Page 13 of Better Than Revenge

“Maybe an opportunity will come up next year where I can fill in or something. I’m on the team.” Maybe Jensen would get sick…or move. A girl could dream.

She stood there, elbows dripping, studying my face. Probably looking for a crack, wondering if I was going to break. I wasn’t. And if I kept telling myself that, it would be true.

She finally grabbed a dish towel from the counter and wiped her hands and arms. “You eating dinner with us, or did you eat with your friends?”

I let out a breath, glad she was moving on. “I only had fries.”

“Will Jensen be joining us for dinner as well?”

I couldn’t hold back the long sigh that escaped my body. We were going to get all the hard topics out at once. “We broke up,” Isaid.

Mom, who had turned back to the counter, adding some utensils to the dishwasher, whirled around. “What?” She was holding a fork in the air, and her eyes were wide. “Why?”

“I don’t feel like talking about it right now.” Or ever, really.

How could I explain to my mom that not only did I fail at making it into the position I’d been working so hard for, but that it was stolen from me by my boyfriend who had zero experience and, before today, zero desire? What did that say about my ability? What did that say about myrelationship?

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I will be.”

“Grandma is going to be so sad.”

I laughed. “She seemed fine, but she probably did like him more than I did.” My eyes found a Zelda mug on the counter. My Christmas gift to my older brother, Corey, who had come home for the holidays. Corey must’ve forgotten it. A flood of hurt washed over me about how easy I was to dismiss, how underwhelming I felt in all aspects of my life.

It’s just a mug, Finley.

“You had a really tough day,” Mom said.

I cleared my throat so I could speak normally. “I did.”

“And yet you seem…” She studied my face.

I smiled to sell it.

“…okay about all this?”

That’s because I was going to be. I had a goal, a good one. It had taken over every other emotion and thought in my body. Revenge. And I needed to make sure I wasn’t underwhelming at it.

Chapter

five

NOW THAT I’D MADE THEpodcast team, instead of the normal broadcasting class I’d been taking the first part of the school year, I got to switch over to the mentorship program with the podcast seniors for the rest of the year. I walked the hall now, heading toward the library conference room where that program would be held. Had things happened differently, I would’ve been practically skipping down the corridor in happy anticipation, but as it was, I was trying my best to keep my head down.

It wasn’t working. People were calling out things likeLet’s hear that terrible voiceorCharm is overratedorThink fast.All in reference to the things Jensen had announced to the entire school about my subpar abilities. I was not looking forward to seeing Jensen for the first time since Friday.

Jensen. What class was he going to have to drop to slide into this hour? He hadn’t taken a single broadcasting class in his life.

“Now I understand the bathroom ad,” Theo said, falling into step beside me.

“What?” I had been so in my head that I hadn’t seen him approach.Hadhe approached? Or had we just both been walking in the same direction?

He tucked his earbud into his pocket. “Next time I visit that particular bathroom, I’ll add a line or two.”

“What?” Was that the only word I knew how to say now? My brain wasn’t quite understanding what he was implying with this conversation. Was he just making fun of me about the bathroom graffiti again?

“Theo!” someone called from across the way. “The rally Friday was epic.”