Sweet Revenge

Chapter 7

"Yeah, that is extremely weird, I can't see why Poppy would write him a note," My mom says, turning the note around in her hand to observe it. I had just told her about the cryptic note I'd found after Ryan left yesterday. She seems to feel the same way about it as me, completely shocked and confused. We've been sitting at the kitchen table for most of the morning trying to decode it but we haven't gotten very far.

"What I'm trying to figure out is when Poppy wrote this note and why she didn't tell me about it," I utter the last part more quietly, trying to hide how much I'm hurting from my mom. As expected though, she senses my pain.

"Oh honey, maybe she didn't have time to or something, it doesn't mean she meant to keep it a secret," I'm thinking differently though. With this and seeing Poppy's name on the cafe wall I'm beginning to question how close we ever were. What did I do to make her keep this stuff from me? I'm probably just being dramatic like usual but it still hurts.

"So, what I think is that you should expose Ryan at school tomorrow and tell him what you found," Mom suggests. I don't even want to think about going back to public school. My mom sat me down yesterday after Ryan left and apologized countless times for enrolling me. Despite me still being a little salty about it, I accepted her apology. I needed her to decipher this ripped up piece of paper. I'm admittedly worse at these things than she is. Just because I took her apology though doesn't mean I want to hear the words 'school tomorrow.'

"Yeah that sounds good," I muttered. I am completely dreading seeing Ryan for most of the day tomorrow, I know exactly how it's going to go. Horrible memories are going to be brought up when I'm near him. What if I blackout during class? That would be absolutely petrifying.

"I know you are nervous, but look at it this way, you're the one in control, not him," My mom assures me.

"You're right, I'm stronger than him," Instead of thinking of this as reliving traumatic events I will view it as a way to take down Ryan. I need to do this for Poppy.

Later that day I plan how I'm going to accomplish this. I wander over to my desk and throw open the stupid notebook Ryan gave me. I have to be subtle about it so he doesn't know I'm suspicious of him. Playing dumb is the key. I jot this down on the top of a page. 

What I will do is pretend to be interested in whatever he is saying and later in the day causally bring up what I found. It will be like "Oh, and by the way I found this slip of paper in my house, isn't it weird?" This way he'll think I trust him and hopefully give me at least some answers.

After mapping out this strategy on paper I close the notebook and collapse onto my bed. I need to be refreshed for what awaits tomorrow.

I wake up the next morning to the deafening sound of my alarm. Using all the strength I can muster I push myself out of bed and slam the off button on my alarm clock.

"Ivy come down and eat breakfast, today is a big day!" I hear my mom announce from the kitchen. This reminder makes me feel nauseated, my stomach swirling with anxiety.

I trudge down the stairway and into the kitchen, where my mom is cooking bacon, eggs and toast. This just makes my stomach feel even more nauseous.

"How are you feeling, honey?" My mom asks, keeping an eye on her food.
"Sick," I reply, "I think i'll just grab a granola bar for breakfast,"

"Oh, are you sure? You need energy," My mom looks at me with disappointment. Looking at the stovetop makes me second guess my decision.

"Ok, I guess one piece of toast can't hurt," I say as I snatch a fresh piece from the toaster.
"That's what I thought," My mom responds, a smirk on her face.

I turn towards the digital clock on the oven, shocked by the time. It's 7:00, I'm supposed to be at school at 7:30.

"Oh shit, my alarm was supposed to go off an hour earlier, I got to go get ready," I called as I ran up the stairs with my food.

"Are you ready yet?" My mom asked from downstairs while I was in the middle of doing my makeup.

"Almost," I replied while cautiously applying mascara. I wasn't very experienced with makeup skills but I wanted to do the same routine I did two days ago. I put the tube down, heaved a long sigh and ran downstairs.

I now have the perfect look to make a good first impression. For my outfit I had gone with a black pleated skirt and a lightweight button up sweater, since the weather was more on the hot side today. I don't know why I'm caring so much about this stuff anyway, that not even the goal. What I have to focus on is getting answers from Ryan.

"Wow honey you look amazing," My mom marvels at me, giving me flashbacks to two days ago.
"Thanks mom but we really have to go now, it's already 7:20,"

She chuckles and with that we head out the door and make a run for the car. We have no time to waste.

The car ride goes by quick but by the time we get there I'm giving my mom a wave and sprinting up the black top without hearing her goodbye. As soon as I enter the school I'm greeted by the hustle of kids making their way to homeroom. Great, so I missed holding time and I have no idea where my homeroom classroom is.

Out of nowhere though none other then Ryan appears at my side.

"Having trouble finding where you're supposed to be?" He says it more like a statement than a question, like he knows it's true.

"Well yeah, I just got here," I confess. Now I just have to be polite but not too suspicious, easy enough I guess.

"No worries, I'm not going to lie I was late on my first day of school as well," He shares, checking the schedule in my hand.
"Oh wow, we actually have the same homeroom class, what a coincidence," Great. That's just my luck.

Suddenly, I had this random urge to lash out at him. Here he was just laughing along with me, acting as if nothing ever happened? He doesn't get to do that. He doesn't get to put on this polite act and expect me to follow along with it.

Without thinking I dig into the side pocket of my backpack and pull out the infamous note.

"What do you think this is?" I interrogate him. He looks down at it with widened eyes, his eyebrows raised. Seconds later it registers with me what I had done. I screwed up my own plan.

hey everyone! i feel like this chapter is a little boring but i still hope you enjoyed. thank you for all the support again, pls vote and comment!

- mari 💜🩷