Revenge and Its Thrills

Alex’s POV

​​​It turns out Cessac was a beach outside the camp gate, and not some sort of deadly disease. We had to sneak out of the gate, past the guards, which wasn’t really that hard because they weren’t paying much attention. Then we’d legged it to the beach and sat on a table outside the cafe.

​​​“I’m going into the shop,” Becca announced, standing up. “Alex, come with me.”

​​​I frowned, but stood up anyway, grabbed my school bag and followed her into the Cessac. The shop, the cafe, and the beach were all called ‘Cessac,’ which was actually pretty confusing, but hey.

​​​We wandered around the isles for a bit. Becca was making idle conversation, but I wasn’t fooled. I knew she wanted something.

​​​Eventually, I decided to just ask her. “What do you want, Becca?” I sighed.

​​​She grinned at me. “So, you’re smart I see,” She observed. But she didn’t answer my ​​question, just turned and carried on wandering the isles and commenting about random shit.

​​​I started to get a little pissed. Couldn’t she just tell me?

​​​“You know, you still owe me for not pushing that kid in the water,” She commented casually whilst flicking through a Kerrang! Magazine.

​​​I stared at her. “I don’t owe you anything. What are you on about?”

​​​Becca glared at me and shoved the magazine to my chest. “Yeah, you do owe me,” She spat. “You humiliated me. Now, steal this for me.”

​​​Glancing at the magazine, I shrugged. She had a point. I couldn’t stand being publicly humiliated, and to be fair, I’d done a lot worse than stealing some flimsy magazine. So I shoved it in my bag quickly.

​​​Becca grinned a little. “That’s not all. Come with me.”

​​​I followed her to the other side of the shop, where the Pic ‘N Mix was. She told me to fill a bag, and, although I was getting pretty ticked off at being ordered around, I did. Then I stuffed that in my school rucksack, too. Becca also made me steal a bottle of Pepsi.

​​​Then we walked out the shop. The Cessac obviously had a pretty shitty security system, because no staff came running out to stop us.

​​​We went back to the table where Craig, Ronnie, Danny and Corey were mucking about and throwing stuff at each other. Taylor was just hanging back, watching them with an amused look but not joining in. She’d never been one for that sort of stuff.

​​​Becca and I sat down and I started to empty the stuff out of my bag. Becca took the magazine, but left the Pic ‘N Mix and Pepsi on the table.

​​​Corey saw the sweets and grabbed a massive handful, stuffing them into his pocket and grinning. “Thanks, dude.”

​​​I shrugged, but Becca scowled at him. The she turned back to me.

​​​“Alex, go over to that girl,” She gestured towards where a teenager with choppy hair sat alone, flicking through a book. “Go over to her, pour the Pepsi into the Pic ‘N Mix bag, and dump the whole thing on her head.

​​​I grinned at her. Sure, I was still pretty pissed at her telling me what to do, but I was also anticipating the chance to make mischief. I hadn’t done anything like this since Scotland, and to be honest, I was craving a chance to cause trouble.

​​​“Will you stop ordering me around if I do?” I asked.

​​​Really, I would have done it even if she’d said no, but she just shrugged and muttered a, “Maybe.”

​​​Taylor was grinning at me. As I stood up to go, she stood up too.

​​​“Nu uh, blondie,” Becca said, her voice sharp and patronising. “Alex is doing this alone.”
Taylor glowered at her with such force that I was certain she was going to whip a knife out of her bag and stab Becca there and then. I was almost disappointed when she didn’t.

​​​“Nu uh, bitch,” Taylor mimicked her voice with a touch of venom. “Alex is doing this with me, and you can go fuck yourself.”

​​​I laughed. Explosive anger suddenly overtook Becca’s face. She jumped to her feet, surged forwards, and grabbed Taylor by the collar.

​​​“Listen here, bitch,” She snarled, pulling Taylor towards her. “No one speaks to me like that, got it?”

​​​By way of response, Taylor punched her square in the face. Becca reeled backwards, hit a pole and whacked her head hard.

​​​Ronnie rushed to see if she was okay, whilst the others and I cracked up. Taylor was giving Becca a contemptuous glare, but she looked up and grinned at me when she heard my laugh. I felt a surge of love and appreciation for this perfect human in front of me.

​​​Becca got up. She glowered at Taylor, but didn’t make a move to hit her. Wise girl.
Craig turned to me, laughing. “You know, Alex, you still gotta throw the sweets at that girl.”

​​​I grinned. “Of course.”

​​​Taylor handed me the sweets and Pepsi, which I cracked the lid off. Then she grabbed my hand - I resisted the urge to scream my happiness to the entire shop - and pulled me towards the teenager, who was still quietly reading with her headphones in.

​​​But of course it wouldn’t be that easy. The girl looked up at us as we approached and beamed widely. Tugging one of her headphones out and closing her book, she enthusiastically said, “Hey!”

​​​Taylor and I frowned at her. I clenched the cap-less Pepsi in my hand, ready to pour in the sweets and throw at her.

​​​“You guys look pretty cool! What’s your names? Oh, I’m Vicky by the way, Vicky Lawrence. Well, my actual name’s Victoria, but I don’t like that name. Do you think I should maybe go by Ria? Ria sounds pretty cool, don’t you think?” She continued to babble on about nothing, oblivious to my rising annoyance.

​​​Taylor looked ready to punch her, which was basically how I felt. If this Vicky girl continued any longer, I’d get a migraine.

​​​So, to get her to shut up, I promptly poured the entire contents of the fizzy Pepsi into the Pic ‘N Mix bag and upended the whole thing onto her head.

​​​Taylor cracked up as Vicky spluttered, Pepsi splashing down her face and soggy sweets tangling in her hair. We both turned and legged it after Craig and the others, who had already started to run.

​​​Vicky was shouting obscenities after us as we raced off, stumbling from laughing too hard. We caught up with the others in a small car park beyond Lambros - a fish and chip shop next to Cessac.

​​​Craig gave me a high five. “That was fucking awesome!”

​​​I laughed in agreement, stumbling slightly as Corey punched me on the shoulder enthusiastically.

​​​I probably could have gone on laughing forever, if it weren’t for the spine chilling glares I caught Becca sending Taylor’s way.

​​​That can’t be good, some part of me thought. That really, really can’t be good.