Haters Gonna Hate Pt. 01

"Now, why are you so jealous of me, Meg?"

"Umm I guess because you're so much, ummm, uh, prettier than me and you ummm, seem to have uh, everything."

I swear I heard her cover the phone, followed by a muffled laugh. "Is that my fault?"

"Umm, no."

"Then why do you feel you have the right to abuse me?"

I honestly didn't have a clue how to answer. I'd never before been confronted for my trolling and I was running on adrenaline, living second to second. Everything seemed to be moving so fast in my head and I had no exit strategy. "Uh, I don't. Umm, I'm sorry. I won't uh, do it again, I umm, I swear."

Meanwhile, Tabitha remained completely calm. "Prove how sorry you are. Go like all of my photos."

She had to be kidding. She had so many photos and it would take forever. "Ummm, what? I uh, already uh, said sorry. Why do I, umm, have to do, uh, that?"

"Because I said so."

"But that will take me ummm ages! I only have a few minutes left of my, ummm, uh, my, ummm, break."

"Well then, you better be quick. I'll wait while you do it. If those notifications don't start blowing up my phone then I'm coming to speak to your manager."

I accepted I was in no position to argue. My workplace could replace me in an heartbeat and a company as big as Burger Station wouldn't want to deal with the fallout of such bad publicity. I envisioned the headlines already: local burger employee harasses popular teen influencer online.

I opened Tabitha's profile. She had over a thousand photos! It would take me forever to go through and like them all. Even so, I began rampantly hitting like one at a time, while sweat trickled down my cheeks. I almost felt like I was trying to disarm a nuclear bomb, such was the intensity.

I could hear Tabitha giggling through the speakerphone, as no doubt the notifications popped up. "That's it, keep it going," she said in her posh accent, like a slave master whipping me into action. "You know, for someone that's supposed to hate me, you're liking a hell of a lot of my photos."

It was a tortuous process too. Each time I opened a photo, I had a whole new reason for why she was so great shoved in my face, along with her annoying, fake smile. Endless snapshots of Tabitha enjoying luxurious vacations, designer goods, beautiful friends and expensive food. One after one I hit like on them all. I almost fell into a mindless zone as I tapped the screen repetitively. Finally, with my finger stiff and about to cramp up, I liked her first ever photo: an image of a pony she'd received as a gift.

"Okay, ummm I've liked them all," I spluttered through the phone.

"Great, I can see that. Now, one more thing. Shout out that photo you commented on. I want to see it in your story and write your lovely message under it: You're so much better than me, Tabitha! I should be bowing at your feet!"

God, was she being serious? I had my family and the few people that I could actually call friends following me, and she expected me to just announce to the world that I thought she was better than me?

"Uh, ummm please don't make me, uh, do that."

"Do it," she said. I could hear her husky breath tickling the receiver. "They're your words after all. Own them."

I didn't want to do it, but what choice did I really have? I did as instructed, hoping that this was the final demand. "I've, umm, I've, umm, I've done it." I just wanted the whole ordeal to be over. Honestly, I was completely exhausted from the apprehension she was putting me through.

"Yep, I can see that too. Good. You better keep it there for the whole 24 hours, and keep your profile public. I'll be checking. Let this be a lesson to you. Don't ever mess with me again. Who the hell do you think you are? Bow at my feet? Haters like you should be licking my feet! You can have this life coaching for free! Now, go away and ummm, uh, ummm, uh, get a life!" And just like that she'd hung up the phone.

I sat motionless in the break room. My appetite had disappeared and I couldn't stomach another mouthful of my burger. Everything had happened so fast that I could barely comprehend it. I'd been trounced, well and truly trounced by this teen influencer, and she'd been strategic and efficient at every moment. I'd come to troll her and had my ass handed to me. Even now she could still destroy me with a mere phone call to my boss. I was completely at her mercy and I realised that I wasn't in control of my own fate: Tabitha was. She knew everything about me and she had the dirt on me to expose and destroy me. I felt completely helpless.

