Better Than Revenge (Sweet Secrets #1)

by Taylor Henderson

  A bark of laughter escaped my lips. “Shave her head?” I repeated.

  “Yep,” she said popping the 'p'. “Show the bitch that when you play in the Forrest, you get hit in the head by a few branches.” Lena tilted her head to the side. “That sounded so much better in my head.”

  Chapter 26

  Lena bit her lip in thought as she twirled a lock of orange hair around her finger. School had just let out less than an hour ago, and without wasting anytime, the two of us practically speed walked to my house. We could have gotten home sooner if I was willing to have ridden the bus, but I wasn’t completely ready to face Blake yet. I thought it would be easy to ignore him, but I was wrong.

  All day I had been randomly bumping into him around school. In gym class I got stuck behind him in line to use the water fountain, and later on in math our teachers had decided that working with the higher level class would be a “fun learning experience”, and I was forced to sit two rows behind Blake as he helped a small Asian girl with her worksheet. Adding those moments, with all of the times that I just happened to come across him in the hallway was enough torture. I didn’t need to see him on the bus as well. How do you get over someone when they’re everywhere?

  He’s like a bad case of herpes. Showing up randomly, and hard to get rid of.

  Thinking that revenge on Brianna was the only solution to my relationship problems, Lena was hunched over a spiral notebook trying to think of good revenge schemes. The top of the page was labeled, “Ways to get revenge on Brianna,” and to top it all off, the ‘I’ in Brianna was dotted with a frowning face.

  “Isn’t that a little too obvious?” I questioned, referring to the title.

  Tilting her head upwards, Lena peered at me questioningly. “Huh?”

  Tapping my finger on the title, I repeated myself. “Don’t you think this is a little too obvious? What if someone sees it?”

  “Don’t worry. No one will see it. It’ll be safely hidden in my room.”

  “May I just point out that you live with public enemy number 2?”

  Lena rolled her eyes dramatically. “Gabriella wouldn’t dare to step foot in my room. Especially not right now. Our house is like a war zone at the moment. Dad and Mom are fighting, Ella and I are fighting; it’s crazy. Whenever this happens, we all just do our bests to avoid each other since everyone’s pissed at someone.”

  “Well dang, that sucks. My parents only really argue when she catches him sneaking unhealthy food into the house.”

  “Your parents are…” she paused in search of a word to describe my very unique parental figures.

  “Weird? Strange? Odd?” I offered.

  “Interesting,” she said slowly, stretching out the word’s syllables. “They’re interesting. That’s what they are.” Lena skillfully flipped the pen in her hand between her fingers. “So what are some specific things that we need to target? I say her hair needs to go.”

  “Lena, we aren’t shaving her head. I don’t hate her that much.”

  “We don’t have to shave her head, but we can change the color. Make her a red head. She’d hate that.”

  An idea slipped into my head. “Or, we can make her hair black. Then it’d take her a long time to go back to blonde, and if she bleaches it, it’ll damage her hair.”

  Lena shrugged, “Well, it’s an idea,” she said as she scribbled it down on the paper. “Where else can we hit her that will hurt?”

  “Her car.”

  Lena’s eyes twinkled. “Hell yeah, Forrester. I’ve always wanted to slash some tires. It’s on my bucket list. We could even break a window and make it look like a car robbery or something.”

  Frowning, I stared at Lena with my eyebrows furrowed, but I couldn’t help the amused smirk that formed on my lips. “That’s not what I meant. We could get into serious trouble for that. I was thinking that we could put raw meat in her car or something. We can put it under the seats and hide some in the dash compartment.”

  She nodded, running her chin. “That’s smart because then it’ll take a while for the meat to rot and the smell would progressively get worse.”

  I smiled, glad that I had been able to come up with a good idea, as Lena scribbled it down on the paper.

  “Oh my gosh, okay, what if we spread a rumor about her?” she bursted out suddenly. Her eyes were wide in excitement at the idea of possibly dragging Brianna’s reputation through the mud.

  “Doesn’t that seem a little catty?”

