Better Than Revenge (Sweet Secrets #1) (25 page)

Smiling hard, and swiping the few tears that had spilled from my eyes, I ran from my room and into the hallway. I pounded down the stairs, earning a scream from my mom about not running in the house, but I didn’t care. I threw the front door open, closing it quickly behind me and running into the side of the yard.

Blake was still singing as I came to a stop behind him. “Dark haired beauty will you let me in? I’m tired of waiting. You deserve the best, and I know I can give you that if you let me try. Let me show you, what love can do, when it’s oh so right.” He held the last note, strumming his fingers melodiously against the guitar’s strings as he finished.

Tilting his head upwards again, he looked at my window to see Lena pointing down behind him. Blake slowly turned around to face me. When he saw me, he slung his guitar over his shoulder and took a few steps closer.

“I honestly do love you, Violet. I made a mistake; one that I’ve been regretting since the day it happened. I didn’t want to tell you because if I said anything about it, it would become real, and I just wanted to forget that it had ever even happened. The past few weeks have been terrible without you. All I do is think about what you’re doing, and wondering what we’d be doing if we were still dating. I wrote that song for you Violet, and I think that it fits us perfectly. I want to know if you’d take a chance and let me make it up to you.” Blake’s blue eyes reflected in the light from the street lamps as he silently pleaded with me to give him a second chance.

I dragged my hand across my cheek, wiping away the water works as I stepped toward him. I smiled sweetly as I lifted my hand and smacked it roughly against his face. He recoiled, stepping away and rubbing his cheek, groaning.

“Okay, I deserved that,” he mumbled.

“Hell yeah you did,” I replied.

“So I’m assuming that’s a no?” His face fell as he regarded me.

I shook my head, stepping toward him again. “Don’t assume,” I whispered as I placed my hands on his shoulders and rose up onto my tippy toes, kissing him with everything I had in me. After a moment I pulled away to say, “I love you too, but if you ever hurt me again, you’ll get more than a slap.”

Blake nodded, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling my body to his. “I won’t be giving you a chance to get away from me again,” he spoke before he placed his lips back on mine.

Our bodies instantly molded together, his hands on my lower back and my arms twined around his neck.

At that moment, I couldn’t be any happier.

That is until Lena shouted, “Get a room! Horny teenagers these days.”

Chapter 30

“Why the hell do these chicken nuggets still have pink inside them?” Lena dropped one broken chicken nugget onto her foam lunch tray, scrunching her face up in disgust. “This food sickens me.”

Blake reached across the table, picking up one of Lena's chicken nuggets and pulling it apart into two halves. The inside of the chicken nugget was tinged a slight pink, but was better than the first chicken nugget had been. “This one's not as bad.”

Lena pushed her tray away from her. She had a sour expression etched onto her face making it look as if she was about to vomit. “I'll pass.”

Sitting in front of me was my brown bag lunch that my mom had packed me. For once I was grateful for her worrisome ways. Reaching into my lunch bag, I pulled out a plastic wrapped sandwich and handed it to Lena. “Eat this. No pink inside, and my mom makes really good sandwiches.”

Lena held the sandwich in both hands, staring down at it then back up to me as if she was poor and I was a millionaire giving her a fifty dollar bill. “Are you sure?”

I nodded my head, chewing on a carrot that I had dipped into my tiny tuba-ware that was filled with hummus.

Lena's eyes travelled back down to the sandwich, not raising even when she spoke again. “But then what will you eat?”

I chewed up the rest of my carrot, reaching for another as I said, “I have another sandwich and plenty of snacks. My mom makes sure I have enough food to last me throughout the day, so seriously, it's no problem. Eat it.”

I didn't have to tell her again. Lena didn't waste any time as she ripped the plastic wrap off and took a huge bite. She closed her eyes as she chewed, sighing deeply.

Blake laughed at her. “It's good isn't it?”

