Prom Queen of Disaster (23 page)

“I’m sorry,” he said. The words I would’ve begged him not to use. He repeated, like it would help change things. “I didn’t mean it. It was a mistake.”

I closed my eyes. “A mistake?” I said, behind the locker door. “Don’t say that, a mistake is writing in blue ink when they ask for black, a
mistake
is walking into third period when it’s fourth period, already.”

“I didn’t mean it,” he said.

I slammed the locker shut to see his face, lopsided with a black eye, all purple and bruised. I smiled. “You deserved that,” I said. “And fuck your excuses, Dylan.”

Storming off out of school, I fumbled for my car keys. I sat inside the car and stayed for a moment as tears boiled over. Thankfully I had tissues on the dashboard, I blotted my face with them, glancing at myself in the mirror. The tiny stroke of mascara on my bottom lashes was now a watercolor down my face. I wiped it away before reapplying, I shouldn’t have, but I needed to make sure everything
looked
normal.

Kaleb was already home. He was on the porch, checking his phone. I’d hoped I’d be alone. He smiled when he saw me, brushing himself off as he stood.

“Why are you home?” I asked, getting the front door key ready.

“I quit,” he said, like I was supposed to be impressed. “So, I had a free period.”

“Okay,” I said, opening the door. There was a security alarm once the door was open. Kaleb punched in the numbers. I hadn’t realized he knew what they were.

“Have you seen Char?” he asked. “Nobody’s spoke to her. Ava said she doesn’t want to get involved.”

“The perks of being Switzerland,” I laughed. “I wish they’d grow some balls and have an opinion. They did it behind
my
back, nobody should be on their side. They shouldn’t even have a side.”

“All Char wants is attention,” he laughed.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Clearly, she wanted my boyfriend as well—
ex-boyfriend
,” I huffed. “Either way, I’m sure she’s happy.”

“Think she’s gonna have it?”

“Not if she wants to fit in the prom dress she’s been
eyeing
up for the past six months,” I said. “Either way. She’s not going to win after what’s happened.”

It felt nice to vent, spit the same bitter words Char would, and like her in my shoes, she wouldn’t get away with it. Neither of them would.

After the first day back, I decided to keep to myself. I went about the same routine, spending break and lunch in the art studio, at least then the only person
bothering
me was Mrs. Galloway. I sketched my project in my book and mixed colors out on palettes. I was almost ready to mark the canvas out.

“Aren’t you going home?” Mrs. Galloway asked.

I stared up at her like a deer in headlights.

“What?”

“It’s Friday.” I hadn’t realized how fast this week had gone by. “Yeah, I’m feeling inspired.”

“Bottle it up,” she said. “Because it’s the weekend now.”

I rinsed the paint brushes off and hung a sheet over the canvas, taking my time. I was in no rush to get home, back to reality. Once I was home, I stayed in the driveway and collected myself.

My mom stood at the door with her hands nestled into her apron. “How was school?”

“It’s been good,” I said as she guided me inside.

The table had already been set. “What’s for dinner?” I threw myself in a seat.

“Your dad’s not home, so Maddie decided,” she said. “Homemade burgers.”

“Need help with anything?” I pulled my phone out my pocket and turned it on.

“It’s all ready.” She wrapped an arm around one shoulder and squeezed. “You okay?”

I touched her hand. “Yeah. Focusing on school work.”

She kissed my forehead. “If you need anything, I’m here.”

Maddie and Kaleb sat around the table. The smell of burgers on the grill traveled through the house. I had cheese and ketchup on mine. I’d never comfort ate before, but now I’d eaten several large chocolate bars and gallon tubs of ice cream in the past week alone.

“What happened to cheer practice?” my mom asked. I shrugged off the question. “Didn’t see your uniform in the wash.”

“I quit,” I said, glancing up at her.

She stroked my back with a smile on her face. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was happy.

“I quit too,” Kaleb said. “In support of you.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I didn’t ask, but it’s nice you did.” I pressed my lips into a smile.

I ate with them, scoffing down three burgers before heading to my room. Oreo laid peacefully until I disturbed him, then he scratched at the door frame to get out. I didn’t let him. I pulled him into my chest as I read aloud from a Nicholas Sparks’ book. It gave me a reason to cry.

Buzz! Buzz!
My phone had been going off for the past few minutes. I didn’t look, I couldn’t stomach anymore questions about whether I was okay or not, even asking what I was doing. I put Oreo and the book aside to grab my phone.

Text messages flooded the screen. Group chats were blowing up, followed by strings of
omg
and
have you seen?
I unlocked my phone to check social media. It was there, staring at me, right
at
me.