  “No, it sounds funny to me.”

  Resting my head in my palm, I gave her a bemused expression. If she wanted me to go along with this idea, then she needed to give me something more to go off of. “What would the rumor be about?”

  She shrugged, tapping the pen on the paper. “I don’t know. We could say that she has a venereal disease or something. That wouldn’t be too hard to believe considering how big of a whore she is.”

  “That’s been done before,” I countered. I wanted to be original. “Last year some girls spread a rumor that this guy on the football team had chlamydia, but in reality he had mono and had passed that to each of the girls.”

  “That’s disgusting,” she murmured, pinching up her nose and lips in disgust.

  “They don’t call it the kissing disease for nothing.”

  Lena shook her head at my words, and then continued with a new idea. “Okay, then how about we say she’s pregnant. I can get a positive pregnancy stick and plant it in her room or something. I’ll put it in a place where one of her friends is bound to come across it.” Lena smirked slightly as she jotted the idea down.

  “And how do you plan on doing that?”

  “What? Get a positive pregnancy stick, or plant it in her house?”

  “Both.”

  Lena pursed her lips. “My dad donates blood every two months, and he’s going again next week. That place is swarming with pregnant woman. All I’d have to do is bribe one of them to pee on a pregnancy stick for me. I’m sure they’d be willing to do it for like twenty bucks or so. Then I can climb the tree outside her house, and go in through her window. Easy.”

  I knew that breaking into Brianna’s house could get us into trouble if we got caught, but I didn’t care. She needed to go down, and if that’s what we needed to do in order to make it happen, then I was in. “All right, that would be hilarious.”

  She smiled as she scribbled down her idea. Then, looking up at me with a sinister look in her eyes, she said, “We could also stick a snickers bar in her gas tank. I hear that really fucks up the engine.”

  My eyes widened at her words, and I shook my head instantly. “No we cannot do that. That would be going overboard. Besides, it’s not like she’s the one who pays for the car anyway, you know?”

  Lena opened her mouth to reply, but the chiming of the doorbell cut her off. Sliding off the bed, I yelled, “I’ll get it!” I ran down the hallway and pattered down the stairs, hearing Lena’s slow footsteps behind me.

  The doorbell chimed again as I pulled the door open to reveal a sour faced Ella. Her hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail, with wispy strands hanging down around her face. She hesitantly pulled her thin lips up into a smile as I stared at her in utter confusion. She was probably smiling from the obvious shock that I knew lined my face.

  “Um, hello,” I said, my words sounding more like a question than a greeting.

  Ella reached a perfectly manicured hand up and scratched the side of her neck awkwardly. “Can I come in?”

  I heard Lena come up behind me just as I pulled the door open wider. “Sure, follow me I guess.”

  I waited for Ella to step inside before I pushed the door closed, and led her into the living room where I gestured for her to take a seat on the couch. Lena plopped down in the armchair, tucking her feet beneath her neatly, and staring at her sister as she took a seat on the couch. Slowly, I sat down on the couch across from Ella, and tilted my head to the side in confusion.

  “So, what brings you to the Forrester ho
usehold?” Lena questioned, sounding as if she lived here herself. The slight glare in her eyes was evident as she crossed her arms over her chest, and fixed her eyes on her little sister.

  “Well, I wasn’t really expecting you to be here, but I came to apologize to Violet.” She looked from Lena, to me as she said, “I really am sorry about kissing Blake. At the time, I didn’t know that he had a girlfriend. I’m also sorry about being such a bitch to you. You did nothing to me, and I had no reason to treat you as badly as I did. I was jealous, and jealousy makes me do some mean things.”

  I was kind of caught off guard. I didn’t know that Ella was here to apologize to me. If anything I assumed that Brianna had sent her over here, or she was here to say that her and Blake were dating; something along those lines. Anything but an apology.

  Since I wasn’t prepared for this, the only thing that I could think to say was, “Um, thanks?”

  Obviously Lena had more to say than I did. Placing her elbow on her thigh, she leaned forward and asked, “Why were you jealous?”

