Page 10 of A Vicious Rumor

I felt the loss of it immediately and turned and put my hand out. "Give it," I said sternly.

She looked up at me and a glint of mischief sparked in her eyes. "Kiss me first," she taunted.

"No," I replied. "This isn't a game, and I'm not laughing."

She scrunched her face at me. "Fine, then." I lunged at her, but I was too late. She flung the bracelet out into the darkness over the edge of the cliff, laughing the entire time.

"You stupid bitch," I growled, turning away from her.

"Come on, Alyssa. He must not be into girls if he'd pass on us," I heard her say as I pulled out my phone and turned the flashlight on.

I didn't care what those girls thought. I didn't care about who they'd tell or what they'd say. Right now, the only thing on my mind was finding my bracelet. The moment that I saw it fly over the edge of the cliff I realized, it was the only thing that I actually seemed to care about in this world.

A little bead given to a little boy by a little girl was more important to me than pretty much anything.

I put my phone between my teeth to hold the light up and started sliding down the muddy cliffside, grabbing onto tree trunks to slow my descent to the bottom. My boot caught on a root and I lost my footing momentarily. "Shit," I exclaimed, as I continued to slide, feeling the mud cake against my jeans. I put my foot out and braced for the impact as I hit a boulder sticking out from the cliffside.

I was nearly at the bottom now, and the slope had mostly flattened so that I was able to walk down the last few feet to the river's edge. If the bracelet had gotten swept downstream I didn't know what I'd do. The thought of it was so painful, I put it out of my mind and got to work looking for the little trinket.

I wasn't sure how long I was down there. My hands were filthy and scratched up from searching through the underbrush. Just as I was about to give up, the light from my phone caught the edge of something that sparkled just a bit in the water. I looked out to see my bracelet sitting on top of a rock about two feet into the river.

I didn't hesitate. I waded through the water, the wetness seeping easily through my boots, but I didn't care. I had one goal in mind, and I was worried that a swell of water might come and carry the thing down the river if I wasn't quick. I reached forward and breathed a sigh of relief as I felt my fingers wrap around the small bead. I made my way back to the shore and sat down in the mud.

I examined the little bead and ground my teeth as I realized a large crack had appeared at its center. The leather was soaked and stretched out from when the idiot girl had pulled it over my fist. It must have cracked when it landed on the rock. I was angry that it was damaged, but I still realized my good fortune. If it had washed downstream, I doubted I'd ever find it again.

I tugged and snapped the leather, wrapping the pieces around my wrist and retying it tight. There was nothing I could do about the crack. At least it hadn't split clean down the middle. Even still, I wasn't going to let what that girl had done go. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but she needed to learn a lesson, and I was happy to teach it to her.

I stood up, tucked my muddy cell phone into my muddy pants, and started pulling myself up the cliffside, using the trees as leverage for the climb. About fifteen minutes later and I was pushing myself up onto the cliff's edge, my breath heavy and my anger even heavier. They say exercise is supposed to calm you, but whoever said that clearly hadn't lived my life.

Nothing calmed me.

"ABCDEFU" by Gayle was playing as I made my way across the lawn. I glared at anyone who dared so much as glance my way. I wanted to find that girl, teach her that she was wrong not to be scared of me, and then get the fuck away from all of this plastic that constantly surrounded me.

I stepped into one of the open corridors and looked around. The party had progressed to where Scissors’ parties always progressed to, basically the equivalent of an open orgy. Two girls with their tits out ran past me, giggling like idiots as some random guy chased after them. To my right a girl was giving her best attempt at a blowjob to the guy standing over her in one of the corridor corners. From his bored expression, it seemed like she needed some practice.

I made my way forward, turning left into one of the lounge rooms. There I saw Meaghan's idiot friend Alyssa getting railed over the edge of one of the sofas. The guy rutting behind her clearly was in it for the short game, because her clothes were still on, her top just pushed up to expose her breasts, and her jeans pulled down for easy access.

Too bad for him, he probably didn't know that this girl got around more than a carousel. But, then again, maybe he didn't care.

"Hey," I said, walking forward and standing in front of her.

Her moans were faker than a casting couch video and just as bad. "Dude," the guy behind her said, not bothering to stop his movements.

"It'll just be a minute," I said to him, holding up a hand, totally unbothered.

"If you think I'm gonna blow you, get lost," she said before gasping as the guy pushed into her hard.

I leaned down and looked her dead in the eyes. "I wouldn't give you that privilege, sweetheart. Where's your friend?"

"Ah!" she gasped, turning around to glare at the guy. She tried to pull down her shirt to cover herself, and I laughed.

"Don't bother," I chuckled. "I'm not interested. Now," I snapped my fingers in her face. "Your friend. Where is she?"

"Fuck," she moaned. "Scissors," she finally gasped out, "she went off with Scissors."

I rolled my eyes. Of course she did. I stood and made my way to leave, knowing exactly where Scissors took the stupid girl.

"Hey!" Alyssa called after me. I spared a second to turn around and look at her.

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