Page 16 of Revenge

Exhaling, I pulled up my panties and felt around on the floor for my skirt. We straightened ourselves out in silence and Elliot started up the engine. We didn’t speak a word as he drove me back to campus, dropping me off at the precise spot where Jason had parked his car just a few hours ago.

Before I stepped out of the car, Elliot put a hand on my shoulder, and squeezed it. That was all. I couldn’t care less. Once he’d pulled away, leaving me with my head spinning, standing in the cold, that’s when the smile came. Shaking my head, I turned to head back into the dorm.

Eric could go fuck himself.

I was over it.

3

The next morning, I woke up thinking about him.

It’d all started in ninth grade. My parents had just gotten a divorce the summer before, so my dad moved away while my mom and I stayed in Raleigh. I hadn’t cared at the time, still don’t. The dude was a jerk, not a father.

We weren’t poor, solid middle class if anything. I was always agoth, loud-spoken, unafraid of expressing myself and my thoughts. Whether it was through the color of my hair orthe swearsflying from my lips.

In ninth grade, I’d met Elliot. And everything had changed.

I rolled over in bed to check the time on my alarm clock. 10:40 AM. Lifting my head up from my pillow, I scanned around the room for signs of life from Vivian. Her half of the room was just as demolished as before, if not more so. It looked as if she’d shed her outfit the second she’d returned for the night, a small pool consisting of her clothes and purse discarded at the door.

I closed my eyes again, and my thoughts turned back to him.

Elliot was different from people like me and Pierre. Physically charming, likable in seconds, the kind of kid that doesn’t need to dish out compliments in order to make friends. I’d watched him from afar for months. Maybe he’d known at first, maybe he didn’t. I hadn’t been obvious about my feelings for him.

Then one day, I’d bumped into him while walking down the hall at school. It was the first time I’d really looked into his eyes, that he’d acknowledged my existence.

I lifted the sheets off of me and slid my feet onto the carpeted floor. I sat there for a moment, looking at the soft light filtering in through the cracks of the window shades, glossing over my desk and vanity.

I didn’t know what it was that I saw in him—maybe a flicker of warmth in those eyes—that kept me drooling over him for years, even after he’d stripped me down, humiliating me in front of the whole school, spread vile rumors about my dad, forced Pierre to do his homework and did everything else under the sun that’s stereotypical of a high school bad boy. Maybe it was just his pretty face.

His friends had been the worst part.

If it’d just been Elliot, I could’ve socked him in the jaw every time he threatened me, no problem. But he always had company. Even if they weren’t manhandling me or shooting glares in my direction, they had the moral support of an entire school body ready to snicker and gasp at my slightest moments of embarrassment.

The school administrators were another story. Elliot and friends had rich parents who had friends, and friends of friends, who ran the scene around Woodman. Even if I’d reported Elliot, the security guards would more likely shut my mouth than come to my rescue. It’d sucked, but after months of the same shit, I’d learned to deal with it. I’d learned not to let it get to me.

Despite their massive trust funds, Elliot and his gang just so happened to end up at the same shitty kind of public university that I did.

Some luck I had.

I felt the urge to erupt into spitting laughter as I dragged myself out of bed to pull on some clothes.

Kathleen Silver, you’re a piece of fucking gold. It may have taken me four years to prove that to myself, but it was worth it in the end. Last night couldn’t have been real. But it was.

I was capable of facing my fears.

Once I’d pulled on a T-shirt and some shorts, I reached for my phone. Apparently, I hadn’t been the only having the best night of their life, either.

My roommate came in at 3 and vomited all over the fucking place,Pierre had texted me.How was your night?

This time, I didn’t resist the urge to chuckle to myself. I couldn’t give a shit if my laughter was going to wake up Vivian. She deserved some lost beauty sleep.

Honestly,I began writing,not as shitty as I thought it’d be.

I’d leave it at that.

After brushing my hair and clasping a few bangles up my arm, I slid on my boots, grabbed my room key, and headed out the door. The hallway was completely still and quiet, which worked for me. I wanted to get a head-start on finding my classes before the coursework started to actually pile on. As I walked toward the elevator, I pulled up my schedule for the semester on my phone, and began reading through the list. First class of the day was at eight.

I entered the elevator, punched the button to bring me to the ground floor, and blew out a long breath as the doors squealed shut in front of me.

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