“Yep. She ended up transferring to Jefferson at the semester because everyone teased her so much about it.” Marcy nodded at my horrified look then she remembered something else. “Oh! He and Mary Fletcher dated for like two weeks our sophomore year when she asked if he’d help at the homeless shelter the day before Thanksgiving. She said he’d been all enthusiastic about it but when he didn’t show up, she called him to ask where he was and he acted like he had no idea what she was talking about and she could hear a girl giggling in the background. When Mary told him she still had his text messages telling her he’d be there, he told her he didn’t have time for her, that he’d moved on and that she needed to ‘get over him.’”
“Wow,” I mumbled.
“As far as I know, he’s still just as cocky and as big of a jerk now as he was then. So do these other girls’ stories change your mind?”
I blew out a breath as I picked at my lasagna with my fork still not convinced I wanted to do it.
“All right. I didn’t want to tell you, but Loch also did something that embarrassed the shit outta me too.”
My head shot up at this. Ah, here it came, the real reason she wanted him shot down. “What? What’d he do to you?”
Her face turned bright red and I knew it had to be bad because it took a lot for Marcy to get embarrassed. “It’s so mortifying, Sim. So the beginning of seventh grade, we were in science class getting ready to dissect frogs. Jenna Plum and I were partners and Loch and David Janzen were partners and at the same table Jenna and I were. You remember what a huge crush I had on David, right?”
I nodded wondering what the heck Loch had done to her that made her still so uncomfortable to this day.
“I was a little squeamish because, well, frogs,” she shuddered, “so pretty much the whole time, Jenna was having to do the cutting and I was leaning on the table trying not to pass out. Halfway through class, Loch starts looking at me funny and I’m frowning wondering what the hell’s wrong with him. Then he suddenly lunges toward me and grabs… this is so humiliating…” She put her head in her hand and let out a groan.
“What? What did he do?”
She slowly raised her head and grimaced. “He pulled a tissue out of my shirt.”
I wasn’t making the connection and frowned trying to figure out what exactly she was saying.
“I stuffed my bra, Simone! I mean, all the girls had sprouted boobs except for me and it was embarrassing. So I started stuffing every day to make myself feel better. I guess when I was leaning over, it pushed a tissue out.”
I had to bite my lips to keep from laughing because that was cute that she’d done that but when I saw that she had tears in her eyes, I felt horrible. Reaching a hand out to cover hers, I said, “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to stand up for you like you did for me. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
She swiped a tear away and let out a humorless laugh as I sat back. “I didn’t want to add to your misery. You already hated him and always sounded so sad whenever we talked, I just thought it’d be best to stay quiet. And I know it’s stupid for me to still be upset about it, but it was so degrading especially with David being right there! The worst part was after he pulled the tissue out he started twirling it around asking me what it was and everyone started laughing. Everybody called me Stuffy the rest of the year.” She snorted. “It’s silly now, but it definitely wasn’t at the time.” She tried hiding it but I could see the hurt in her face. And then she shrugged. “So now you know why I hate him too and want him to pay for all the shit he did to people.”
He was a jerk! And because she was my best friend and I felt like I’d failed her for not being there to have her back, I agreed. “Okay, I’ll do it. But not just for me, for you too. And for Samantha and Mary. You’re right. He needs to know what a… what an asshole he was.”
“Why, Simone St. John! Your momma’s gonna come up here and wash your mouth out with soap!” she replied with a giggle.
I usually tried not to curse unless I was really mad or the circumstances deemed it necessary. It was something that my parents had pounded into Tristan’s and my head (it didn’t take so much with him) but right now, I felt this situation warranted some foul language.
I scowled at my best friend. “Well, I’m bigger than my mom now, so I’d like to see her try.”
This made Marcy snort. “So you’re really gonna do it? I mean, honestly, I know I should let it go but he was such a prick.”