Bittersweet Revenge (6 page)

We pay for our things, and pile into Mimi’s jeep. Her parents have money, as most other families around here do. Well except mine, there’s just me and my mom. My dad walked out a long time ago, and just never came back. My mom doesn’t like to talk about it, and I never ask. It’s better to leave those kinds of things in the past.

“So here’s the plan, I’m going to swap out all of Corey’s shampoo and conditioner with hair remover. I’m going to put Orajel on his toothbrush, and I mean the super strength kind that numbs your mouth forever. Hopefully I can get the shower head off. I’m going to stuff a bunch of Lifesavers in the cap so when he turns the water on and gets in to bathe, he’s going to get sticky. He’ll get out to dry off or fix the shower head and the towel will stick to him. Ahh. I love my super sweet ideas.”  Oh. M. Gee. My best friend has lost her ever loving mind.

“You thought all of this up?” I ask astonished. I knew she had some ideas, but I thought they were just that, ideas.

“Yup. I’m also putting some dye in with the shampoo and conditioner, and he may or may not come to school green.” A grin that tells me she’s thrown a lot of thought into this appears on her face.

“You’re so bad Mimi.” She puts the car into drive and we make the short drive over to Java Bean. “Yeah well not nearly bad enough.” She responds. My thoughts drift to Rex, and how for the first time ever, I’m going to be able to enjoy a party, my first real high school party. Hopefully we can make it through the party without Corey realizing what we're up too.

Revelation

I filtered through the hall as the last bell for classes went off. My backpack felt like it weighed fifty pounds and my shoulder was throbbing as I searched the halls for Mimi. I was really starting to get angry. She told me to meet her at her locker at the end of the day and that was over twenty minutes ago. Yet, here I was searching for her ass.

            I all but growled as I continued to search the rest of the academic hall. I wanted to yell out for her but was afraid there may be some lingering students left behind. More often than not, the wrestling team would run the halls, but there wasn’t anyone in sight.

            Then it hit me, the art room. Mimi had art class last period of the day; maybe she was down there and forgot about the bell because she was too caught up in a project. It’s seriously happened before.

The halls were decorated with tacky Halloween decorations. Fake spiders hung from man- made spider webs, and there was orange and black garland hanging all over the place. Ghoulish looking faces were taped to the windows in the cafeteria. It looked festive in a childlike way. My favorite parts about Halloween weren’t the decorations though, but the pumpkin carving, the pumpkin seeds, the smell of fall and leaves, and handing out candy. Well, honestly who doesn’t love candy?

            A noise sounded from behind me startling me from my thoughts. Turning around I looked to the other end of the hall from the way I just came. There was just no way someone could be behind me, I would know.

            “Hello.” I called out angrily, mad that someone would try and trick me. Fear trickled in slowly as a scratching sound emitted from down the opposite direction I was facing. I swung my gaze back around only to come face to face with a very hairy, wolf like creature.

            “Ahhh.” I screamed out while clutching my chest, my heart beating erratically, and letting my backpack fall to the ground. The mask came off and Mimi’s bright smile was bestowed upon me.

            “Holy fuck, you almost got punched. Why would you do that?” I asked. She laughed a bubbly laugh uncontrollably as if scaring the death out of me was the highlight to her day.

            “You should’ve seen your face…” She manages to say in between taking heaping breaths to get her laughter under control.

            “What were you doing down here anyway? You asked me to wait by your locker and you never showed.” I say punching her in the arm. She gives me a dirty look as she rubs the spot I just hit.

            “I had to come down here and get the goods. Then I heard Rex talking to Marie and Angela so I got a little curious and did some eavesdropping, because you know me, I can’t pass up on one ounce of gossip.” She abruptly ends what she’s saying and that makes a pit in the bottom of my stomach take root.

“What were they talking about?” I ask worriedly. The thought of Rex doing something behind my back has me all kind of nervous. I thought I was scared two minutes ago, no, this is way more terrifying. Mimi looks at the ground, and then back up to me never quiet meeting my eyes.

