Page 99 of My Rules for Revenge
“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.
