CHAPTER EIGHT

Meanest (Olive’s Middle)

Olive was thrilled to pieces that she was in Willow’s car with the other swoop list girls. They were heading to Warner Robbins High School, Leah’s old school. All of the girls agreed that they wanted to figure out the Leah mystery, but no one was really pushing to make it happen. Pia had been helping Olive, but then all of a sudden she mellowed out. Willow was still pissed about being embarrassed by Hillary at the school, and Sanaa and Octavia were just quiet.

Olive said to Willow, “You can’t let folks get to you.”

“You can’t tell me how to feel, Olive. I mean, I know that you’re trying to be sweet and helpful and all, but I’m sick and tired of being called a slut. Particularly when the shoe fits.”

“Hillary is just a mean girl. Just don’t let her ruin you and make you ... ” Olive didn’t know how to finish the sentence without hurting Willow’s feelings.

“What? Make me mean again too?” Willow asked.

“Yes,” Olive uttered. “You’ve come such a long way. We’re getting along so well.”

“What was Hillary talking about anyway, Pia?” Willow questioned. “She said you had information about her, or something.”

“Well, Sanaa already knows, but y’all aren’t going to believe this,” Pia said.

“With Hillary, I believe anything. What did she do now?” Willow asked.

Sitting in the front passenger’s seat, Sanaa turned around to Pia, who was sitting in the middle, and shook her head like, Please don’t tell her. She doesn’t need to hear anything else that’s going to set her off with Hillary. She might turn the car around and go fight the girl right now. No, don’t say anything!

“Don’t tell her not to tell me,” Willow said to Sanaa.

“She needs to know this,” Pia replied, tapping Sanaa on the shoulders.

“Well, tell me!” Willow shouted at Pia.

Pia complied and blurted out, “Hillary started the swoop list.”

Willow almost wrecked the car. “What? Then she put me on it!”

Olive put her hand on Willow’s shoulder. “We all got put on the list, so the fact that a jealous girl put you on there should make you feel better.”

“The only thing that’s gonna make me feel better is when I whoop her tail. How about that?” Willow said, trying to act tough, but shaking from the emotion.

Trying to keep them all focused, Olive said, “Alright, well, can we just put it all aside for now? Ain’t nothing we can do. The school is right up here, and the guidance counselor is waiting to meet us.”

Twenty minutes later they were sitting in a conference room in the counselor’s office. Olive tried to keep her crew engaged. It was difficult because they all seemed preoccupied.

“Are you Dr. Speed?” Olive said to the older lady with glasses. “Thank you for taking time to meet with us.”

“Well, when you called, I had to stay around to make time to speak to you. First, I hate to hear that there’s a swoop list out at your school too. One was released at our school with just one name on it. It did such damage. But I don’t think we’ll ever have another swoop list again.”

“That’s a great thing,” Olive said.

Dr. Speed nodded, but responded, “The problem is it did so much damage. So if there’s anything I can do to help you all, I’m certainly willing to do it.”

Olive looked at her friends and clearly saw their interest waning. She got to the point. “We just wanna know about the girl, Leah Golf—the one name that was on the list. She’s been writing us.”

“You said that, but you know she’s deceased, right?” Dr. Speed questioned.

“Yeah, I keep telling them that it ain’t her. I mean, she’s not even alive,” Willow said.

“Right, but she’s written all five of us. She texted some of us from a blocked number. And she’s even said in her letters that she’s dead. To me it doesn’t make sense. We’re just here with hope you can shed some light on it,” Sanaa explained.

“What happened to her?” Pia asked.

“I’m sure y’all know from when the list came out for your school, it was devastating. Everybody hates you. It’s like you’re really being bullied. You guys at least had each other to lean on. Imagine if you were the only one all the daggers were pointing toward.”

“But what happened to her?” Octavia said.

Olive was happy they were all listening. They needed closure. She just hoped Dr. Speed could give it to them.

Dr. Speed leaned forward and said, “She couldn’t take the pressure. Some guys had taken some nude photos of her, and those started surfacing. Things were happening here that we didn’t really know about until after she was gone. Everybody felt remorseful after this girl couldn’t take it and took her own life. I don’t know who’s writing you the letters. I know it’s not Leah, but her death affected everyone, including me. I wish I would’ve done more. So, the letter writer could be anyone who knew her, trying to right his or her own personal wrong they did to her. I know that doesn’t give you any answers, but if anything in those letters has helped you become stronger, then Leah’s death isn’t in vain. One thing everybody learned here was that we all looked down on Leah because of this list, and we were wrong to do that. A lot of the rumors about her were proven to be true, but who was anybody to judge? Leah ended her life because, collectively, we were the meanest.”