Lena nodded furiously, her eyes opening wide. She didn't even speak once she had finished chewing, she just went in for another monstrous bite.

“I'm glad you like it.” I held my bag of carrots out to Blake who appreciatively took two.

“Thanks!” He leaned into my side, placing his lips on my cheek for a moment. Just as Blake raised a dry carrot to his mouth, an annoying voice spoke from behind us.

“Aw, look girls. Blake's back with his charity case!”

Lena lifted her head slightly to look at the person standing behind Blake and me, rolled her eyes and then flipping up her middle finger.

Blake and I turned to face Brianna, who had a black beanie pulled down on her head, so that all you could see where the frayed ends of her freshly dyed hair. Standing behind her where her crew of Barbie dolls and Ella.

“What the hell do you want?” The words were so rude that I was surprised they hadn't come from my mouth. I gave Blake a surprised look as he waited for Brianna to answer his question.

Brianna raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, responding with, “Wow, Blake. I thought we were friends?”

“Friends?”

“Yes, you know, two people who share a mutual affection for one another.”

Blake feigned a smile and nodded. “Oh!” he sighed. “I wasn't aware of the fact that friends blackmail each other and ruin each other's relationships.”

Brianna shook her head. “No, but friends look out for each other. So if one of my friends was dating a low life loser, I'd tell him in hopes that I could protect him from getting some type of freak disease.”

Behind her one of Brianna's friends laughed. “Good one.”

Blake stood up. “What is wrong with you? Why do you have to be so mean to everyone? Maybe if you didn't act like freaking Cruella DeVille, you'd have some actual friends.”

“I do have real friends.” Brianna hooked her thumb behind her. “They're always here for me when I need them.”

I cleared my throat, shaking my head as I stood up. Everyone's attention turned to me as I brushed off my uniform shirt and took a step toward Brianna.

“Are they really?” I questioned knowingly, my eyes flicking to Ella for a moment, who smirked at me.

Brianna raised her chin. “Yep.”

A forced chuckle escaped my throat. “Well, let's see about that. Ella?”

Turning her head, Brianna watched as Ella walked over and took a seat at our lunch table, next to where I had been sitting. Brianna wasn't the only person who was surprised. Blake was currently staring between me and Ella with his eyes so wide they were in danger of falling out.

“You little bitch,” Brianna muttered, speaking to Ella.

Ella just shrugged and responded with, “Learned from the best.”

Before Brianna had a chance to respond, I continued to speak. “Anya?”

Standing behind Brianna's left shoulder, Anya's head lifted at hearing her name. Her eyes glanced around nervously as she said, “Yes?”

“You're such a nice girl, why are you even friends with Brianna?”

Anya shrugged her shoulders. “She gives me a ride to school every morning, and she made me cheerleading co-captain.”

“We're friends because we have the same interests,” Brianna corrected, tossing a glare at her co-captain.

“Whatever,” I spoke, rolling my eyes in annoyance. “I'm tired of you walking all over me like I'm some damn doormat.”

“A doormat looks better,” Brianna joked, smirking.

I feigned a laugh at Brianna's words. My laughter quickly turned into a stoic serious face as I spoke again. “You know what? Fuck you, Brianna. I'm tired of your complete and utter bullshit. I have never done a single thing to you that hasn't been out of retaliation to how you treat me.”

Ella laughed at my words from behind me, standing up to be next to me as she said, “Like how I dyed your hair that color.”

Brianna tucked her hair away as much as possible as everyone's eyes shifted to her head. By now we had the attention of everyone in the cafeteria.

From somewhere someone yelled, “Tampon top!” causing a ton of people to break out into loud laughter.

Once the laughter quieted down, I began to list on my fingers all of the things I did to her. “And like how I broke into your house, poured itching powder on your clothes, put blue dye on your toothbrush, wrapped your toilet in plastic, and put dead fish in your car.”

“Hey!” Lena yelled. “I put the fish in her car!”

