Page 33 of My Rules for Revenge (Twisted YA Mysteries #1)

“I had a nice dress that I wore to an awards ceremony for excelling in mathematics. After it ended, I left the auditorium and began to head back to class. Everything was normal as usual, but then, out of nowhere, a guy came running in my direction and bumped into me. You’ll never guess what happened next,” she said.

“I’m not guessing.”

“He had a bottle of chocolate milk that was open, and he spilled it all over my dress. I screamed and cursed him out—I caused a big scene,” she asserted.

“And you cursed? That must have been a hundred years ago,” I commented.

“He was very sorry, but I was still very upset. I think I even made him cry a bit, and then I stormed off,” she said.

“Wow! You made him cry? Good for you, Mom. That’s great,” I exclaimed.

“No, not great. Afterwards, I felt terrible. I regretted everything.”

“You shouldn’t have regretted anything. He was a complete donkey.”

“Thankfully, a few days later, the guy found me. He came to apologize again, but this time I apologized.”

“What? Why? That’s crazy. He’s the one who ruined your dress. I would have pummeled that guy’s face until it turned to dust.”

“At that moment, I think I realized that life goes a lot easier when you forgive people,” she affirmed.

“Yeah, nah. I definitely would have stuck him in a barrel and rolled it down a hill.”

“Well, if I had done that, I don’t think we would’ve gotten married years later,” she said.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Yep.”

“That guy was Dad? What the hell?”

“Now, imagine if I hadn’t forgiven him.”

“Huh, that’s interesting. That was a pretty cool story. Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome. Now, can we please talk about what happened at the graveyard?”

“Nope, I’m still mad at you. Bye.”

I scurried away before she was able to say anything else.

When my mom told that story, there was a very small, minute, minuscule part of me that considered for half a second that maybe I should've forgiven Jacob and ended it all. Eddy wouldn’t have been mad at me anymore, and I would have been able to solely focus on school and reading.

The thought of doing it just to appease a boy I liked didn’t sit well with me, though. It felt wrong, and I quickly squashed any notion of forgiving Jacob. He had leaked my nudes and even got me into a schoolyard brawl with the Johansson twins. I wasn’t prepared to let bygones be bygones.

The next day at school, I spoke with Vivian in the hallway while I placed a lighter, a miniature baseball bat, and my schoolbooks away. It seemed like overkill, but I wanted to be prepared at a moment’s notice if Jacob and his worms decided to strike again.

“So, what did Frankie tell you?” I asked.

“It took a bit to get it out of him, but he told me that Eddy is still mad.”

“Boo hoo, I don’t care. He’s being weird.”

“He also told me that Eddy plans to talk to Jacob about everything that’s happened,” Vivian explained.

“What the hell? Why? Yeah, good luck. He’s not going to listen to him. He’s a cruel, woman-hating idiot who deserves to get shanked in prison,” I exclaimed.

“That’s oddly specific…and violent.”

“My favorite combination.”

Before we were able to speak further, Angelica Johansson, of all people, turned the corner and stomped towards us. I prepared myself for the worst.

“Hey, Heather.”

“Hi, Angelica.”

“We saw what you did at the party. That was sick,” Angelica commented.

“Oh, well. Thanks.”

“Listen, we’re sorry about that whole fight. We got it all wrong. We know that now.”

“It’s cool. It made the day a bit more exciting.”

“Yeah, it did,” Vivian agreed.

“Did you hear about what we did to Jacob?” Angelica asked.

“No. What did you guys do?”

“Let’s just say we got even with him. Yesterday might’ve been the worst day of his life. I just wanted to let you know.”

Angelica stomped away.

“Umm, what was she talking about?” Vivian asked.

“I have no idea,” I admitted.

As if it were right on cue, Eddy turned the corner and walked over to us. He seemed concerned.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Hi, Eddy.”

“Hey, Vivian. Hi, Heather.”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” I expressed.

“This’ll be quick. I just had a question. Why did you send Angelica and Erica to assault Jacob?”

“I didn’t. They did it on their own. They wanted to get even with him—Angelica was just here telling us. How did you miss her? She’s massive,” I pointed out.

“Oh. Well, do you know what they did to him?”

“I don’t, but I sincerely hope they did horrible and unspeakable things to him,” I offered.

“They jumped him in the night, dragged him through a forest, and plunged his head underwater. They could’ve drowned him,” Eddy said with concern.

“Dang! That sounds horrible!” I exclaimed.

“That’s exactly what I thought,” Eddy replied.

“I wish I had thought of that,” I chuckled.

“Heather, you can’t be serious,” Eddy remarked.

“You know full well by now that I am completely serious about what I just said.”

“Eddy, how did you find out about this?” Vivian asked.

“Frankie told me. He finds out about most things before anyone else.”

“What the hell do you want, Eddy?”

“I want you to realize where this feud with Jacob is heading. Just a few hours after you tried to smash his head in, two giant volleyball players tried to drown him. This is getting completely out of control,” Eddy pointed out.

“I know. It’s fabulous. Goodbye.”

I swiftly left before he had a chance to annoy me further.

I couldn’t believe that the Terror Twins assaulted Jacob like that.

Normally, I would’ve been overjoyed, but I felt a very tiny feeling of guilt—the size of an ant, you might say.

Still, I didn’t care. This was his karmic consequence, and he deserved every second of it.