Page 41 of My Rules for Revenge (Twisted YA Mysteries #1)

HEATHER

I was in my room, crying my eyes out. My life was an absolute disaster.

My mom was furious that I got suspended, and we shouted at each other for several minutes until I barged into my room and slammed the door shut.

My grades had slipped because of my preoccupation with destroying Jacob’s life.

I was also still confused as to what exactly happened in the auditorium.

I knew there were details I was missing, and I wanted to find the answers.

Actually, I needed to find the answers. My mind was in a whirlwind of chaos and confusion.

I wish I were able to talk to my dad. He would have told me what to do.

He typically did. I scrolled through the various pictures I had of us on my phone.

When he passed, I was angry—a lot angrier than now, if that was possible.

Over time, that feeling began to fade. As a result, I chose to fully embody his life’s philosophy and to stand up for myself no matter what.

“The world will be cruel to you if you allow it to,” was what he always said. That was his mantra.

I remembered the last time I saw him in the hospital.

He was very thin and pale. He was hooked up to a machine, and his breathing was irregular.

I sat near him while I ate an ice cream cone.

I was very young. When he woke up and saw me, his face brightened up.

I would relive our last conversation from time to time.

“Hi, Daddy. Are you okay?” I asked.

“Hey, honey. I’m doing okay. I’m doing a lot better now that I’ve seen you,” my dad said.

“Do you want some of my ice cream?”

“Oh, I would love some, but I can’t have any. It might make me explode like that blowfish we saw at the aquarium.”

He made an explosion sound, and I giggled so hard my mouth hurt.

“Thank you, though. You’re a generous daughter.”

“And you’re a generous daddy. That’s why I love you so much,” I said in a loving way.

My dad shut his eyes as a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I love you too. More than you can ever know,” my daddy expressed.

“I do know,” I replied gently.

“How’s Mommy doing?” my daddy asked.

“She’s okay. I think. She’s talking to the doctor.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to her later. Listen, Heather, I need to tell you something,” he said in a concerned tone of voice.

“Okay.”

I got up from my chair and jumped onto his bed. I affectionately gripped his arm and listened closely. He smiled.

“I know you understand how important it is to stand up for yourself.”

“Yeah, of course. You always tell me, like that guy who tried to steal Mommy’s flowers.”

“That’s exactly right, but Mommy doesn’t understand. She’s too nice to people and too good for this world. I need you to promise me that you’ll always stand up for her. She needs it,” he explained.

“I promise, Daddy. I will. I swear I will.”

“Good, good. Sweetheart, I’ll be going away soon,”he said sadly.

“No!” I whispered.

“I’m so sorry,” he replied with a tone of hopelessness in his voice.

“No, no, no. Don’t say that,” I urged.

“You’re a strong girl. I know you are. You’re just like me.”

I fought back the tears welling up within me and solemnly nodded.

“I am. I will be strong.”

“But don’t be afraid to forgive, Heather.

That’s the whole reason your mother and I got together in high school.

She’ll tell you that story one day. I know I’ve taken the easy route for most of my life, but…

it’s funny that I’ve been thinking about everything ever since I’ve been stuck here.

Sometimes I wonder if there were better ways to handle the situations I’ve been in. ”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” he chuckled.

We both began to laugh until we grew quiet.

“Sweetheart, I want you to be happy. I think at the end of the day, only you know what makes you happy and what will give you peace. Don’t you ever forget that!"

“I won’t.”

I never forgot that, but I may have been wrong all along about what made me happy and what gave me peace. I lay down in my bed in deep thought for hours. A soft knock on the door woke me up… It was Vivian. I shot up and let her in.

“Are you okay?” Vivian asked.

“No, not really. I messed up,” I assured.

“You may have gone a bit far this time. Are you really suspended for a month?”

“Yep, and I have a thousand million community service hours I have to complete before graduation. Yippee.”

“Wow! That sucks. I’m sorry,” Vivian said empathetically.

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”

“Did you ever find out who did it?”

“I still think it’s Jacob, but I don’t know. I could be wrong. Maybe he does feel sorry for what he did.”

“I know it sounds crazy, but even a complete asshole like him is human,” Vivian pointed out.

“Eddy has been trying to get me to forgive him, to end this ‘feud’ between us. I don’t want Eddy to hate me, but I don’t think I’m capable of doing something like that. I feel that even if I try to get the words out, I’ll spontaneously combust,” I remarked.

