Lucy Lainy | Teen Ink

Lucy Lainy

April 24, 2023
By ajaoconnor09 BRONZE, St. Petersburg, Florida
ajaoconnor09 BRONZE, St. Petersburg, Florida
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Lucy Lainy 
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Lucy Lainy, wonderful and pleasant Lucy Lainy. Lucy goes to Melbourne High School and lives in a nice plain home in the suburbs, she’s captain of the swim team and in all advanced classes. She smiles and others laugh, she walks and then everyone skips. Everyone likes Lucy, and Lucy likes everyone. 
With a few exceptions. There is a very sparse amount of people that don’t fit in Lucy’s pleasant world. Lairs, cheats and villains. You see, Lucy is the hero in her story, the one who in her eyes will become Australia's hero when she’s old enough and those who oppose this goal of course are the villains. It only makes sense and is only what's fair. 
Fair, a word that Lucy has heard ever since she could ride a bike. Winning is fair and cheating is not. Telling the truth is fair and lying is not. Those who are unfair are bad and just simply aren't as important as the people who are fair, this is all that Lucy has known. Lucy is an only child and a child that came after multiple miscarriages of her mother, so of course she was doted on and taught with only the best ideals from the best people. So that in return Lucy will turn out to be the best. And in Lucy’s mother’s eyes she did. 
At school she is at the top of her class and has befriended all her classmates, she talks to everyone who should be talked to and they talk back. She has a large following on social media and she gives them posts to like, and they do. They always have and they always will. Some kids go through an awkward phase but never Lucy, she has just been perfect since day one. Even in the hospital as a newborn the nurses crowded around to see the “perfect baby” that everyone had been fussing about. And she was worth the fuss. 
Lucy’s P.O.V 
Today I woke up at 5:04am which is unusual for me as 5:00am is the usual time that I wake up. It’s honestly necessary in order to start the day of correctly. I don’t set an alarm, no, I never set an alarm. I’m not really the type who relies on devices, I could live without a phone even. Nevertheless, this is the second time this month that I’ve been put off schedule. It must be last week’s test bothering me, Julia Reed cheated, of course not much else is expected from someone like her. She took the test with a straight face knowing fully well that her wrist was lined with messy notes and answers that were scribbled on with the very pen that she’s marking her paper with. It bothered me enough to where I skipped the teacher and went straight to the principal to report her crime. She got a warning, next case of her antics though and she’s expelled, I suspect that will take the lesser half of a month. 
5:10am now, I'm off schedule, it’s a precise process that needs to be cohesive with my many plans for the day. No time for hiccups. 
Lucy gets up at 5:00am religiously each day excluding Sundays, on Sunday, she gives herself a 30-minute grace period where she’s awake of course but still in bed, thinking over the previous week and analyzing any faults in herself. Lucy is not insecure, she’s far from it. She is more analyzing faults in others that affected her.  
Math class 8:30am 
I sit in the second row with my best friend Ruby on my left, Luke who is second to me in our school for valedictorian on my right and Vanessa is usually behind me but she’s sick today I suppose. No one sits in front of me. 
“Good morning class” sang Mrs. Tillerson to the class with her usual small smile. 
“Morning Mrs. Tillerson” mocked the class, my voice slightly more prevalent than the others. 
“Pull out your notebooks, were reviewing the homework” 
As everyone starts rummaging through their backpacks only me and one other remained upright as I already had my notebook out. The other student, Tom? I think? He simply has a blue folded paper on his desk. Mrs. Tillerson is busy at her computer finding the answer key. He stands up. I start questioning why he could be coming my way; did I do something? Is he confused? Does he like me?  
“This is for you; someone put it in my locker I guess? See on the front it says, “give to Lucy Lainy” I didn’t read it.” 
I looked him in the eyes, and he looked back at me, he looked honest. Yet as confused as I was. 
“Thank you. Tom?” 
He nodded and stumbled away. I suppose that is his name. With that he sat back down, and the class all had their notebooks ready, Mrs. Tillerson had the answer key on the board, and she started doing the first problem. 
No one noticed the interaction; this is the second fault today. What type of mystery love letter is this? Why would this secret admirer not just put the letter in my locker themselves, maybe Tom wrote this, he could be lying. 
In that math class it was around a 5 second interval that it took Tom to deliver the small, blue folded piece of paper to Lucy. Tom sounded honest about not reading the letter and about it not being written by him. The class proceeded as usual, though Lucy tapped her pencil on her desk without realizing and she thought about what the note could say and who it was from. She would save the note for after dinner as she doesn’t want whatever it says to put her off at swim practice. Though, a second note would be received before then. 
