Becoming Better

Chapter 24 - Not Alone

**Content warning: This chapter contains depictions of bullying some people might find upsetting. 

Charlie really didn't want to go home after that. It was Friday night, so there was a football game at Saint Peters. She knew her friends might be there, so she went. "Friends" was a loose term at this point. At the very least she could sit in the bleachers and watch their team lose. They had won like, one game all season.

She arrived pretty late so she had to park kind of far from the field. She headed in and looked around for people she knew. After chatting with Katie and Renee from Theater, who didn't seem to care about popularity politics, Charlie started to feel better. Not everyone hated her.

It must have been one of the last games of the season because the bleachers were packed. She texted Taylor, but cell phone service at the field was really spotty, especially because a lot of people were there. She couldn't see her in the crowd, but that didn't mean she and Ben weren't around. Charlie's eyes were so bad she needed glasses, or contacts, to see far away. She hadn't been to an eye doctor yet, but the fact that everyone's faces became blurry at a short distance sort of tipped her off.

After a few minutes watching the game, she started to get restless. Sitting alone in the bleachers was not as much fun as sitting with friends, and it was definitely not helping to distract her. The game was almost over anyway, so Charlie gave up and decided to leave.

She walked the long way back to her car, deep in thought. On the plus side, she had finally dated someone after Cassius. It had lasted all of one week, but that didn't matter. She found someone else, and Cassius wasn't her whole world anymore.

On the downside, although the boy was damn near perfect, she knew he wouldn't be good for her.

She wondered when Wyatt would want to talk to her again. She realized that it might take him a long time to come around. But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe she needed to take a break from boys and just be alone for a while.

Suddenly, she felt like she was being followed. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Charlie turned around, squinting in the poorly lit parking lot, trying to see if anyone was there. She saw a couple figures exit the field, walking behind her at a distance.

Charlie tried to shake off the creepy feeling she had. Those people were probably just walking to their car, like her. She took another glance over her shoulder and saw it was actually three people, not two. She just hadn't seen the third person at first because they were short.

Charlie put her keys between her knuckles. She heard that if you punched someone like that, it would deter your attacker better than if you just punched them with your fist. She looked up. Her car was still kind of far away. She listened for a moment, then broke into a run. She had heard three sets of shoes thudding the pavement, approaching her rapidly.

Charlie was fast, but they were faster. Two people grabbed and held her. She yelled for help and tried to pull away from their grip. She didn't recognize the two girls holding her, but she definitely knew who the third person was. Mara, of course.

"I told you what would happen if I caught you alone," Mara said.

"Mara stop!" Charlie yelled. "This is crazy!"

"No, this is what happens when people take things that aren't theirs." Mara was holding what looked like a broken off tree branch. She brandished it at Charlie while she talked.

"Everyone will know it was you if you do this," Charlie said franticly. "I told my friends how you threatened me. I will tell the school it was you. You'll get in huge trouble."

Mara scoffed. "So what? My mom and dad will just come home from their trip and sort it out. I'll transfer to another school. No one will care."

"Mara, I'm sure you must hate being alone in that house all the time but you don't have to," Charlie tried to say, but Mara cut her off.

"Shut up. You don't know anything about me." She held up the branch like a baseball bat ready to swing. Charlie yelled for help again and braced for impact. She shut her eyes, but nothing happened.

"Hey!" someone shouted from near the entrance to the field. "What are you doing?"

Charlie opened her eyes. It looked like two adults were running toward them. Charlie breathed out in relief as the girls who were holding her let her go and made a run for it. They didn't even go to Saint Peters.

The two people approached. One was Charlie's old Health teacher from Sophomore year Mr. Davis, and the other was Ms. Anderson. They had obviously heard Charlie yelling for help. Ms. Anderson looked absolutely horrified as she walked up.

"Miss Jacoby, this is beyond unacceptable," she said. "Miss Jackson are you hurt?"

Charlie shook her head, so relieved they had seen everything so she didn't have to try and explain. God knows how Mara would have talked her way out of it.

Mr. Davis called someone on his radio. Then he turned to them and said, "Everyone stay right here, we're going to get this sorted out."

Dean McDonald walked out, along with a growing crowd of people. The football game must have ended because everyone was spilling into the parking lot. When everyone realized Charlie and Mara were being detained by the faculty, they became extremely interested.

"Is everything alright ladies?" the Dean asked when he reached them.

"No Dean McDonald," Charlie said, exhaling. "Everything is most definitely not alright."

***Finally! Mara's reign of terror is over. Sorry if this chapter was stressful, but we knew Mara was definitely gonna try it.