“Well, look, did he do something terrible? Absolutely, one hundred percent, ‘Yes.’ But does it make you feel any better doing these terrible things?”

“I’ve been telling myself for a long time that it does. Not just to him, but to anyone. The truth is it doesn’t. I’ve always thought that getting back at people for the bad things they did to me would bring me peace. In reality, it never does,” I confessed.

“Wow. I can’t believe you said that. Is that really you?” Vivian asked.

We smiled at each other.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. It sounds crazy, but it’s true,” I affirmed.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I need to fix things. Jacob messaged me that he wants to talk,” I said.

“Are you going to?” Vivian asked.

“Yep. I want to end this. Eddy was right. I need to find out the truth about what happened and then move on with my life,” I explained.

“That’s great, Heather. You’re taking the high road. I’m proud of you,” Vivian expressed.

“Thanks. You’re always there when I need you.”

“And you’re always there to beat people I do not like.”

“Well, maybe not anymore.” I shook my head.

“Wow! You really are a clone or something,” Vivian said jokingly.

Vivian tightly hugged me, then got up to leave. Before she left, she looked hesitant. She gripped the doorknob and turned it, but didn’t push it open.

“Vivian, what’s wrong?”

“You haven’t heard the rumors about Eddy and Indira, right?”Vivian asked in a very concerned tone of voice.

“Uh, no. I’m not allowed in school, so I haven’t heard anything.”

“Good, good. You shouldn’t look into it on social media either,” Vivian suggested.

“Wait, why?”

“Well, it’s disgusting. Since she doesn’t go to Brightwood anymore, people are coming up with all sorts of strange theories, like he must’ve kidnapped her and cut off her skin to wear it in his closet.

Some people said he boiled her in a cauldron and ate her.

It gets a lot worse than that,” Vivian explained.

“I don’t doubt it. It’s the internet, after all. There are no consequences for saying the cruelest things you can think of,” I pointed out.

“Hey, do you know if they were ever a thing?” Vivian asked.

“He told me he never hooked up with her.”

“Hmm. Those texts must’ve been fake then. It’s happened before,” Vivian said with certainty.

“Yeah, they must have been. Don’t worry, I’m going to find out what happened,” I reassured.

I walked to the graveyard where my father was buried.

I had been thinking about him a lot and was there for hours.

My mom called me a few times, and I decided to text her to let her know where I was.

Soon after that, she arrived. I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer.

I had to talk to her, no matter how uncomfortable I felt.

I sat on a long, stone bench and waited for my mom to sit beside me.

“Hey, honey,” she said.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m alright. I guess.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been doing things I don’t think I should've been doing. You already know I got a ton of community service hours, and I got suspended from school.”

“Right, of course. We argued about that already, so I don’t think that needs to be repeated,” she said.

“Me neither.”

We both smiled warmly at each other. She tenderly put her arm around me.

“Oh, honey. It’ll be okay.”

“Are you still mad at me?” I asked with concern in my voice.

“I thought you were still mad at me,” she replied sadly.

“I’m not. Not anymore,” I assured her.

“Well, that’s a relief,”she sighed.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“About school? Well, I’ll be honest, what you did was pretty crazy. It’s definitely the exact opposite of what I always tell you to do.” She shook her head.

“Yeah, I know,” I nodded.

“You need to make sure you do the hours and keep up with your schoolwork. I spoke with Principal Newman, and he doesn’t think you’ll fall behind.”

“That’s a plus,” I said in a hopeful tone.

“I may have also yelled at him a bit, because I wanted to know what sort of punishment he had given Jacob for leaking your pictures. He tried to play it off. I don’t know what came over me, but I just started yelling at him, and he actually apologized.

He told me he’ll make sure that your suspension doesn’t show up on your permanent record, and he might be willing to lessen your community service hours,” she explained.

“Whoa. Are you serious?” I asked with a surprised look on my face.

“Of course, I am. You’re my daughter. After I told you the story about how your father and I met, I realized that I needed to become that person again. I needed to let Newman have it. I should’ve done it a long time ago,” she said with regret.

“Wow! Thanks, Mom. That’s cool of you,” I said joyously.

“You’ll still have to pay the fine from the fire department, however,” she added.

“Yeah, I kind of figured that.”

“It’s okay. We’ll work it out. Just don’t do any other insane stunts, please,” she pleaded.