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We finally made it to the bottom and Harper walked next to me to the dining hall. She kept up a constant chatter as we walked, but I tuned her out.
It’s not that I didn’t want to hear what my friend had to say.
It’s that I couldn’t stop thinking about my list. There were people that at Taylor Prep that I wanted to take down for the way they had treated me and I had to stay focused.
* * *
Iknew exactly how I wanted to get Sara back. She was the captain of the dance team and known for her amazing ballet. Even though part of me wanted to start at the top of the harpies, with Amelia, the other part of me wanted to watch her squirm when she knew that I was coming for her.
Friday night was the first dance competition of the semester and everyone had already assumed that Sara would win it. She was a shoo-in, no doubt, thanks to her classical training that started when she was two and the fact that she worked so hard that her feet bled on a regular basis.
In fact, she was the only harpy I’d ever seen not wearing high heels around campus. Her feet hurt all the time, everyone knew that, which is why she had custom orthotics shipped in from her home every month. They ensured that she could walk without pain and allowed her to dance to the best of her ability.
But I wasn’t going to steal her orthotics. I knew how bad it hurt when you couldn’t walk correctly, thanks to her and Amelia. I’d considered it, of course, since it would have been one of the easiest ways to get back at her, but I had a better idea.
The night of the competition I made sure that my friends and the rogues were all going. Our group was sitting outside in the quad before dinner. Brett had his arm around me and I was leaned back, my head on his shoulder, while we all talked.
“What’s the plan for tonight?” I tried to keep my voice light, but Kaleb shot me a look that told me he had an idea that I was up to something. “I was thinking that maybe we all go and check out the dance competition. I heard there are some cute guys from other schools coming to compete.”
“Hey, that’s not nice.” Brett dropped a kiss on my forehead and then pinched my arm, causing me to yelp and sit up. “You can’t just add more people to our group without permission, you know.”
I grinned at him. “I know, don’t worry. The three of you are perfect for me. I just thought that it might be fun to go and see what kind of dancing the other schools can do. What do you guys think?”
“I think you’re crazy.” Jackie plucked a head of clover and tossed it at me. “Why you’d want to go anywhere when you know the harpies are looking for you is beyond me.”
“Yeah, I thought we’d snuggle up in my room and watch a movie.” Maggie’s mom had sent her a care package and although Mr. Taylor had taken all of the snacks out of it, he’d left the movies. We’d been talking about a movie night for a while, but tonight was not the best option, so I shook my head.
“Not tonight. Tomorrow is good for me, though. Tonight I really want to go to the competition. Nobody wants to go with me?”
I caught the looks between my friends and my rogues. They obviously knew that I was up to something, but I sincerely doubted that any of them would call me on it. Someone would volunteer to go with me, or I’d simply have to go alone.
That wasn’t ideal, but I was sure that I could make it work.
“I’ll go.” My head whipped around at Brett’s voice. His dark eyes were boring into me, but when I caught his gaze, he smiled a little. “I’ll go with you, Rose, since it’s apparently that important to you.”
“Us too.” Kaleb and Jackie were nodding. “You want to go that badly, Rosita, and we’re not going to let you go by yourself. The three of us will take you, okay?”
Okay. I breathed a sigh of relief. Just having my rogues with me would make the evening less stressful and would also make sure that I was able to take Sara down a few notches. I didn’t want to hurt her—besides the fact that I thought it was wrong, I didn’t want to get kicked out of school—but I didn’t mind the thought of teaching her a lesson and making her regret the way she treated me.
“Then we’d better go.” I stood up and the rogues followed, but Harper and Maggie shook their heads. “No offense, Rose, but we’re going to pass. That just does not sound like a good night to me.” Harper grinned up at me while she spoke. “But if anything good happens, you make sure to tell us right away, okay?”
I nodded and started to hobble across the quad with my rogues. Before we even made it twenty feet, Brett was next to me, his hand on my shoulder. “You want to tell us what’s really going on, Rose? It can’t possibly be that you suddenly want to go see Sara dance, right?”
Ducking my head, I tried to ignore him, but he was right. He deserved to know the truth, so I nodded but kept walking. “I have a list, Brett.” Even though I tried to keep my voice quiet, all of the rogues heard me.
“A list? And when were you going to tell us about this list?” Kaleb sounded worried and walked on my other side. “You want to fill us in on the details now, Rose?” He was the one that I had been most concerned about telling. Not only was Kaleb sensitive and thoughtful, but part of me worried that he wouldn’t want me to go through with my plans.
Nothing, not even my rogues, would be able to stop me from having my revenge. I loved them. There was no doubt about that, but I couldn’t let the harpies get away with all they had done to me.
Turning to face them, I threw my hands down and sighed. “I’m sorry. I just knew that if I told you guys or my friends what was going on that you may try to stop me, and I can’t let that happen. You have no idea what hell I’ve lived through and I’m not going to let them get away with it any longer.”
They didn’t answer, so I turned away. I was walking faster now, not wanting to get to the competition any quicker, but not wanting to continue this discussion.
“We know what they’ve done to you, Rosita. We’re here to make it better. Tell us what we can do.” Jackie’s response surprised me, but I didn’t slow down. It was easy for them to think that they were willing to do what I needed them to, but I honestly wasn’t sure if they would really go through with it.
When I didn’t stop or turn around, Brett stopped me, his hand firmer on my shoulder. “Rose, we need to talk before we go in there. You have to give us a clue of what we’re walking into. We’ll stand by you, no matter what you do, but it would be nice to have an idea of what’s coming, okay?”
They were right. I turned around slowly, not wanting to see the looks on their faces. Brett looked fierce, his dark eyes squinting as he searched my face. Jackie looked tired, and Kaleb looked…worried. The look on his face almost broke my heart and I reached for his hand, pulling him to me.
