3. A Vicious Cycle

RYLIE

"I'm going to kill him. I'm actually going to fucking kill him!"

"Rylie, listen to me," Olivia said, following behind me and trying to grab my arm. "You have to be reasonable. Don't do anything rash or you'll regret it later."

I barely registered a word she said. I was too consumed by the anger flooding my body to focus on her.

"Oh, he is so going to pay," I mumbled, cracking my knuckles.

You might've guessed who this is about but if you haven't, I'll give a clue… Blake! What did do? Well... Olivia and I arrived at school a few hours ago and went off to our first class together, Biology. Being a general subject, Blake was there too unfortunately.

But I hadn't been too bothered. It'd been about three weeks since Blake arrived in town and moved next door and since dinner with his family, I'd tried to keep our interactions to a minimum. It was impossible to avoid him completely considering that we lived beside each other and went to the same school but I always tried my hardest to remain civil with him, which was hard because Blake seemed to enjoy getting a rise out of me but I hadn't given him the pleasure until today that is.

We had the class in the lab to do some experiments and Blake had the bright idea to inject the frog I was supposed to dissect with water so that it became bloated and exploded when I merely touched it with my scalpel. I ended up getting frog guts all over me.

So yeah, I was going to kill him.

"Rylie! For the love of God, get a grip!" Olivia said, running ahead and standing in my path.

"I should get a grip? A frog fucking exploded in my face and I should get a grip?!" I was practically yelling at the top of my lungs right now, earning me stares from people passing by but I didn't care. I was practically shaking with anger.

"Yes, yes. I know what he did was shitty but you're not thinking straight right now."

"I can't kill him if I'm thinking straight, now can I?"

"I'm not saying that you can't try to get back at him but you get your best ideas when you're calm so just take a deep breath and let it roll off your back."

"Ugh, don't mention stuff rolling," I groaned. I could still remember the feel of the frog's intestines slowly slipping down my cheeks.

"Of course... Feel better now?"

"Yeah, I guess. Thank you, Olivia. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Probably commit murder and end up in jail instead of going to Duke like you're supposed to."

I smiled and slung an arm across her shoulders. "Biology should be just about rounding up. Let's go get our stuff."

As we walked to class, my mind was filled with all the ways I could get back at Blake. I might not be murdering him but I was definitely going to pay him back in kind or worse.

BLAKE

I couldn't stop a smirk from playing on my lips as my eyes met Rylie's on my way out of the classroom. To be honest, I had no idea why I did that to her in Biology.

It'd been about three weeks since I'd come to town and met her and contrary to what my mom had told me, we didn't get over our “petty feud”. In fact, I was sure she hated me more now than when I first came. At least, she'd been vocal then. After that fiasco at the window when I'd accidentally spied on her getting changed, she started doing this thing where she barely acknowledged my existence. It was like I was this insignificant insect that wasn't even worth the trouble.

Maybe that was why I did it. Why I cared whether or not she paid attention to me was beyond me but I definitely had her attention now, if the dirty look she was shooting at me was anything to go off.

I winked at her on my way out and chuckled when she gave me the finger.

I had Calculus next so I headed to my locker to grab my textbook and calculator. However the last thing I expected when I opened up my locker was to get hit in the face with a “pie” or rather, something made to look like a pie. It was a mixture that smelt like a mixture of sewage, medical waste, baby diapers and rotten gym socks. Not only was it smeared all over my locker, I got it on my face, my clothes and worse, my hair.

Instantly, I knew who was behind this stunt. The only person who could be behind it.

"Well, would you look at that?" I heard the culprit remark, sounding like some villain from a corny movie. "Now you look and smell like what you truly are on the inside."

"Do you seriously think I'm just going to let this slide without getting back at you?"

"Seeing as how you started this and I only did this as a response, I should think so but if you want to make this a thing, be my guest. And before I forget–" She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture.

I tried to reach for the phone but ended up slipping on a bit of the mixture that was on the floor and falling hard on my butt.

"This just keeps getting better," Rylie laughed as she took a few more pictures before turning and walking away, a pep in her step.

Seeing as class had just ended, the hallways were steadily getting filled with students, all of whom were understandably drawn to me and the mess I was in. They either scurried away because of the smell, pointed and laughed or worse, stopped to take pictures.

In spite of the stinky situation I was in, I still couldn't help but smile. I had to give Rylie props. She was brutal yet creative. Now I just had to top that and I would.

