Bullying Rory Gilmore: Rory's 16th

Chapter 4: 'Please, I just need my shoes back'

As Rory was dragged, one of her shoes came off out in the hall. It had been picked up by Becky who now chucked it to Allison, which delighted her.

Rory, half-squatting on the floor, now missing a shoe and her cute ponytail pulled out of place, was looking quite upset and scared now.

"Aww sorry Rory, just couldn't resist that," said Allison, trying to smooth things over over a bit, as she hadn't intended to get rough with her like that. It just seemed to come naturally in that moment.

Rory was sitting on her small bum down on the floor. She'd pulled her supersmall, shoeless foot under her bum to hide it.

Her tormentors gave her a minute to recover before doing anything else. They each got themselves a chair and positioned themselves in a semi-circle around her, boxing her in.

Not taking her eyes off Rory, Becky was waiting for her moment to get Rory's other shoe, knowing this would please Allison a lot.

Finally, Rory got fed up with sitting on the floor and perched herself on the edge of a table instead, her skinny legs dangling short of the floor, so Becky swiped Rory's other shoe off her foot and proudly delivered it to Allison.

"Well done," said Allison, now holding one of Rory's shoes in each hand.

Jackie was just observing for now. She enjoyed watching as well as participating when the moment was right.

Rory was quite agitated now and said in her tentative voice: "Please can I have my shoes back?".

Her plea just made Allison enjoy the moment more.

Allison stood up and held the shoes as high above her head as possible, forcing Rory to jump up and down trying to retrieve them.

"Please, I just need my shoes back," Rory pleaded, "I won't ask anything else of you, but I do need my shoes."

"Aww, how adorable!", teased Jackie.

"Yeah, you see, saying stuff like that just makes us want to bully you more," Becky chipped in.

"Oh my goodness," Rory whispered under her breath while trying hard not to roll her eyes.

Then, Allison appeared to offer Rory her shoes back, which gave her hope.

Holding them out in Rory's direction, Allison said: "Oh well," said Allison, "maybe you are right, Rory. You do need your shoes. So, you can have them back now."

But as soon as Rory put her hands out to retrieve them, Allison just held them very high up in the air again, wrongfooting Rory completely.

Rory was back to jumping up and down in her stockinged feet, trying to get them out of Allison's hands, while saying "please" again and again.

So immature, Rory thought to herself. At the same time, in some way, this sensation of being dominated by these more dominant personalities suited her.

Rory was still, quite pointlessly, trying to jump high enough to retrieve her shoes from Allison's grasp when Jackie called out, cruelly: "We should make her beg on her all-fours."

"Yes, like a dog," Becky liked the idea and asked Allison what she thought.

"Great idea. Now Rory, do as my friends say, kneel down on your all-fours, " Allison commanded.

"And make like a dog," Becky chipped in. 

"Yes, she'll be our pet," said Jackie. "If only we had a doggie bowl and some dog food for Rory our pet," the youngest one of the group mischievously added.

While Rory was hesitating, Becky and Jackie realised their victim was still a bit overdressed. They snuck up behind her and pulled her schoolbag and coat off her in one go, laughing like two hyenas. 

Rory turned around as they were doing it, but there was nothing at all she could do to stop them. It still bothered her so much that one of the girls owning her was so young. A ninth grader!

"She has more to beg us for now," Allison observed.

Wishing she could just melt into the air right now, Rory prayed they'd forgotten about that awful "pet" idea. Far from it. 

"Hey Jackie I think Rory is confused about how to make like a dog, so can you show her?", Allison asked the younger girl.

Jackie was on it like a shot, taking hold of Rory's shoulders. In seconds, she'd forced Rory down on her knees and then pulled her into all-fours position with her palms out in front of her on the floor, while Becky and Allison watched.

"Now", said Allison, "let's hear some doggy noises".

Rory couldn't believe what she was being asked to do. How cruel could you possibly get?

Noting her hesitation, Jackie gave her a swift kick up the bum and shouted: "Dog noises we said!"

Extremely reluctantly, Rory started making animal-type noises similar to a dog barking. She didn't want to get kicked again. That hurt. 

The three bullies collapsed with laughter at her attempts to sound like a dog. She'd perhaps never been so humiliated since she was 11 and four of her classmates tickled her mercilessly while pinning her down on a trampoline by her arms and legs  during her friend's birthday party.

Once they were satisfied with that, Allison instructed: "Now Rory, stay right where you are and repeat after me: "Oh greatest ones Allison, Becky and Jackie..."

Rory grimaced, but said what she'd been told: "Oh greatest ones Allison, Becky and Jackie..."

Allison:  "I know that I am nothing in comparison to any of you..."

So mean, Rory thought, but she wanted her stuff back. "I know that I am nothing in comparison to any of you...", she repeated obediently.

Allison: "But please, great ones, could you possibly consider giving me back my shoes, bag and coat?" 

As Rory repeated that last line back to them, her heart sank. She realised this was probably all a trick. But she was genuinely shocked: she'd done everything they'd asked of her, why couldn't they just be reasonable? 

Allison: "Hmm, well we'll have to take a vote on it, you understand, Rory. Becky, what do you think, should we do what Rory asks?"

Becky: "Wouldn't have thought so."

Allison: "Ohh, you meanie Becky. Jackie what do you think?"

Jackie: "Well, why would we do what she asks?"

Allison: "Wow, another meanie! Well Rory, I'm afraid you're defeated by the majority vote, so all these possessions of yours are now owned by us."

Rory lowered her head in embarrassment. Still on all-fours in her stockinged feet, she was clearly getting very uncomfortable indeed, so Allison took pity on her and let her get up. 

It was clear to Rory that she was now completely out of options. The bullies had won. She wasn't going anywhere soon. 

Then, Rory remembered something her mom had always told her since she was younger: "Ignore bullies and they will get bored."

So, the tenth grader sat down at a table and tried to look as impassive as possible in the face of their immature behaviour, believing this would be the answer to her problem.

Infuriatingly, doing this just made them all laugh at her more.

But she was determined not to react at all now, and remained seated upright at the desk staring straight ahead as if nobody else was there.

Strangely, it seemed the more she "ignored" them, the more encouraged they felt to keep going.

The more she tried to look unfazed, the more inspired and emboldened they felt to find even meaner ways to bully her.

And things were only just getting going...