corn dog.
He pushed them in her direction. “See for yourself.”
Only when she’d eaten half the corn dog and most of the fries did he look her in the eye and say, “Now, tell me what happened back there.”
The light in her eyes immediately died. J.C. almost regretted forcing her to talk about it, but he had a strong suspicion she needed to share it with somebody. He happened to be handy.
“Laura, tell me,” he prodded when she looked everywhere except at him. “Did somebody say something to you?”
“Not to me,” she said. She described the incident between Annabelle and Misty. “I think this rivalry or whatever it is has been going on for a while now. I had no idea that Annabelle was capable of being so vile and mean. It wasn’t just the words, though those were horrible enough, it was the way she said it. She meant it to be cruel and she meant to be overheard. She wanted to hurt and embarrass Misty.”
“And none of the other girls stepped up to stop her?”
“Only Katie Townsend. She was here with Misty and she tried to warn Annabelle off, but Annabelle just brushed her off like she was invisible. The other girls were laughing until one of them spotted me.”
“I had a bad feeling it was something like this,” J.C. said wearily. “All the signs of bullying were there.”
Laura regarded him with surprise. “Seriously? I mean I’ve seen kids pushing and shoving on the playground and getting physical in the halls, but this kind of verbal attack is new to me.” Her expression faltered and she sighed heavily. “No, it’s not. I guess I’ve just tried to block it from my mind, but that whole incident reminded me of just how deliberately cruel teens can be.”
J.C. seized on her slip. “What did you block? Were you bullied?”
She shook off the question. “That’s not important. We need to stay focused on Misty.”
He knew it was important, though. He debated forcing the issue, but decided she was right about one thing: Misty had to be their immediate concern.
“Bullying happens way too often,” he said, his anger kicking in. “Kids pick a target, somebody they think is weaker, and use every weapon at their disposal to make them miserable. Words are often as effective as physical assaults, especially if they can draw in a bunch of other kids to back them up. Sounds as if this is what Annabelle is doing.”
She met his gaze. “What do I do now? It didn’t happen during school or at a school event. I’ve not seen or heard anything in school. Do I warn the principal? Talk to Mariah Litchfield? Talk to Misty? Or Misty’s parents?” Her indignation was almost palpable. “I wish to heaven I’d heard what was said in my classroom the other day when I first got an inkling about this. I’d have known exactly what to do.”
J.C. frowned. “Something happened in class?”
She nodded. She described the whispering that had gone on when Misty had shown up on Monday morning. “I couldn’t hear what was said, though. After today, I have some idea, but that doesn’t help.”
J.C. thought of how critical it was for adults to intervene in situations like this before it was too late. Too often, they looked the other way. At least Laura wasn’t likely to do that, not after what she’d heard today. Perhaps even more so, because she’d once gone through something similar himself. Just thinking of that made him want to slam his fist into something.
“Want my advice?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“Quietly mention this to a few teachers you trust, ones who’d be in a position to keep their ears open. Gather a little more solid evidence and then the second you all think you
