Page 39 of The Wrong Side of Kai
I shake my head as I pull off my hat and remove my gloves. My cheeks sting from the cold, like my earlier tears have frozen into my skin. “Only sometimes with Chyna,” I say with a shrug. “Do you?”
“Nope,” Kai says. He looks out the window, watching the figures outside. The café is bustling with people, but we’re both resigned to silence. We’re usually so playful around one another, but today there’s no room for joking. We’re both somber.
Our waitress approaches and we order two large hot chocolates, topped with marshmallows and whipped cream. They arrive a few minutes later and we both wrap our hands around the steaming hot mugs. We haven’t fully defrosted yet.
“Vanessa,” Kai says as he scoops up a mouthful of cream with a spoon. He looks across the booth at me, his gaze capturing mine, and shoves the cream into his mouth. “Do you want to tell me what happened this morning? With Harrison? He threatened you – how?”
I should have known Kai wouldn’t believe me when I told him it was nothing. I look down at my hot chocolate, trying to waste some time, hoping Kai will change the subject if I stay silent for long enough, but he just stays quiet, waiting.
“He told me to stop messing around with him or I’ll regret it,” I say finally, not looking up. My voice doesn’t sound like my own. “He got aggressive. He put his hands on me.”
Kai sits bolt upright and lowers his spoon. “What?”
“It’s fine,” I say quickly. “I guess I deserved it. Wehavebeen screwing around with him. He’s bound to get pissed at me.”
“No,” Kai objects, shaking his head fast. “You don’t deserve it. You didn’t deserve for that video to be sent out, and you don’t deserve to be threatened, or touched. Harrison is the one who deserves everything he’s getting.”
I sit forward in the booth and hunch over my mug, touching the cream with the tip of my finger. I can’t look Kai in the eye right now. I still feel a little shaken up, but I also feel. . . angry. The right thing to do would be to stop all of this now before we make it any worse, before we really push Harrison to the edge. . . but I also want to mess with him more than ever. It’s a mental battle, and I find myself leaning toward taking the side I know is wrong.
I look up at Kai. “Are we still breaking into his house tonight?”
A touch of weariness runs over Kai’s face. “Maybe we should stop, Nessie,” he says hesitantly. “Sure, it’s fun messing with Harrison, but not if it means he’s going to retaliate. Remember he doesn’t know I’m involved. He thinks this is all you, and I don’t want you to end up getting hurt because of an idea I suggested.”
I narrow my eyes at him. It’s the first time I’ve actually heard Kai be sensible in regards to our whole revenge plot. It makes him look older, wiser. “I can handle Harrison,” I tell him, though I’m not sure I believe my own reassurances.
“Are you forgetting that I witnessed you literallyfleeingfrom school an hour ago?”
I lift my mug, taking a long sip of my hot chocolate. I wipe the cream from my mouth. “Can I ask you about Sierra?” I say, changing the subject, sparing my own blushes. I know Kai probably doesn’t want to talk about it, but I’ve been thinking about him and her since yesterday.
Kai shrugs and sits back in the booth, playing with his hands in his lap; it’s clear he’s uncomfortable. I know this isn’t an easy topic for him to discuss. “What do you want to know?”
I pause. It’s not an easy question for me either. “Did you love her?”
I stare at him, watching him intently. He looks pained and I wish I hadn’t brought her up, but it’s too late now. “Honestly? Yeah. I gave everything to that girl. Like, I really had this vision of us being together for real. High school sweethearts, you know? She just made me happy, I guess.” He smiles a little as his eyes bore into the table, but his entire expression looks heartbroken.
I had no idea that Kai and I were such polar opposites – he believes in happily-ever-afters, whereas I doubt they even exist. “It was that serious, huh?”
“It was for me, but I was so caught up in it all that I didn’t even realize she wasn’t as into the relationship as I was, and in the end she totally played me.” He lifts his head, clenching his jaw as he stares out the window. There’s probably a thousand different thoughts floating around his head right now. . . and I’m about to invade them with some more questions.
“So why aren’t you screwing withher?”
He turns slowly to look at me, his expression solemn. “Because I’ve already told her everything I needed to. She knows how I feel about her now, and there’s nothing more that either of us can say. Harrison, however. . .” His words taper off. “He did a damn fine job convincing my girlfriend that the grass was a million times greener on his side of the fence.”
I smile delicately at him over the rim of my mug, but not for long, because soon a devious grin toys at my lips. “Well, that’s why we’re going to break into his house tonight. So that you can let Harrison knowexactlyhow you feel. Are you in?”
“I’m in,” Kai says, and he clinks his mug against mine.
16
We stand behind the oak tree outside Harrison’s house, the same one we hid behind on Monday evening. It’s now Thursday and it’s four minutes to midnight. We’re wrapped up in thick coats and hats to battle the elements, and I’m constantly rubbing my hands together to create warmth. It’s been a freezing journey over here, biking across Westerville on the slushy roads, and we dumped the bikes five minutes down the street. We’ve walked the rest of the way, and my limbs feel like ice.
“First we should try every door and window around the back,” Kai says, studying the house, deciding our best course of action. He peers around the trees, tapping his finger against his lips.
“Or we can just try the basement window,” I say. Kai looks over his shoulder at me, raising an expectant eyebrow. “It’s always left unlocked. It’s how Harrison used to sneak me in.”
“The basement?”
“What? You think Harrison let me use the front door?” I laugh bitterly and gently push past him, taking the lead.