I threw my phone across the bed, my hands were shaking as I let go, sputtering a couple breathes. It was a picture of Char and Dylan, engaged to be married. One picture was a group photo and the other a picture of the ring on her finger. I was beside Dylan in the group picture, we were together then. I grabbed my phone.

It buzzed in my hand; Ava’s name flashed up.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe what happened. I wish I knew. I would’ve told you,”
She sniffled over the phone.

A fuzzy haze covered me, it was suffocating. I tried to speak back, to scream, cry, anything. My hands shook. “What?” I said. “What? What!”

Ava spoke, her voice now quiet. I imagined her apologizing, telling me she hated Char, but all I believed was Char had decided to keep the baby, and Dylan was being forced into marriage—or he chose to, probably had the ring for me.

“Zo?”
Ava squeaked.
“You okay?”

I hung up as the first sob broke out. Nobody was allowed to see me like that. Kaleb walked in. He knocked first, but I thought it was Oreo knocking something over.

“I heard,” he said, closing the door behind him. “You’re not okay.”

“What?” I asked, bawling my eyes into my hands. “I’ve been horrible to you.”

He threw a hand at me flippantly. “You saved me,” he said, sitting at the end of my bed. “Now, I’m helping you. I’m not talking about painting your anger. Maybe going to the gym, get strapped in some boxing gear, something my brothers would do with me.
Fight
it out.”

The dimpled smile on his cheeks as he pressed his lips to stop smiling. I wiped away tears and smiled. “Sounds good. I guess. But I don’t want him to get away with it.”

He nodded, like he understood my mind. “What do you want?”

“To hurt him,” I said with a wave of relief.

“How?” he asked. “I’ve been hurt—and I’ve hurt people.”

My chest swelled with hope. “I’d kill him,” I said, half-heartedly smiling. “No, I’m going to smash the windows of his car. He
fucking
loves that car.”

His dad had given him his old car over Christmas, it was probably the only way I could think of showing how much he hurt me. Nothing would be close, but this was a start.

“We can do that,” Kaleb said. “Dress in all black. Do you have a crow bar or baseball bat?” He laughed. I wasn’t sure if he was serious, but I knew he’d definitely smashed a few cars up in frustration.

“Garage,” I said. “My dad always wanted a boy, typical.”

“The garage it is,” he said. “Midnight?”

I laughed. “I feel better already.” I lied; I’d feel better with his car busted up.

In the garage, my dad had mementos of his dad, my grandfather, the things he would’ve shared with me or my sister if we were boys, although my sister had shown interest in baseball, it was nothing she did after turning 9 years old.

My mom was in bed by midnight. We waited up. I wore all black, and met Kaleb in the garage. He was on his bike with a second helmet in his hands.

“We’re taking your bike?” I grit my teeth.

“Yeah.” He threw the helmet into my arms. “It’s faster and we’re gonna need to be quick,” he said. “If we’re caught, this could stop you from getting into college.”

“If we get caught,” I chuckled. “You’re the one who’s done this before.”

“I have a criminal record.”

“Maybe I need one of those now to make me interesting,” I said, squeezing my head inside the helmet “Something for my college essay.”

I opened the garage door, watching the top window in case my mom woke up. Kaleb wheeled his bike down the driveway to the main road. Somewhere it wouldn’t wake everyone in the house. I made sure I had my keys and a baseball bat before I closed the door again, making sure it locked. I zipped up my jacket pocket and walked over to Kaleb with my phone and baseball bat.

“You sure?” he asked, resting on the bike seat. He scooted up to make room for me behind him. “We can go and see first.”

“Don’t give me options,” I said. “I’ve made my decision.” I flipped the visor shut. “How’d I look?”

“Looks like you’re about to steal my bike,” he laughed.

“I don’t think I could drive with this in my hands,” I said, hitting the baseball bat in the palm of my hand.

I led Kaleb to Dylan’s house. All the lights were off but his car was parked in the driveway. Of course, their garage could only hold the one vehicle, and his dad’s new car was already inside. Dylan’s was there for the taking. I hoped Char would’ve been there with hers too, that way I’d hit two birds with one
bat
.

“Ready?” Kaleb said, pulling my helmet off. “I’ll keep watch.”

Suddenly, there was fire in my stomach. I hopped back and forth on my feet. Sucking in quick deep breaths and blowing slowly. “I need to do this,” I said, switching my hands with the bat. “He deserves everything coming to him, and
so
does she.”

He laughed. “We can do her after,” he said.

“I’ll let Benny,” I said. “I’m sure he already is after their engagement.”

