Page 35 of My Rules for Revenge (Twisted YA Mysteries #1)

JACOB - PRESENT DAY

C arlos and Manny rescued me after I was nearly killed by the two giants of death. Afterwards, we got some fast food and stationed ourselves in the parking lot. I dried myself with a towel that Manny lent me while they ate. I wasn’t very hungry, so I nibbled at my food.

“How the hell did that happen, man?” Carlos asked.

“I already told you. They jumped me while I was walking home,” I explained.

“You should’ve waited for me, Jacob,” Manny exclaimed.

“I know, Manny. Thanks for saving my ass. I don’t know how you found me.”

“The social media geo-location feature,” Manny replied.

“Are you, like, alright, dude? You were telling me a bunch of weird things at the party, and you just got jumped. Like seriously, what the hell is going on?” Carlos asked in a very concerned tone.

“I’m fine. I just need to focus on getting into the university. I’ve been distracting myself with dumb stuff for way too long,” I offered.

“We’re still getting back at Heather for this, right? She’s definitely the reason those two crazy bitches jumped you,” Carlos remarked.

“I don’t plan to. I don’t want to get waterboarded again.”

“What? Are you serious? What the hell are you talking about?” Carlos asked.

“I just said I need to focus on getting into college.”

“Manny, what do you think?”

“I think Jacob has the right idea.”

“Oh, give me a break. What’s gotten into you two?” Carlos asked.

“I’ll continue with this if you want to, but if Jacob doesn’t want to, we should let him be. He just went through a rather traumatic experience,” Manny exclaimed.

“Exactly, Manny,” I agreed.

“We should give Heather a traumatic experience,” Carlos said with a smirk.

“We already did,” I pointed out.

“What?!”

“We leaked her nudes all over the internet, Carlos. There were thousands of online trolls calling her horrific things and threatening to kill her. You forgot already?” I asked.

“Yeah, so? That was the plan, and it was awesome!” Carlos exclaimed.

“I’m beginning to think it wasn’t. I think I went overboard,” I replied regretfully.

“Dude, what are you saying?” Carlos asked.

“I’m a bit confused as well, Jacob. Isn’t that what you wanted to do?” Manny asked.

“It was, but not anymore. I don’t know. I’m just thinking out loud. Maybe I have regrets about what happened,” I expressed.

“I knew you were being weird. You’re acting like a complete coward. You’re the one who always says these high school girls can’t be trusted because they’re serpents that tease you. And they’re despicable,” Carlos pointed out.

“I know what I’ve said.”

“Then, what’s this new stance on life all of a sudden? Did you almost die?” Carlos asked.

“No, man. I don’t know. I think we should chill for now and not do anything,” I suggested.

“Hmm,” Carlos muttered.

“I’m going to take you guys home now,” Manny announced.

He started the car and drove off. Meanwhile, Carlos whipped out his phone and showed me a picture of Luna Rivas from the party.

“Dude!” Carlos exclaimed.

“What?”

“If she did her tits, she would easily become my favorite porn star.”

“She’s not a porn star.”

“I know, but she should start an online porn account. That’s what girls like her end up doing anyway,” Carlos remarked.

“If you say so, man.”

This is usually how things went in my group of friends.

They were loyal, of course, but it was like they were allergic to new ideas.

I suppose it was mainly my fault. I had a lot of years racked up on being a bad person and talking smack about girls.

If I said anything contrary to what I’d said in the past, they acted like I was a Martian clone sent to replace the real me.

While I was done feuding with Heather, Carlos was not. Carlos took it further than I ever intended. Fine, that was a lie. I wanted to completely humiliate Heather, but at that point, I was genuinely done.

It all started when Carlos received an anonymous message from someone who needed his help.

After the events of the party, what Carlos decided to do next changed everything.

I felt sympathy for Heather. Her world was already turned upside down by what I did, but after this, it exploded into a million tiny pieces.

When I got home, I didn’t feel like myself.

I ignored my mother’s pleas for more cigarettes while I rushed into my room.

I knew I would get yelled at later, but I didn’t care.

I was having the worst night of my life, and I wanted to sleep.

I quickly took off my clothes, threw myself into my bed, and closed my eyes.

All I thought about was how the Terror Twins had almost drowned me—all I saw were Angelica and Erica’s faces.

They were forever etched into my memory.

I eventually fell asleep a few hours later, but I soon woke up when I felt myself falling as though I was being pushed into a deep swimming pool.

I calmed myself down and tried to relax—it had been a horrible nightmare.

I managed to sleep through the rest of the night and went to school the next day, not feeling too well.

There weren’t many students at school, which was strange, but I remembered Frank’s party.

A lot of people were there, and they were most likely hungover.

I walked straight into my first-period class.

It was dimly lit, and my teacher wasn’t there yet.

I sat near the back and put my head down.

A few minutes later, I heard the door swing open.

Five girls walked in, and none of them belonged to my class.

Heather, Vivian, Luna, Angelica, and Erica all came in wearing red shirts that had a picture of my face crossed out with a giant red X.

“We’re not finished with you!” Heather exclaimed.

They glided over to me, and before I could utter a single word, they grabbed me and slammed me down on top of the desk. Vivian duct-taped my mouth shut while Heather took out a sizable kitchen knife. Vivian and Luna took out similar ones. Angelica and Erica took out massive hatchets.

My muffled, guttural screams echoed inside the classroom as they all simultaneously stabbed me all over my body.

I felt unworldly, excruciating pain as they slashed and impaled me with zero remorse.

Pockets of blood oozed off my body and onto the floor as I began to lose consciousness.

Before I knew it, Heather took Angelica’s hatchet and sliced open my throat in an instant.

I woke up in a cold sweat and tumbled to the floor. My heart was thumping out of my chest, and I just kept telling myself that it was a horrible nightmare. I peeked over to my alarm clock and saw it was time for school. I reluctantly stood up and got ready.