Pwned (8 page)

Gripping the base tightly in my frozen hands
, I swung the trophy like a baseball bat at Zane’s headlights, not caring how much noise I was making on the silent, dark street.

It took a few hits before the first headlight broke
, and I moved on to the next, sending pieces of thick plastic and glass everywhere. I ignored the pain I felt when the little pieces of glass penetrated my thin slippers and cut the bottoms of my feet. Instead, I concentrated all of my energy on Zane’s windshield, deciding headlights weren’t quite enough punishment for him.

When the glass finally broke
, I took a step back on my now bloody feet and surveyed my handiwork with a satisfied grin before getting into my car and driving away into the night. I briefly considered leaving my cheerleading trophy in his front seat as a little calling card, before realizing I’d probably go to jail if I did that.

I left Tawny’s car completely untouched, deciding I’d find a better way to get back at her. With Tawny
, it was probably best if I remained subtle and pretended to be her friend for as long as possible.

In fact, I’d be a better version of her than she was. If I had ever needed a goo
d excuse to get out of the life-ruining business, this was it. Now I could just be horrible to one more person before taking control and being the person I wanted to be.

I’d just have to play along until the perfect moment
.

9.
Dungeons and Drama

I spent the majority of Saturday trying to make myself perfect for the party that night. I had decided to wait a few days to officially end things with Zane so the whole truck smashing incident didn’t look too suspicious. I half wondered how he’d get to the party that night without a windshield, which made me grin up at the sun.

I was lying on a blanket in our backyard in my teal bikini, soaking up a bit of sun so that my skin would be glowing for the party. I ignored the sharp pains I got periodically in my feet from all of the glass I had stepped on the night before, deciding that I would look at the tiny cuts as battle wounds. Something to be proud of. A symbol of how I was taking control of my life.

I wiggled my sparkly teal toes in a satisfied way. I hadn’t gone completely
psycho with my rage and revenge. I considered it a pretty good trade-off to stop being a jerk to everyone in exchange for only being a jerk to the two people who deserved it.

Besides, I was pretty much done with getting back at Zane, and I wasn’t even sure what I was going to do to put Tawny in her place. Most likely whatever I came up with would be a much nicer punishment than she ever gave her poor
, helpless targets.

I spent the rest of the day in ultra-shallow mode, taking
forever to curl my long blonde hair, apply my makeup, and get dressed for the party.

By the time 8:45 rolled around
, I looked flawless. I realize that was a pretty conceited adjective, but honestly, after taking
that
much time to be shallow and self-absorbed all day, anything less than flawless would be a waste of time.

My sequined
teal dress showed off my tanned legs nicely, ending a few inches above my knee. I’m pretty sure Mom would have a thing or two to say about that. My hair cascaded down my bare back in golden ringlets, and I had applied some liquid eyeliner so that the thin black lines curled up at the corners, making it look like I had cat eyes. The effect was very flattering, if I did say so myself.

Honestly, even if I hadn’t looked that good, tonight was all about being confident and giving Tawny a run for her money. I’d have to stay alert if I was going to figure out the perfect way to exact my revenge.

Pulling up to Kimber’s house, I was slightly less than shocked by all of the cars parked outside. The only one that was a bit unusual was the car with two stickers on the back that said “I’m only here because my server is down” and “My other ride is a TARDIS.”

I wondered, as I entered the loud and dimly lit house, if Tawny had already done whatever horrible thing she was supposed to do to Parker. I almost hoped that she had so that I wouldn’t have to witness it and feel terrible.

Without the distraction of Parker, I could start on operation “Topple Tawny.” Originally I had called it “Operation Push Tawny Off Of Her Stupid Pedestal And Make Her See What It’s Like To Be Ruthlessly Ridiculed And Picked At,” but that title was too long.

And possibly a little creepy.

“Good, Reagan’s here,” I heard Tawny’s all-too-familiar voice say right beside me.

I turned to face her, my new enemy, and couldn’t help but flinch at how gorgeous she was.

So untouchable and fierce.

