This Heart, It Beats, Beats for Only You

“Hello?” Marisa’s groggy voice filled her ears.

“Ris, it’s me,” Casey said, wide awake. It was 3:00 am. She knew that Marisa was sleeping, but she had just woken abruptly with a new plan of what to do to Sam. She didn’t know if she had dreamt it or had subconsciously just thought of it before. But now that it was in her head, there was no way she could sleep until she told someone.

“Casey? What happened? Are you okay?” she asked, her voice no longer tired but concerned now.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just need you to call Zoey and come over asap,” she said.

“What’s going on?” she asked again.

“I just had an epiphany,” she sighed in frustration. Could they just get there asses here already? There wasn’t time to waste. “Oh we’ll need Nick too.”

“Okay Casey,” Marisa sighed. Casey wondered if her best friend thought she was losing her mind. Hmm maybe she was. But if she was going down, she was taking Sam and Alex with her. She got out of bed while she quickly looked up Nick’s number. He picked up thankfully after the third ring.

“Hello?” he asked. He sounded slightly disoriented.

“Nick, it’s Casey,” she said. “Look, emergency campaign meeting. Can you be at my house in 10?”

“Um okay,” he sounded confused. “You know it’s like 3 in the morning, right?”

She laughed lightly. “Yeah and I’m really sorry about that. Like I said though, it’s an emergency.”

He sighed. She heard him get out of bed over the phone. “I’ll be there in a bit.”

“Thanks Nick,” she said. “And hey, one more thing.”

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Do you think you could not tell Joe about this?” she asked nervously. She couldn’t see him yet, and she definitely didn’t want him to hear about this, even though it was partially his fault that this had even happened. The thought made her smile. She knew he’d love that one.

Nick laughed lightly. “Don’t worry Casey. Once Joe’s out, he’s out for at least 8 hours. Nothing could wake him.” His tone was too understanding.

“Thanks,” she said, hanging up. She sighed and ran downstairs into the kitchen, turning on the coffee machine. She knew they would be tired and she needed them wide awake. She also grabbed a few of her mother’s carb cheating foods and put everything on the dining room table. It would be as good a place as any for them to have this emergency meeting. They all arrived a few minutes later, knocking on the door. She opened it and they all piled in, half asleep in their pajamas. “Hey guys, I’m sorry about this really.”

“Don’t worry about it Casey,” Marisa said, her voice overly sympathetic and understanding. Casey had a feeling Marisa actually did think she was losing her mind.

“Right,” she said, leading them into the dining room. She poured them all cups of coffee and then sat at the head of the table. “Alright well the reason I called you here tonight is because of Sam and Alex.”

“And this couldn’t have waited till the morning?” Zoey yawned, putting her head on Nick’s shoulder.

“Look I was thinking about this all night,” Casey said. “And my original plan, it’s not good enough. I have something to tell you guys.”

“Yeah?” Marisa asked.

“You know when Alex transferred to the school last year?” she started slowly. They all nodded. “Well he tried to get with me. He must have asked me out a dozen times. And that’s why I think he has this vendetta against me now.”

“Oh we knew that,” Zoey waved it off. “Trust me this could have waited.”

Casey looked at them astonished. “You guys knew? Did Sam know too?”

“Oh yeah we all did,” Marisa said. “It was so obvious that he was obsessed with you. It was a big surprise for us when he started going out with Sam.”

“Why didn’t you guys tell me?” she asked, trying not to feel hurt.

“We didn’t want to cause anything,” Zoey explained. “Ha, I wonder what Sam told herself to get over this. She probably convinced herself that Alex was acting interested in Casey at all to get close to her.”

“Probably,” Marisa rolled her eyes. “So typical of her.”

Casey wanted to get back to the subject at hand and cleared her throat. They all looked at her. “Anyway, it’s even more important now that we play it up a notch.”

“What do you propose?” Nick asked. She knew he was probably wondering why he was here. Casey didn’t want to admit it to him or to anyone else. She needed some part of Joe here with her. If that meant his kid brother, she’d just have to deal.

“We need to show her that he doesn’t love her at all,” she said quietly. “We need to show her he’s using her.”

“You mean like have some girl get him to hook up with her? And have Sam see?” Zoey suggested.

This was where her epiphany came out. A smirk came to her face. “No this one is all me. Sam wants my crown? She’s going to have to see what it really takes to be queen.” They all looked at her. Marisa and Zoey were slightly smirking, though they looked concerned as well. Nick was just staring at her disbelievingly. She knew he probably heard about what happened tonight from Joe. But this was what she had to do. She had to make Sam pay for betraying them. And after all, like this said, payback was a bitch.