Page 34 of My Rules for Revenge (Twisted YA Mysteries #1)
M y growing relationship with Eddy was the main reason why things went downhill with Heather, and it was mostly my fault. There was no doubt about it. I put him above everyone else.
After Heather, Vivian, and I went out to the movie, she invited me to go out numerous times.
But it was during the period of time when I hung out with Eddy.
I didn’t want anyone to know, so I never told her.
It felt nice that whatever I had with Eddy was private.
I was very protective of our relationship.
I wanted no one in. I was scared that if anyone found out about it, it would ruin everything.
Heather was understandably upset that I blew her off countless times. She had asked me to go to dinner, to go to the movies again, to help with the book club’s bake sales, and even to go to the library.
I came up with dozens of excuses. I either had extremely hard chemistry tests to study for, or I had to help my mother out with errands. One time, I even told her that I had fallen asleep while scrolling through social media and hadn’t seen her message until it was too late.
She probably knew that at least half of these excuses were lies, but I loved being with Eddy. I felt like I could tell him everything and anything. We were even going through similar family problems. I never felt like I could tell Heather these things because we weren’t close like that.
As a result of my blowing her off, she became cold towards me during the book club meetings and rarely talked to me, which was a problem because I needed a huge favor.
I had found out from my guidance counselor that if I became the co-president of the book club, it would greatly help my case when it came to applying for Ivy League schools.
My grades were the best they could’ve been, but that wasn’t enough.
I needed additional scholastic achievements.
One day, I walked in and saw Heather counting large amounts of money at the teacher’s desk.
She was systematically placing them inside a lockbox and was highly focused.
I quietly sat down and patiently waited for her to be finished.
She occasionally glanced at me while she counted.
I awkwardly grinned at her whenever she did so.
After a short while, she finished a portion of what she was doing and sighed.
“We don’t have to meet today, Indira. What’s up?”
“I wanted to talk to you about something. It’s about the presidency of this club,” I clarified.
“Okay, go on.”
“I spoke with my guidance counselor, and she said that it would be great for me to become the co-president of this club so I could put it on my college applications. Is there any way I could become co-president?”
Heather scoffed and raised her eyebrows.
“You’re joking, right?”
“No. I’m not joking,” I said with a serious face.
“Indira, we’ve barely spoken in the last two months.”
“I know, and I’m sorry about that. I’ve been busy. I promise I wasn’t trying to blow you off.”
“You didn’t help me with any of the bake sales. There were students in this club that I barely remembered who came out to help me.”
“I know. I noticed.”
“Okay, then where the hell did you get the balls to ask me if you could be the co-president?”
Heather’s face was flushed with anger as my skin went cold.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to answer that,” I admitted.
Heather laughed and stood up. She stomped towards me and leaned on a desk.
“Are you trying to use me, Indira? Has that been your goal all along?”
“No, of course not. I wanted to be in this club.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I swear,” I said.
“Alright, alright, alright. Maybe I’m being too harsh on you,” Heather admitted.
“Maybe.”
“I want to know why you’ve been blowing me off, though. You don’t have to get into specifics, but I feel like I deserve the right to know,” Heather explained.
“I’m not comfortable talking about it.”
“Are you having problems at home? I have problems at home, too. We could talk about it.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to talk about those things.”
Heather remained quiet and hung her head.
“Well, fair enough. That’s your choice, and I’ll respect it.”
She got off the desk and walked back to the teacher’s desk to continue counting money. She forced my hand.
“Okay, fine. I’ll tell you the reason why,” I said.
“It’s okay—you don’t have to .”
“It’s because of a boy. I’ve been getting too close to a boy. I know it’s horrible that I’ve been blowing you off for a guy, but I really like him,” I explained.
Heather’s mouth was agape, and she struggled to hide her shock.
“You… You’ve been hanging out with a guy?”
“Yes.”
Heather’s eyes widened.
“That’s why you asked us about that stuff when we went to see that movie,” Heather pointed out.
“That’s correct.”
“Does he go to this school?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to say who it is?”
“Honestly, no.”
“Wow! I want to know, but okay. That’s cool. I won’t pry.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“A deal’s a deal. I’ll make you the co-president.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, why not? I have the power; I might as well use it. You’re practically a valedictorian. You deserve it, I guess.”
I ran towards Heather and hugged her tightly.
“You’re squishing me.”
“Thank you, Heather. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is going to be amazing for my college applications.”
“There’s no need to thank me.”
I let go and smiled at her. She awkwardly reciprocated.
“So, what do I do as co-president?”
“Uh, well. I’m not sure. I’ll have to give you some responsibilities, I guess.”
“Yes, please do. I want to help.”
“Oh, I know. Listen, I bought a door lock. You know, since Newman is a perpetual cock biscuit who won’t fix the door.”
“He is, I agree.”
“You’ll make sure the door is locked every day after school and make sure this lockbox has all the money and is placed in my secret spot.”
“Where’s the secret spot?”
“I put it on the very top of the bookshelf, hidden away.”
“Okay, sounds good. I’ll do all those things.”
“Indira, this is a big responsibility. I know that you know that this room has been vandalized a few times because someone keeps breaking into it. It’s probably some young Dilbert in the making, and if I ever catch who it is, I’ll rip out their spleen with my bare hands.
I need you to make sure that this gets done,” Heather ordered.
“You can trust me, Heather.”
“I hope so. I’m giving you the chance to make up for blowing me off.”
She winked at me.
“I’m kidding. You’re probably the most wholesome person I’ve ever met. Well, second most since Vivian is up there, too. You’ll do fine. It’s nothing crazy.”
“I promise you I’ll do a good job.”
“Once you do this for a few weeks, I’ll give you more things to do. You’ll get to report to the English teachers and send out a few emails to some high school literary associations. It’s fun,” Heather assured me.
“Really?”
“No,” Heather chuckled.
“Oh.”
“Okay, go away now. I have to finish counting this money I robbed from the bank.”
I giggled as I left the room and closed the door.
I felt overjoyed that Heather granted me that position.
She later confirmed it with the head of the English teachers, and I was accepted immediately.
I thought that I was on the path to a life that was filled with joy and success.
Things were finally starting to look up.
I had a budding relationship with Eddy, and I was doing well with my extracurricular activities.
I later learned, rather harshly, that choosing to pursue both of these things turned out to be two of the worst decisions I ever made in my entire life.