Bully

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, bullying, sexual violence, emotional abuse, and child abuse.

Tate is a 17-year-old girl who has spent years being bullied by her former childhood best friend, Jared. She is deeply hurt over this shift in their interactions and grieves the loss of their close friendship, which first began when they were both children and helped one another through some of their darkest moments. (For example, when Tate was 10, Jared helped her overcome the grief of her mother’s death.)

However, their relationship deteriorated when, unbeknownst to Tate, a 14-year-old Jared visited his father for the summer and endured severe abuse at the man’s hands. Jared came back feeing angry at the world and chose to lash out at Tate. Ever since that summer, she has been plagued by his cruel behavior, which she has no basis for understanding. She wishes that she and Jared could rekindle their bond or perhaps even develop a deeper connection, but after he bullies her in a very public arena, she goes to France for a year to escape him, needing to gain some distance from the drama. 

When she returns, she is a different person. In the process of standing up for herself and