I was hoping that I had just made her out to be some perfect person
in my mind, but she really was every bit as beautiful and frightening as I had remembered. It stung a little, seeing her standing there smiling at me even though I knew what she had done.

I could also smell her cotton candy perfume, which only reminded me how much Zane’s room reeked of that stuff and how I should have put two and two together. But I was the new and improved Reagan now. I wasn’t going to let some silly thing like nerves get the best of me. I was going to beat Tawny.

“You look awesome,” she said, surveying me proudly and nodding her approval. “I so wish I had your back. It’s like, movie star perfect,” she added, running a finger down my bare spine and making me feel special for a moment.

Just one moment, though—b
efore I remembered what a life-ruining psychopath she was.

Her red lips curled up at the corners as she looked at me. She really did r
emind me of the devil sometimes; all subtlety, glamour, and deviousness.

“I don’t even need to tell you how perfect you look
, of course. Who even has a body that flawless?” I asked rhetorically, finding it much easier to play along now that I really knew the truth about her. “So, where’s our little target?” I asked with a wicked grin in her direction.

Playing along was easy, but having to steamroll Parker to do it was going to be tough.

“Oh, don’t worry, Kimber’s already laying the trap,” she answered slowly, letting her eyes wander over to a dark corner of the living room where Kimber stood way too close to Parker, whispering something to him.

I could tell he was nervous by the way his brown eyes were widening. Even in the dim light I could see him blush.

I felt suddenly defensive of him, like I wanted to go over and protect him from whatever was coming, but I kept my resolve firm and stayed still, grinning as if I didn’t feel like a horrible person.

“What is she doing?” I asked, pretending I really wanted to know because I
was excited, not because I was hoping I could stop it somehow.

“Asking him to meet her in the closet down the hall in five minutes,” Tawny informed me gleefully, quite happy with her plan. “Once he’s in there
, she’s going to lock the door so he can’t get out. It’s loud enough in here that no one will hear him banging on the door until long after the party’s died down. Then she’ll slip the key under the door and bolt,” she finished triumphantly. “So perfect, right?”

“Her parent
s’ closet locks?” was all I could say to the horrific thing I had just heard.

“They don’t trust the maid,” Tawny answered with a wave of her hand, as if this were an obvious concept.

“This has to be your most brilliant plan yet,” I said, wrinkling my nose up at her conspiratorially.

Wow. I was actually a much better actress than I thought, since what I really wanted to do was rip her hair out and push her down a flight of stairs.

“I know, right? I’m glad you said that because I was starting to think you were backing out on me for a minute there,” she said, jutting her hip out to the side and posing like she always did.

I saw
Kimber walking up to us and Parker leaving the room, a scared but possibly excited look on his face, and I wondered fleetingly if he had actually ever kissed a girl before.

“Like you ever have to worry about me going soft,” I reassured her easily, rolling my eyes at the very thought that I could possess a conscience.

“Phase one, complete,” Kimber said happily when she reached us. “And phase two,” she began, pulling a key out of her pocket, “initiated.”

“I’m surprised she even knows what that word means,” Tawny said dryly as
Kimber walked out of the living room to go lock Parker in the closet.

“Idiot,” I agreed, matching Tawny’s unimpressed tone.

Being Tawny was much easier than I had expected. All I had to do was say every mean thing that came to my mind. It was like living without a filter. Of course, the only reason I could keep this up was because I knew there was an end in sight. Being this awful every day would be exhausting.

Over the next hour I laughed with Tawny and the other members of The Squad over the stupid little inside jokes we had accumulated over the years. I had watched
Kimber a bit too closely when she rejoined us, taking note of the fact that she dropped the key to the closet in an expensive looking vase on an end table.

“I wonder why Zane isn’t here yet,” I said to Tawny, keeping my voice disinterested and neutral.

“His car got smashed up yesterday; I think he’s getting it fixed,” she said automatically. I caught an emotion I had never seen flash through her eyes the second she realized her mistake.

“Wait
, his car got smashed up? How? When did you hear about that?” I asked in mock shock, quite enjoying watching her squirm for the first time in her life.

