The Girl Next Door

Part 5 - Iris

Part 5 - Kill Him With Kindness

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"I can't believe this!" Sophie squeals. "So you get to spend three hours a week with the hottest boy in this school? You need to keep me updated on all of the details, dear." She uses her fork to put some salad in her mouth. "And anyway, I warned you about Logan. All the rich, stuck-up kids are bad news, I tell you. They think they can get away with anything. Anyhow, you should just move on. Show him he means nothing to you."

"But he does mean something to me," I groan. "He's my first love, Sophie. That's special."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever... but he's not your only love. It's definitely not like this is the only time you guys have broken up, either."

"I know, but the difference is that I'm not getting back together with him."

"Crack a bottle of champagne and let's celebrate that fact, hun. Cheers!" She holds her hand up in the air, pretending like she's toasting with a drink.

"My point is that he's out of my life forever. Saying goodbye to your love isn't just something that happens overnight, Sophie. You've never dated anybody, it's not like you'd know. Why don't you focus on your own love life?"

"Because... it doesn't matter. It'll happen if it wants to happen."

"Why can't you just accept that fact for me?"

"Well, it's not me, so it's fine. Anyways..."

As she continues to ramble about somebody else's gossip, I can't help but feel like something is gnawing at my intestines. Nerves, that's all it is, but I just feel so stupid for falling in love with somebody that cheated on me. That being said, I still want to know why he pretended to love me. Was it because I was a last resort? Was it because I added onto his reputation? Maybe because I fed into his ego?

My head is starting to hurt just thinking about it. The memory of when we first met replays in my head, just like a little snippet from a movie.

I have to get that stupid book. I really need it for Mrs. Thomas's class and if I don't then my grades will crumble.

Eventually, I spot the deep blue, soft cover and grasp it harshly as if my life depends on it. It's even the last one left! I look up, realizing I almost walked into someone... A tall teenage boy, at that. With golden hair and dashing royal blue eyes, similar to the book.

"I-I-I'm sorry," I mumble.

"Don't be... Are you Iris?"

"Um, yeah..." I slowly exhale to sort of pacify myself, looking at the floor. "How'd you know?"

"You're the girl that-"

"Jesus, Iris!" Sophie says, and I feel a sharp pain crackle in my shin.

"Hey, what was that for?" I cry, rubbing the spot just above my ankle. It's probably going to leave a bruise.

"Logan isn't even that hot, Iris. I know that you're thinking about when you guys first met because that's what you do during every breakup. I get it, he has 'golden blond hair' and 'dashing blue eyes.' But you wanna know what he doesn't have? He doesn't have brains, and he doesn't have balls. Find a man who does, dear."

"Sophie," I groan, slamming my head on the table. "You can't expect me to heal up right now. I'm brokenhearted. All boys suck. I'm ditching school and getting back to bed."

"We all know that's not true. Get your head up, too. Looking like a sad little girl isn't gonna help. And no, I'm not expecting you to bounce back up. I want you to, but I know that's not how it works. I just don't want to hear about how you're dying inside when there's still plenty of other fish in the sea."

"That's easy for you to say," I scoff. "It's that he's... well, you know, my fish. My gorgeous fish with dashi-"

"Well, he's a sucky fish. Let somebody else reel the sucker in so that he can get tossed back into the crowd like you did. I can assure you there's a better fish out there. Oh, like Pierce? He's definitely a fish you should catch." She wiggles her eyebrows at me with a sly grin.

"He's not my type." I shrug one shoulder.

"Oh, c'mon! Speaking of which, isn't it Wednesday? Don't you start tutoring today? With the Pierce Wright? You gotta cheer up, dude, I would actually kill to be in your shoes. Anybody would."

"It's even Logan's birthday today," I sigh, burying my face in my hands. "I made this huge collage of all these pictures of us together. I made it so beautiful, and I spent so much money on printing the pictures, and on the expensive pens, and the case, and the frame, and I even put a personal note!" I let out a huge breath, wishing that right now I could squeeze out just one tear.

However, instead of sympathetically frowning at me like I thought she would, she smirks. I raise an eyebrow at her before she starts speaking. "Well, you're still going to give him that gift. We're going to kill him with kindness, and then we're going to show him how happy you are. Well, at least just pretend, because the best revenge is letting your enemy see you smile."

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A/N

Bonjour! I hope you're enjoying the story so far and everything is going well, and... Yeah, I think that's it. So, please vote if you liked this chapter and thank you so much!

(Picture above is Skyler Samuels, who plays Amelia, and you guys will figure out who that is later!)

(The song for this chapter is What Goes Around Comes Around by Justin Timberlake. Don't see me as a big Justin fan because I'm not, but this song fits and I think it's good.)