  Ella shrugged and looked down. “That should be obvious. I liked Blake, but he’s in love with her,” she looked up, her green eyes meeting mine before she dropped then back to the ground. “After the kiss, he told me about you, and how you couldn’t ever find out about what happened because he loved you, and he was afraid that you would break up with him if you knew. At the time, we didn’t know that Brianna had even seen the kiss. We thought that we would be able to just keep it between us. That way you and Blake could stay together, and I would just join Brianna’s group of friends and forget that the kiss ever happened.”

  “Wait,” I cut in, “Blake didn’t want me to find out about the kiss because he didn’t want me to break up with him?” I figured that he had lied to me because he wanted to keep his feelings for Ella a secret.

  “Yeah, that was what he thought would happen, and it did. You found out, and you dumped him.”

  I shook my head, feeling the need to defend myself. “I dumped him because he lied to me and kept something so big hidden.” There was no way that I was going to tell Ella that Blake had said that he had a crush on her for a short while during the summer. I understand that even if you’re dating someone, you can still find someone else attractive, and it’s not cheating unless you act on your feelings, which he did.

  Ella nodded. “That’s understandable.”

  “So how did y’all find out that Brianna knew?”

  Ella sat back in the couch, rolling her eyes.” She told us. Well, she showed us. Then she gave us an ultimatum. I had to continue being her friend while doing whatever she asked me to, and actually make it believable, and Blake had to give her a chance as his friend, or she’d send the picture to everyone at school.”

  Lena feigned a laugh. “That has to be the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard. Is that how she makes all of her friends?”

  Ella shrugged. “No, but it’s how she keeps her friends. Apparently she has blackmail on everyone and she threatens to use it if they ever “betray” her.” She did air quotes around the word “betray” and groaned. “Anya said that she holds the blackmail over your head, but doesn’t use it unless you actually do something that’s worthy of being punished for. I figured if I just kept doing what she asked me to, then I’d be off the hook, but I never thought that you’d see the picture on my phone.”

  Shrugging, Lena said, “Shouldn’t have left it where I could get it.”

  Voicing my thoughts out loud I asked, “Why is she such a conniving bitch?” speaking to know one in particular.

  Ignoring my rhetorical question, Lena said to her sister, “What did she ask you to do?”

  Ella scoffed. “What didn’t she ask me to do?” She shook her head. “At first it was all pretty straight forward. I had to be a bitch to Violet any chance I got. I felt awful treating you like that. I knew that I had to treat you badly from the moment I first saw you. Brianna’s blackmail, mixed with my jealousy didn’t paint a pretty picture. Even though I was jealous, I also didn’t want to be the one who ruined your relationship. Then you and Lena became friends, and I didn’t want Lena to find out either, because I didn’t want her to label me as some slut.”

  “You are a slut,” Lena cut in, “but you’re not some slut, you’re my slut.”

  Ella rolled her eyes at her sister’s words. “I’m sorry that I changed again, when I promised that I wouldn’t repeat last year.”

  “I accept your apology, Ella.” Lena opened her arms, and Ella slowly stood up from the couch and walked over to sit on her older sister’s lap, and embrace her in a tight hug. “Don’t let it happen again you little redheaded minx.”

  “You smell like vanilla and almonds,” Ella mused.

  “Aw thanks, sis. You smell like Britney Spears.”

  Ella laughed as I stared at them awkwardly. “So…” I started, trying to gain their attention again. Both of their heads turned to look at me. “Do you think she could be our double agent?”

  “What?” Lena’s face scrunched in confusion.

  I raised one eyebrow and turned my head slightly. “You know; our inside man.”

  “Oh!” she replied, her face lighting up at the thought. “I think she’d be willing to do it.”

  “Do what?” Ella questioned, looking back and forth between the two of us.

  “Help us get revenge on the skank bitch formally known as Brianna Richardson.”

  Ella nodded vigorously from her spot on Lena’s lap. “Hell yeah, I’m in.”

