by Sharlay
“A lot worse my-”
“Don’t do it, use one of my friendly words,” Courtney said as she raised her eyebrows at me.
“A lot worse my...foot!”
“Close enough,” she said as she tried to stop the corners of her mouth from twitching. “So, what actually happened then?” She asked, innocently.
“Well, we both had to have our pants cut off our bodies,” I said as the memory pained me. Instead of being a supportive friend, Courtney, of course, chose this moment to go into a hysterical fit of laughter.
“I’m glad that you find all of this so amusing,” I said as I kept my eyes on the road.
“Oh come on, Addy, if this was me, you would be laughing for weeks.” She was right but that was not the point right now. My plan had completely back fired. Caleb was supposed to be the one glued to the seat in humiliation, while I walked away with my head held high. Instead, I had to try and explain to a teacher why she had to cut me out of my pants. I have never been so embarrassed in all of my life. Not only did I have to be cut free, but I had to do it with Caleb there, and then put on a pair of stinky, old sweatpants that they found in a pile of lost clothing.
“So, what did you tell them?”
“I just said that we sat down to eat lunch and then when we went to stand up, we couldn’t. They just think that someone else played the prank on us-”
“And Caleb went along with this?”
“Yeah, he kept perfectly quiet while I made up the story. He just sat that smiling, like the jerk that he is.”
“That is so funny.”
“Whatever,” I muttered as I pulled up in front of Courtney’s house.
“Come on, you can’t stay mad at me forever. Plus, I’m the only friend of yours that your dad actually likes, so you’re stuck with me-”
“So you think,” I mumbled.
“Cheer up, Cutie Pie, it could have been worse-”
“Get out,” I shouted as she dodged the fist that was heading towards her arm.
“So, so violent,” she chuckled as she stood outside of the car. “I’ll call you later,” she said before blowing me a kiss.
“Whatever,” I growled before driving towards my house.
What Courtney failed to realize was that giving up, was not a trait that I possessed. Caleb had walked into my world, trying to change things, and humiliate me, and I wasn’t going to allow it. Everything was fine before he came along; I was happy but just like that day at the Christmas party he ruined everything. Neither Caleb, nor Courtney could truly understand what he had done that night...
FLASHBACK FROM FIVE YEARS AGO
I was not excited about going to this stupid, Christmas party with my dad’s work friends, tonight, and I was not about to pretend that I was. I had been to one of these ‘parties’ before and I was so excited, until I understood exactly how they worked. You see, my dad works as a security guard, for some high end company which means that when he says that he’s taking me to a party, he’s really going there to work. That means, me standing alone with some spoilt brats that I don’t even know while he works for free! I’m only twelve years old and even I know that his boss is just using him. Last time that I came to one of these parties, I had to put on some ugly dress that made me itch all night while the boss’ creepy kid just stood staring at me, while snot dribbled from his nose.
“Pumpkin, are you ready?”
“Dad, I really don’t want to go. Can’t I just stay with Aunt Mel and Courtney?”
“No, my boss thought you were really sweet last time, and insisted that you came again.”
“Do you do everything that he tells you-”
“Addy, I don’t want to hear anymore whining from you, you’re going and that’s final. Now, go up to your room; I’ve put a dress on your bed,” my dad said as he walked back into the kitchen, in his black suit. He actually looked really nice, and important but I wasn’t about to tell him that. I marched up the stairs, angrily, ready to put on another itchy dress for the evening. What kind of people does he work for, where I have to pretend to be a little girly, girly, when I’m not?
As I walked through my bedroom door, I suddenly froze as I looked at the dress in front of me. I couldn’t believe that he had given me this to wear, I couldn’t wear this-
“Like it?” A voice said from behind me, causing me to jump.
“Dad, I can’t wear that.”
“Yes, you can. She would want you to wear it. You have no idea how much she loved you, you know,” he said as he stroked my back, gently. I wanted to turn around and look at him, but I didn’t want him to see the tear that had just rolled down my cheek. I couldn’t believe that he was actually giving me my mom’s dress to wear, and there I was just moaning, like a spoilt brat about going to the party. I knew how much it meant to him to keep all of her things.
“Thanks, Dad,” I said as I span around and threw myself into his arms. He didn’t say anything, and I knew that he was trying not to cry. He always forced himself not to cry in front of me, he wanted to seem brave, and he was.
“Ok, hurry up and put it on. We’re leaving in ten minutes, ok?”
“Ok, dad,” I said before turning back around and walking towards the dress.
“Thanks, Mom,” I whispered as I took the dress in my hands and smiled to myself.
* * *
“Addy, don’t cry,” my dad shouted behind me as I ran up the stairs.
“Leave me alone,” I growled as the tears rolled down my cheeks. As I walked up to the mirror and looked at the state of my mom’s dress, I threw myself on the floor and started crying some more. I kept thinking about the fact that the dress would be stained forever, and it made me feel like I had let her down. A rage of anger flew through me and I pulled the dress over my head, angrily. I only stopped when I heard the sound of it rip. My eyes burned with even more tears as I stared at the ripped dress that was covered in chocolate sauce. I couldn’t believe what I had done. I opened my closet and searched for an empty shoe box. I ripped the lid off and stuffed the dress inside. I grabbed the chair from my desk and placed it in front of my closet. I picked up the box, with the dress inside and climbed on top of the chair.