RYLIE

"Rylie, did you really have to go that far?" Olivia whined as we watched a video that'd been uploaded to the school's group chat of Blake struggling to get to the bathroom. The oil I'd decided to add to the stink bomb had paid off.

"Of course she did. He deserved it after what he did to her," Mason retorted, grinning at the phone screen. He was having fun with all of this... maybe too much fun.

Still, I gave him a high five and stared pointedly at Olivia. "Thanks Mace. At least you're a true friend."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "You do know that he's not gonna let this end here, right? He's probably even already planning what to do to get back at you right now."

"Well, he's free to do that. I'm ready for him."

Olivia glanced between me and Mason's phone where the video was still playing and shook her head, muttering, "This isn't gonna end well."

* * *

"Um Mr Connor, you asked me to return this…" I paused as I came face to face with an empty room. "That's strange. Why would he ask me to come here unless…" I paused as it suddenly occurred to me what was going on. This has Blake's fingerprints written all over it.

Sighing, I turned around and headed towards the door only to find it locked. I tried opening it but it didn't budge and breaking it wasn't even an option.

"Blake!" I yelled internally as I turned around, only to nearly jump out of my skin at the sight of the giant spider perched on Mr. Connor's desk. And when I said giant, I meant the type you'd see in Australia, not fucking New Jersey.

"Help! Somebody help! Please!" I screamed, banging on the door. I looked back and somehow there was another spider, this one I recognised as a tarantula and a big one at that. And unlike the giant spider, this one was moving towards me.

I screamed as I scrambled away from the door when it got closer. I had severe arachnophobia so I was basically living in a nightmare right now.

I ran to a corner of the room farthest from both of the spiders and began throwing everything I could reach at them while trying to remind myself that it wasn't real. It was just a prank. Then I saw the giant spider move and almost lost my fucking mind.

My heart was racing at what felt like a thousand miles per hour and I had tears streaming down my cheeks.

This was it, I found myself thinking. The end. And at the hands of fucking spiders.

"Wow, I knew this was gonna be good but this exceeded my expectations."

At the sound of Blake's voice, I peeled my eyes open and saw him cradling the giant spider in one hand and remote control in the other. It took a moment for the implications to sink in and when it did, I lost my mind.

"This was it? Your big prank was traumatising me?!" I could barely contain my emotions as I walked up to him.

"Don't think of it as traumatising. I merely used your weakness against you. It's a war strategy."

"I can't believe you're actually quoting Sun Tzu. Do you even hear yourself?" I picked up the smaller spider and held it up to him. "Using toys to scare me is so childish!"

"Actually, that one is a real spider."

"Eek!" I exclaimed, tossing the spider away and grabbing on to him without thinking. I quickly realised my error and jumped back. Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough if the grin on Blake's face was any indication.

"I knew you were really into me, even when you said you weren't."

"I grabbed on to you because of the spider you put there. Don't flatter yourself."

"Sure. Keep telling yourself that. Sooner or later, you're gonna be honest and admit what we both now is true."

"That you're a filthy manwhore? Sure. We can agree on that."

Blake merely laughed, seemingly unbothered by my comment. "I'll be going now. I have a pretty funny video of you crying to edit. You can expect to see it sometime in the next hour."

He winked at me again before walking out of the office with the giant fake spider in hand.

"Prick," I mumbled under my breath. I was just about leaving when I saw the spider a few feet away from me. Without giving myself time to get scared, I drew close to it and squashed it.

"Rylie? What are you doing in here?" Mr Connor, the English teacher asked as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He took in his office and then looked at me with a bit of confusion. "You're in my office without permission and you thrashed it? Care to explain?"

"Mr Connor! This isn't what it looks. I didn't mean to–"

He walked into the room as I was talking, then froze in place like he'd just seen a ghost. I followed the angle of his eyes and saw that he was staring down at my feet.

"You killed Barry."

"Huh?"

"You killed my spider. What is wrong with you? What did I ever do to you to deserve this? Is it because I didn't give you an A on your final paper?"

"No, Mr. Connor. That's not it at all. You see, Blake–"

"I don't want to hear it," he said, raising a hand up to stop me. "Detention. Two weeks."

"But Mr. Connor–"

"Three weeks and I'll add more it you try to contest this. Out of my office. Now."

"Of course, Sir. I'm so sorry for your loss..."

I bowed a little before scurrying out of the office.

Detention. I'd never been sent to detention before and now I had to face three weeks of it because of Blake. I knew that this wasn't part of his prank but that didn't matter to me.

He'd hit me where it hurt so I was going to return the favor.

Get ready to pay, Blake Weston.