Bully

One year ago, Tate’s best friend K.C. pressured her into attending a house party just before Tate was set to leave and pursue a year-long exchange program in France. Her chief motivation for the trip was to escape from Jared, her next-door neighbor and childhood-best-friend-turned-bully. Because Jared had recently begun treating Tate cruelly for unexplained reasons, he put her into a state of constant anxiety, and she felt the same way at the party. At the party, she and the other guests were required to deposit their car keys in a bowl, and she worried that something would go wrong. When she saw Jared, she tried to avoid him, but he came up behind her, standing too close and saying nothing in order to intimidate her. The only time he spoke to Tate was to insult her; otherwise, he bullied her in silence.

Disturbed by Jared’s behavior, Tate decided to leave before things got worse, knowing that he was likely to bully or prank her. However, she discovered that her car keys were no longer in the bowl; Jared’s best friend, Madoc, had thrown them in the pool.