Bullied By My Alpha Stepbrother

Amelia Forbes

I was beyond confused when my name was called out as this year’s Prom Queen. At first I thought it was an expensive joke, courtesy of Kimberly and Jason. But it was called out again. And the spotlight was turned on me.

Everyone was clapping and cheering me on. And all of a sudden, everyone wanted to take selfies with me, talk to me. Some dude even tried to hug me.

Since Adrian was Prom King, we walked up the stage together. Secretly, I was glad Jason hadn’t won. Because I sure as hell wouldn’t have stood on the same stage with that bastard. He’d been stealing glances at me all day when he thought I wasn’t looking. Seeing his face today, brought on a lot of unwanted memories. But I was trying hard to stay on track.

When Adrian and I were crowned, the middle of the stage was cleared for us to have our dance.

Surprisingly, Adrian turned out to be quite a good dancer. “Is there anything you aren’t good at?” I stage whispered, shaking my head in mock disbelief.

He laughed, tightening his hold on my waist, and whispered, “At all.”

I let out a loud laugh, slapping his arm playfully. “Talk about cocky.”

He only shrugged.

As other couples began to join us on the dancefloor, Jason Davenport abandoned the girl he was dancing with and approached us. Adrian pulled me closer to him, using himself as a shield between me and Jason.

“What are you doing here?” His voice was dangerously low.

“I just. . . wanted to say hi, man,” Jason muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

“Hi,” Adrian spat. “Now get the fuck out.”

Jason nodded, fixing me with a soft stare. “Umm, Amelia, I was also wondering if. . . maybe, we could talk?”

I could feel my chest heaving. This fucking asshole. My hands rolled into fists. How dare he even walk up to me?

I was breathing hard now. In anger, I tore myself from Adrian’s protective hold and stalked off to the girls’ bathroom.

As I relaxed against a faucet in the bathroom, I couldn’t help feeling like today was a mistake. I was tired, traumatized and pregnant. Why the fuck did I even think coming here would be helpful? The only reason everyone was being nice to me was because I looked pretty today. I looked hot. Relevant enough to be noticed by them. But instead of making me glad, it only made me sick.

A tear slid down my cheek and I carefully wiped it away to avoid ruining my makeup.

Just then Kimberly and her minions walked in. They stopped talking as soon as they saw me and silently began to touch up their makeup in the mirror. Determined not to break down in front of them, I grabbed my lipstick from my purse and retouched my lips.

As I was about to leave, they waylaid me. I tried my best to look unbothered and irritated as I motioned for them to move away so I could pass.

Kimberly moved closer to me. And after some moments, she extended her arm. “Congratulations on winning my title.”

I hid my surprise. Of course it wasn’t shocking that she believed the title was hers, but congratulating me? Now THAT was shocking.

When I didn’t respond she continued. “And, you don’t look so bad. Too bad. If I’d known you were this pretty I might have taken you in and brushed you up to be part of the elite.” She finished, folding her arms and sweeping my dress with admiration filled eyes.

Ahh.

So all it took to be in Kimberly’s good graces was a pretty dress and a makeover. The part of me that still hungered for validation melted in joy. Finally they had accepted me, just like I always wanted. Now I could be one of the cool kids. . .

But I looked her in the eyes. And I knew I was a much better person than bullying, taunting and picking on other people to feed my esteem. The right people had seen me, accepted me, and I’d realized that there was more to me than wanting to be part of the cool crowd.

So I smiled at her.

“No thanks I’m good. And as for the title?” I motioned to myself. “I earned it.”

The shock on their faces was worth it as I pushed past them and walked to the door.

Pausing, I added, “And oh? Grow up, Kimberly.”

With one last smile, I shut the door behind me and walked out to fresh air.

Getting to the exit, I sighted Adrian, Benson and Dani cluttered at the door with worried looks on their faces. They groaned in relief as they saw me.

Ben enveloped me in a tight hug while Dani kept asking who she had to beat up. Laughing, I reassured them that I was fine.

“Ready to go?” Adrian asked.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“Go?” I checked the time. “It’s only been two hours.”

“Yeah we know. Prom is boring. We’re going to Adrian’s place,” Ben spoke rapidly. Well, he sure was excited.

“No parents,” Dani said dramatically.

“Movies,” Ben put in, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Lots and lots of junk. Which include pizza, ice-cream, and a lot more,” Adrian whispered, walking around me in a circle.

I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. “Fine, fine. But what about our clothes?”

I couldn’t imagine we’d be comfortable in the clothes we had on.

“Well Adrian, unlike some people,” She innocently looked in Ben’s direction, “had the sense to provide more casual clothes for everyone in case something like this happened. We went shopping together.”

I smiled widely.

I had the best friends ever.

With all the bad things that had happened this school year, they were the only thing, asides from having Nana around, that kept me going.

They had shown me that I was worth more than I thought. And I actually began to see that I deserved way better in life. And for that, I was eternally grateful.