Bully

Tate waits for Jared’s car to drive away from his house and then sneaks across the tree and enters through his window. She rummages through his room, hoping to find out where he goes on the weekends. However, she soon discovers that Jared is still home; his friend was the one who took the car. When Jared emerges from the shower, a mortified Tate has no choice but to announce her presence. She makes up a story about why she is there, but Jared knows that she is lying, so he takes advantage of the moment. He approaches Tate and starts kissing her, and the encounter escalates. Just before they are about to have sex, Jared’s friend calls him and tells him that it is time to go to the track. Tate offers to go with him, and Jared agrees that they can finish what they started later. On their way out to the racetrack, Tate notices a photograph of a young man who has been badly injured and grabs it.

At the track, Tate is curt with Ben and reacts strongly when Piper approaches Jared. Tate marches over to Piper and grabs her hair, pulling her away, and then trips her. She knows that her violent reaction was too extreme, but she still feels a sneaking sense of satisfaction. Tate gives Jared the necklace before he starts the race. After he wins, they head back to his house. In the car, Tate tries to ask Jared where he goes on the weekends, but he refuses to answer. Frustrated with his secrecy, Tate goes straight home when they arrive instead of going back to Jared’s house. Before she goes inside, she shows him the picture that she found, and she decides that she is done with being part of Jared’s game.

Tate goes to a birthday dinner with K.C., and when she gets home, she finds that the tree between her house and Jared’s is illuminated by light. The light is on in her bedroom, and Tate rushes upstairs to find Jared there. He has a folder filled with photos of himself, all of which show him covered in bruises and welts. Jared finally explains what happened to him during the summer he spent with his father when he was 14. 

At that time, Jared met his half-brother, Jaxon, and learned that his father was severely abusing Jaxon. Jared eventually became a target as well; the welts on his back in the picture were inflicted by his father. Jared’s father also forced him and Jaxon to assist in crimes such as selling drugs and robbing people’s homes. To escape, Jared had to run away, leaving Jaxon behind.

Jared continues to explain, revealing that he still goes to visit his incarcerated father on Saturdays because a judge has ordered him to complete these visits. Jared explains that when he learned that Jaxon was being abused by a foster family, he took it upon himself to attack the man responsible. The judge dealing with his case foresaw a dark path ahead for Jared and wanted him to visit his father as a warning and a reminder of his own possible future. Additionally, Jaxon now lives with a healthy, happy family, and Jared visits him on Sundays.

Jared also explains that when he returned that summer, he went looking for Tate and found her at the pond with his mother and her father. Tate looks back and recalls that her father was trying to help Jared’s mother become a better parent; however, the young Jared saw Tate being supported while he himself was not. Feeling lost and alone, as though he had nowhere to turn, he became spiteful toward Tate. 

Now, Tate admits that she doesn’t hate Jared, but she does hate how much time they have wasted in secrecy. They kiss and fall asleep together, and when they awake, it is raining. Tate goes outside to experience the rainfall, and Jared comes up behind her. Soon, the two become intimate and have sex for the first time, professing their love for one another.

Having agreed to attend the Homecoming Dance with Madoc, Tate dresses elegantly for the event. Madoc brings the traditional corsage and offers it to Tate as an apology, hoping that she will see a new side of him. Tate decides to give Madoc a chance, if only because he is Jared’s best friend. When Madoc sees Jared, she is overwhelmed by how handsome he looks in his suit, and he has a similar reaction to her. Together, the three head to the dance, feeling confident and assured.

The dance is better than Tate expects it to be, but the party afterward takes place at the same house where Jared and Madoc bullied her one year ago. Jared takes Tate off to a private bedroom to distract her from these unpleasant memories, and the two have sex, enjoying the riskiness of the interaction. Tate also asks Jared about his tattoos. One is a lantern, and the other reads, “Yesterday lasts forever, Tomorrow comes never” (275). Jared explains that the lantern represents Tate, whom he sees as his light in the darkness. The phrase is there to remind him to look to the present rather than to the past or the future.

In school, Tate feels as though her life couldn’t get any better. Then, she receives a text, seemingly from Jared, that displays a video of them both having sex. The text has also been circulated to everyone in school, and Tate is mortified. She is especially worried about her father’s reaction. After everything that has happened between them, Tate can’t believe that Jared would do this to her. Overwhelmed by rage, she goes out to his car and uses a crowbar to smash its windows and body. When Jared finds her, he is in shock and tries to calm Tate down, but she doesn’t want to be anywhere near him.

Tate feels completely alone and reflects that the only person who would understand her struggles is her late mother. She goes to visit her mother’s grave and recalls the day she visited this place with Jared. On that occasion, he took her hand and led her through the gravestones to her mother’s grave, where he had put a pink balloon for her. Jared tried to explain that the graveyard was a peaceful place and that the dead are not to be feared; instead, they just want to be remembered. 

In the present, Jared approaches Tate and tries to reason with her, explaining that he didn’t send the video nor even film it; he doesn’t know who the culprit is. He states that he lost his phone two days ago. Tate doesn’t believe him at first, but Jared reminds her that he loves her. Tate suggests using the GPS function to find Jared’s phone.

Jared and Tate track the phone to the school and head there. They start calling Jared’s number, and eventually, they hear Jared’s ringtone coming from a locker. Piper appears, and Jared demands that she open her locker before he calls the dean. Piper reluctantly opens her locker and shoves the phone at Tate, who then grabs her and starts a fight. Tate slaps Piper a few times, and Piper reveals that Nate had the idea to record and distribute the video. Jared punches Nate, but a teacher breaks up the fight. As Jared and Tate walk away, they joke that Tate has started to enjoy bullying others.

Jared and Tate relax in her room, a limited privilege now that her father has returned home. Tate is still working to repair trust with her father and doesn’t want to break any rules. Jared is about to leave, but before he does, he displays a present for Tate. It’s a charm bracelet with four charms, including a heart. The heart symbolizes Jared’s hope that Tate can always rely on him as a lifeline. Jared and Tate kiss and express their love for one another, and as Jared climbs the tree to return to his house, Tate reflects that she feels complete now that he is back in her life.