  “Watch your mouth,” Lena scolded playfully.

  Smirking, Ella nodded, “Sure thing mom. Brianna probably won’t even be expecting it from me. We’ve gotten really “close” since we fought. Or at least she thinks we have. It was hard for me to really be friends with her when I had the blackmail in the back of my mind.”

  “Why did you guys really fight, anyway?”

  Ella shrugged nonchalantly. “Brianna called you a twat for hanging out with Violet, and I don’t care what someone has over me, no one messes with my family. Afterwards she talked to me about it, apologizing and crap, and saying that that was my first warning. What is she, a kindergarten teacher?”

  I laughed at the thought of Brianna teaching a class full of young, impressionable minds. “Good morning students, I’m your teacher, Ms. Bitchardson,” I spoke aloud, in a mock impression of her voice.

  “First thing I’ll teach you is the proper way to execute the art of blackmail,” Lena added in.

  “Lastly, I’ll dye each of your hair blonde, and make you my minions. Then we can take over the world one person at a time.”

  Chapter 27

  After a few days of planning out our revenge, Lena and I were excited to include Ella in on the scheme. After all, she had plenty of reason to want to get Brianna back for blackmailing her, and we needed her. Ella was our shining angel in this situation. She’s the only one who was close enough to Brianna to get all of the inside jobs completed. Ella is our double agent.

  Our first plan of action was to show everyone who the real Brianna Richardson was. Ella had come up with the bright idea of getting Brianna to host a sleepover at her house. Being the attention whore that she is, Brianna was unable to resist the idea of inviting all of her friends over to spend the night. All night long, Ella was set up with different tasks to complete in order to make her day tomorrow terrible.

  Considering the fact that Brianna had decided to throw her sleepover party on a school night, not many of the girls could make it, therefore making our task a bit harder. If more girls had been able to come, then Ella would have an easier time sneaking away without being noticed, but now everything was more complicated. On the bright side at least, with less people in the house there’s a smaller chance of Lena and I getting caught as well.

  Lena slouched further down in the driver’s seat, pressing one of the walkie-talkies that we had found in Lilly’s room to her mouth. Jabbing her thumb onto one of the buttons, she whispered, “Bab
y Red, do you hear me? I repeat, do you hear me?”

  I watched from my position in the passenger’s seat as Lena stared at the walkie-talkie in anticipation. Her eyes were wide and round as she waited for a moment before turning to me. “She’s not replying. What if she’s already been busted?”

  Raising an eyebrow, I reached over and took the walkie-talkie from her hands. “You forgot to take your finger off of the button.”

  “Oh,” she sighed. Suddenly, Lena pushed herself upwards, and reached into the back seat. Her arm swept around until she obviously found what it was that she had been searching for.

  Static sounded on the walkie-talkie and Ella’s voice came through just as Lena slid back down in her seat, now clutching a pair of binoculars. “Hey guys, I just excused myself to the bathroom. What do I do now?”

  Squeezing the button with my thumb, I spoke. “Did anyone think something was suspicious about you taking your purse to the bathroom with you?”

  It was silent for a moment before she replied. “Not really. I told them that I needed to reapply my makeup. They seemed to buy it. Now what?”

  Lena snatched the walkie-talkie from my hands and held it to her mouth again. “First, find her conditioner. Forget about the shampoo. Everyone knows that the conditioner is used the most. Just uncap the bottle, and pour every last drop of the henna into it.”

  Everything was silent for a moment. I could just imagine Ella shuffling through the cabinets in Brianna’s bathroom in search of her conditioner. Suddenly her voice crackled over the speaker. “I found her conditioner, but I think I found something better.”

  “What?”

  “A few boxes of blonde hair dye.”

  Lena held the walkie-talkie near her face as she opened her mouth to respond, before she did so, she turned her head toward me and asked, “Isn’t she a natural blonde?”

  I nodded, “Yeah, she was always a blonde. Her hair was really pale when we were younger, but it got a bit darker as she got older. I never really thought about it, but she must bleach her hair to get it lighter.”