But there was another feeling that was making my limbs tingle. The whole ordeal had barely lasted fifteen minutes but the experience had been exhilarating. I'd been trembling in panic throughout, high on adrenaline and terrified where it was going to lead. My stomach shuddered on the brink of throwing up, yet, it was an awakening sensation. It was almost as if I was living a horror movie and I'd never before been that scared. For the first time in my life, I'd actually felt alive, like I wasn't just an empty vessel coasting through life and there was blood flowing through my veins. Tabitha had well and truly put me in my place, and I'd been enthralled by her mastery throughout. I hated her more than ever, not only because of what she stood for, but because of what she seemed to be awakening within me. I had trolled her because she thought she was better than everyone else, and she'd swiftly demonstrated that in my case, she definitely was.

When I returned home that night, I opened my phone and my mouth dropped. I had over a thousand notifications on Instagram. I couldn't believe it. So many people had started following me and I even had some messages in my inbox. It turned out Tabitha had shared my story on her page with the caption: I thought haters were supposed to hate? This one seems to love me. Hahaha.

Thousands of people must have seen me saying how much better than me she was and that I wanted to bow at her feet. I looked at my own story, and the views were crazy. I'd never had so much interest in my own profile.

I read through the messages:

Omg, are u a fan of Tabitha too?

Tabitha is so awesome.

Eww, you suck, hater.

Hahaha, are you in love with her or something?

Hell yeah, she's better than you, you ugly whale.

Tabitha rules!

Ha, what a loser! You wanna bow at my feet too?

I ignored them all without response. I didn't have a clue how to defend myself. I thought about making my profile private or deleting the story too, but I was worried about what Tabitha would do if I disobeyed her. She'd been explicitly clear in her instructions. I decided I'd just have to suck up the fallout. After all, I had started this whole thing so I guess this was my comeuppance. If some light public humiliation from a bunch of strangers was the worst of it, then I'd have to get through it.

I tried to think about other stuff. I put my phone down and watched a bit of mindless TV. Anything to distract and steer my thoughts away from the ass-whooping I'd taken.

However, there was something in particular that my mind just kept wandering back to: I should be licking her feet? I could still hear the words in her young, arrogant voice. That random sentence laced with entitlement and expectation. I, a girl ten years her senior, should be licking her feet? That's what came to her mind when she thought of me. Simply bowing at her feet wasn't enough, she thought that she was so above me that I should be licking her feet? And she expected that I would do it, just because she said so, who the hell did she think she was? What a complete brat. I mean, what did that even mean? Lick her feet? It was absurd. Who the hell would lick someone else's feet?

How would I even do that? I pictured Tabitha, sitting in that airport lounge in her designer clothes and expensive jewellery. Her blonde hair tied back in a ponytail with those blue eyes watching expectantly from behind sunglasses. Sipping a cocktail while her feet were propped up on luggage more expensive than my weekly wage. In contrast, I was kneeling in my burger uniform, licking her French pedicured feet while she gloated above me about how much better she was, mere entertainment for the rich girl before her luxurious flight.

Suddenly, I felt a chill run down my spine and my legs turned to jelly. The thought was so absurd that I could barely comprehend the image. This girl who had everything, expected me, a girl who had nothing, to willingly lick her feet? It was probably the most unfair image I'd ever imagined, but the same tingling feeling returned that I'd felt earlier when she was berating me. It would be so wrong to do it, to lick her feet, but somewhere inside me, there was this strange desire to give in and do this 'wrong' thing, just because she wanted it. To lick the feet of one of these influencers that I so completely and utterly despised; this girl who had masterfully made me dance to her tune over the phone. Ugh, the thought made me shiver with excitement. Which was confusing in itself, I mean, why the hell was I even excited by that?

"What the hell is getting into you, Meg?" I said, and I shook away the intrusive thoughts and began settling down for bed.

But sleep that night wasn't peaceful. Did I dream of bettering myself? No, I dreamt of licking Tabitha's feet. Licking her feet while she laughed above me and took photos. I woke up in a cold sweat and I had to run to the toilet as I felt queasy. Something in me was changing, and I didn't like it.