Inviting Trouble

I felt as light as a feather. Last night, I finally took my first step forward in the path of revenge and it felt incredible. If I closed my eyes, I could easily remember how broken-down Celeste was at the end. Seeing her lying there, a drooling ball of mess, filled me with more joy than I knew what to do with.

I wonder how long she stayed there.

Oh well. That's not any of my concern.

I began my day just like normal. I moved about my morning routine as if the previous 8 hours never happened. I brushed my teeth. I showered. I combed my hair. I got dressed. I did all of it and unless you were standing there last night, you'd never would've known that I was a part of something so deliciously disturbing as what happened under the moonlight.

I arrived at the commissary earlier than normal. The crowd was light and no one seemed overly interested in what I was doing. Of course, that all changed when the heiresses showed up.

I was sitting alone, against the wall when the air suddenly grew thick. There was a weight in the silence that portended the arrival of the Queens of Mean. I glanced up and saw a red head with a resting bitch face that was as cruel and bloodthirsty as any killer on the planet. Walking next to her was the Ice Queen—her long dark hair and pale skin really emphasized her aloofness.

They were missing their third counterpart.

I smirked.

Couldn't make it out of bed this morning, Celeste? Serves you right.

The 2 of them grabbed their trays and moved towards their seats.

Suddenly, like there was a silent agreement between them, the girls seated at the tables separating me from Kristi and Crystal, all stood up and left. At that moment, Crystal glanced up and her cold glare landed on me. There was a slight grimace on her face, which disappeared so fast that I questioned whether or not it really appeared.

A moment later, Kristi glanced at me. Although, if she was thinking something, I couldn't tell. She glanced at me for less than a moment and then went back to eating. It was like I was thin air.

I wasn't offended. I couldn't be bothered with what she thought about me. I already had my hands full with 1 heiress. I didn't have the time to deal with Kristi.

Yet.

Classes were a breeze. The lectures held an air of excitement that screamed "Weekend!" It was just after 4:30 and I was walking past one of the courtyards on my way to the Recreation Building. I had been walking for just over an hour. It wasn't that I was super into walking or anything. I was being followed.

They moved a little faster than I expected—Celeste's family. I first noticed them when I changed lectures during 5th period. I moved from the Literature Building to the Science Building. I first noticed a girl in a dark outfit and dark sunglasses. She was standing in an alcove with her arms crossed. Her face was stern and her hair was short. She looked fit.

It would normally be difficult to tell where she was looking with her dark shades on. But I wasn't a normal girl. After what happened last night, I knew that she was there for me.

Still, I pretended not to see her and kept walking to class.

As the day moved forward, more people showed up. Eventually, they surrounded me. They wore different outfits. It wasn't like they were walking around in black suits. That would've been too conspicuous. But they still stood out from the students. They were like trained killers. They definitely came with bad intentions.

So, after classes were finished, I went for a little walk around campus. Everywhere that I went, someone was there. I kept walking and walking. I walked all around the campus until I finally found this empty courtyard, which was close to the Recreation Building.

Once I noticed that no one was around, I finally stopped.

"You can all come out now." My voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be.

After several heartbeats, I looked up to see several people, including the girl from 5th period, surrounding me.

They were all women. Each looked fit. Each looked tough. Each looked pissed.

A girl with slightly masculine features and short curly hair stepped forward. "You're Kyah Open-Cloud, correct?"

I couldn't help but smile. "Who wants to know?"

She clenched her jaw. "That's none of your concern. What you should be concerned with is the fact that you've offended someone that you shouldn't have. Now we're going to have to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" I felt my blood boiling at her inciting words.

She nodded, without an ounce of sympathy. "Don't fret. We won't kill you. We will just break your limbs. The less you struggle, the less we'll have to rough you up." She cracked her knuckles and approached me with confident steps.

