Page 70 of My Rules for Revenge
“I saw what happened. Did it hurt?” Carlos asked.
“Yeah. It did. What happened to you?”
“I got kicked out by Porter, Marcus, Enrique, and some freaky Asian dude named Jerry. They literally picked me up and tossed me out. I managed to snag a couple of drinks, though.”
“I can’t believe Heather tried to kill me with a baseball bat. That was legitimately scary.”
“I told you that was gonna happen. She’s a goblin,” Carlos reminded me.
“Yeah. You were right. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking,” I admitted.
“It’s alright, man. This plan failed, but there’s always next time. This isn’t over until we say it’s over,” Carlos remarked.
“Honestly, I’m rethinking this entire feud with Heather,” I confessed.
“Huh?”
“I don’t know, man. I feel bad, I guess,” I said.
“Bro, that’s the alcohol talking. You’ll be fine tomorrow. Well, you might have a hangover tomorrow. You’ll be fine the day after tomorrow. I swear,” Carlos assured.
“I don’t know, Carlos, but when I was walking out of the house after Eddy saved my sorry ass, everyone just stared at me like I was the biggest monster ever. They looked at me with such disgust, and I couldn’t tell you why, but I felt completely humiliated in that moment, one of the worst feelings ever,” I explained.
“Dude, what the hell are you talking about? People always look at you like that.”
“You know, ever since I was little, my mom never wanted me to have a girlfriend. She’d always bash me for wanting one, as she thinks they’d just steal my money, cheat on me, break my heart, and break my stuff. She also said they’re super picky and high maintenance and that I’m better off never having one,” I explained.
“Whoa, that’s kind of messed up. Why are you bringing this up again? Did I miss something? I’m kind of wasted.”
“I guess that’s why I wanted a girlfriend in high school so badly. I wanted to prove to her that what she said was wrong. The thing is, they’ve all rejected me. You don’t understand how much I hate that. The fact that she’s turning out to be right. There’s nothing in this world that depresses me more.”
“That’s wild. Hey, you think they’ll let us back into the party now that everything’s chill?” Carlos asked.
“I’m sorry if I’m rambling. It’s just that I got an email from Bright Rock’s admissions team. He said they loved that little computer program I made with Manny. The one that translates any English word into Klingon. I gotta finish this year off strong and stop going viral on social media for the wrong reasons. I have to escape this place, man. What the hell am I doing? I’m single-handedly destroying my college dreams. I was wrong. My scholarship isn’t safe anymore.”
“That program was pretty sick. So, shall we go back?” Carlos asked.
“I’ll be stuck in a cycle of nothingness and pain if I stay here. That’s exactly what my mom wants. She wants to leech off my life force until there’s nothing left. I bet that’s why my dad left. She’ll never admit it, but I know that’s why.”
“I’m guessing that’s a ‘No.’ ” Carlos pointed out.
After the events of this party, I knew I needed to stop. My future was at stake. I knew that was a shitty and selfish reason to stop bullying Heather, but it was the horrible truth.
I slowly got up and got ready to walk back home. I wanted to be alone.
“Hey, where are you going?”
“I’m heading home, Carlos. It’s been a long night,” I commented.
“Dude, c’mon, just stay. I’ve done some bad things too. Things you don’t even know about,” Carlos confessed.
“Are you talking about the things we did to Heather? What else have you done?”
“No, not that. Well…never mind, it doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done,” Carlos explained.
“If you say so,” I replied.
As I walked home, I was utterly down in the dumps emotionally, and I felt like my organs were imploding. I continued to think about everything that had happened. I wouldn’t be in the position I was in if I hadn’t been such a douchebag. My head pounded like it was getting slashed from the inside with a pickaxe, and my legs cramped up as I walked. I wanted to collapse on the ground until the sun rose.
