The Last Breath Of Reggie Warrington

Chapter 5: The King of Revenge

It all made sense. The cancelled taxi and the text message from Indira. I'd been set up! Made to look like an absolute fool in front of not just my friends, but Ethan as well. I'd seen this sort of bitchy behaviour before.

Remember the little kid I mentioned, the one who dressed up as some sort of bizarre fairy thing at Indira's 8th birthday? Well, she was so furious about the way he dressed, that she ordered him to be removed from the house and sit and eat his lunch in the garden. Then told her older brother Peter, to go and throw slugs at him, while her other brother Tyler, filmed it with their dad's old camcorder. Needless to say, that boy was Reggie and to get his own back on Indira and her brothers, he went to the barrel of bitchiness and scraped it so low, he was nearly suspended from primary school.

He had his revenge plan all worked out. I assume he's started working on it the day after the party from hell. That was on Sunday, and the next day with everyone back at school, someone began a rumour that Indira was responsible for the untimely death of the class hamster. Apparently, someone had stupidly left the cage door open on the previous Friday and when you're only a few inches small, things like hoovers can become death traps. The vet said Henry didn't stand a chance.

The malicious rumour was shortly followed by squeezing a tube of glue on her chair and waiting for her to sit down at dinner time. It wasn't just any glue he used, but extra strong super glue, the stuff that stuck everything to anything, including school skirts to the skin. I remember the look on her face when her Dad had to take her, and the chair, to the hospital to get it removed. The police were called but Reggie, the clever sod, had an alibi and no one failed to believe the kid that cried at the drop of a hat. By then, Mr Lewis removed Indie and her brothers from the school and sent them to a paid prep school, Lincoln Manor, instead.

But things didn't stop there. Oh no! Mrs Warrington, big black and as loud as a foghorn on legs. Not the sort of momma who's son, you really wanted to mess with. She ran the now closed, Mindee's Messy Bun, which was the local hair salon. I remember going with Mum and Maddison on our monthly mother and daughter day, where we had our hair and nails done on the first Saturday of the month. Mum was in the hairdresser's chair and Maddison was having her nails done, while I waited for my turn.

Indira turned up with her dad to have her hair cut as a special treat for getting into the private prep school. As it was a Saturday, Reggie was hanging out in the shop with his younger sister, while his older brother, older sister and Mum worked. His sister, Melody started by brushing through Indira's long locks, that were blonde at the time, and then by pinning pieces up as she was going to do some fashionable hairstyle or something. The phone rang. With their Mum and brother Bobbe-Joe, busy cutting and styling other customers hair, while Melody's back was turned, Reggie conducted the ultimate revenge. A pair of the sharpest scissors clenched in his hand, I watched as he crept towards the chair where Indira sat and as quick as a flash, chopped a huge clump of hair from her head.

It was that why his mother went out of business. Put it this way, Mr Lewis was not at all happy having his princess daughter turned into, and I quote, "one of the blasted ugly sisters or a reject from Shrek!" Sued for negligence for over half a million pounds, that was the end of Mindee's Messy Bun. Bankrupt, homeless and now jobless, Mrs Warrington still blamed Mr Lewis for the shop's downfall and Reggie and Indira hadn't seen eye to eye since, but as far as revenge was concerned, they were equal. Saying that he couldn't stand her and she thought he was the most revolting creature to ever burden the earth, and yes. She did actually call him that once, in a poem titled Revolting Reggie.

Sitting on Indira's massive king sized bed, eyes so full of tears that every blink made black streaks of mascara running down my cheeks. I'd never felt so embarrassed in all my life as I did turning up at the party dressed up as Mrs Fiona Shrek. Indie looked at me, I could see the pity in her eyes. I watched as she rummaged through her huge oak wardrobe and pulled out one of her best dresses.

"Cinderella, you shall go to the ball, and not look like Fiona Shrek!" She said and passed the dress to me, "walk-in wardrobe through there, get dressed and Libby will do your makeup. It's all streaming down your face, darling, you look like you've put it on in the dark with one hand tied behind your back."

Indira left the room, her stilettos clanked down the carpetless stairs and she headed back to the party. The music blared, but I still felt wretched and to make matters worse, I hadn't seen Ethan.

"What are you waiting for?" Said Libby, "put it on and come partaaay!"

"What's the point? I look like Shrek! Someone's obviously stabbed me in the back. It's better that I just go home, hide in my bed, and not leave my room until waay after 6th form!"

"Nope! I'm not having that!" Libby grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me, quite roughly, off the bed, "we're not here to listen to your self-pitying bollocks, Chloe! Now in, change, makeup, party. In that order. Ok?"

The was no arguing with Libby. She'd been my friend for years and was always there make me happier or stop me drowning in self-pity. Libby was exactly the person to pick me up, dust me down and send me off into the big wide world, looking a million dollars in one of Indies best dresses and with perfect makeup. Just what I needed.

I picked up the dress and had a good look at it. It was simple and elegant, with long puffy black sleeves and a high neckline. The bodice went in at the waist and then out with a black knee length skirt. I entered the walk-in wardrobe that was crammed full of crazy fashion-girl Indira's many expensive dresses and shoes and quickly got changed. I stuffed my ugly Shrek dress under a shelf along with the most uncomfortable green pumps I'd ever worn. As I stepped outside, I watched as Libby's mouth dropped open.

"What? Don't tell me, I look like another Shrek character? Who do I look like this time, dirty donkey? That bizarre cat with boots on? Or maybe Mrs Doubtfire?!"

She shook her head, grabbed me by the arm and dragged me across to the mirror.
"You look amazing!" She said with a smile so huge you could see the stain of her pinkish red lipstick on her teeth.

I stood there for a moment. I may still have had makeup halfway down my face, but I will admit, I didn't look half bad. Libby began to rummage around in Indira's jewellery box and pulled out a string of real pearls, which she strung around my neck. She also found a pair of black shoes, they had a bit of a heel, well, quite a bit in fact, but it was a block style instead of a stiletto, so I didn't have too much trouble walking in them.

I waited for a moment while she touched up my makeup. She took my old makeup completely off and started again. Although her foundation was at least two shades lighter than the one I usually wore, I was quite pleased with how she had made me over but more than anything, thrilled and relieved that I didn't look like Shrek anymore.

Done. I took a deep breath and with Libby there to support me, I finally felt able to go downstairs and enjoy the party. With each step I took down the Lewis's long flight of stairs, I felt my heart slam inside my chest. I felt rather queasy and my legs, a little weak, but nothing was going to stop me now!

As Libby and I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw a familiar sight. There he stood, surrounded by a group of giggling year 10 girls, actually, some of them looked even younger than that, possibly year 9, all laughing at his jokes and all over him like a rash. Not that I blamed them. This was Ethan Campbell, we were talking about. Hottest guy school had ever seen, and he'd only been there no longer than six months.

He watched as I made my way downstairs with Libby on my arm as I was nowhere near used to walking in Indira's silly shoes. A smile crossed his lips, and as I smiled back, the fan club seemed to vanish in a puff of smoke. Although the party was packed, I felt it was me he was looking at and no one else. Libby leapt off the bottom step and right into the downstairs bog. Too much cheap champagne! I watched as Ethan approached me, his hand outstretched as if to help the fair maiden down the dangerous flight of stairs. The fair maiden, sorry, I, took his hand as he helped me down the last step.

"Libby's abandoned me for the loo," I said, before realising what I had just said sounded like something my little brother would say.