Brianna's face was turning red with anger as she looked at the three of us. “You broke into my house?”

“Well, not really.” Ella smirked. “I let them in.”

That was when Brianna snapped. She reached for Ella and yanked her roughly by her shirt, causing Lena to jump up and practically dive across the table at her. I could feel the anger bubbling up inside of me, and suddenly, I was just ready for it to all end. I cocked my arm back and threw it forward with as much strength as I could muster up. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as my fist flew out in front of me, connected with Brianna's face, and causing a loud snap to ring out through the cafeteria.

Everyone froze where they were.

Lena on top of the lunch table, hands reaching out toward Ella and Brianna.

Blake standing beside me, his eyes wide and his mouth agape.

Ella leaning away from Brianna and back toward her sister.

Brianna with blood speckling her upper lip and tears welling in her eyes.

And finally, me with my fist still pressed against Brianna's nose.

Chapter 31

Silence filled the cafeteria for a moment before chaos broke out. There was loud
ooing
and laughter, and to my surprise, a few people were clapping.

I quickly yanked my hand back, shuddering when I saw that my knuckles were covered in a fine layer of blood; Brianna’s blood.

“Oh my gosh.” The reality of what I had just done finally had hit me. Brianna’s nose was slightly bent out of place with blood pouring down her mouth and dripping from her chin onto the hard tiled floors. Her blue eyes were wide, welling with tears as she reached up to cup her hands over her face. Her eyes flitted around the cafeteria, taking in all of the people who still sat in their seats, laughing at her. No one had come to help.

The tears spilled over, racing down her red flushed cheeks as she turned, and ran from the cafeteria. My heart ached as I realized what I had done.

“Damn, Forrester, who knew you had that in you.”

“Hulk smash!” an obnoxious jock screamed earning more laughter from around the room.

My hand was still clenched in a fist, held out to my side as I started to run. My feet carried me past all of the lunch tables, through the wide cafeteria doors, away from my peers, and into the hallway.

The hall was empty. No sign of Brianna anywhere, yet I knew exactly where she had gone. I followed my instincts, walking down the hallway, past the main office where the clinic was, and into the girl’s bathroom.

As soon as I pushed through the wooden bathroom door, I was met with the sound of sobs coming from one of the stalls. Pushing the bathroom door closed, I flipped the latch, locking it so that we wouldn’t be interrupted.

“Brianna?” I called out hesitantly.

My only response was the sound of a toilet flushing.

“I know you’re in here.”

The stall door, swung open, and out walked Brianna, still cupping her nose. The blood that had been on her chin was smeared as if she had wiped it away with toilet paper.

Her eyes glared daggers at me as she made her way over to the sinks, choosing the one farthest from where I stood. After using the back of one hand to turn the faucet on, Brianna began to delicately wash the blood off of her face.

“Come to abuse me some more?” Her voice came out in a quiet whisper. I was surprised I had even caught it over the sound of the water pouring into the sink.

“No, I came to apologize.”

Her eyes regarded me for a moment in the mirror before returning to her own reflection.

When she didn’t respond, I continued. “I’m sorry that I punched you in the face. I should’ve aimed lower.”

“Some apology,” she muttered.

I shrugged, taking a few steps toward the paper towel dispenser and grabbing a few. I handed them to Brianna, who took them reluctantly, before beginning to dab them around and below her nose.

“You can’t honestly believe that you didn’t deserve it. After all you’ve ever done to me?”

Brianna scoffed. “Oh, and you’re such a victim, aren’t you?”

I pondered her question for a moment, before I nodded. “Yeah, you started all of this. Ever since we were kids you’ve always hated me for no reason. I could understand if maybe I had done something to you to cause it, but no. I’ve just always been the butt of all your jokes.”

“Oh really?”

I nodded.

“So you don’t remember ever doing anything to me?”

I shook my head slowly, exaggerating my silent answer of, “No”.

