Page 12 of My Rules for Revenge (Twisted YA Mysteries #1)

“You called them all two-faced snakes and threw chocolate milk on them, remember?”

“They’re still not over that?” I asked.

“No, they are not over that. Like, at all.”

“Well—I mean, they shouldn’t have skipped the lunch line,” I said, to jog her memory.

“I know.”

“I asked them nicely, and they purposefully ignored me.”

“I know,” Vivian sighed.

“I love how I can do that to them and not get in huge trouble, but if I touch Jacob, I’ll go to federal prison.”

“I heard Jacob fixes Newman’s computer a lot. He also listens to his marital problems, apparently.”

“Please don’t tell me anything more. You’re making me nauseous. I’ll vomit,” I asserted.

Vivian closed her notebook and lightly tapped it. She stopped and quickly grasped my shoulder. A lightbulb seemed to go off on top of her head.

“You should ask Eddy to help you. He’s a good kid; I’m sure he’ll do it. He can ask his teammates to join in,” Vivian suggested.

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea. You know, for someone who’s all about peace, I’m surprised you suggested this.”

“I won’t personally attack or bully Jacob with you, but I can still help you indirectly,” Vivian whispered.

“Well, maybe you can peacefully bully him. You can pelt him with rocks that have the peace sign carved on them.”

“I can’t do that.”

“You can call them the rocks of tranquility,” I said jokingly.

“I can’t really call them that.”

“So, how do I convince Eddy to help me?” I asked.

“You can talk to him.”

“I can, but maybe I could just punch him until he agrees to be my personal servant.”

“Heather, no.”

“I’m kidding. I’ll make him feel bad for squeezing my butt, and then he’ll help me for sure.”

“My god, Heather. He did not do that,” Vivian scoffed.

I clapped my hands together in delight.

“I’ll make him think that’s what he did.”

“Heather!”

“Alright, fine. I’ll try to be nice. I’ll ask him if he wants to help me politely obliterate Jacob’s reputation and future.”

Vivian sighed and shook her head.

“For you, that works.”

I used my hand to shield the blistering sun while I walked over to the P.E.

field. The grass was freshly cut and leveled, but it smelled like a mixture of motor oil and green leaves.

It was no surprise that it was professionally detailed and kept to a high standard.

The high school sports programs at Brightwood High got most of the budget.

I disliked having to ask athletes for help.

Most of the ones I knew were loud, arrogant, and full of themselves.

Admittedly, Eddy seemed to be different. He was the only reason I considered this proposition from Vivian. If not, I would’ve asked the sexually active band geeks for help or maybe some of the student government kiss-ups. Okay, maybe not the band geeks. They were pretty freaky…and horny.

I spotted Eddy dribbling a soccer ball with a few of his friends near the end of the field. I forced myself to walk over to them. As I approached them, a few of them smiled and whispered to one another while Eddy looked fearful.

I only recognized one of them, Frank Jackson.

His nickname was “Frankie.” He was a hulking basketball player with a beautiful tan who the cheerleaders went nuts for.

I felt he was always a bit empty upstairs, but that didn’t seem to matter much.

He was a talented super athlete with light brown eyes, and he knew how to use his charm to make the girls squeal like baby pigs.

I heard that he was supposedly a very kind person, deep down. I never believed that.

“Hey, guys. Eddy, can I talk to you?”

Before he could answer, Frankie piped up.

“Hey, you look—really—familiar,” Frankie stammered while the others laughed at him.

“Yeah, I bet I do. We go to the same school. Obviously.”

“C’mon, guys, leave her alone,” Eddy demanded.

“Is she your girl?” Frankie asked.

“Absolutely not,” Eddy replied.

I felt a knot in my stomach when he forcefully said that. I wasn’t particularly upset that he had said that, but the way he did it took me by surprise.

“Well, damn. I get it,” I said resentfully.

“Oh, no, no, no. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Eddy said fearfully.

“Alright, I’m walking over here now,” I said as I stepped a few feet away from their inner circle. Eddy quickly followed me as his friends curiously looked on.

“I’m sorry, Heather. I swear Frankie means well, but he just likes to mess with people too much,” Eddy explained.

“Good. I can use that to my advantage, then.”

“What do you mean?” Eddy asked.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I need your help,” I expressed.

Eddy flashed a grin and perked up.

“Oh. Okay. Yeah, sure. I’ll help you.”

“I’m getting revenge on Jacob for what he did to me. You know, the evil piece of trash who leaked my pics.”

“Right. I’m sorry you went through all that.

What he did was wicked. Look, I’ll be honest: I don’t like conflict or fighting.

