Gated Heart

Chapter 27

At the end of the day, Aren sat outside the school on one of the courtyard benches, reading. Just as he looked up from his book, he spotted Emily looking around apprehensively. She then snuck around the side of the building. This struck Aren as odd, so he kept watching. Within a minute, he saw Chris come out and head around the side of the building just as Emily had. Aren's eyes narrowed with suspicion. Why was Emily meeting up with Chris? He didn't like the feeling this gave him. He put his book down and crept after them. When he heard their voices, he stayed hidden around the corner. It occurred to him that he had been doing more eavesdropping in the last few days than he had ever done in his life. Still, he continued to listen in.

"So you're the one who asked to meet me?" Chris scoffed.

"Mhm." Emily replied. "I have a present for you."

Chris looked her up and down doubtfully.

She pulled the glass bottle of pineapple juice out of her bag and held it out for Chris.

He raised a curious eyebrow. "Why are you giving me this?"

"I'm not just giving you this, I'm also giving you information." Emily continued. "You want revenge on Mia, don't you?"

Chris smirked. "And you're going to help me get that revenge? I thought you two were friends."

Emily sighed. "It would be a lot easier to be her friend if someone knocked her down a peg."

"I'm listening." Chris prodded.

"I just can't stand seeing her cute face right now. So, I need her to be a little less cute, you know what I mean?"

"I don't know what you mean, actually."

Emily held up the bottle of pineapple juice. "Mia is allergic to pineapples. If this gets on her skin, she'll break out in hives, her skin will get all red and patchy, it's not pretty. And it takes almost a week for her skin to clear up again. For my own sanity, I need a week in which no guys want to look at her."

Aren's jaw dropped as panic washed over him.

"Ahh-" Chris said in realization. "So you want me to use this to give you your week of ugly-Mia?"

"Exactly." Emily nodded. "Nothing major. Nothing too difficult. Just splash this on her and don't tell her I was the one who asked you to do it."

"As much as I would love to fuck up her face, I can't. Her freak-show of a boyfriend already nearly killed me once. I don't think anything will stop him from really cutting my head off if I go near Mia again."

"You mean Aren?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. That dude never leaves her side, I wouldn't even have the chance to run."

Emily smiled. "Seems you haven't heard the news. They broke up. He won't even look at her, let alone protect her."

Wide eyed, Chris straightened in surprise. "What?? Are you serious??"

She nodded.

Chris laughed. "Oh my god, this breakup is about to get so much worse for that bitch."

"That's what I thought." Emily grinned. "Just make sure the pineapple juice doesn't get in any cuts or anything. If even a drop enters Mia's bloodstream, it could kill her."

Chris paused. "Huh..." He smiled. "Interesting. Yeah, I'll be super careful." He held out his hand for the bottle of pineapple juice.

Aren felt his stomach drop. If he knew anything about Chris, it was that he didn't stop until he had done the most possible damage. Carefully, Aren snuck away to go find Mia.

Emily handed the bottle to Chris and motioned for him to get going. "Mia's probably on her way home by now, which means she's walking up Mainstreet. If you leave now, you'll be able to catch up with her.

Chris threw his hand up in the "okay" sign and walked off.