“What are you doing, Pumpkin?”
“I don’t want to see it again, I’ve ruined it,” I said as I looked at my dad’s sympathetic face. I placed the box at the top of my closet and then pushed it all the way to the back.
“Oh, Pumpkin, it’s ok,” he said as he picked me up off the chair and then pulled me into a hug. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up,” he said as he rubbed my chocolate filled hair.
I didn’t know much about that Caleb boy but I knew that this was all his fault and I would never ever forgive him...
My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the voice of the ‘despised one’ spoke.
“Nice sweatpants,” he said as he stood there, staring into my car.
“Get lost, Caleb,” I said as I opened the door and stormed past him. Just thinking about the fact that he covered my mom’s dress in chocolate sauce, made me even angrier. I never explained that part of the story to Courtney; only my dad knew, and that’s why I could never let it go. He wasn’t even sorry, I remember how he just smiled at me and said, ‘you look tasty’ before walking off with the rest of the stuck up kids. I’m sorry but I was going to make sure that Caleb would truly understand how I felt, no matter what it took.
“You’re quiet-”
I interrupted his comment by slamming my bedroom door in his face and throwing myself on my bed. My eyes suddenly glanced at the top of my closet as the memory pained me. I ignored my thoughts, and picked up my Virginia Andrews book that I had been trying to read for so long now. I opened it up on the folded page. I flicked back a few pages, so that I could re-read what I had already read, just to remind myself what had already happened.
* * *
I had been reading for about forty minutes before I heard the sound of the shower go on. An idea suddenly came to
me, so I folded the page that I was on and crept over to my bedroom door as quietly as I could. Once I was out, I moved as quickly as I could, to Caleb’s room and then let myself in.
It was funny seeing how he kept his room. To my complete and utter surprise, there were no dirty posters or clothes thrown on the floor. It was actually pretty tidy: his bed was made, his clothes were neatly hung up in the closet and the floor was actually visible. Who the hell is this kid? My Jekyll and Hyde theory was starting to make even more sense.
The only things that were left out were the clothes that he was obviously planning to put on after his shower, and a heart shape necklace that was sat on his dresser. I had to throw my hand over my mouth to stop myself from laughing. As I thought back to the many times that I had seen Caleb, he always had a necklace tucked into his tee. The fact that I now know that it is a heart shaped necklace is hilarious. It looks like our little Caleb is a little more sensitive than I thought. As I examined the gold necklace further, I noticed that it had a lot of brown and black patches on it. If that was the original style of it, then he needs to go and get his money back.
My head instantly snapped towards the door as I heard the sound of the shower go off. I actually forgot how to breathe for a second, as I tried to work out what I needed to do. After physically slapping myself in the face, so that I’d start to focus, I ran to the door and made a quick escape to my room. As I stood behind the door, trying to catch my breath, I heard the sound of the bathroom door opening and let out a sigh of relief.
After I had finally managed to catch my breath again, I began thinking about my revenge plan on Caleb. Going into his room gave me the perfect idea. Tomorrow, everyone would see the girly necklace that the ‘bad boy’ had been hiding; let’s see how cool you look after this, shall we...
CHAPTER 12
Through The Looking Glass
“See you later, Dad,” I said as I tried to make a quick escape, out of the front door.
“Hang on a minute,” my dad said as he appeared in the front room.
“Yup,” I said as I tried to hide my guilt.
“You never leave this early-”
“I know but Aunt Mel’s cooking me breakfast this morning, so I have to leave earlier,” I replied. Technically that wasn’t a lie, she doesn’t know that I’m coming for breakfast but I’m sure that she’ll cook it, once she sees that I’m there.
“Ok, well I’m glad you’re going there anyway, I wanted you to ask them, if they wanted to come over for dinner tomorrow.”
“Courtney, and Aunt Mel?”
“And Cale,” he said as he raised his eyebrows at me.
“Oh, fun, two Calebs in one house,” I mumbled.
“Behave, and don’t forget that you’re grounded. I want you straight home after school, ok?”
“Yes, Father,” I replied, sarcastically.
“I’m not kidding-”
“I know, I know, I’ll be straight back. Love you,” I said before kissing him on the cheek and slipping out of the front door.
I knew that I had to move quickly, if my plan was going to come together and that meant getting out of the house before Caleb came out of the shower. You see, I went all Tom Cruise, and snuck inside his room again. That’s why I had to get up extra early, so that I was ready. I knew that he would start searching for his stupid necklace, as soon as he came out of the shower. I also knew that at some point, he’d just assume that he had lost it, and that’s when things would get really good. At lunch, I planned to show the necklace to everyone in the cafeteria, and embarrass him. Somehow, the cafeteria had become my new stage for embarrassing Caleb. I just hoped that it actually worked to my advantage for once.
As I walked up to Courtney’s door, I checked my pockets to make sure that I hadn’t dropped the necklace.
