Dirty Little Secrets

Chapter Seven

“I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave you will finally understand, why storms are named after people.” –Caitlyn Siehl

 

For the rest of the week, I didn’t receive any more notes.

This was just as well, considering I’d gotten two notes and a prank previously on the same day, and I think anymore was liable to make me go out on a murderous rampage until I discovered the culprit.

This hadn’t stopped me from eagerly seeking out the perpetrator. I’d spent that night annoyed and scheming, staring up at my wall for hours and trying to figure out whose life I’d ruined enough to merit them coming after me in such a raw manner.

I briefly considered people I’d done jobs for, but, since I’d left them all satisfied, it couldn’t be. I’d kept a fair amount of secrets lately, meaning the only people it could be were people I’d manipulated in the name of helping others.

My first suspect was Lena Hall. It had only been two weeks since I’d replaced her as head cheerleader for Chelsea (last I’d heard, they’d gotten booed off the field at the last football game). She seemed like the kind of girl to stage petty pranks and leave notes, but that still didn’t explain the eerily specific newspaper headline left in my locker. Still, a suspect is a suspect. If she was really behind this, it wouldn’t take me long to crack her. And I was on a rampage.

“Lena, nice to see you, how have you been?” I asked, sidling up to her Friday morning before school as she stood by her locker. I continued without waiting for a response. “Good? Fantastic. We need to talk.”

She looked up and glared. “What about? You need to sub out Chelsea as head cheerleader and put in another equally hopeless person?”

I scoffed. “Believe me, honey. If that were my intention, I wouldn’t be telling you.”

“Do you know how much pain you’ve caused me?” Lena snapped, her voice rising. “I’ve lost my scholarship because of you. I might as well kiss any hope of being Prom Queen goodbye. They’re thinking of shutting down the cheerleading team. All because of you.”

I cocked my hip out and pursed my lips. “You see, Lena, I see your lips moving, and I know you’re talking; but all I hear is blah, blah, blah, oh, woe is me! Blah, blah, blah.”

“Is that some kind of joke?” she asked, obviously not finding me quite as hilarious as I found myself.

“Tell me, Lena, you’re pretty annoyed about the cheerleading change-up, aren’t you?” I asked.

Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, what gave you that idea?” she spat out, as if each word tasted more bitter than the last.

“Just how angry are you, though?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and using my tall height to tower over her svelte, five-foot frame. “Angry enough to pull pranks on me and leave notes in my locker?”

“Oh, that,” she said, her baby blues lighting up as she caught onto what I was insinuating. “Yeah, I heard about your unfortunate accident. I guess green really isn’t your color.”