On her way out of school Lucy stopped by her locker to retrieve her practice bag, a usual action for every Monday and Thursday, part of her schedule. She passed her friends and classmates with a smile and stopped at her locker. The smile that she had painted on fell from her face as a second note fell from her practice bag and onto her new shoes. This note was blue, just like the one tom had given her earlier that day. 
What? A second one? Who is up to this? 
I look up to see if anyone's watching me, maybe the person up to this is looking for a reaction. 
Everyone’s busy, not paying attention to me, wait. 
Vennessa? I thought she was at home today. 
“Vennessa!” 
“Oh, hey Lucy!” 
“Where were you today? You weren’t at math.” 
“Oh, yea. I came in late, slept in.” She has such a strange smile sometimes. 
“Oh. Ok.” 
“Have a nice day then?” 
“Yea, you too!” 
Vennessa, what if it was her. She wasn’t in math and now she just happens to see me now when I find a second note? I always thought there was something about her. She has a bad aura. Ever since she came back from summer, she’s been different, distant. 
I’ll read the notes now, I can’t practice with this tainting my mind, not this close to competition. The one from math should be read first. 
“Is it true that the sun shined brighter when you were born? Everyone says so, but I don’t know if I believe them.”                                                                                             - Your greatest admirer 
“Even your locker seems to be better than the others, nice pictures.”                                -Your greatest admirer 
Lucy has three polaroid pictures inside her locker, one of her holding her first ever first place trophy for swim when she was six, one of her and her parents sitting in front of a nice seafront view on vacation to Croatia and finally one of her with her friends last summer jumping of a dock. All of these were in fact nice pictures.  
Once Lucy had read the notes she froze, the energy shifted in the air. If Lucy is off, then everything is off. At least that was how she felt. Everyone took more breaths, the walls seemed closer, and the air felt thicker. This wasn’t some silly admirer; this was a stalker. A stalker who broke into Lucy’s locker. 
Swim practice missed their star member that day. Lucy went to the school office as anyone would to report what might as well of been straight threats, unfortunately they couldn’t do anything since the school's cameras had wiring damage from a week before. A coincidence that threw Lucy off further. The office lady smiled a sickly-sweet smile upon Lucy’s departure. 
7:00pm, Later that day at Lucys house 
Pacing my room, I look over to my desk where the two terribly blue notes sit. The school is ridiculous. I could report this to my mother, she would have the school do something. But then she would question how I couldn’t handle this myself. No, I don’t really need help. I can sort this out on my own. I am Lucy Lainy after all. I could handle an obsessed admirer in my sleep. 
“Dinner, sweetie!” Beckoned my mother from somewhere downstairs. 
“Coming!” 
As I grab the doorknob, I notice something tucked into the door jam. It's blue. As I open the door a piece of scruffy blue paper that looks as if it's been placed in a rush, maybe two inches in width, falls, like a leaf from a tree, onto my pristine white slippers.  
I gasp and stumble back a step. Another? Inside my home? How far will this go? 
“The pictures here aren’t as nice.” 
-Your greatest admirer 
With that, Lucy took a second step back. 
The pictures in her room weren’t as nice as the ones in her locker, they were mainly selfies and pictures of different swim arenas from around the world. It was arguably more egocentric. The whole house rose to a temperature that caused sweat to bead on everyone's foreheads. The only thought in Lucy’s mind as she stood frozen, unmoving and unbreathing was “Is this stalker still in the house?”. 
 Lucy went to the police station the next morning with her parents, everyone was tense. The trio all had stress lines on their usually unmarked faces and dark spots under their eyes from the sleep that they didn’t get that night. That night they all gathered in the grand living room with Lucy’s yearbook from last year and pens. Everyone was too stunned to form a proper sentence. The police station was closed for the holidays, so they were forced to stick the night out. They plotted and questioned with the book of faces, smiling a forced smile until they saw the sun peek the horizon, then they got dressed and left their house with the annotated yearbook. At the station they were greeted with what Lucy had heard the day before at school. That there is nothing that could be done because there was no proof of a break-in. Despite the town’s love of the Lainy’s that they thought they had they left empty handed. 
Waiting outside was Tom.  
 Why is he here, I don’t need a fourth note. Honestly, he might as well be the so-called “admirer” that I'm looking for. He started this and now he’s here. He’s following me I bet. He’s working with the cops, against me. 
