It seemed the computer error was a problem for everyone today. All morning, none of my teachers called out my name in the role call and according to Gemma and Naomi the same was happening to them. The teachers said the system probably just erased some of the names and told us not to worry about it, so we didn't.
Instead I worried about how to get revenge on Pluto, which was not proving to be an easy task. By lunch time I was completely frustrated and viciously eating my tuna sandwich next to Mac as Naomi messed around her phone. She was frustrated to, but over something completely different. Apparently, she had been locked out of her Instagram and my sister was one of those girls who couldn't live five minutes without checking her social media.
"I hate this stupid app." She grumbled as she finally tossed the phone aside and began to work on her lunch.
"If you hate it so much then why do you use it?" Mac asked, while I remained quiet. I didn't really care why she did, but I was trying to focus on something other than Pluto. Although I wanted to invent some sort of plan, I didn't want to get obsessed with it.
"Because I'm preparing to be famous someday," She said, like it was some big burden.
"Tragic," Mac said with an eye roll as I finished the last bite of my sandwich and bunched up the wrapper.
"Tell me about it." She sighed heavily. "So, have you thought of a way to get back at Pluto? I meant to think about it, but my stupid Instagram distracted me. It's so weird, my phone isn't letting me log into anything today," She said.
"You shouldn't let it ruin your day, and no I haven't thought of anything. I tried to, but its hard," I finally said with a heavy sigh as I pulled out my orange juice and began to peel off the wrapper around the lid. I think my mom meant to give me lemonade, but she was probably distracted when packing lunches today.
"It has to be something that will embarrass him. It's not worth it if it only embarrasses him in front of us," Naomi said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, it sucks you don't have any more of that vinegar stuff because he spilled it on you." Mac snickered before turning to me. "Speaking of which, are you coming to the darkroom today? I have some more of those photos of that creature I wanted to show..."
The rest of his sentence got lost in translation because as Mac began to ramble on my eyes fell upon Naomi's burger she had packed with pickles and something finally came to mind. It was everything I could've asked for, a plan so simply perfect I took a moment longer to stare at that burger in appreciation before jumping into action. "Mac do you still have that mini tube squirter thing with you?" I asked, earning a look.
"Abigail, didn't you hear a word I said? I'm starting to get worried about-" He began but I cut him off.
"Yeah, yeah we'll talk about it later. Do you have it?" I insisted.
Exhaling slowly, Mac reached over and pulled it out of his backpack before handing it to me. "I don't know what your planning but that better not get traced back to me," He said, then turning back to his lunch.
"Don't worry, I've got this," I said as I hid the squirter in my sleeve like the criminal I was becoming, and I slipped into the lunch line. Once I had gotten near the kitchen entrance, I glanced around to make sure the lunch ladies weren't paying attention, then slipped in the back. As discreetly as I could, I found my way over to the fridge where they stored the cold stuff and pried open the lid of the pickle container. When it was off, I then stuck the tip of the gun into the pickle juice and filled her up.
Then, when I was sure I had enough, I closed the pickle container back up and made my way out of the kitchen, out of the line and into the crowded lunchroom. It only took me a moment to find Pluto--him and Jupiter were leaning against the wall near the exit. I guess they had already finished their lunch and were just passing the time. Come to think of it, I have never seen them eat lunch here. Or anything really. I wonder when they ate?
"Hey Abby, you finished eating? Cause if you are, you still haven't given me that tour you promised!" Jupiter called out upon seeing me and I smiled innocently.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I promise I haven't forgotten," I said as I looked over at Pluto, who was watching me suspiciously.
"Did you need something?" He asked. It pleased me to know he was bothered by my presence.
"No, I just wanted to talk to Jupiter. Is that okay with you?" Frowning, he stood up straight.
"No, it's not actually. What are you up to Abigail?" He pressed. It was obvious I wasn't all that great at hiding my intentions, so without hesitating a moment more, I whipped out the squirter and sprayed the pickle juice all over Pluto's crotch area. With a yelp, Jupiter jumped back as Pluto reached forward with amazing reflexes and grabbed the half empty squirter from me.
"You're a little brat, you know that!" He snapped as he emptied out the rest of it in my direction while I tried to dodge the stream of pickle juice.
"I'm a little brat? I'm the brat! You're the brat; you embarrassed me in front of my whole gym class!" I snapped back, grabbing for the squirter. Instead of giving it to me though he threw it in the trash.
"If you want to fight Gail, I'll fight you." He growled.
"Pluto, let it go. She's a girl, control your temper." Jupiter scolded as he tried to get in between us. Instead of acknowledging him though, I looked Pluto dead in the eye with a scowl.
"Meet me out back then, I'm not afraid of you." I challenged. "And stop calling me Gail." For a long moment then, Pluto looked like he was seriously considering dragging me out back, but instead the corners of his mouth twitched and next thing I knew he started laughing. At first, I was angry he started laughing, but his laugh was such a nice unexpected sound I found myself starting to laugh as well as we stepped away from each other.
"Oh my gosh this is ridiculous." He admitted and I couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"Your right, we're acting like little kids," I said, which made him laugh harder as Jupiter let out a breath of relief.
"And here I was thinking you two were actually going to fight," He said with the shake of his head. Finding myself laughing harder to, I gave Pluto's shoulder a shove.
"We need to find a way to get along." I admitted. Before Pluto could respond though, the assistant principal cleared his throat.
"I agree, how about we discuss it in my office?"
And within an hour after that Pluto and I were leaving school early to go home and "work on our issues".
"I can't believe you got us suspended for the rest of the day." I grumbled for the fifth time since we both left the school.
Apparently, the assistant principal had seen the whole thing unfold from beginning to end and he wasn't pleased about. Neither was the principal, who not only suspended us for the rest of the day but informed me that my parents were going to have to come in tomorrow morning to meet about what happened, and I got detention again. In the mean time we had to go home and work on getting along.
"Don't think of it as suspension, think of it as being sent home early. I don't see why your complaining, it's not like we're missing much of anything," Pluto said all nonchalant, making me grip the steering wheel hard.
"You really don't care about anything do you?" I asked harshly.
"You aren't seriously going to start a fight over this? I thought we were going to try to get along." He reminded, making me grit my teeth. An hour ago, I thought I saw potential for friendship there but now I was ten times angrier at him then I was earlier.
"There's a difference between words and actions." I grumbled, wishing I had just left him at the school and made him walk.
"That Gail is very true," He said, resting his hands behind his head.
"Stop calling me Gail please. You know I hate it," I said, and he grinned.
"That's why I call you it, because it gets under your skin. You need to stop being so sensitive." He chuckled. Instead of responding, I was just going to lean over and hit him but before I got the opportunity to, I saw something heart stopping that made me pull off the road fast with a gasp.
On the side of the road, just a little way ahead of us was a car in a ditch with smashed in windows and it looked very familiar.
"Whoa! What you are doing? Are you trying to get us killed?" Pluto snapped as he sat up and gripped the armrests while I parked on the side of the road behind it.
"Shut up Pluto," I said as I quickly unbuckled and got out of my car, before running over to the other one.
Upon approaching the damaged vehicle, I felt the blood in my veins run cold as I recognized the bumper stickers.
It was my mom's car.
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Dun dun duuuuun! I love cliff hangers, they always make me excited to update :3 I did mean to post this chapter earlier, but my day was packed and the posting delayed. Sigh. I may have also gotten a little bit distracted by Netflix, I'm really obsessed with Once Upon a Time /.\
-Mari.