My life was great! I worked as a barista at the local coffee shop, a job I actually like. I had a boyfriend that pretty much any girl would kill to have. I have parents I talked to about anything and everything. I got along with everyone in my school.
It all went downhill when I discovered Bryce, my boyfriend of three years, cheating on me with Miranda Clovers. I never had a problem with her, until she "accidentally" sent a picture of the two kissing. Oh, that boy done messed up!
To make matters worse, I was at the lunch table diagonal from hers. My phone goes off and I gasp in horror at the picture. Then I get a "sorry, didn't mean to send that to you," and when I looked up she gave a sickeningly sweet smile with her dimples and blonde hair. Bryce was completely oblivious, and it was small wonder why he was at the same table as her. I stood up and marched right over there.
"Hey baby," I said with a smile, hoping it didn't look too much like a grimace, "follow me I want to show you something." He smiled genuinely, but this time I saw right through it for who he really was; a liar. Miranda dimpled again and whispered something to her friend right next to her. I call the whole group, which consists of five girls and three boys, the fakes. The girls look like something you would see in a magazine, with tons of makeup and hair that never went out of place. They could flip it in any way and it would still look perfect. They could wear something hideous and make it a trend.
Me? I'm just Peyton McCaffrey, an Irish brunette. My face is round, and I have to be smiling pretty hard to show any dimples. My eyes are green, dark green like pine needles. My social status in this school rocks, I'm loved by most, never been in a fight, never needed to be. I never heard anything bad about me from anyone, but for some reason, I've always had the odd feeling Miranda just wants my status to fall. But I never cared, she never posed a threat to me.
At least until today.
"What's up?" Bryce asked as we sat down in our favorite spot in the hallway. I smiled and pulled out my phone and started to scroll through photos. I stopped on one, his favorite one. I was kissing his cheek, and he had captioned it, "my girl." I sighed internally.
"I love that picture." He said and leaned his head on mine.
"Me too," I said, trying to quiet the nerves that told me to push him off and cuss him out. "You've been so busy lately."
"I know," Bryce sighed, "I promise I'll find time so we can go do something fun." I bit my lip.
"Anything you want to talk about?" I asked. Bryce pursed his lips and shook his head. "You sure?" He nodded. I blinked and pulled up Miranda's message. I felt his heart start pounding and I stood up.
"Peyton before you-" I stopped him.
"How long," I demanded. Bryce gulped.
"Three weeks." He mumbled. I closed my eyes, willing the tears to stay put.
"Get away from me. Now." I said quietly.
"But Peyton-"
"Now! We're over." I walked away, the opposite direction of the cafeteria. Bryce didn't walk after me, and I didn't care.
"He's a jerk." I sat in my passenger seat, letting the tears flow as Mena drove us to her house. We had picked up a tub of ice cream, and I had already told my mom that I was spending the night at Mena's. While she was concerned about the fact I'd been cheated on, she didn't object.
"Jerk is an understatement," I mumbled as I watched other cars pass by, everyone seems to pick today to be happy. I said nothing but listened to Mena prattle on, probably trying to distract me. I wasn't listening though, my thoughts were on why Bryce would cheat. Sure, Miranda is smart and gorgeous, and her blue eyes could temp an actor. But her personality can be compared to a viper; vicious and nasty.
"...so Betsy wants to plot revenge on my uncle for busting her engine in her car." Mena's conversation caught my attention. I stopped eating and stood up.
"That's exactly it!" I said with a grin and turned to look at my confused best friend. "I want Bryce to pay," I explained. Mena gave me a scared look.
"I don't know Pey." She said and stood up, "I'm pretty sure whatever you have in mind is illegal."
"Psh! I would never break the law!" I laughed. Mena relaxed and a mischevious gleam came into her eyes.
"So what do you have in mind?" She asked and sat down at her computer.
"I don't know yet," I said and looked out the window, Bryce lived down the street. "But by the time we're done, nobody will ever want to mess with Peyton McCaffrey!"
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