“Hey, Cutie Pie-”
“Someone’s happy to see me, I didn’t even knock,” I said as a smile filled my face.
“No, my mom just told me that she saw you, and that if I didn’t answer the door then I wasn’t going to get any breakfast,” she said with a mischievous grin on her face.
“I should have guessed,” I replied, sarcastically.
“Hey, Aunt Mel,” I said as I walked into the kitchen and took in the scent of her cooking.
“Hey, sweetie. Have you eaten breakfast yet?”
“No, but it’s ok, I can grab some-”
“No need, Court said that you were coming, so I did extra,” she replied with a smile on her face.
“Thanks.”
“Well, it won’t be ready for another ten minutes, so I’ll call you,” she said before Courtney dragged me up the stairs by my arm.
“Thanks, Mom!” She shouted back.
“So, what’s going on, it sounded interesting when you text me this morning,” Courtney said as we both sat on the edge of her bed.
“Well, I have this,” I said as I took the necklace from my pocket.
“Err, why did you take jewelry out of the dumpster? If you wanted a new necklace, I could have given you one of mine-”
“It’s not from the dumpster, you moron. It’s Caleb’s, I took it this morning,” I said with a smile on my face.
“Why does he have it, and what do you want with it?” She asked with a confused expression on her face.
“Well, I only just realized, last night, that he wears it under his tee, everyday. The only time that he takes it off, is when he showers-”
“You know what he does when he showers?” She replied with a huge smile on her face.
“Yes, scrub away the day’s dirt, I hope. The point is, this girly necklace clearly means something to him, so, I’m going to use it to humiliate him,” I said, proudly.
“Not this again, Addy didn’t you learn from the two things that happened to you yesterday?” She asked in a frustrated tone.
“Today’s a new day.”
“Yeah, it’s a new day with new problems. Look, you really need to let go of this stupid grudge. Ok, so he got chocolate sauce in your hair but he was twelve, let it go and stop playing games,” she said in a serious voice.
“You wouldn’t understand, ok. I want to make him pay, and if he just stops trying to get me back then this could end pretty quickly, so you should save your little speech for him. Why do you even care anyway, he’s a jerk who just uses girls for one thing, I thought that you hated those kind of guys?”
“I do but maybe that necklace was from someone special. It could be from the very girl that broke his heart and caused him to act like that,” she said as she raised her eyebrows at me. She could be right but I still don’t care, when it comes to Caleb, sympathy doesn’t exist in my world.
* * *
After finally showing Courtney that I was definitely going through with my plan, we went downstairs to eat breakfast. I was thankful because the food actually made her forget about my plan.
“Oh yeah, I’ve got to pick up Rick, today. His brother has his car again,” I said as we walked towards my car.
“Ok.”
“Oh, and I need you to sit in the back-”
“Why?”
“You’ll see, just sit in the back,” I said as I slipped into the driver’s seat.
“Ok, but this better not have anything to do with your stupid plan,” she moaned as she got into the back.
“No, and the plan is not stupid,” I replied as I began making my way to Rick’s house.
“So, have you been speaking to that guy?”
“What guy?” I asked in a confused tone.
“The Hollywood hottie that was outside of your house the other day,” she said as I finally understood what she meant.
“Oh, Blake? No, I didn’t give him my number-”
“What? Why?”
“Because I don’t know him-”
“Err, that is sort of the point, you give the number, so that you can get to know him. You may never see him again now and then what?” She asked, like I was crazy.
“And th
en, I’ll continue living my life. I don’t care if I never see him again,” I chuckled as I pulled up in front of Rick’s house, and honked the horn, twice.
“By the way, Dad asked if you guys wanted to come over for dinner, tomorrow.” I said as I turned around to face Courtney.
“Does that include the Buffet King?” She asked in disgust.
“Yeah, that’s what I said too and to answer your question, yes; him too,” I said as we both scrunched up our faces.
“Great,” she mumbled before we watched a confused looking Rick, try and work out which door to open.
“Sorry, I thought that Courtney would be at the front,” he said as he stepped inside.
“Yeah, usually but I wanted to make up for not letting you sit next to me, yesterday. Sorry about that but I had a plan-”
“Yeah, one that failed,” Courtney sniggered.
“Shut up. Anyway, how are you?” I asked as I started to drive again.
“I’m good, what about you two?” He asked as he glanced back at Courtney too.
“I’m good,” I replied.
“Me too,” Courtney added.
“Great,” he said with a smile on his face.
Rick was such a great guy; he’s the kind of guy that Caleb should aspire to be like, instead of being such a jerk all the time.
I spent the rest of the journey sat in silence while Courtney and Rick talked about school, and homework. I was too busy planning my revenge on Caleb, to concentrate on what they were actually saying.
“Are you coming?” Rick asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“Coming where?” I asked.
“Keeley’s party, tonight.”
“Nope, I’m grounded.”
“Bummer,” he replied as he looked at me sympathetically.
“Yup,” I said as I slowly parked the car in the parking lot.
I couldn’t see Caleb’s dumb truck anywhere which made me smile, since I had probably made him late, and took his stupid necklace. That should count as two pranks really.