I’m kind of a pacifist, I guess. Despite that, I still think Jacob deserves punishment for what he did.

I’ll help you with whatever you need,” Eddy said, offering his support.

The knot in my stomach began to dissipate.

“That’s hot!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah, anytime. Wait, what?”

“No, nothing,” I replied.

“What…?”

Eddy looked perplexed while I tried my best to contain my giggling. I hadn’t meant to say that as loudly as I did.

“So, anyway, I need you and your basketball buddies. Do you think you could convince them somehow? I don’t have anything to offer in return. Maybe my friendship?” I suggested.

Eddy chuckled.

“I’m sure they would love your friendship. I can try to convince them, but I’m not entirely sure they would listen to me. They barely listen to me on the court,” Eddy explained.

“Shit”

“I know someone they will listen to,” Eddy offered.

Eddy glanced at Frankie, who held the soccer ball high up while a short player jumped up and tried to get it.

I made a face of slight disgust, like I had just smelled a gallon of spoiled milk.

“Oh. Cool,” I replied.

“Trust me, I get it, but deep down, he’s a good guy. He’ll help you and get the others to help as well. All you have to do is tell us the game plan,” Eddy explained.

I was lucky. If I didn’t have these guys to help me, who knows who I would’ve enlisted in my army of vengeance-seeking nerd destroyers?

In looking back, however, I often wondered if things would have turned out differently if I hadn’t enlisted their help.

“Alright, fine,” I said in agreement.

“I guess in this way, I’ll be making up for what I did to you. When I accidentally grazed your…you know.”

“It’s cool, Eddy. I was just mad at something else. You don’t have to keep apologizing.”

“Cool?”

“Cool,” I replied.

“So…”

“How do you guys feel about handling pigs?” I asked.

“I don’t have experience with that.”

“Not actual pigs. I’ll explain.”

Amidst the sea of students in the school’s cafeteria, Vivian and I sat exactly two tables behind Jacob and Carlos while they ate lunch.

We made sure that their backs were turned to us so that they would be totally clueless about what would happen next.

I readied my phone to record and waited for Eddy and his teammates to execute my plan.

“This is going to be the greatest thing ever,” I said excitedly.

“I’m nervous. Something bad is definitely going to happen,” Vivian asserted.

“You mean something good is definitely going to happen,” I replied.

Altogether, there were around thirty little plastic toy pigs that I had specially ordered for this occasion. The store owner was nice enough to put them in gift baskets for me.

Each piggy had a different sticker that I had made and printed out. One said, “I Hate Women - Misogynist On Board,” another one said, “Girls are Skanks,” and another one said what you would expect: “Misogynistic Pig.”

We saw Eddy, Frankie, and a few of their teammates carrying the various “gift baskets” I bought.

The shortest teammate, Marcus, along with their tallest player, Porter, held confetti cannons.

Eddy nodded at me while Frankie winked. I opened my ears.

Eddy was the first one to place a “pig basket” in front of Jacob.

Frankie slammed his next to it. Jacob looked confused at the basket.

“Hello? Can I help you with something?” Jacob asked.

“We just wanted to swing by and congratulate you, bro,” Frankie expressed.

“Congratulate me on what? Why did you put this here? Are you high?” Jacob asked.

“We heard you turned into a modern woman-hating-pig , and that you finally came out of the closet, or should I say pig pen? ” Eddy mocked.

“Where the hell did you hear that bullshit? What is this? Are you guys screwing with me?!” Jacob thundered.

“It’s okay to be a pig , my man. We live in the modern era,” Frankie mocked.

“Yeah, obviously we live in the modern era. Why don’t you guys get the hell out of here and leave us alone?” Carlos asked.

“We’re not talking to you, bro.” Frankie snapped.

“Oh, really?” Carlos asked.

“Oh, no,” Vivian whispered to me.

“Oh, yes,” I whispered back.

“Alright, this has gone far enough. This is ridiculous,” Jacob said as he picked up the pig basket. He was about to throw it, but Frankie latched on to it and pushed it back down.

“Hey, guys, let’s not get physical,” Eddy cautioned.

“Your boy is the one getting physical, you moron,” Carlos shot back. He tried to stand up but was held down by Marcus and Porter. Eddy tried to motion for them to calm down, but they waited for Frankie’s instruction. They only listened to him.

“Get this out of my face!” Jacob demanded.

“Accept the gift—Pig!” Frankie boomed.

Before things got to a point where someone took a swing at the other, Jacob silenced the entire cafeteria with one sentence.

The other students had been watching and listening beforehand, so they heard everything.

That’s typically what happened when you had four jocks trying to gift a bunch of toy pigs to another guy. It definitely got their attention.