Page 38 of My Rules for Revenge (Twisted YA Mysteries #1)

HEATHER

A fter I snapped out of my paralysis, all I felt was hell, fury, and fire.

There was no doubt in my mind who the perpetrator was.

I refused to believe it was anyone but him, the bastard who tried to ruin Eddy’s good name and reputation.

After the projector screen retracted, nearly everyone in the auditorium was stealing looks at me.

I was completely embarrassed, and my face had turned red—I was practically steaming in my seat.

“Heather? Heather? Are you okay? God, these people. Whoever did this is a real piece of garbage!” Vivian exclaimed.

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Who?” Vivian asked.

“Jacob. I’m going to sever his head."

“You think it’s him?”

“Who else could it possibly be? After what I did to him at the party and after he got jumped by the twins, he must be pissed. So, he decides to do this,” I theorized.

“This is insane. Did you see Indira? Like, what the hell? How did they get those pictures? Why did they leak them? What does she have to do with this?” Vivian asked.

“I have no idea. I’ll be back.”

Before Vivian had a chance to react, I sprang up and snuck out of the auditorium.

Once I was out and in the hallway, I rushed to my locker and pulled out a couple of things I needed.

I then practically sprinted to Jacob’s nerd cave and busted inside.

I saw Manny watching a video compilation of strange cartoon memes while he ate a bag of potato chips.

His incessant, obnoxious chewing did nothing to calm my nerves.

It only served to infuriate me even more.

I put aside my baseball bat and my bottle of nail polish remover and then ambushed him.

I snatched his headphones off him and threw them across the room. I looked him dead in the eye.

“Get out of here,” I demanded.

“What? Huh? Who? What the hell is going on? Why are you here?” Manny asked.

I tightly gripped his mouse and attempted to shut down his computer, but the mouse on the screen refused to cooperate with me.

While I did this, Manny fearfully mumbled to himself.

I had had enough of the mouse and threw it at the wall, destroying it.

I bent down and violently pulled out the plugs, instantly shutting down his computer.

“Hey, excuse you. These computers are expensive, and they’re ours. You can’t do that. You’ll damage them,” Manny cautioned me.

“Good.”

I seized him by the shoulders and lifted him off the chair.

He remained frozen while I propelled him out of the room.

I pushed an entire desk while it annoyingly screeched and barricaded it in front of the door.

Manny tried to re-enter but was unable to.

I checked around the computers and found one that had Jacob’s login information—it was easy to find.

These three geekazoids had brought their desktops from home to play their stupid video games.

I gripped my metal baseball bat and went over to his computer.

I lifted it up and brought it down hard like a giant hammer.

I repeated this action maybe a hundred times.

I smashed his colored keyboard while the keys went flying in all different directions.

I obliterated his mouse until it was reduced to dust and broken plastic.

I shattered his precious little computer monitor until every single shard of glass fell onto the table.

I then went for the jugular. I placed his CPU horizontally and beat it senselessly until it fractured and sputtered. I literally thought I heard it screaming until I realized that Manny had managed to crack open the door a smidge and had poked his head through. He was the one who was screaming.

When the job was done, I threw aside my baseball bat.

I then lifted the CPU and lobbed it across the room.

It made a loud popping noise as the hard drive flew out.

I glanced at Manny and winked as he seemed to be overwhelmed with sheer horror.

He tried to speak, but all he made was a strange noise that sounded like he was gasping for air.

I didn’t care about any of the potential consequences of what I had done. I didn’t care about what Principal Newman would do, I didn’t care about what my mom was going to say, and I certainly didn’t care about what Jacob had to say about me completely eradicating his little nerd machine.

I stood by the rubble and waited for someone to eventually come in.

Manny was gone, and more than likely, he was getting Jacob.

A few minutes later, he came along with Jacob and Eddy, of all people.

They pushed and pushed on the door until it budged.

I smiled at Jacob, completely relishing what I had done.

I stood aside as he slowly walked over to the remains. He put his backpack on a desk and got down on his knees. Both Eddy’s and Manny’s mouths were wide open—they were absolutely speechless.

“My gaming PC…is completely destroyed. You wrecked everything. All my hard work and money, down the drain,” Jacob said sadly.

“Heather, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Eddy said softly.

