49. Better Than Revenge (10/28/20)

I lifted my binoculars up to my eyes and squinted, focusing the lens on my subject. He was sitting on a bench at the other end of the park, studying his phone. His wind-swept hair was hanging in front of his eyes, and I was tempted to walk up to him and push it aside. I adjusted my squatted position in the bush and looked through the binoculars again, biting my lip. A girl had walked up to the guy, and she was ready for the kill.

"Do you see her?" I whispered into the phone, and Erin shushed me on the other end of the line. "Who is it?"

"Aurora Kensington. Her daddy owns all the hotels downtown." Erin's voice was tight on the other end. Just like me, she was stationed in a bush, except she was on the other side of the park. She was much closer to Aurora and the guy I had been seeing for three months: Jace Walker.

Jace Walker was one of those guys who you weren't allowed to touch, but that warning only made you want him more. I met him at some fundraiser three months ago, one hosted by the rich people in town who didn't really care about the charity they were supporting; they just liked how it looked on their social media pages. Erin, whose stepmother came from old money - not quite the gold digger you would suspect - got us both invites. That's where I met Jace, whose dad is a business lawyer for all the rich guys downtown, including - I assume - Aurora's father. Which made me wonder if Aurora even knew Jace, or if she was looking for a new plaything.

"They do not know each other," Erin said through the phone, almost as if she could read my mind. "I repeat, they do not know each other."

"I got it," my voice was rough as I switched my phone to the other hand. Through my binoculars, I could see Aurora taking a seat next to Jace. They were chatting, but I didn't know what about. I asked Erin if she could hear them.

"She asked for his number!" Erin's voice, despite the excitement, came out in a whisper. "He hasn't responded."

He didn't need to. From my spot in the bush, I could see Jace - my boyfriend of three months - handing his phone to Aurora Kensington. She was grinning, I could tell, as she typed her number in. Then she walked away. Right towards me.

I knew this was my time to act, even though I had just witnessed heartbreak. Then again, I had expected to see Jace doing something at the park, specifically with someone (or doing someone, for that matter). His collar always smelled like another girl's perfume, and when I asked him where he had run off to, his response was always "the park." With Erin's help, I was able to find him here.

Without another thought, I held out my leg so Aurora would trip over it. She tumbled on the sidewalk, mumbling curses, and giving me the opportunity to confront her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Erin making her way across the park as if she hadn't just been spying from a bush.

"Aurora, right?" My voice was clipped as I held out a supportive hand to her. She accepted, glancing at me.

"Who's asking?"

"I'm Cassandra. And the boy you just flirted with was my boyfriend, Jace." I placed my hands on my hips. "Care to explain?"

Aurora's face heated up like a stove. "I swear, I did not know he was your boyfriend. He told me he was single."

Something began to bubble up inside me as she uttered the statement. Why was Jace going around, flirting with other girls, and pretending I didn't exist? I looked at him from across the park.

"Really?" By this point, Erin was by my side, binoculars slung around her neck. We shared a conniving look. "Aurora, do you wanna help us with something?"

The sweet blonde nodded, and the three of us walked to Erin's car, the one her stepmom let her borrow on the weekends. It was expensive, always waxed, and most importantly, had tinted windows. The three of us climbed inside, ready to plot revenge.

"Aurora, I'm not mad at you," I said, point blank. "But I knew I would find Jace doing something like this today. Erin tells me he's been doing it a lot."

"How do you know?" Aurora asked Erin, who cracked her knuckles in the backseat before launching into the story.

"Jace goes to the private school I now go to," she explained. "Not a day goes by without him flirting with another girl in between classes, even though he's dating Cass."

"He needs to pay," I said, shifting in my seat so I was looking out the front window.

Aurora squealed. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

I glanced at her. She leaned forward, her breath hitting my neck. "We have to kill him."

A shiver danced up my spine as I thought over her idea. As I thought about it more, I realized that Jace deserved it. He needed to pay for how he treated me.

The three of us began conspiring. Erin and Jace's school would be having a pep rally the upcoming Friday. Jace, to no one's surprise, played on the football team, and would be getting ready in the locker room. In order for the plan to work, we would have to grab his football helmet so he would have a reason to stay behind and look for it. Once he was alone, Aurora and I would creep inside and kill him, staging it as a suicide. Erin would be waiting outside with her stepmom's car, and the three of us would drive away and stay at Erin's family's cabin until the whole thing blew over. The three of us were prepared to change our names and move elsewhere if someone found out Jace had been murdered. It was a consequence we were willing to consider.

Friday rolled around, and the three of us moved into position. Erin left class early, claiming she had cramps and needed to go to the nurse, and drove her stepmom's car around back, out of view of the security cameras. Meanwhile, we had hidden Jace's football helmet in the locked supply closet, so he would have to stay back and look for it. With everything in place, Aurora and I hid in the bathroom stalls each holding knives, in case the plan went awry.

We could hear the football coach giving a rousing speech before introducing the team to the cheering students. Right on cue, Jace called, "I gotta find my helmet," and then the locker room was plunged into darkness, and Jace was all alone.

Except for Aurora and me. We crept out of the bathroom stalls and cornered Jace. He didn't scream, and he couldn't see who we were. In one split second, I ran my knife against his throat, and before I could count to ten, he was bleeding out on the floor. Aurora grabbed my hand, and we ran out the back door to find Erin waiting for us. I took the backseat since I was covered in the most blood, and Erin sped out of the parking lot and took the closest exit out of town. We didn't look back.