When I get home, I find that Dad has taken all the cuddly toys from my bedroom and the exercise bike is now in the hall. Apparently, Mum gave him strict orders to make a lovely room for me. Yes! But I feel a bit bad. The bike is now a place to put coats, junk mail, charity collection bags, and the red bills that my dad seems to get all the time. It will never be something to increase your actual fitness on.
Granddad corners me when I go downstairs to make a cup of tea.
“You look fed up, love. Everything okay?”
I tell him nearly everything. I can see him looking puzzled. Finally, he blurts out, “I don’t get it. Why are you bothered by the opinions of people you’ve never met in your life, orchestrated by some person who needs taking down a peg or two? Just ignore her!”
But I can tell that he’s worried, because I hear him go straight into the front room and tell Dad that I’m being that “new style of modernly bullied.”
Dad comes straight upstairs, hugs me, and says, “Mills, do you want me to go up to the school and sort this out?”
I show him the photo. “Here’s the problem: I posted the photo. I shared it first. She just shared it again and credited me like she should have done, but she basically said that I’m tragic. She’s done nothing wrong. Really. Well, she has, but she’s … Dad, she is EXTREMELY clever. You can’t beat her.”
Dad stares at me intensely and says, “You’re right, Millie. Keep away from her. She’s clearly a bit of a genius. Focus on your friends. You’re still friends with Lauren, aren’t you?”
That isn’t really what I wanted to hear. I wanted more than that. God, I miss Mum. She’d know what to do. Dad tries, but he just hasn’t got Mum’s amazing wisdom. It makes this whole house seem a bit … wobbly.
Dad goes back downstairs. Despite my frankly enormous and clever brain YELLING, Don’t read the comments, Millie!, I can’t help myself. I look at Erin’s account again. The likes have gone up to over a thousand, and the comments are horrible:
Who would live like that? Selfish to the earth
Awful jeans! No point taking care of those LOL
SLOTH!:-)
Great advice E
Wow, that room could do with a decent tidy and a paint job.
Now, I know I’ve been moaning a bit about my room, but Dad is trying and Granddad is old! He doesn’t care about repainting.
This person needs to get some respect for themselves and their clothes.
Just as I can feel my chest getting tight again, I see another comment:
Erin—you are just evil for doing this. Stop being so fake.
It’s from @misslaurenmeister—Lauren’s account. She’s brave and loyal and lovely … and very, very stupid.