"I hate her. I just hate her so much." Abby's cheeks were turning red with fury as she stared at the computer screen, a blank Facebook message up and ready to be written.
"She can't hurt you if you don't let her." Her mother sat across the room coolly working on a crossword puzzle and spouting out just the advice that she didn't want to hear.
"Mother, it's not that simple. All Katie ever does is say stupid things to tick me off."
"Looks like it's working."
"Duh it's working! She's the meanest most wretched girl in the ninth grade! She's skilled in her evil ways!"
"I'm telling you, if you just ignore her, she'll go away."
"Oh no she won't. That's not how she works. She'll annoy you until you die. She'll shred you into a million pieces until you do something about it!"
"What are you going to do about?"
"I'll rip her hair out!"
"Yeah?"
"Of course not. But I de-friended her on Facebook."
"Isn't that what started this whole fight?"
"No! Haven't you been listening? I only de-friended her because of the fight. One day she just turned into this total brat and decided to start a vendetta against me. Then of course it only got worse when I de-friended her--"
"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea..."
"--But I don't see why it matters because if she hates my guts, why does she still want to be friends on Facebook?"
"Has this conversation turned completely rhetorical?"
"No! Tell me what to write in this message! It needs to be mean and brutal. It needs to end Katie."
"I say you shouldn't write the message at all. Just let the situation blow over."
"That will never work! She'll just keep insulting me every time my back is turned."
"And if you send the message? How is that going to help?"
"I'm not sure yet, because I don't know what it is going to say. But if it's brutal enough..."
"It'll miraculously make her stop."
"Exactly."
"Teenagers."
"Excuse me?"
"It always has to be so complicated with you. Once you get to be my age--"
"Old?"
"Do you want my help or not?"
"Sorry."
"Once you get to be my age, you realize that retaliating on someone's spiteful actions never solves anything. You just need to ignore her and wait it out. Once she sees you aren't hurt by what she is doing, she'll stop."
"Whatever, I guess you are right. At least, I hope you are right. I won't send the message." Abby minimized the window on her computer and walked out of the room muttering under her breath as she passed her mom: "unless I think of something great to say."
Walking over to the computer and sitting down, Abby's mom opened the Facebook message and then closed it out completely. "Teenagers."
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