Laura nodded. “I’m fully prepared for that,” she said staunchly, thinking of how Vicki Kincaid had once stood up for her against the name-calling by the other students at her school, and against the small-minded parents who thought a pregnant teen should be banished rather than allowed to complete her education.
Laura prayed she could live up to the example that had been set for her.
12
Laura debated calling ahead to warn the Dawsons she was on her way over but opted instead for just showing up on their doorstep. She didn’t want to risk being put off by excuses. Of course, what she couldn’t have anticipated was the situation she found.
Misty opened the front door, dismay crossing her face when she saw Laura. “Ms. Reed,” she whispered, stepping outside and closing the door firmly behind her. “What are you doing here? If it’s because I wasn’t in school most of this week, I was sick. I’ll have a note on Monday. I promise.”
Laura impulsively gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “It’s okay, Misty. I know everything now. I understand all of it.”
Misty’s eyes widened with alarm. “I don’t understand. What do you know?”
“I know about Annabelle and the posts online and the pictures,” Laura said gently. “Why don’t we go inside and have a talk about it? Are your parents home? We should all sit down and discuss the best way to correct this terrible situation you’ve been put in since school started.”
“No, please,” Misty said urgently. “You can’t say anything to my mom. She’s not well. And my dad’s not home.”
“You need to call him and ask him to come home,” Laura said firmly. “Continuing to ignore this isn’t an option, Misty. Once everything is set in motion to punish Annabelle, it will come out. You won’t be able to keep it from them. Wouldn’t it be better to fill them in now, prepare them? You are not to blame for any of this. You’re the victim of a relentless bully.”
Tears welled up in Misty’s eyes. “What if my mom and dad don’t believe that? What if they think I did all those things Annabelle posted? You don’t understand, Ms. Reed. They’ll hate me, and things are already such a mess here. I don’t know how much more my mom can take.”
She sounded so scared that for a fleeting instant, Laura wondered if she was doing the right thing. But she knew in her heart she had no choice. The Dawsons had a right to know about something so serious, something that affected their daughter right now, to say nothing of how it might impact her future if she kept missing school to avoid the bullying and taunts of her classmates.
“Misty, I know you want to protect them, but you can’t. It’s not possible. This will come out.” Heaven knew, she’d tried every way she could think of to keep her pregnancy from her parents, but it had been impossible. It simply wasn’t something that could be hidden. Neither was this.
“It won’t come out,” Misty insisted, “Not if you let it go. I’ll come back to school on Monday. I’ll stay away from Annabelle. We’ll just pretend it never happened. Kids say awful stuff about other kids all the time. We’re just supposed to deal with it, right? That’s the mature thing to do.”
“Misty, this whole situation is so far from right, I don’t even know where to begin,” Laura said, wondering what messages adults were sending to kids to have them draw such a conclusion. “First of all, what Annabelle’s been doing to you is wrong. It’s a violation of school policy, if not criminal. I imagine a lot of these posts rise to the level of libel, but an attorney will have to sort that out. I certainly can’t ignore it. Second, bullies don’t quit unless they’re forced to. You shouldn’t have to suffer one single second longer.”
“But I will,” Misty pleaded. “It’s okay. I can take it, if it means my mom and dad never have to find out. You don’t get how bad things are for them right now.”
Laura really needed to understand exactly what was behind Misty’s obvious panic. “Let’s sit here on the porch for a minute. Why don’t you tell me why you think it would be okay to let Annabelle off the hook? What’s going on here that makes it so hard for you to go to your parents about this?”
“I told you,” Misty said. “My parents can’t deal with this. They’re gonna get a divorce pretty soon, and my mom’s freaking out about it. My dad’s not even around most of the time. This will give them one more thing to fight about.”
“They’re still your parents. They’ll want to help you,” Laura insisted, praying that was true. Surely they couldn’t be so self-absorbed that Misty’s problems would seem unimportant?
“But I don’t want them to help,” Misty repeated. “I can get through this. I’ll find a way.”
“So far, your way of coping has been to skip school,” Laura reminded her. “That’s no longer an option.”
“Then I’ll figure out something else,” the teen said with pure bravado. “Annabelle’s done her worst.”
“If you believe that, let me assure you I think you’re mistaken. Here’s what I know about bullies. If they think what they’re doing is no longer having the desired impact, then they go to another level. Just look at what happened this week. You bravely came back to class. You tried to show Annabelle she couldn’t hurt you anymore, and then she posted these pictures.”
“But maybe if Annabelle knows how much trouble she could have been in and that I let her off the hook, she’ll quit,” Misty suggested hopefully. “She could be grateful, you know.”
“Do you honestly believe that?” Laura asked.
Misty sat back, clearly unable to defend her position. “Probably not,” she admitted reluctantly. “But if she gets kicked out of school because of me, all her friends are going to hate me. They’ll all go after me online. They’ll corner me in the restroom or in the halls between classes just to torment me. I don’t know if I can face any more of that.”
“Or they’ll realize that nobody in Serenity is allowed to get away with what Annabelle’s been doing to you. You’ll have helped