“Tom?” I said loudly enough to cause a bit of alarm. 
“Oh, Hi Lucy.”  
“What are you doing here?” 
“My father works here, deputy Johnson? Didn’t you know?” 
“No, I didn’t.” How convenient for him. My parents are already at our car bickering over how unbelievable the cops are, they can wait a second. 
“You into photography Tom?” I step closer. 
He looks surprised, for a reason?, maybe. “Yea, actually. I am.” “If you're interested there's a club at school.” He smiled a small smile. 
It could be Tom, but it could also be someone else, either way they are obsessed with my pictures. They would be in this club. 
“I think that I would like to join that club then, introduce me Monday? 
“Sure, we could use more members!” 
Julia, Vanessa, Tom, and even the front desk lady all circulated in Lucy’s mind as she slept. She didn’t dream, she never had. But she did think. No pictures, no visuals, just pure thoughts and plans as she rested. From the deepest parts of her subconsciousness, she formulated ideas that would come to life when she wakes. Ideas that were on the lesser side of reasonable. 
School on Monday 
Today I will attend the photography club and I will take out all three notes and explain to Tom my predicament as if I would a friend. Then all that I must do is watch. Watch everyone's faces, how their eyes twitch to the news, how their mouths curl in to frown or smirk, how their eyebrows bend up in compassion or down in confusion. From there its simple. They have to be in this club. 
Walking through the hallway smiling despite never feeling more like I want                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               to frown I pass so many people who could just as well be the stalker. Every speck of blue that catches in my peripheral makes me gag. Swim practice is going to be enjoyable.  
“Lucy!” Julia Reed is waiting for me at my locker. What is she, of all people doing by my locker.  
“Hello Julia.” I barely glance at her as I go to place my new lock on my locker. 
“I have to tell you something.” She looks nervous. Shes confessing?  
“Yes?” 
“I’ve been wanting to say this for a day or so now and I know that you not going to be happy with me, but I figured that I should tell you first before you hear it from someone else.” She’s clicking her pen on and off that’s she’s holding. It’s a blue pen. 
I look at her in disbelief, is she really the stalker? And she’s confessing here? “Is it you, leaving me notes?”  
“Yes! Oh my gosh, so you already know. Thank God, I didn’t want to have to put it into words in person.” She’s smiling now, laughing even. At me. It is her, confessing at my locker of course. Who does she think she is? 
“I've got to get going, good talking to you though yea?” We should talk more often!” She’s still smiling. She just confessed to her heinous crimes with a smile on her face and is now skipping of to the bathroom. My mouth is half open still in utter shock. But that washes away quick enough as I realize how angry I am. Angry at the fact that a confession I had been hoping for was just got brushed of as something so plain and simple, pleasant even. 
She’s went to the bathroom alone. She can’t just leave and get away with what she’s done. She can’t just walk around school among other students. She’s a danger. I found her out, all on my own. It's up to me to deal with her. 
As two people went into the bathroom at around 8:07am, only one emerged a mere three minutes later with wet shoes. Lucy hadn’t exactly planned to do what she did, she only was doing what in her mind was what had to be done. As everyone went about their day and headed to their first period class a faint notion of an argument could be heard from the girl's bathroom by the lockers, a usual occurrence and nothing that was strange enough to cause a commotion.  
Within the bathroom walls Lucy approached Julia, they argued and then Julia slipped and hit her head. Julia was oblivious to Lucy’s claims and that only fueled the rage that Lucy felt. Once Julia fell the bathroom was deserted in a state of shock, panic and even relief. 
9:25am 2nd period 
“Hey Lucy! Did you hear about what happened with Luke and Julia?”  
“What?” What are they talking about? What about Julia? 
“Yea, Julia asked out Luke even though you guys dated last year, he hasn’t responded to her yet though so don’t worry.” 
“J-Julia?” What are they talking about, are they messing with me? Do they know what I've done? She’s still in the bathroom. She deserved what she got but no one can know. No one. 
“She had been trying to tell you now for a week or so but I don’t think that you ever noticed.” Of course, I noticed the notes, she was stalking me. Threatening me. 
“The blue notes?” 
“What? No. Look in the cup holder of your backpack.” 
What could they possibly mean other than the blue notes, they need to stop talking about Julia, before they catch others' attention. I look in my backpack to get them to stop whatever they’re on about. To get them to stop mentioning her. 
There is there something in here, a post it? Two, post it's?  
They are yellow.  
*Knock, Knock* 
Someone's knocking at the classroom door. 
