Page 17 of The Revenge Plan

Kailey finally said, “I find it funny that you destroy peoples’ lives, act like a spoiled child, come back and try to act like everything is hunky dory between us.”

What the fuck were they talking about? I scanned my brain for anything that had happened between us. Problem was, it was filled with a ton of drug and alcohol stained gaps.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

Sophie shook her head. “Of course, you forgot. You were drunk, after all. Isn’t that your excuse?”

I shook my head and was about to say something, but that made them even angrier.

“Ask your husband, you dumb twat,” Kailey said, “I’m sure he will tell you, now that you two are on good terms.”

Caiden? I was about to inquire further when Mya cut into our conversation with an announcement, “Okay everyone, get into teams.” She came over to us and said, “you three plus Ax and Dana?”

I didn’t have time to object. The other three reluctantly nodded. And like that, we were a team. This should not be hard, I told myself. I could do this. We used to be friends, after all.

“Are you good at volleyball?” Dana asked when she came to stand next to me.

I wasn’t. The last time I played was in high school gym class. But how hard could it be? “Yes.”

“And I don’t mean through cheating, I mean genuinely.”

Everyone around us laughed. Nice one, Dana. I looked up over to the other side of the net. Caiden raised his head at the sound of laughter and our eyes met. He looked away. I was alone in this, it seems.

We got into our positions. Mya hit a ball towards me. I missed and fell down.

Dana took it as an opportunity to throw in another dig, “I hope you’re not drunk yet. It’s only one o’clock.”

More laughter.

I picked myself up, “Aren’t you supposed to be trash talking the other team?”

“Oh, come on Hailey,” Ax said, “it’s just us having fun.”

The game restarted. Our team was doing terribly. Mostly due to me. I was the weakest link, and all the balls were being thrown in my direction. Ax had resorted to taking them himself if he could. I didn’t fail to notice that some of those balls were coming from Caiden. If the man was trying to kill me with volleyballs, he was surely close to succeeding.

Another ball came for me. I tried to hit it and send the ball back to the other side with a punch. I succeeded, but then stumbled, crashed into a body, felt a sharp scratch on my toe and tumbled to the ground. There was a squeal, and I saw Dana lying next to me.

She was rolling on in the sand. Everyone rushed to ask if she was okay. She was holding her foot, wailing in pain. Wailing a little too dramatic if you ask me, “Why did you push me,” she said glaring at me.

I didn’t push her. I barely touched her. But maybe I had, I was not sure. “I didn’t push you.”

“Can’t you simply apologize?” Sophie's eyes were accusatory. She rushed over to her friend.

“But I didn’t touch her. She was—” I felt the pain throb at the top of my toe and I couldn’t finish my sentence. I glanced down. Blood was gushing out of my big toenail.

“Hailey?” Caiden was glaring at me with an accusatory stare as well.I didn’t do anything.Dana on the other hand was wailing on the ground with her hand on her ankle. Someone had given her an ice pack which she was now applying on her foot. It didn’t seem like much had happened to her, but you wouldn’t be able to tell with the way she was squirming and the way everyone had gathered around her. Meanwhile, I was in blistering pain. It felt wrong to say I had hurt my foot too.

“I’m sorry.” I said in a low voice. Caiden rushed over to Dana and carried her into the house. The game was over after that.

8

The ride back home was excruciating. I didn’t want to spend any more time next to her than I wanted to. I took off my eyes off the road and momentarily glanced at her. She had her arms crossed against her chest and her lips pouted as she stared outside the passenger side window.

“What you did was childish.”

She scoffed.

“It’s not funny.”

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