“Wow,” she stated. “You’re full of shit, you know that?” She turned to the mirror, tilting her head upwards so that she could look into her nostrils. “You broke my fucking nose.”

“I said I was sorry.”

“Do you really think that your stupid little two syllable apology is going to make up for the humiliation that I have to go through wearing a nose splint? I think not.” Brianna winced, hissing in pain as she pushed on her nose, setting it back into place. “I hope that it doesn’t heal crooked.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes at her words. “It won’t.”

Brianna lifted her hands to her hat, pulling it off and letting her long burnt orange hair fall to her shoulders. With the frizz in her hair it now was poofy which made it appear shorter, and it was no longer shiny and silky like it had been the week before. She turned to face me, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at me with her bright blue eyes. “Look at what you’ve done to me.”

With Brianna’s hair unkempt and discolored, her nose bruised and still lightly dripping blood, and the look of defeat in her eyes, I couldn’t figure out why I had been so scared of her all of these years. At this moment, she looked more vulnerable than I had ever seen her look before, and in all honesty, I felt bad for her. Even if she was a spiteful bitch.

“I look like a troll doll.”

I stifled a laugh at her words, instantly seeing the resemblance. “Look, I truly am sorry, okay.” I raised my hands up into a surrendering motion.

Brianna shrugged her shoulders. “Well, what’s done is done.” She turned back toward the mirror quickly, but not before I saw another tear leak from her eye, and streak down her cheek. She discreetly tried to wipe it away by dabbing a napkin on it before moving said napkin to blot some blood.

I sighed heavily, walking closer to Brianna until I was standing right next to her; so close that I could smell her fruity perfume. An awkward silence floated around us as Brianna cleaned her nose, and I thought of something to say.

Suddenly, a question popped into my head. I knew the question was insensitive to the current situation, but I really wanted to know the answer to this question. “Uh,” I began, breaking the silence and gaining Brianna’s attention. “Did my itching powder work at all?”

Brianna squinted her eyes at me and raised her eyebrows, obviously surprised that I was asking such a question after I had just apologized.

“I was just wondering since I paid eight bucks for two packs of the stuff,” I quickly explained.

Brianna rolled her eyes and slowly began to laugh. A blank look crossed onto my face as Brianna’s laugh died down, and she began to cry fat tears. “It worked so well,” she groaned, in between soft sobs as she lifted her uniform shirt up to reveal her flat stomach. Along with her toned belly and shiny silver belly piercing, Brianna had red scratch marks all over her skin. The lines reddened drastically the farther up her shirt they were. There were even red marks along her hips.

She dropped her shirt back down, shaking her head before cupping it in her hands and leaned over the sink. “Everything is wrong,” she mumbled, the sobs now shaking her body.

I hesitantly placed my hand on her back, but was instantly shook off.

“Don’t touch me,” she cried.

“Sorry, geez.”

Brianna jumped up from her crouching position over the sink, glaring at me. “You’re always so damn sorry. Sorry about breaking into my house! Sorry about breaking my nose! Sorry about dying my hair, and my teeth, and pouring itching powder all over my clothes!”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Well, would you rather me not be sorry?” I questioned. “All of the times you bossed me around and bullied me, and teased me relentlessly for no reason, and not once have you ever apologized! Ever since we were kids you’ve made my life a living hell! If I could change one thing about my childhood, I’d make it so that I wouldn’t have grown up next door to you!”

Throwing her hands up into the air, Brianna raised her voice as she spoke. “Wow! I’d rather you own up to the things that you’ve done to me! Stop placing all of the blame on me!”

“But you’re to blame! We could have been friends if it weren’t for you!”

“Me?” Brianna exclaimed, pointing at her chest in shock. “Me?”

“Yes, you! I’ve never done anything to you until recently!”