“You said it wasn’t a good idea to assault Jacob, so I assaulted his expensive little toy instead. He can probably still play it. He just has to tape some pieces together or get some hot glue,” I said with a smug look on my face.

“I don’t understand. I know I’ve done some horrible things to you, but I haven’t done anything since the party. I swear. What made you do this? How did I piss you off this badly?” Jacob asked.

“Are you serious? You know what you did in the auditorium just now. Don’t play dumb,” I said with a smirk.

“Oh, damn,” Manny uttered.

“What? What happened?” Eddy asked.

“Heather, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jacob expressed.

“Dude, are you mentally ill? Who else would have done it?” I asked.

“Wait, what exactly happened?” Eddy asked.

“He knows what he did. He showcased my nudes, Indira’s nudes, and fake texts between you guys,” I explained.

“Indira’s nudes? What the hell? What texts? What are you talking about?” Eddy asked.

“I’m lost. I know nothing of any of this,” Jacob added.

“Check your phone, Jacob. It should be all over your feed by now,” Manny pointed out.

“See? Manny knows what happened because he was involved. I should smash your computer next,” I threatened.

“Please don’t. I’m so sorry. I was trying to be a loyal friend,” Manny pleaded.

“A loyal friend? You’re a piece of trash just like him and Carlos,” I said angrily.

“I know,” Manny nodded.

Eddy and Jacob checked their phones while their facial expressions said it all as they quietly read the text messages.

“I…I had nothing to do with this. I swear,” Jacob assured me.

“Dang. These texts…” Eddy trailed.

He nervously rubbed his head and began to shake a bit.

“You see it now?” I asked.

“Did this happen just now?” Eddy asked nervously.

“Yep, in the auditorium,” I said.

“Wait a minute. It couldn’t have been Jacob. I have P.E. with him. We were together. I was talking with him while this happened. It’s impossible that he’s involved,” Eddy explained.

“Huh? Even if that’s true, that just means that he sent Carlos and Manny to do it.

Manny admitted it, and Carlos isn’t here.

He was probably in the stupid projector booth, making it all happen.

No wonder it was locked. None of the teachers could get in there.

They planned this whole thing out,” I explained.

“Jacob, is this true? Were you lying to me this whole time?” Eddy asked.

“No, no, no, no, no, of course not. I wasn’t lying. Manny, tell him I wasn’t involved,” Jacob pleaded.

“I’m not going to say anything else. I want this to end!” Manny exclaimed.

“Manny, are you freaking kidding me? Tell her the truth,” Jacob demanded.

“See, Eddy? You see what kind of people they are? They’re not going to change. They don’t want to be nice, and neither do I. Just let us be,” I pointed out.

“If I really did this, why would I involve Indira and those texts? That doesn’t make any sense. I barely know her. I don’t have access to her pictures and her text messages,” Jacob clarified.

“You didn’t have access to my pictures either, but you found a way. Remember?”

“Heather, I did not do this. Holy Mother of Christ, I assure you I had nothing to do with this,” Jacob said with certainty.

“I will kill you if you don’t stop lying,” I threatened.

“Heather, please. I think he’s telling the truth,” Eddy pleaded.

“You know what? I am so sick and tired of this bullshit. You started this, Jacob. You, Carlos, and Manny all did this to me. The three of you exposed me to thousands of vicious, hateful people who felt the need to call me the most disgusting and inhumane names they could think of. I can’t believe you’re on their side, Eddy. You have betrayed me. Fuck all of you.”

I leaped over to my bottle of nail polish remover, snatched it, and began pouring it all over Jacob’s backpack.

Eddy tried to softly grab my hand, but I fiercely elbowed him in the stomach, which caused him to stumble backwards.

Jacob and Manny were yelling and pleading for me to stop.

Once the entire bottle was emptied, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my lighter.

“Heather, holy smokes. Please hold on,” Eddy pleaded.

“Whoa, what the hell!” Jacob exclaimed.

“Wait a second, doesn’t that have acetone?” Manny asked.

I turned on the flame and lit the backpack on fire. Eddy, Jacob, and Manny started to freak out as I quietly watched it crackle and burn. Right on cue, Carlos walked in with a bag of what appeared to be Chinese food.

“Alright, boys, victory lunch. Whoa, what in the hell is going on? Is that on fire?” Carlos asked.