“Tell me.” I demand crossing my arms over my chest. I can handle it; look at everything I’ve already been through. This should be a walk in the park compared to everything else. I might not have loved him, but I could have, and that’s what will hurt most if what she has to say is bad.

“Well, they were talking about the Halloween party tonight, he said something about you have to leave her alone, don’t do anything stupid. It was hard to hear with the mass of students pushing through the hall.” My mind’s whirling, thinking of all the ways that could become betrayal.

“Oh now, before you get to thinking some crazy thoughts about him planning something against you, I think you should know maybe he was just looking out for you. He could’ve easily been telling them that they needed to leave you alone. I’m team Rex you know.” Her statement only easing the shit storm of thoughts that are forming a little bit. I needed to see him.  Now.

“I need to talk to him Mimi.” I said desperately, if she wasn’t sure if I cared about him before, she would be now. Sadness seeped into her eyes, and I didn’t know if it was because she was worried about what she told me, or if it was for me.

“It could be nothing Jenna. If he was playing you, I think you would know. He’s a damn good actor if he can do that. Plus, nothing gets passed me, you know that. I think his feelings are true and real, and I think you should let this go. Don’t overreact about something that probably wasn’t even anything that was said or going on. Not everyone is out to get you.” She said picking up my backpack and dismissing the conversation so we could get going.

“What the heck is in this thing? Aren’t you a straight A student?” I nodded my head at her not ready to talk just yet. I was absorbing everything she had said to me, and trying to let go of my fears.

“Shouldn’t you have homework then, because if you're developing back problems to get straight A’s I would totally sacrifice the grade.”

“You actually have to do homework to get straight A’s and my back is just fine.” I said snatching the backpack from her hands before she did something crazy like throw it in the nearby trash can.

“That’s fine, if I have to lug that thing around for good grades I’ll pass, that backpack weighs more than me.” A mischievous grin showed on her face. “No. I will not be giving you a piggy back ride.”

“But- but… please… you're my best-friend.” She says giving me an obscene looking pout. “What does being best-friends have anything to do with me having to give you a piggy back ride, I didn’t sign any contracts.”

She purses her lips at me “Yes you did. Now yee-haw.” She says all but jumping onto my back. If this is the benefits I get of having a best friend I’m not sure I want to keep her.

“Can I get out of this contract at all? Being friends no longer has any good benefits to it.” She hops off my back and pulls me in to face her. “How many friends would plan to help you sabotage your crazy, rumor spreading, asshole, ex-boyfriend?”

“Okay you have a point there?”

“You’re damn right I do.” A door at the far end of the hall opens, and Mimi and I both direct our attention to it. It’s Rex and Corey, one with utter shock on his face and the other with excitement.

“What are you guys doing here?” Rex stutters out. He never stutters, and that can only be a clear sign of one thing. Crossing my arms over my chest I look him up and down,

“The better question is, what are you doing here?” I feel the redness creeping into every pore of my skin.

“Move out of the way losers, we have somewhere to be.” Corey all but ignores the fact that Rex and I are in the middle of a conversation.

“Awe that’s sweet Corey, you forgot to call us sluts, are you turning over a new leaf or something?” Mimi says baiting him. Something in that girl begs for a fight, and if I didn’t know better I would think that there may be a spark of something between the two.

He takes two steps backwards, swivels around and eases her against the wall. His arms encasing her, their faces mere inches from one another.

“Don’t challenge me Mimi, you might not like what you find, and I’m not turning over a new leaf I just could care less about the two of you, you're old news, and I’m onto bigger and better things.”

There’s a challenge in Mimi’s eyes, and for the first time ever I wonder what she’s going to do. She bites her lip as she looks him straight in the eye, showing me that she clearly has more balls than anyone else in this school.

“So I’ve heard. Who’s your newest flavor of the week… Paige? Hmm, yup, definitely sounds like you're into way BIGGER things.” Her voice is seductive, her smile anything but sweet.

“Leave it be Mimi, if you get involved it could end horribly for you.” Corey says as if warning. Their eyes never leave one another’s, and Mimi breaks the silence, pushing off the wall.

