Page 27 of Spite

Chapter Eleven

I’d seen a million and a half high school movies where students get revenge on each other, and during English class, as everyone separated into their groups and worked on their projects, I was struck with an idea, an idea that I quickly struck down almost as soon as it popped into my head.

Sabotaging papers, affecting grades…seemed so cliché, didn’t it? Plus, I didn’t know whether or not Christian even cared about his grades. I knew he had to do decent, otherwise the school wouldn’t let him play on the basketball team, but still. I think I’d rather break up his relationship with Jessie, first.

The classroom was a cacophony of sound, everyone seeming to talk at once. It was why Georgia felt comfortable enough to say, “So how did the party go? Did anything happen? Get any dirt?”

I grinned at her. This morning, Alec had been waiting at my locker. Again and again, between every class, he was trying to spend as much time with me as he could. I wouldn’t doubt he’d try to sit with us during lunch, which would only further enrage Christian, who currently was glaring at me like there was no tomorrow.

“It didn’t go how I expected it to,” I said, “but I think it went well.”

“I’ll say. Christian is giving you the meanest glare I’ve ever seen,” Georgia muttered. When she glanced to Christian’s group, he didn’t even bother to feign interest in something else. The jock had it out for me now. I’d taken his best friend from him; it was only a matter of time until I took Jessie, too.

I didn’t let Christian’s glaring bother me. In the realm of things, the scope of all the things he’d done to me in the past, glaring was something I could easily handle. Glaring was easy-peasy. It was nothing.

When lunch came, I found I was right. Georgia and I were sitting by ourselves, minding our own business, when a third presence came toward us—mainly toward me—and plopped himself down on the chair beside mine.

Alec. He did choose me over Christian.

I turned to face him, aware that Georgia was watching with wide, shocked eyes. I’d told her the gist of what happened at the party, but it was just now sinking in that I really had Alec wrapped around my finger. I probably could've shown up to that party wearing a potato sack and he still would’ve chosen me over Christian.

“Sitting with us at lunch?” I questioned, lifting my eyebrows. “Bold move, Alec.”

Alec shrugged. He looked particularly good today, wearing a dark grey shirt with jeans that hugged his legs. Smelled good, too. “I figured you wouldn’t want to sit at my table, so I made the sacrifice.”

“How noble,” I said, causing Georgia to laugh. “But I don’t think Christian would let me sit at your guys’ table, anyway. He’s been glaring at me all morning.” Beside me, my friend nodded.

“I’ll have a talk with him,” Alec said.

A talk with Christian? I knew it wouldn’t go anywhere, but I still nodded along. “I think that’d be a good idea, but maybe at the end of the day, so he doesn’t feel like ripping me a new one in chemistry?” Trying to get him to talk with Christian at the end of the day, after their last periods here before they left while I had photography…it just might work.

I could snoop, be late to photography. That teacher didn’t really seem to care anyway if students walked in late.

“Okay,” Alec spoke with a smile, a smile that sent my stomach tumbling as I remembered what I did on the phone with him Saturday night after the party. I let him listen to me masturbate. I wondered if it had been on his mind all day.

Georgia was unrolling her brown bagged lunch, staring at the both of us as she asked, “So, are you two, like, dating?”

I knew Alec wanted to be dating, but I had to keep my options open. Two other men were also on my hit list, so I couldn’t get tied down to Alec. “No,” I said, noting the way Alec held back a frown, “but we are going to the game tomorrow as our first official date. Maybe if he butters me up…” I trailed off, knowing damn well I would never let myself get tied down to the boy beside me, no matter how cute he was or how soft his lips were.

“You going to ask her to the winter formal?” Georgia giggled when I shot her a look.

The winter formal. A stupid name, considering the temperature was always comfortable here. We never got snow. But Georgia’s words did cause some gears to start turning in my head. As Alec stuttered, clearly unable to tell whether I wanted to go with him or not, I was lost in my own head, coming up with a plan. The only one I wasn’t sure about yet was Xander. He didn’t seem like the type of guy who went to school dances, which was why I never put much thought to it, but if I could get all three of them to come…I could break them all in front of the whole school.

Alec stuttered, “Well, it’s, uh, it’s still like a month away.” His emerald stare lingered on me. “No pressure. I mean, we could always go as friends.” As friends. Right. Friends who listen to each other masturbate.

The winter formal was in late February, and it was supposed to be the dance where the girl asks the guy, anyway. Kind of like a Sadie Hawkins dance, but here in River High they called it Snowball. Since Georgia had brought it up, I nudged her and asked, “Anyone you want to bring to the dance?”

Georgia laughed. “No. I doubt I’ll go. Dances aren’t really my thing.” Just like parties, clearly.

I could see that, but a selfish part of me wanted her there, just in case my plan worked and I was able to break Christian, Xander, and Alec in front of the whole school. Would she be cheering me on? She was my friend, but she wasn’t like Leah. I wasn’t sure if she was totally in this revenge scheme of mine or not.

“If I have to go, you have to go,” I said. “We could go dress shopping. That would be fun.” Would it? I wasn’t sure. Going to the mall, trying on dresses, seemed like such a time suck, but the moment I mentioned it, Georgia’s eyes lit up. Maybe dances just weren’t her thing because no one had asked her to one before.

“If you two need a chauffeur, I’m more than happy to offer up my services,” Alec spoke with a grin.

The rest of lunch passed quickly. Much too quickly. Soon enough, I broke away from Georgia and Alec to go to my locker, grabbing my chemistry book. Even though Alec was in the same class, I wasn’t feeling it. Mainly because Christian was also in it, and Jessie. I had no idea whether or not she’d want to talk to me after I walked out of her party. Hell, I had no idea if there was any gossip about it, but from what it looked like at lunch, Jessie didn’t let Christian put his arm around her.

Dating problems, maybe, because of me. The seed was planted. Thanks to what Alec had said, she probably thought Christian had a thing for me. As much as I didn’t want to hurt her, I had to water this specific seed, foster it and watch it grow.

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