Chapter 4

I knew from the second that Sidney and I had started walking to the coffee shop that he was in shock over my appearance. I’d also known from the second we started walking that he was checking me out. I may have been on my phone texting Harmony, but I wasn’t an idiot. I could feel his eyes on my ass the entire time.

I’m the first person to admit that going to college and meeting Harmony had done wonders for me both in my personality and in how I looked. Harmony had looked past what everyone else saw and taught me that attitude and confidence go a long way. The more I hung out with her, the more outgoing I’d become. And with that new attitude came an all new look.

I’d been too afraid to go to the dining hall when I first got to school. I was too shy to make friends quickly and I was too embarrassed to go by myself. Instead I stayed in my room when I wasn’t in class. It hadn’t really occurred to me until after my personality started to transform that I’d lost weight. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it. I started sucking it up and going to the gym despite hating it and gave up food that was terrible for me, choosing healthier options instead.

I also learned as I got out more with Harmony that college was very different from high school. There was no social hierarchy, just groups of people with interests in common. I also learned that navigating from one group to another wasn’t a problem at all. The jocks didn’t just hang with the jocks, and the math geeks didn’t just hang with the math geeks. At a college like Stanford, the jocks were the math geeks.

Armed with a new personality, a new body, and a new confidence, I’d ask Harmony to teach me everything else. She took me shopping, gave me fashion advice, and taught me how to do my makeup. She led me into a salon where I walked out with a completely new head of hair in a completely new color. Three guys hit on me that day as I walked around campus. They were the first guys to ever hit on me. I never looked back.

Four years later, I was completely aware of the effect I had on guys, and I used it. I used my looks to get things I wanted and I didn’t feel the least bit bad about it. It wasn’t like I was sleeping with professors for good grades or anything. I could achieve the straight A’s on my own. It was more a social thing. I didn’t spend Friday or Saturday nights alone anymore. In fact, I hardly spent any nights alone at what I liked to call my reawakening. There was always someone.

Now there was Sidney. The moment I’d felt him checking me out I’d known what I had to do. I was going to use my looks to get what I wanted from him. The more I sat there across from him at the table talking to him, the more I knew it was a great idea. I’d used trick after trick as I sat there, flirting with him, to get him to want to see me again. It had worked.

The next day Harmony came home in the afternoon and immediately began questioning me about the day before. I told her about what happened with Sidney at the furniture store, and then about coffee. She sat there, quiet for the first time in her life, as she listened to me tell her about my time with the guy who had been the love of my life growing up.

“You’re going to see him again then?” she asked when I had finished. I grinned over at her.

“I’m going to do better than that. I’m going to make him fall in love with me,” I told her. She laughed when I said it, but stopped when she realized I was serious.

“Look, Bryce, I know you were in love with him forever, but things don’t always work the way you plan them,” she cautioned.

“Oh, I’m not looking to marry him and carry his children. I’m looking for revenge.” She was quiet for the second time today, looking at me with a wary eye, trying to figure out what I was saying.

“You know, when I told you that if you ran into him when you moved here that you could do to him what he did to you, I didn’t mean it literally,” she said, the smile gone from her lips. I lifted an eyebrow at her, surprised that she wasn’t 100% backing me on this.

“He deserves everything I’m going to do to him,” I told her firmly.

“Because he ruined your prom night?” she questioned.

“No. Because he’s the reason I lived through hell for a year and a half.”

“Oh, Bryce…..” she started. Her voice trailed off as she tried to think of an argument. I hadn’t anticipated having to fight her on this, but my emotions took over.

“It was his fault. If he hadn’t done what he did, that never would have happened,” I argued.

“You can’t blame him for that. It’s not like he was there pushing all the buttons,” she argued right back. It didn’t matter. My mind was set. I was caught now in my mind in a place I’d never be able to get completely out of.

“I can and I will. Compared to what happened to me, he’ll get off easy when I’m done with him.”

“I just don’t think this is a good idea,” Harmony warned.

