SWNOVELS Chapter 18 Vengeance Pt. 1
Eager is the word I would use to describe these early puberty teenage boys. As when one person looked at my note, the rest would soon follow. All of them stopped what they were doing, even putting the TV on mute to just fathom the idea of finally bringing Brittney down in blaze of glory. If anyone has been around kids, you would know how serious this was. I would come to learn that they too were AFRAID of her wrath and blackmailed. Seemed like Brittney had dirt on everyone in this school. Glad Ben wasn’t the only one. But who knew one girl can do so much damage. After I showed them the note, I told them part of my plan on showing Allison this note which proved just how much of freaking psycho Brittney really was.
The next morning, I got out of the shower and started getting dressed. But then I realized there was a problem: the note I’d rehidden in Ben’s duffle bag this time before I went to bed last night was gone. I wasn’t going to accuse anyone, but it looked like someone had been through my stuff. I started to panic. I was rummaging through my suitcase like a crazy person when Josh came in after using the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” he asked, sounding almost scared.
“I can’t find Brittney’s note,” I answered. “I hid it in here last night.”
“Well, it didn’t just get up and walk away,” Josh said. “Are you sure you put it there?” He pointed to my suitcase.
“Yes, I’m sure. I put it there before I went to bed.”
Josh, being the good friend he was, helped me look for the note. But we couldn’t find it anywhere. I felt humiliated and defeated. I felt like I’d let Allison and Josh down.
The guys I was rooming with felt bad for me. They patted me on the back and said, “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll turn up.” We went downstairs to the lobby, where everyone was already eating breakfast. I got some pancakes, bacon, and apple juice. Sitting at the table with Allison and Josh really felt like I was back in middle school.
Allison seemed like she was on a sugar rush. I don’t know what’s got into her. She was talking a mile a minute about the most random stuff, and she even asked a ton of questions during our trip to Arlington National Cemetery. I swear, she could make your head spin. It didn’t help that she kept glancing at me with those pearly white teeth and giggling. It made me nervous as hell. I knew how much this friendship meant to her, and I didn’t want to disappoint her. If I did, she’d never talk to Ben again and I was pretty sure that’s what Brittney wanted. I didn’t want to be stuck as Ben for the rest of my life and I certainly didn’t want to go through puberty a second time. Hopefully I can think of something to delay the inevitable.
I was riding the bus to the Smithsonian, sitting behind Al and looking out the window. When I turned around, I saw Ben’s reflection staring back at me, and I started thinking about all the fun times we’d had together the past few days. Those memories lingered in my head for what felt like ages, until I was interrupted by someone poking me on the shoulder. I looked behind me and to my left, but no one was there. Then I heard a voice say, “Up here.” I looked up and saw her light brown hair hovering right in front of me. I didn’t know how I missed her earlier, but she asked, or rather pleaded, “Can you just show me now? I can’t wait any longer.”
Oh, so that’s why she is so impatient. I chuckled to myself about how Allison was such a kid, even though she didn’t like to admit it. She batted her eyelashes at me and said, “Please?” But that wasn’t going to work this time. “You’ll have to do better than that, Allison,” I said. “I told you to wait until we’re inside the Smithsonian.”
She groaned and crossed her arms. I hated seeing her like that, so I leaned over and said, “Allison, don’t be like that. I just got this note on my doorstep Monday night. It’s nothing personal.”
“Personal?” she asked, confused.
“The note says something that I don’t exactly want to share with the class, okay,” I whispered.
“Oh, that kind,” she said, finally understanding. “You could have just told me that.” Then she added, “But who would be crazy enough to leave a note on your doorstep?”
Just then, the bus pulled up to the Smithsonian. I looked out the window and saw the red brick building. It looked like something out of Scooby-Doo. Too bad it was only cloudy outside. A good rainstorm and lightning show would have been perfect right about now, as I had no choice but to face the music.
As the rows ahead of me started to get off that bus, I heard them being numbered off the moment they were stepping onto solid ground. I was literally trembling in fear hearing both Chaperones numbering people starting from one all the way to four in the distance. This wasn’t part of my plan! This could ruin everything. I got to time it or at least do something drastic starting now so me and Al could at the very least be in the same group together, but what? Just then one of the girls asked if she could cut in front of me. As she began to make some excuse as to why by stating she wanted to be with her BFF, a light bulb went off. Oh wait, on second thought that is perfect. I thought. That’s exactly what I’ll do. Maybe if I let enough people cut in front of me, I’ll have a good chance of being in Allison’s group. There’s only one way to find out... I’ve got nothing to lose!
I proceeded to let anyone who wanted to cut in front of me. In fact, I gestured for them to go ahead of me. Kids being kids, they weren’t exactly thankful for my gesture. They just brushed me off. But there were a few kids who were thankful, and surprisingly, there were a couple of kids who refused to let them cut in front of me. I wasn’t going to argue with them, so I grudgingly stood in line ahead of them.
