Page 124 of Science Project

She was a witch, evil, and deserved to die. Just like my father.

Imani leaned in, her brown eyes wide. “Good.”

My eyes widened slightly, mirroring hers. I had been reading a bit lately and learned that mirroring someone’s expression might make them like me a bit more. But I didn’t know if I was that redeemable.

The other girls shared a quiet look.

“She’s,” Allie started, looking over at Imani, “a bit of …”

“A bitch,” Imani said, crossing her arms and glaring down at her food. “I think she literally has it out for me. My parents were stupid and asked for her protection a long time ago, and now, she owns them.”

“She owns this entire town,” Vera whispered, curling her arms around herself, too, and unable to keep eye contact, her entire expression turned down.

And I recognized that she must’ve had personal experience with her.

I sat up taller and furrowed my brow. “What’d she do to you?”

Vera opened and closed her mouth a handful of times, then glanced at Maddie.

Maddie pursed her lips. “Kidnapped her and tried to sell her into their sex ring.”

My entire body froze up, and I scrunched my sandwich between my fingers. My father had used me for so, so long. This was unacceptable. I didn’t want any girl to go through that, and I could only imagine how someone as sweet as Vera must’ve felt.

“She does own everyone,” Sakura whispered. “Mr. Avery too.”

I looked around at the faces of my new friends, and they stayed quiet.

“Well then, we need to do something,” I said, a protective urge surging through me. If Akio didn’t want to do anything, it would be fine. But I didn’t know how many lives she had truly affected. “We can’t let her get away with all this.”

“We can get Poison on it,” Imani suggested.

“Do we need Poison?” I asked. “Why can’t we do it ourselves?”

For me, revenge felt best when I was getting it myself. Not when I watched Akio do it. We were capable of making Akio’s mother’s life a living hell by ourselves. She couldn’t outrun or outfight all of us.

While the other girls seemed hesitant, Imani smirked. “That’s not a bad idea.”

“Imani, we can’t—” Allie started.

“Yes, we can,” she said, glancing around the table as the lunch bell rang. “And if you girls want in, meet me in the back of the student lot tomorrow morning before school. We’ll come up with a plan to destroy this town for good. Together.”

Students bustled by us to dump their trays in the garbage and head to their next class, but we stayed seated, all looking at each other and slowly agreeing that we would do this ourselves, that we didn’t need anyone else.

“Let’s go, girls!” the dean shouted from the doors. “Lunch is over. Get to class!”

CHAPTER

EIGHTY

AKIO

I stood at the door to my parents’ mansion. I hadn’t been back in weeks, but after Nicole had told me that she planned to take on my parents with her new friends, I knew that I had to do something. Her intentions were golden, but she didn’t know what my parents were capable of. They had done things far worse than what I had done for Nicole.

If Nicole got in their way, they’d kill her without a second thought.

After I typed my code into the lock, the door clicked open. Being back here made me sick to my stomach, but I had no other choice. I stepped into the house and decided that I wouldn’t take my shoes off. I wasn’t staying long anyway.

As if she had been waiting for me, Mom sat in our cushioned armchair and watched me walk into the room. Her men kept their eyes and their guns trained on me, and I knew that I had to make this as convincing as possible.

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