“Oh really?” Raising her hand, Brianna began to tick off her fingers as she said, “That time when we were eight and my parents went away for work, you put gum in my hair and I had to go to school for nearly two months with a bald spot. That summer that your parents bought you that huge Barbie dream car and you gave everyone a ride in it except for me. The time I invited you to my birthday party and you didn’t even come! I had begged my parents for weeks about having my party be cowboy themed just because I knew you were obsessed with
Toy Story
, but you didn’t even come! I had to suffer through a stupid cowboy party on my birthday, and you know what, I hate cowboys!” she yelled, throwing her hands up in the air again in exasperation. “Every time I tried to reach out to you, you shut me down. Eventually I just gave up. I figured that you already hated me, so why not give you an actual reason to hate me.” Tears welled in Brianna’s eyes from her anger.

My head pounded as all of the information pulsated through. I had always assumed that Brianna had just hated me and chosen me to be the one to receive her torture since I was an easy target, but maybe I had been wrong.

“Really?” I questioned, my words coming out in a whisper.

“Really,” she growled.

“For all these years I thought you hated me for no reason, and just picked on me because I never stood up for myself. Then later I assumed that it was because you liked Blake.”

Brianna shook her head, rolling her eyes. “I like black guys. I just messed with Blake to piss you off. I don’t even find him attractive.”

I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face at her words. “I truly am sorry, Brianna. I had no idea about all of those things.”

She shrugged. “I’ve been known to hold a grudge.”

“You think?”

She chuckled. “I’m sorry I’ve been a bitch to you all these years. I honestly thought you deserved it”

Tucking my hair behind my ear, I shrugged. “Uh, it’s fine I guess.” I held my hand out to Brianna, waiting for her to shake it.

Her pale blue eyes glanced down at my hand, before she said, “Yeah, there’s no way in hell I’m shaking your hand. First off it’s got dried blood on it, and second off, we aren’t that cool yet. We’ll work our way up to a handshake. Okay?” She turned away from me and leaned into the mirror. “I think my nose will be fine though. Looks aligned and everything.”

“How do you know?”

A smirk twisted the corner of Brianna’s pink lips. “I want to be a surgeon someday.”

My brown eyes widened. I was learning so many new things today. “Well that’s something I didn’t expect. I thought you’d want to be a professional cheerleader or a stripper or something exotic.”

Brianna rolled her eyes at my words, but shrugged none the less. “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”

“What kind of surgeon?”

“Plastic,” she winked.

I groaned jokingly, mumbling, “I should have known,” as I leaned into the sink and flipped on the faucet, scrubbing the blood from my knuckles.

“Caught you red handed,” Brianna joked, making me laugh. She lifted her hat to her head and tucked her hair under it again, still smiling. “So it’s a truce?”

I nodded, wiping my wet hands on a paper towel. “Only if you try to be nicer.”

Brianna sighed. “I guess I can try to be nicer, but no promises.”

“And I’ll try not to think that you’re a bitch, but no promises,” I said sarcastically, before adding, “Truce.”

I smiled at her, and to my surprise, she returned the smile. Turning away, I went to unlock the bathroom door, and slipped out into the hallway, coming face to face with Blake.

His blue eyes pierced mine as he asked, “How did it go in there?”

“Following me?” I replied, ignoring his question. I began to walk down the hallway, back toward the cafeteria.

Blake grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers together. “You guys tried to get revenge on Brianna for blackmailing me?”

I glanced sideways at him. “No, you narcissist. I was just tired of her crap, and Lena was mad at her for blackmailing Ella.”

“I can’t believe you guys did all of those things. You really broke into her house?”

“Yep.”

Blake broke into a wide toothy grin. “So are you guys friends now?”

I scoffed before saying, “No, not at all, but we’ve agreed to tolerate each other at least.”

He nodded, mulling over my words. We walked, surrounded by a comfortable silence for a moment before Blake spoke again.

“Do you regret anything?” His dark hair flopped into his eyes as he turned to look at me, pulling me to a stop and causing me to meet his eyes.

A smirk turned the corner of my lips upwards. “Hell no. After all, there’s nothing better than revenge.”