“Did you?”
I shrugged.“Word travels fast. I didn’t think the whole school would find out. Anyway, she said she didn’t want me at the party because I would sleep with everyone in sight and ruin all her sheets. Rude, right? So I laughed and went back to what I was doing.”
“You weren’t mad?”
“I was pissed, but I didn’t lose my temper. I hardly ever do. Only if someone hurts Ari or anyone else I care about. I’d rather plot my revenge and do it later.”
Dennis smiled in approval. “Keep going. This is interesting.”
“I ditched last period a week later to destroy her car. Keyed it, slasheditstires, broke all the windows and dousedthe inside with lighter fluid. School got out andshe ran up screaming so I told her I fucked a guy in her backseat that morning, she shouldn’t leave her doors unlocked, and I decided to clean up for her. With fire.‘Cause I wouldn’t want her getting contaminated, would I?
“So I tossed a match and everything went up in flames.Ithought it was hilarious, but everyone else was freaking out. I’m assuming someone called the police because they showed up with the fire department.”I giggled at the memory. It was a fun day.
“Did you really fuck a guy in her car?”Dennisasked.
“Of course I did.” I sat up with a new rush of energy. He followed suit as I scooted back and crossed my legs.“She left the doors unlocked. What else was I supposed to do?” I grinned before saying,“Okay, I lied.She didn’t leave the doors unlocked. I picked the locks. But I was gonna set it on fire anyway, so it’s not like it mattered.”
“Aren’t you scared of fire?”
“Yeah. I dunno why I didn’t care that day. Who knows what was going on up here.” I waved a careless hand at my head.
“Wait. That can’t be the end.”
“No, there’s a lot more to that story.”
“Finish it,”Dennisencouraged.“Stay here all night, if you want. I wanna hear the rest.”
“I was charged with vandalism and arson, but since it was my first offense and it wasn’tviolentthe courts went easy on me. I did some time in juvie, my aunt appealed the sentence and I got released early for good behavior. I finished out the sentence with house arrest—minus going to school—and community service.”
“What happened next?” Dennis asked. I’d expected him to get bored, but he was fully invested.
“Next would be the second incident,” I started.“I came back to school around the end of November and I was basically ostracized. Most of the guys decided I was easy and tried to sleep with me, and the rest of my school was either terrified of me or hated me for whatever reason. This is when school life started to suck. And to make things worse, that one guy got the restraining order halfway through the year, so my whole schedule was changed to keep away from him.”
“Who was he again?”
“He was dating the girl from the other story.Well, they broke up after he tried to hook up withme. I turned him down and let her know he tried to cheat even though we hated each other. See how I’m the better person here?”
“But why’d you try to chop off his dick?That’s what I wanna know.”
“It’s what I said before: he tried to cheat, I turned him down, he was butt-hurt and spread the rumor that Ididsleep with him.I hate when people lie about me. So I told him I changed my mind and that I’d blow him, but then I pulled a knife and tried to cut it off instead. He freaked out and escaped and refused to be near me ever again.” I rolled my eyes. “He was so dramatic. He could’ve just told me to leave him alone. We didn’t need a restraining order.”
Dennis chuckled. “Okay. So we have the juvie story. We have the restraining order. If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to cause the psychiatric stay?”
I stiffened at the question. That was something I never talked about. Ever. Not even with Ari. This story wasn’t a fun one. “Huh.” I twirled a lock of hair, trying to find the right words for it.
“If you don’t wanna talk about it, it’s okay. Iwon’t ask again.”
“No, it’s fine.”I ran a hand through my hair.“It was the last day before Christmas break. School was out and I was walking to my bike when that girl shouted‘hey slut! I have a question.’I knew it was for me ‘cause she called me that all the time, so I stopped and asked what she wanted. And this is a direct quote, because I’m never gonna forget what she said that day.
“She said‘I was wondering what your plans are for Christmas, since you’re an orphan and all. You should kill yourself. No one would miss you.’”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. So I got on my bike and tried to run her over.”
“Youwhat?”
“I tried to run her over,” I repeated.“I mentioned this, remember? That was the day. I drove up the sidewalk but her boyfriend, the guy who got a restraining order later, pulled her away just in time. I was soclose,” I said sadly. It was one of my greatest failures. “I was on my motorcycle. I had one at the time.”
