Page 14 of Loathing Ryan
As I was crossing the field, away from Izabel, my mind had been furiously working to come up with a plan. She had flat-out refused to accept my treaty. I couldn’t allow myself to show any more weakness when it came to her. And I had finally thought of the perfect prank for this year’s trip.
This would be the penultimate prank, and after this, we could both move on with our lives.
I quickly relayed my idea to Todd and Liam. Todd was enthusiastic, immediately volunteering to do most of the dirty work. Liam appeared to be amused, but I also noted he wasn’t quite on board as much as he had been in the past.
Whatever, we would pull off this prank, and that would be it.
After this, I’d shut down anything else that the guys tried to talk me into.
As Todd and I set to work perfecting this prank, all I could think about was how she’d respond.
Her reactions to my pranks were always so spot on. This one was pretty harmless, but I knew she would throw a fit. Honestly, I was looking forward to it.
As I stared up at the flagpole, I only felt a little hint of regret. But I quickly squashed that feeling. We only had a few more weeks together before we’d go our separate ways.
Might as well make the most of them.
7
IZABEL
After the capture-the-flag game ended,Juliet and I went to get some ice cream from the shop at camp. Juliet was a bit bitter that Todd had found our team’s flag before she had gotten to theirs, so we needed a pick-me-up.
As per usual, she got her favorite flavor, rocky road, and I got mint chip. We settled on one of the picnic tables to eat and then decided to go back to our dorm rooms.
“I think there’s a movie night tonight,” Juliet mentioned as we walked toward the dorms. “Probably some kid movie, but do you want to go?”
I shrugged. “Sure, that sounds good to me. I have no other plans.”
“Uh, Izabel?” she asked as soon as the dorms were in our sightline. I looked up to see her pointing at something.
Following her finger, my stomach dropped. Right there, hanging loud and proud on the flagpole in front of the girls’ dorms, was all my underwear. Bras, socks, and panties. And right in the middle of the parade of clothing was a white cloth withIzabel’s Secretscratched onto it with a black marker.
“Oh. My. God,” I whispered.
“I’m going to kill him,” Juliet said under her breath.
“Not if I get to him first,” I grumbled back.
I stomped as quickly as I could toward the dorms. I couldn’t go too fast. Otherwise, I was worried I would burn holes where my feet hit the ground as I fumed with red-hot anger. I’m unsure if I had ever been madder in my entire life.
He had warned me. He sure did. But holy shit, I hadn’t expected him to do that. I kind of felt bad for the ass-whooping Liam was going to be getting from Juliet later for his likely role in the stunt.
“Are you kidding me?” I yelled at the boys standing underneath the flagpole. They watched me approach with mirthful eyes, looking awfully proud of themselves.
Ryan leaned against the flagpole, grinning. Todd stood off to his side with his arms crossed, a smirk plastered on his face as well. Liam watched Juliet warily, with an expression of pure sheepishness, as she glared at him.
“Heya, Bells,” Ryan said lazily. “You’ve been a naughty girl. Thongs? Honestly, I was expecting you to be more of a boy short or granny-panty type of girl.”
“Ihateyou!” I screamed as I marched right up to him. We were starting to attract a crowd. The underwear acted as a beacon to all my classmates, and they were drawn to the scene. I’m sure they were ready to see the long-awaited showdown between Ryan and me.
“Yeah, well, the feeling is mutual,” Ryan argued back as I got closer.
I gave a dark chuckle as my mind flashed back to the interaction we had during the capture-the-flag game. “Oh, really?”
It must be something in the way that I’m baiting him that has his eyebrow twitching, and he raises his chin expectantly, waiting for me to continue.
“’Cause that’s not really what you said earlier, is it?” I smiled cruelly at him and changed the octave of my voice, mimicking his deep timbre. “Oh please, Bells, can we be friends? I’m dying to make amends with you.”
