Taming my bully

The talk

Leah’s P.O.V

“Hey dad, are you at the station?”

I asked as soon as my dad answered my call.

“Hi honey, yes I am, is something wrong?”

“Er… no not really.”

“Then what can I help you with Leah bear?”

“Think you could let me see Emmett?”

“Uhm… sure, but it has to be quick, I’ll come pick you up.”

“No dad, that’s okay. A friend of Emmett's is here. I’ll ask him to bring me by.”

“Okay honey, when you get here give me a call, and I’ll meet you outside.”

“Okay dad, see you soon.”

“See you honey.”

“Sorry I didn’t even ask, will you give me a ride?”

“Of course we will.”

“I’ll just go get changed.”

I went to my room to change when someone knocked on my door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Anastasia. Can I come inside?”

“Yeah sure.”

“I thought you might want some help.”

“Oh uhm I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?”

I smile at her. She seems like a really nice girl.

“Yes I’m sure.”

I grabbed a white crop top and a pair of skinny jeans and my white converse shoes, first time for everything, right? I had some clothes stashed away for when I felt confident enough to get rid of those baggy clothes and I decided that from today no more baggy clothes. I left my hair loose. I wasn’t a make-up girl, so I just applied some lip gloss and I stepped out of the bathroom.

“Wow Leah, you look amazing. I always knew you were hiding something underneath those big clothes you always wore. This suits you much better.”

Anastasia said, and I blushed. No one has ever commented on my appearance.

“Thank you, it means a lot to me.”

“My pleasure, now come on, let's get moving.”

When we came back down, Shaun gave me that same look he gave me when I opened the door for them earlier, but this time his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

“Wow Leah. You clean up nice!”

“Thank you. Can we go now? You are making me feel awkward.”

“Yeah, sure let’s go”

I’m nervous as hell, but I need to tell him what’s going on in my head. I call dad to let him know I’m outside. Within seconds his outside, dad guided me to a room at the far end of the station and I stopped right outside the door.

“Is he inside?”

“Yip told him I had some more questions. Don’t worry, I won’t be listening in. This is an old interrogation room, so there are no cameras. Just don’t do any weird things, okay, ten minutes, and I’ll be back.”

“Don’t be silly. (I laughed at his dumb joke) thanks dad.”

“My pleasure kiddo now, hurry up before we get caught.”

Dad rushes off, and I’m still as nervous as hell, maybe even more. Opening the door, I stepped inside and shut it behind me, but I hadn’t turned around to face him yet.

“I’m waiting for Detective Lockwood ma’am”

I heard him say. I turn around to face him, and he goes completely quiet, frozen maybe.

“Leah?”

The shock on his face speaks a thousand words.

“Look, I’m sorry about your mom and what your dad taught you, but you had no right! Do you have any idea how what you did impacted my life? How I sat in my bed crying at night? How much I hated school? How you stripped away my dignity. I couldn’t stand to look at myself in the mirror! So ashamed to face the girl that stared back at me. What you did to me made me a shell of the little girl I used to be before I moved here.”

Tears were rolling down his face. He tried to say something, but I wasn't done. In fact, I was far from it.

“I hated every moment of my life because of you. I lost out on so much because I didn’t feel worthy enough, the fear I felt every time I saw you, finding the need to hide in the girls' bathroom just so that you don’t find me and humiliate me in front of the whole school.”

He remained quiet and this infuriated me.

“Say something you damn fool!”

“Leah I..

Someone knocked on the door before he could finish. Then dad popped his head in.

“Times up honey”

I walked out without saying anything to dad or Emmett. He didn’t even say anything to me, just looked at me like I had grown another head! Well, I kind of interrupted him, but he could still have tried harder. The drive home was mostly quiet. I, on the other hand, was fuming. How could Shaun and Anastasia say Emmett loved me?

If he did, wouldn’t he try harder to let me know that? Love my damn ass. He enjoyed breaking me down all these years. But that didn’t stop what I felt though. Even when he treated me the way he did, I still felt a lot for him and I worried what would happen to him now.

As soon as dad dropped me off at home, I got in the shower. Dad had to leave again for work. Spring break and I have absolutely nothing to do with myself f**k you Emmett. I have no friends because of you. After I was done with my shower, I decided to make something to eat for myself and dad. I’m a great cook. If I have to say so myself, I’ll make dad’s favorite, steak and potatoes.

My phone rang just as I was about to put the steak on the grill,

“Hi dad.”

“Hi baby, are you okay?”

“Yip cooking dinner so don’t buy anything.”

“Wow, I missed your cooking. How are you feeling? How are your eyes?”

“I feel better, my eyes blur from time to time and I still have to get used to the contact lenses, but other than that, everything is fine.”

“I’m glad, listen, I don’t know what you and Emmett spoke about, but he asked me to pass a letter on to you. I haven’t opened it. All I want is for you to know that I’m here for you.”

“Dad, I’ll be okay, how’s the case going?”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you when I get home”

That’s code for I can’t talk about that now.

“Okay dad, see you later.”

“Do you want me to bring anything home from the store? I’ll be off work in an hour.”

“Nope it’s okay, see you in an hour dad.”

“I love you Leah bear”

“Love you too papa bear.”

Emmett wrote me a letter? I wonder what it’s about. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Emmett P.O.V

Seeing Leah again took my breath away. She has always been beautiful to me, but today she looked breathtaking. I hurt her so much. I could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice. I f****d up big time. Everything she said was exactly the opposite of what I wanted her to feel, but I couldn’t bring myself to say something.

My damn heart sat in my f*****g throat because of her beauty. No matter what I have to do, I’ll make this right. I love this girl and I won’t give up on making this wrong right, though if she didn’t want me in her life I'd be crushed, but I’d never force her to do anything she didn’t want to do anymore. So I wrote her a letter and gave it to her dad. Hopefully he won’t read it and I'll still live another day.

“Hey son, are you ready to go?”

Mr Lockwood asked

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice, sir. Could you give this to Leah for me?”

“Er yeah sure, have you told her?”

“No sir, I couldn’t bring myself to, that’s why I wrote this for her.”

“I’ll make sure she gets it”

Just then, the military men stepped into the room, for what I had done. Mom thought it was best if I joined the military. Also, all the men in her family were part of the military and my grandmother’s will stated that in order for me to receive the money she left for me, I have to join the military for three years. I didn’t want to go. The money wasn’t what I was after, but I was hoping that this would make me the man Leah deserved.

“Alright son, everything will be okay. See you in a while, Emmett.”

Mr Lockwood said,

“Take care of her for me. Tell her I’ll come for her soon”

“Of course, son.”