Page 109 of My Rules for Revenge
“It’s Saturday; you have class?”
“I’m taking weekend classes. I fell behind after I transferred schools. I couldn’t focus at all on my studies. You can figure out why,” Indira explained.
“I get it,” I nodded.She was being as studious as she had ever been, I thought.
As she turned to continue walking, she said one last thing to me.
“Truthfully, it didn’t make me feel any better. It felt good at the moment, but not now. I’m not proud of what I did. I am sorry about Eddy. We slept together, and it meant nothing to him. Despite what he has done, maybe you’ll be the one for him. I know I wasn’t.”
I blew out a long sigh of relief as I watched her get farther and farther away. When she was out of view, I slowly trudged over to Vivian’s car. It felt good to forgive her. I felt a certain peace with her that I wouldn’t have felt otherwise.
A tight knot formed in my stomach, however, when Eddy re-entered my thoughts. I knew that I had done horrible things, but what Eddy did was very upsetting. As terrible as it sounded, I felt my actions against Indira and Jacob were justified. On the other hand, Eddy had manipulated Indira to get what he wanted. I’m not saying I was a better person than Eddy, but he felt he had the right to tell me my actions were wrong, and if that was the case, I felt I had the same right.
I so wanted it to be a big lie so I could have my silver lining. I selfishly wanted there to be a justification—a single reason thatcleared his name and made everything right—I liked him that much.
The next day, I texted Eddy to meet with me at the park where he practiced shooting baskets.
There was no one on the playground, and no one was going for a run. I sat on a moist bench underneath a shelter and waited. It had rained the day before. The gloomy environment mirrored the way I was feeling. A few minutes later, he arrived, and we gave each other awkward grins. He then sat down in front of me.
“Hey,” Eddy said with a smile.
“Hey.”
“I heard you talked to Jacob,” Eddy commented.
“I did. We hashed things out,” I replied with a smile.
“Nice. I mean, that’s great. I’m glad you guys worked things out,” Eddy added.
“You were right about stopping our feud. I didn’t realize how destructive I was becoming. I wanted revenge at any cost, and I now know that wasn’t exactly the answer,” I admitted.
“Well, look, I only said those things because I really like you and I care about you.”
“I know,” I nodded.
He softly grabbed my arms, leaned over, and kissed me. I barely reciprocated. He didn’t seem to notice as he sat back down.
“Well, this is good. Jacob made that video, apologized for everything, and cleared my name. I’m glad he’s trying to change,” Eddy commented.
“Yeah, he did clear your name. You were innocent after all, right?” I asked.
“Well, yeah, of course. You know that,” Eddy affirmed.
“Do I know that?” I asked, with a hint of doubt in my voice.
Confusion washed over Eddy’s face as he lightly chuckled.
“Heather, it’s me. You know who I am.”
“Eddy, did you ever hook up with Indira? I find it weird that out of all the girls at school, she was the one who got her pictures leaked.”
“No, never. I barely know who she is.”
“You barely knew her? You told me you guys studied together a few times. Which one is it?”
“Well, yeah. I studied with her like twice, but I didn’t know her that well.”
“Really?” I asked, this time with a tone of disbelief.
