“Alright. I think I’m locked and loaded and ready to go. I can’t wait to bring this bastard down.” Lie, lie, all day long, it’s a lie. Keith is bringing me down, already has.
Charlie shakes her head, glancing around at the girls with a look that says something I can’t quite pinpoint. “That’s not what we want you to do, Kennedy. After the big incident, we all came together and decided it was too much. Things have gone too far. I’m sorry, but what you did was wrong. Revenge is never the answer, Ken.” Her voice is small, and yet surprisingly her balls are enormous. And—I happen to agree with her. Mostly.
One by one my sorority sisters nod into their admission.
“The best revenge is staying hot,” Charlie continues. “You need to date. I’d suggest his best friend, but I happen to be Duke’s girl.” The room lights up with titters. “Find someone Keith can’t stand, and make sure he sees you with this man, often and up close. Smile a lot. Wear heels and toss your hair like nobody’s business.”
The girls all nod along to Charlie’s rose-colored revenge, the dish best served up with Fuck-Me heels and the promise of a cute frat boy on my arm. It does have its charm.
Charlie stands as if to prove her point. “Jealousy is the most powerful weapon in your arsenal, Kennedy. Use it wisely to knife him to pieces.” Charlie once had her heart broken by one of our match ups at Kappa Pi. She began revenge dating Duke Richards, and, well, the rest is engagement ring history. “Who does Keith hate? Who would it kill Keith to see you hanging all over?”
The room is peppered with familiar names of boys all across campus.
“Caleb McCarthy!” A taunting voice shrills from the back—Brylee. I knew I should have banished her.
The room fills with gasps. You would think oxygen were a precious commodity about to dissipate the way the girls are sucking up air.
“The lawyer?” one cries.
“The hot lawyer,” another corrects.
“He is hot.” Charlie nods with feverish delight. “And I can tell you like him. Your whole face lit up the second you heard his name.”
Melanie leans back almost incredulous. “Do you like this person?”
Mel knows me, in and out, better than anybody in this room. I’ve confided more in her than I ever did Reese, partially because I would rather have my eyes and mouth sewn shut than share my mother’s dicey history with my stepsister. I’m sure Reese has her own ideas about my mother. I don’t need reality brushing the already rusted patina off her threadbare perceptions.
“Yes—no.” A flood of emotion bubbles through me as the truth wrestles with a lie. It’s as if there’s a light inside me, a very small pinhole of goodness begging to break through this dark basement I’ve sequestered the real me in. “Of course, not.” Goodness will never win.
“You do.” Mel’s eyes widen. Her cheeks blotch red as if I’ve just slapped her. “No, it’s okay. I just thought we were close.”
“I haven’t exactly been on campus. Anyway—regarding my feelings—the jury is still out on that one. And, all legal jokes aside, I’m not in a rush to get my heart broken again. But when I do decide it’s time, Caleb McCarthy won’t know what hit him.”
The room breaks out in a dull roar as the girls all offer their goodbye hugs, their congratulations on my new relationship as if the take-down-Keith-Stearns-burn-book gathering just morphed into my engagement party to Caleb.
I scowl over at Reese and Brylee as they snicker in the corner.
“I’ll call you,” Mel mouths the words as I head out into the damp night air that smells heavy of earth and roses.
“Wow.” Brylee shivers as the door closes behind us. “That, right there, is the primary reason I never joined the Barbie Brigade. It was Stepford city in there for a second. You’re obviously the queen bee in charge of all the mindless drones. Did you have them turn in their souls on initiation day?”
“Yes. And I’m about to extinguish yours. Caleb? Really? Did we need to go there? Don’t answer that.” I rub my arms as we head back toward married housing. It’s true, though, I see Brylee’s point regarding my sisters. Whether I like it or not, taking this semester off has provided a little perspective on the sorority as a whole. As much as I like being respected and looked up to, I also like my independence. I never was a fan of the cattiness involved.
“Ken”—Reese pulls me into an abnormally long embrace—“please tell me you won’t do a single thing those girls suggested. It’s trite, juvenile, not to mention half those things were highly illegal. Take what’s left of your dignity and move on. Charlie was right. Being happy really is the best revenge. And if you happen to fall into—”
“Caleb,” Brylee cuts her off with a whisper as if she were trying to send me some subliminal message.
“I get it. You both think Caleb is the answer.”
“I like the sound of that.” A deep voice booms from behind, and I cringe.
I pivot slowly on my heels and find a smiling, handsome as all hell, dimples digging in, eyes glowing like lust-fueled lava, Caleb McCarthy.
My stomach catches fire at the sight of him. A jolt of electrocution spasms through me. Having Caleb catch you off guard is the equivalent to sticking a fork in the socket.
Brylee leans in. “I might have forgot to mention that I’m staying over at Reese’s tonight. I have a study group for Poly Sci in the morning.”
I openly glare at Brylee and Reese a moment before frowning at the boy—the man who consistently knocks the breath out of my lungs each and every time he’s around.
