I grew up in Anchorage and went to a very big high school with about 3,000 kids. I had a big group of friends and I was definitely one of the popular kids and everyone knew us and most people really liked us. this one girl named Carly seemed to think she was one of us even though we all hated her because she was a huge pick me who sucked up to all the boys. This girl, from the moment I stepped into the school, had it out for me, she would throw coffee on my backpack, which was often hot, so it really hurt if she got any on me; she would pull my hair; make fun of me wearing short skirts and having long hair even though she often wore the same things, and a lot more. What I find to be the most pitiful part is that she would only really do this stuff when the hot soccer player, Josh, was around, even though he was quite literally gay and openly dating one of the basketball players. Josh and I were also pretty good friends since his cousin, Ally, was my best friend.
I was always one of the theater kids since middle school, and that year my school was doing Sleeping Beauty for the winter musical. I auditioned for Maleficent, but Ally got that role, so I ended up as Aurora; Josh got cast as Philip; Carly got cast as Aurora’s mom but also got cast as the understudy for Aurora; Carly dropped absolutely everything in order to be cast as Aurora, she denied a modeling gig with a big brand, she missed more than one visit with her sick grandma; and she was willing to wear a dress, something she was never willing to do because she wanted all the boys to think she was one of them. Cut to show night, the last day before Christmas break. I had stayed up all night to sew my pink Aurora ballgown, and I was really excited to wear it. I have always loved sewing my own clothes, and this was the first time my talents were going to be truly showcased. The first act went off without a hitch. I had to pee really badly, so I went to the bathroom during intermission, and by the time I got back to my room, my dress had been drenched in coffee. The dress was made of a light pink silk, so there was no way in hell I was going to make it better in time for the show. I just cried. I fully broke down backstage. I knew it was Carly but didn’t want to believe she could go this low. Ally came in and immediately asked me why she was crying. I was too upset to even tell her, she didn’t even look at my dress; she just hugged me and asked if I wanted to go home. I nodded. We told our parents and the theater director that we wanted to go home, and Ally’s understudy was thankfully there.
Ally drove me back to my house, and we pretty much agreed on a sleepover that night because it was snowing really badly. I had calmed down by then, but I still didn’t want to be anywhere near Carly. As I was getting out of the car, I was shocked to see that there were footprints in the snow, leading to seemingly nowhere. But I brushed it off as a bear. Ally and I pretty much just chilled for the rest of the night. We watched a few episodes of The Vampire Diaries, ate some dinner, and went up to my room for bed. My dog followed us and jumped into bed with us. I was sound asleep for a while, but then I heard a really strong gust of wind blow open the front door, which prompted my dog to start barking his ass off. Ally woke up and was also confused. I told her I was going to close the door, I did and went back up to bed. Before I fell back asleep, I checked my phone and saw I had 13 missed calls from my mom. I called her, and she was screaming about me being alive. When Carly originally dumped coffee on my dress, Josh saw it and immediately reported her to the director. She had her kicked off stage immediately, and the second understudy was used for the rest of the night. In a rage, she immediately sped to Ally’s house and broke in looking for me. As I said, Ally drove me home that night, so she assumed I was at her house. My parents found this out through one of my other friends who lived pretty close to Ally. Due to the heavy snowfall, the police couldn’t get to the scene until morning, but by then Carly was long gone, and she was unfortunately never caught. I can’t even imagine what she would’ve done to me if Ally had taken me to her house.