Mr Reynolds goes to let them in, he seems surprised by who's on the other side of the door. The principal. 
“Mrs Sheppeard, What's the occasion?” 
“I just need a word; it won’t be but a moment.” 
“Alright then.”  
They close the door, no one has even noticed them leave. Do they know what I've done? Was she even the one stalking me? It has to of been someone else. Why isn’t Vanessa in class again? Why is this happening? 
Mr. Reynolds and Mrs. Sheppeard re-enter the room, The principal looks like she's seen a ghost. Like she's stumbled across something she shouldn’t of, like she's seen what I've done. 
“Right Lucy?” 
“What?” Are they seriously still talking? 
Mr. Reynolds approaches the front of the room, silencing everyone's conversations. 
 “I have an announcement to make class, um. So er, this is going to be difficult to hear so I apologize but um. Julia Reed was found in the girl's bathroom, um with a bad head wound.” She looks like he’s about to throw up. 
I'm about to throw up. 
“I-If anyone knows anything about the situation, we suggest that you speak up now.” 
The small classroom got smaller as the students looked at each other with suspicion and horror. Everyone stunned and in a state of disturbance, they didn’t say a thing. All that could be heard is the stifled coughs and heavy breaths from Lucy, the Teacher, Mrs. Reynolds and Vennessa. Vennessa who had been unnoticed by most until now, unnoticed by the Lucy, tucked away into a corner. Sobbing quits sobs. With the small attention that she's gaining she rises from her seat. Slowly and carefully. Some students watch her intently, others still analysing their peers. 
Vanessa who had been missing class and becoming distant with friends, Vanessa who used to be friends with Lucy, Vanessa who was nice enough and Vanessa who is now audibly in shambles. The principal and teacher watch her as she gets closer and once she reached the front of the room she whispers something and is escorted outside into the hallway. Then the theories started among the students. Texting and poor attempts of whispers are exchanged. 
“Do you think it was her?” 
“What happened to Julia?” 
“Vanessa never liked Julia you know; I wouldn’t be surprised if it was her” 
Then when Mr. Sheppeard re-enters the classroom, alone. 
“Ok, Class, the issue of who has been resolved. Julia should recover with time but until than-” 
The bell rings. 
During sunrise, around 2 hours prior to Lucy arriving at school, Vanessa had decided that even though she was never officially with Luke the rumours still bothered her. Her and Luke last summer spent a weekend together on her boat while they both had a cold, quarantining themselves to a peaceful break from the others, they laughed and talked. Smoked even, Vanessa’s mind was on how fun it must be to be Lucy the whole time and how she was the happiest she’s ever been. After that they rarely talked again, the awkward tension of them having something they shouldn’t made Vanessa steer away from Lucy. She knew how she could get. But now with the rumours of Julia? Who is not the right kind of girl for Luke, nothing like Lucy. Vanessa made a rash plan to arrive at school early. 
While at school she would oil the bathroom floors and lure Julia in, then she would cause an argument over something trivial to create a scene. She would lightly bump into her as she makes a dramatic exit, making her fall and look weak from such a light push. A simple plan, curated on a women's jealousy, but nothing malicious. Nothing with great harmful intent. Nothing like what actually happened. 
But now, Vanessa thinks that Julia fell because of her. And she is taking the complete and full consequences of her actions, leaving Lucy scott free.  
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The stalker, the blue notes, the sly smile by the office lady, the mangled camera wires at school, the whole situation, ended. From the publics point of view nothing happened. A girl was jealous of another girl, causing a head wound induced with memory loss of the whole day. Vanessa would ironically face the only faults in Lucy while Lucy would be left to question everything. 
The whole story of events, left to something that could be questioned on whether or not it actually happened, if Lucy actually even had a stalker. The notes gone, lost maybe in the bathroom, the author of the notes unfound. To cope with what she couldn’t vocalize to people, Lucy Lainy turned to her journal. A diary of sorts that she kept to write down swim plays and simple mind notes. This journal had been being used more often starting with the first note, having there not be as much room left to think as usual.  
When Lucy got home the night of Vanesa's ignorant confession, she pulled out her journal to make a proper entry. The pages unique and somewhat unpleasant, looking at them made Lucy cringe as she recalled the days misfortunes. The sky used to be a beautiful colour, so did those pages. Now they're just a subconscious reminder of a stalker that never was. 


The author's comments:

This short story was inspired by books such as American Psycho that are thrillers that have an element of physiological challenges.


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