I laughed. It was like they were following a script. It was well rehearsed and everything because as the masculine female approached, 2 others quickly closed in from the sides and 1 came from behind, in my blind spot. That only left the girl from 5th period who hanged back and watched through her dark shades.

They were under orders, and were doing their jobs. Regardless of how messed up their job was, I really didn't want to hurt them if I could avoid it. "Listen, I know someone put you up to this. But how about we live and let live? You don't know me. I don't know you. We don't have to do this. Right?"

She didn't stop approaching. Her silence spoke volumes.

The muscular girl was the first to attack. Her fist careened towards my face like an unstoppable freight train. At the same time, the girl who attacked from behind, wrapped me in a headlock, while the girls to my left and right, respectively, held my arms out so that I couldn't move.

Bam!

Her fist slammed against my jaw with enough force to knock out several teeth.

The sound of her fist thumping against my face filled the empty courtyard. There was a look of prideful disdain on her face as she grinned. I wondered how many people she'd sent to the hospital or worse with a right hook like that.

"Wh-what?!"

Unfortunately, she picked the wrong person to piss off!

The surprised voice came from the girl from 5th period. She had seen everything. She was the first of them to notice how I'd taken the punch to the face and had hardly moved a single muscle.

Instead, I calmly glared at the masculine woman as her fist shook against my face.

She finally looked at the me, expecting to see a mess of broken teeth, a fat lip and spilled blood. Only to see my calm and defiant gaze.

With her fist still pressed against my face, I spoke. "You are really not going to like what happens next. I gave you a chance. But you didn't take it. You invited trouble all by yourself. You only have yourself to blame."

I hardly had to try and easily shook the 2 girls off my arms. The masculine girl took this moment to step back as she prepared another onslaught. I grabbed the arms of the girl standing behind me and quickly pried her arms from off my neck and the side of my head.

As the masculine girl attacked with a powerful haymaker, I moved aside at the last second.

"Agh!"

Her fist smacked against the side of the head of the girl standing behind me. That girl immediately hit the ground and didn't get back up.

"Shit!" She swore as she looked at me like I did something wrong.

Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I'm supposed to just sit there and let you curb stomp me. I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything.

Instead, I moved over to the girl on the left and gently(ish) knocked her unconscious with a swift uppercut to the solar plexus. I sidestepped the masculine girl and then knocked out the girl on the right with the same attack.

A basic rule of combat was to take out the weakest combatants first.

…

Wait. How the hell do I know that?!

It's not like I've taken some sort of class on the history of making war. I've read Sun Tzu. Maybe that's where I got it from.

Whatever. I'll figure that out later.

The masculine girl was the strongest of the 5. I had no reason to go out of my way to attack the girl from 5thperiod. So, I dealt with the masculine girl first.

"I'll kill you!" She came at me with her eyes filled with fire. Both hands were up in the air and her fingers were curled like they were claws.

When I saw her rushing at me, I thought, "Meh! Why not?" I decided to take her on, head-to-head.

In the middle of the courtyard our bodies collided. She was slightly shorter than me, but she was much bulkier than I was.

Our hands clenched. Her eyes were focused and fierce. Her shoulders were bulging. Her hands were shaking with the amount of force she was applying as she tried to crush my hands into pulp.

Me?

Well…I was sort of bored.

"Is that really the best you can do?"

When she heard my words, her expression changed to one of shock.

"What are you?"

I didn't want to waste any more time so I decided to put her to sleep. I sharply pulled her forwards while bringing my knee up to her stomach at the same time.

"Ugblugh!" She collapsed.

I only offered her a single glance before turning to the girl from 5th period. When she saw me walking towards her, her legs started to tremble and she fell to the ground.

I stood over her like I was a queen and she was one of my disobedient subjects.

"Tell the person who sent you that they had better watch out. If she crosses my bottom line, I will have no issue with paying her a visit—personally!"

I didn't name names and she didn't mention a name. But we both knew who it was I was talking about.

After that, I turned on my heel and left the courtyard and the 5 bodies behind.