When it was finally my turn to get off the bus, one of the chaperones tapped me on my plain gray baseball cap and said, “TWO”. Once everyone got off the bus, we were told to line up. Then we were told, “If you’re a one, stand by the buses. Twos, stand by the street light. Threes, stand by the front steps. And fours, stand by me, Chloe, and Mrs. Andrews.” I immediately went to the streetlight and watched as my classmates headed to their new groups. Josh was a four, and so was Brittney. I waited and waited for Allison, and then she finally walked over to me and said, “At least I know someone in this group.” When we were all together, we were told, “Once we’re inside, we’re going to go stand by the information center. More tour guides will lead us to some very cool exhibits.”
The only cool thing in the whole museum was the taxidermied elephant with pearly white tusks in the middle. The best rule the chaperones gave us was:
“Remember class, if you ever get lost, make your way to the information center right by the elephant. That’s where we’ll meet up and do a headcount before heading back to the bus.”
I groaned loudly along with a few other kids. I was starting to remember how much I hated all this talk. I just wanted to explore already. Sensing the energy in the room, Mrs. Andrews ended her rant and let the tour guides, who had been patiently waiting for her to finish, do their thing. They started introducing themselves with rehearsed smiles. Our tour guide for group two was a woman with long gray hair, a big boned body, and was probably in her late fifties or early sixties and her name was Daphne. But age didn’t excuse her by treating our group like we were a bunch of fifth graders instead of eighth graders. I was insulted.
Our tour started on the first floor of the museum, with the dinosaur exhibit. Everyone else went their separate ways, but I stuck with Allison. The exhibit was so boring, I could barely stay awake. I tried to make the most of it by cracking a few jokes, but Allison wasn’t having it. When I put my head against the glass of a fish fossil and said, “Hey Al, look, I’m in Jaws!” she just rolled her eyes and said, “I don’t think he would get through that thick skull of yours anyway, Wildcard.” I got the feeling she was embarrassed to be seen with me. As she even told me to “Grow up!” That was rich, coming from an eighth grader. I tried to cheer her up for during the first two floors, but it was no use. She was growing more impatient and annoyed at me, especially on the second floor, so I think I have no choice but to slip away from the crowd and tell her the truth by one of these pillars on the third floor as I am kinda running out of time.
When we got to the third floor and the timing was just right, I nudged her shoulder signaling now was a good time to slip away as another big group of kids, not from our school, was at the exhibit. Not knowing where to go now, I decided to backtrack to the pillar that was almost right below the taxidermy elephant, where I casually leaned against the pillar to patiently wait for her to show up. I spent like the next minute and a half looking down at the floor rehearsing what I was going to say to her.
While I was in mid rehearsal, I heard a familiar feminine nasally voice mutter something then loudly coughed. I looked up and saw Brittney instead of Allison.
“You’re not Allison? Where is she? What did you do to her?” I asked, immediately assuming some James Bond stunt she pulled.
“Oh, relax.” Brittney answered calmly, “She’ll get here… eventually but first are you looking—--for this?” as I saw her stick her hand in her right jacket pocket and wave the note that I “misplaced” that morning; right…in…. my…. face.
“How in the world did y—”
“I have my ways, Benjamin, I have my ways.” she cheekily interrupted. Man, if she was a guy, I would love to slap that evil smirk on her face right now. With my left hand balled into a tight fist I asked, raising my voice.
“So it was you who rummaged through my stuff. I knew it.”
“No, your roommate Bobby did that job for me.”
WHAT?! HIM? Is he some double agent!?
I couldn’t believe it. Bobby, a kid who I EVEN hung out and showed him the death threat note could do this. He even admitted that he was blackmailed by her too. Was he trying to warn me to not trust him all this time? Who knows, but I didn’t ask Brittney any questions regarding him as
Brittney went full psycho stating,
“Without my precious note, you got nothing on me. Face it, you lost today, Benjamin. You… LOST.”
I saw her with the note still in her hand, walking over to the guardrail and dangling it over the guardrail, toying with me. Then to my surprise she said,
“You should’ve known better than to mess with me, Benjamin. I always win. ALWAYS!” she took a deep breath and menacingly uttered,
“Oops.”
As she dropped the note. I shrieked a piercing “NO!” I immediately pushed her aside and as I almost dived over the guardrail to grab the note, I got it just within arms reach with one hand before it was lost forever. But when I got it and was lifting myself back up… Brittney didn’t like that and I felt her pushing me up and the next thing I knew, I was gripping onto the ledge as my feet were dangling. She then said “I don’t know how you managed to grab on but with you outta the picture Allison will be mine!”
“You’re crazy! You’ll never get away with this.”
“I think I just did.” She replied evilly laughing again like some maniac.
All I gotta say is thank goodness for my long arms and inner adult strength or else I think Ben would be a flat pancake on the Smithsonian tile floor. She then said, “Now if you excuse me, I have an alibi to make up. Toodles.”
I hollered for her help but instead she made fake tears and ran away leaving me to lift myself up, but I didn’t have enough strength to do it. Guess I’m gonna be hanging here for awhile but who knows for how long.