“You think he will?” Kaleb asked.

I rolled my eyes at the thought. Benny was sweet but responsible; he wouldn’t risk his life on a girl whose legs couldn’t close.

“Ready,” I said, moving around his car. It was a beautiful car; a shame it was his. I imagined his face on it, mocking me; I knew he wouldn’t, but it helped.

With a strong back swing, I hit the windshield. It cracked. I hit again, and again. After several cracks appeared, a loud roaring smash followed as all the glass crashed inside.

The alarm finally sounded. I swung the bat, one final time, taking the rear-view mirror off completely. The alarm rang louder. Kaleb called me over as lights flashed on inside the house.

I jumped on the back of the bike, forcing the helmet down. Kaleb prepared his hand around the throttle. I wrapped my arms around his waist as the screech of the tires left a smell of burning rubber.

Euphoria ran through my body, my bones, I was weightless. I embraced it, letting go of Kaleb to raise my hands. The cool air snapped at us, chasing us.

We detoured to Char’s house to see if anything had happened. The living room light was on; her mom was likely drinking herself into an early grave, given the huge plans she’d had for Char, this baby was the last thing
she
wanted. Now she was engaged to Dylan, her future was brighter at least, but she was still going to fuck the plans he’d made.

“I’m happy for them,” I laughed. “They can go Romeo and Juliet each other.” I looked at Kaleb’s blank face as it went over his head. He smiled and reached for my hand. I let him hold it for a moment before pulling away to wipe it.

“I don’t think she’ll keep it,” he said. “She’ll miss prom.”

“You don’t know her like I do,” I said. “This is what she does, she finds something and uses it against everyone. That’s why she’s the cheer captain.”

Kaleb grabbed my hand again. I pulled away and looked into his eyes. “That’s how she got me to spike the punch,” he said, sighing with a defeated relief. “Her and my brothers, I don’t know what they were doing, but I’ve not be truthful to you.”

“It’s okay,” I said.

“No, whatever it was they had on me, it was bullshit.”

“I didn’t—”

“I wasn’t allowed to say.” He shrugged. “They kicked me out. Now someone’s been expelled, so there’s not much they can do now.”

Inside I was shouting at myself, telling myself
I told you so
, he knew more than he was letting on, and all those times I’d pushed, I should’ve pushed harder, but I didn’t.

“Why did they do it?” I asked.

“Char’s idea,” he said. “Pinning it on Mila, Char wanted to come out on top, she wanted to be the school hero.”

I grabbed his hand in mine. “It’s okay,” I said. “They can’t hold anything over you now.” But I wasn’t sure how many more things they had over him. “I guess it makes sense.”

“You know if I’m caught again, they’ll put me in prison.”

I stared into his eyes. “What?”

“The criminal record. I wasn’t joking.” He squeezed my hand in his. “I’m technically an adult, I can be prosecuted as one.”

“Three strikes and you’re out?”

He chuckled. “Three strikes.” He smiled.

It was 2 AM when we got back to the sleepy suburbia of Peyton Lane. There were no police, all the lights were off, and all things considered, my dad’s baseball bat was in good shape. It was the most exercise I’d done in a while; a lot like an amazing floor routine, I felt accomplished.

For the first night in over a week, I slept as soon as my head touched the pillow beside Oreo. My eyes rolled back and my face cracked a yawn at the side of my mouth. It had been an adventure.

“Zoey!” my mom called.

It was 7:56 AM. I rolled over in bed and flipped to the cold side of the pillow. She called out to me again, this time knocking on my door.

“There’s police officers at the door,” she whispered, trying the handle. It was locked.

I jumped up. “I’ll be out in a minute.” My arms flapped around with nerves. I dressed quickly and ran to the door. My mom scooped an arm around me. She’d invited the officers in.

Two men stood in the kitchen sipping coffee.

“Zoey Jensen?” One of them asked. I nodded. “I’m Officer Kitt, this is my partner, Officer Franklin.” They nodded back.

“Okay,” I said. “What’s this about?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and half-yawned.

“There was an incident around 1 AM this morning. A car window was smashed in, and you know the person it happened to,” Officer Franklin said. “We have some questions.”

“Where were you between midnight and 2 AM?” Officer Kitt asked.

“In bed,” my mom laughed, throwing her hand up like it was obvious.

“Home, in bed,” I said, shifting on my feet. “I have exams coming up so I’m studying every moment I get.”

They nodded.

“Do you know a Dylan McAlister?” Officer Kitt asked. “He claims this was you. Why would he believe you’d cause damage to his property?”