I got up from my seat and began to pace back and forth through the room. If I was going to do this, I needed Harmony’s help. I needed her to be on my side. I had to figure out how to get her there. Then I went somewhere I probably shouldn’t have. I went for guilt. I manipulated her to make her feel guilty so she would help me.

“Harm, this is for those nights you had to stay up all night with me because I was too scared to close my eyes. It’s for the times you had to bribe that EMT to keep his mouth shut when you called him to our apartment. It’s for that month when everyone turned their backs on me except for you, and they then turned their backs on you as well.” Real tears had formed in my eyes when I said those words to her, partially because of my memories, but also partially because of what I was now putting her through.

I knew exactly how Harmony felt about that time in our lives. I knew she blamed herself for allowing things to go on the way they were as long as they did. I knew she felt guilty for not helping me when I desperately needed it. I never blamed her, and I certainly didn’t think there was anything she could have done until I was ready for her help, but I knew she felt that way. And like a real asshole of a friend, I was using it.

“Okay. Okay,” she whispered. I smiled at her, and sat down next to her, taking her hands in mine.

“Thank you.”

“So what’s the plan?” she asked, seemingly bouncing back to her normal self.

My smile grew as I told her. By the end I saw that she wasn’t as wary about the plan as she had been before. It’s not like we were planning to do any bodily harm to the guy. I was just getting him back for a prank he’d played in high school that had almost ruined my life. Maybe it was bitchy. Maybe it was an adjective that was even worse than bitchy, but I didn’t care. This was for all the kids who were bullied and picked on in school. I wanted to prove that sometimes the math geek wins.

I smiled down at my phone the next afternoon when I spotted Sidney’s number on my caller ID. I guess I hadn’t been too overconfident when I thought he’d call. I held up the phone to Harmony to show her and we both giggled. Just before voicemail would have picked up, I answered.

“Hello?” I forced my voice to sound like I had no idea who was calling.

“Bryce? It’s Sidney,” he said to me from the other end.

“Oh, Sid, hey! What’s up?” I greeted. I noticed Harmony watching me, obviously trying to track how the conversation was going.

“Not much. Just got home from practice. How about you?” he returned.

“I’ve just been spending the afternoon decorating the place before our furniture gets here in a couple days.”

“Ugh, decorating. I bought my house in the spring and I still only have furniture in three rooms with bare walls. I’m just so busy. I need to get on hiring someone to do it for me.”

“Aw, where’s the fun in that? You should do it yourself, little by little every time you find some free time.”

“My idea of interior design is putting a leather couch with built in cup holders in front of a big screen TV.” I laughed along with him, figuring he was telling me the complete truth. “Look, I was actually calling to see if you wanted to come to a game.”

“Yeah, that would be fun. I’ve actually wanted to go, but tickets are hard to come by. It seems like your team is an institution in this city.” I was lying, not ever having looking for tickets, but that was part of the game.

“Oh, don’t worry about tickets. I can get those for you. Just let me know when you want to come and they’ll be waiting at will call for you.”

“Really? Are you sure you don’t mind? I can pay you for them.”

“That’s not necessary. Each guy on the team gets a few free tickets to every game. Mine go unused unless my family is in town. It’s not a big deal,” he explained. I grinned over at Harmony who lifted her eyebrows up questioningly.

“Well, when is the next available game?” I asked.

“Tomorrow night, actually. If you don’t have plans I could leave a ticket for that one. We could go grab something to eat after,” Sidney suggested.

“Tomorrow would work, but just one question. Is it possible for me to bring my friend Harmony? I’d feel awkward sitting at the game by myself.” That was another lie, and bringing Harmony into it kept Sidney from thinking he had me too easily. I wanted to make him work for me.

“Yeah, that’s no problem. There’ll be two tickets for you guys at will call under your name along with passes that will get you downstairs after.”

“That sounds great! Thanks so much, Sid. That's really sweet of you.”

“No problem. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I hung up the phone and grinned across the room at Harmony, who had been hanging on every word.

“We are going to a Penguins game tomorrow and getting something to eat with Sidney after,” I told her.

“I’ll finally get to meet the golden prince?” she asked. I laughed at the nickname she’d decided to use for him instead of his name.

“Yes you will.”