“Challenge accepted, let’s get going Jenna, we have a party to get to.” Mimi says grabbing my arm and dragging me down the hall. For a second, I almost forget about questioning Rex. He sends me a smile as Mimi pulls me further away. We make it to the double doors just before the exit to leave the school. I stop her, putting all my weight into removing my arm from her hold.

“Hold it the hell up. We’re not leaving this spot until you explain to me what that was about. Were you flirting with Corey, because I’m pretty sure you were and I didn’t get to finish talking to Rex, which isn’t cool.”

She rolls her eyes at me, before glancing down the hall. She’s definitely not acting like herself and possibly a little bit more paranoid than usual.

“You can tell me if something’s going on Mimi.”

“Not now Jen, when we get in the car we'll talk. Can we go?” She asks aggravated.

I open the door and gesture for her to go, walking behind her to her jeep. I open the door the same time as her and we both shift into our seats. She leans her head down unto the steering wheel and silence surrounds us. It causes me to start thinking about all the possible things that could be going on with everyone, the lies that are possibly being told to me, and the secrets that are being held. I look over at Mimi, and for the first time ever in our friendship I question her honesty to me.

“What was that back there?” I ask afraid to hear the truth, but not at the same time. Like they say the truth will set you free. She lifts her head, her greens eyes piercing with mine. The tension seems to ease out of her as she sits back into her seat facing me slightly.

“Are you going to tell me? Because I’m freaking out over here with all the different things that it could be.”

She takes a deep breath and blows it out. “Corey and I have been flirting, I would say. We haven’t actually done anything bad. He kissed me this summer at a party; I dismissed it and didn’t want to tell you for obvious reasons. Now we’ve been playing this cat and mouse game, and he’s really starting to get on my nerves plus I know how he treated you and I don’t want to put up with any of that.” By the time she finishes saying what she does my mouth is fully open, and I just can’t get it to close.

“Say something, are you okay?” She asks looking at me as if I’ve come down with a bad case of the flu. I try to find words but I just can’t, nothing is coming to mind other than the words, what the fuck.

“Holy shit.” I say breathing deeply in through my nose and out through my mouth. The space in the car seems to get smaller and smaller. I hear Mimi’s voice begging me to say something, begging me to tell her I’m not mad, that everything is okay, but I can’t. I just can’t, it's too much. I see my vision growing weaker, Mimi’s voice comes in slower until there is no more voice, there is no more vision, all I hear is my breathing and all I see is the blackness.

***

I come to, my neck aches, kind of like when you fall asleep in an odd position. My head is pounding and the sun is shining down on me, and I just want it to go away. My mouth feels like I chewed on a wad of cotton balls, and my eyes burn. The pounding in my head gets worse when I hear Mimi’s voice. It sounds far away, but the more I focus on it the closer it seems to get.

My eyes ease open, as Mimi, Rex, and Corey come into view. My vision has to be off because no way am I seeing all three of these people here for me. I think back to what lead me to this point, I try to sit up not ready to be surrounded by this madness.

“Is she okay?” Mimi asks her voice aching full of emotions. My best friend is with my arch enemy, the man that terrorized me for a full year, who is the fuel to my hate. Who made every day of my life since dating him, hell. I don’t even know what to feel, hate, sadness, anger, and disappointment course through me. How could she do this? I don’t care if they’re together, I don’t care if it was just one kiss it doesn’t matter.

“How could you Mimi?” I cry out. Anger, hot as a fire is finding its way into my voice. I can’t hide the hate for Corey, and I refuse too. He deserves it. He deserves whatever I can dish out. Rex pulls me into his arms, but I push away wanting nothing to do with anyone at this moment.

“And you, you piece of shit, asshole. She’s my best friend how could you, you knew, you fucking knew and you still approached her. Did you try to get into her pants too? Are you going to break her heart and spread malicious rumors about her too?” I growl out at Corey. The hate and distaste is written all over my face. Just saying his name right now leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.