Unfortunately
, my pleasure was cut short, since it took her all of two seconds to regain her composure.

“Some guy on the soccer team told me about it when I was trying to get him to come over. He said he had to help Zane with his stupid truck problem,” she lied easily.

I guess when you had been practicing your whole life, it was easy to make up lies on the spot.

Throughout the night
, I managed to mirror Tawny’s behavior and play my part expertly. My thoughts, however, where stuck in a closet with my poor guildie. I tried to ignore the guilt I felt over Parker’s current predicament and I started to panic, wondering if he could breathe in there. The poor boy had been stuck for over an hour already.

Finding the perfect opportunity when Tawny was tangled up in some ot
her boy from the soccer team (who I wasn’t dating), I slipped over to the vase, plucked out the key, and snuck into the dark hallway without anyone seeing me. If Tawny ever untangled herself, I could just say I had gone to the bathroom.

Standing outside of the closet door
, I was struck by how silent it seemed to be inside. Had Parker passed out because there was no air? What if he was dead and it was my fault for not warning him just because I was trying to be covert?

I considered sliding the key under the door and running back to the party, but that would be even worse if he was passed out and I locked the only key to the stupid closet in there with him.

Taking a deep breath and trying to convince myself that this was a good idea, I quietly unlocked the door and peeked inside, assuming I could use the excuse that I thought it was a bathroom. What was it with me and bathroom excuses?

A small sliver of light fell across Parker’s face in the otherwise darkened closet. His eyes were closed, his head resting against the wall. He was sitting on the floor of the closet and I instantly jumped to the worst
-case scenario, even though I could clearly see his chest moving up and down. He had fallen asleep.

Not sure of what I should do, but also not wanting to be caught releasing the prisoner by The Squad
, I stepped into the closet and closed the door behind me, locking it from the inside.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust
, but once I could see relatively well, I sat on a dusty old box across from the boy I knew so well through the game, but not at all in real life. It was weird to be this close to him—to actually see him in the flesh. I hadn’t noticed from my lunch table how sharp his cheekbones were, or the fact that he didn’t look like the greasy, unwashed nerd I thought he was.

I sat in the darkness f
or a moment, staring at him and trying to come to grips with the fact that this was the same person I had told so many secrets to and spent more time with than any boyfriend I had ever had. It was a weird and kind of sad realization.

“Parker?”
I said tentatively into the darkness, hoping that if I whispered he wouldn’t recognize my voice.

He didn’t respond to my quiet question
, so I reached my hand out and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and instantly grabbed my wrist, causing me to let out a little shriek, which I quickly stifled with my free hand.

Parker stared at me in the darkness but didn’t say a word. Confusion passed over his face, then recognition, then annoyance.

“Nice party. I’m really glad I came so that you guys could torture me more,” he said angrily, releasing my wrist and slumping back against the wall, looking anywhere but directly at me. “I really don’t understand what your problem is. How is this even fun for you guys?”

He had
presented me with a question I couldn’t answer. It wasn’t fun. Not for me, at least.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

And I was. I was so sorry for the fact that Tawny had gone after Parker with more fervor than she had ever attacked someone before. I was sorry that I had let her torment him. And I was sorry that I was too insecure to tell him who I really was—his best online friend.

“You’re what?” he asked, finally looking at me, his face a perfect mask of skepticism.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated, not too proud to do at least one thing right.

“I don’t believe yo
u,” he answered with narrowed eyes.

I
couldn’t blame him.

“I brought this for you,” I said with a shrug, holding up the key to the closet do
or like a peace offering. “Don’t tell them I let you out,” I added quickly, still whispering in an attempt to mask my voice at least slightly.

He stared at me for a moment longer, the ange
r still not gone from his eyes.

“They didn’t send you in here?” he asked.

“They’d probably tear me to pieces if they knew I came,” I answered honestly, imagining the look on Tawny’s face if she could see me right now, locked in a closet with a nerd.

“So you’re d
ifferent than them?” he asked, the irritation leaving his face and being replaced by interest.