Last Kiss Goodbye • Teenage Juice Ortiz

65 - The Downside of Revenge

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THE PAST

June wasn't the type who liked changes. The first school day after the holidays was always stressful – but this time everything would be different. Her group of friends had fallen apart, she had a boyfriend and her face was battered and bruised. Early this morning Jordy had came over to camouflage the bruises with make-up, but her eye was still swollen and her lip wasn't healed yet.

It was awful. There was no way people wouldn't try to find a connection: the shy June who had been invisible to most students, but who was now together with a boy known by everyone while she was obviously been beaten up. 

That was the reason she was in the car with Jordy now. Juan had wanted to pick her up, but June feared the conclusions everyone would draw. Somehow it felt better if she could show her bruised face before everyone would discover that she was in a relationship with Juan.

June hadn't told Jordy about Beth before last night. She had simply lacked the courage to talk about it again – she knew her friend would freak out and June had to grab Jordy's wrist to keep her from storming out of the house. Even when June had told her the boys had taken care of it, it didn't calm Jordy down – she believed it was also her job to tell Beth the truth. June had literally begged Jordy to leave Beth alone today, but Jordy hadn't made any promises; she had only gritted her teeth in anger.

As they rolled up the schoolyard, quite a crowd had gathered. June looked at them with a nasty feeling in the stomach – Juan had told her he'd planned to leave Beth's car here tonight, but she couldn't think of the reason why it would draw so much attention. Actually June had no interest to watch the car, but Jordy hooked her arm around June's and dragged her through the crowd until they found a good spot. 

Jordy started to laugh. "Dude she deserved this so much!"

June was so much in shock she couldn't say anything at all. The boys had tagged the white car indeed – but in a horrible way. It looked like an advertising vehicle for some brothel; it was painted with genitals and intimate acts. She was looking right down a face showing clear similarities with Beth's, but with a dick shoved into her mouth. 'CALL ME FOR A HOT NIGHT' was written above it, followed by Beth's name and number.

Tears were stinging in her eyes. This was – this was horrible. Tearing herself away from her friend, she rushed away, wildly wiping her eyes. 

"Wait, June!"

She felt Jordy's hand on her shoulder but shook it off. "No. I wanna be alone."

Jordy looked at her a little lost, but June didn't care. She didn't understand, she'd laughed about this. Quickly she increased her pace, she ran up the stairs knowing the top floor would be empty. Tears crept down her cheeks. 

Once she was at the top of the staircase, she felt much and much worse. Beth had felt the same urge to flee; she was sitting on the top step, her arms wrapped around her knees while she was crying. Soothingly, Shawna was rubbing her back. 

"I'm sorry," June sobbed. "Beth I'm sorry. I didn't know – I didn't know they would do this."

Beth's shoulders tensed as she heard June's voice. Slowly she looked up, hatred churning in her tearful eyes. "Go to hell. Just go fuck yourself, June. I knew this was going to happen, I knew they would ruin my life like they ruined my sister's life! The whole school called her a whore, and now they call me one too!"

Every word left her mouth more viciously and the look in her eyes was so terrifying that June grasped the banister tightly, afraid the girl would push her down.