Page 22 of Better Than Revenge

After realizing the bathroom ad hadn’t brought him even the tiniest amount of payback, I had spent the past twenty-four hours at half-hearted and mostly failed attempts at revenge. Like stealing Jensen’s mints from his locker, which I still had the combination for (he didn’t notice), contacting his ex via DM and asking for any dirt (she had none—“He was very nice to me,” she’d said), and asking Deja’s parents if they’d put upJensen can’t eat hereon their marquee(they wouldn’t, even after Deja said, “But, Mom, he is the worst and completely humiliated Finley, please!”). They didn’t budge.

“Maybe I really should make out with a random stranger tonight if it means Jensen will actually feel some kind of sting,” I said. I wasn’t going to, but I was beginning to think more and more that he wasn’t going to feel anything no matter what I did. That he didn’t care enough about me to have anything I did make any kind of difference to him.

“Yes!” Max said from the seat behind me. “I support this.”

“No,” Deja said. “I do not. I thought tonight was the night you were going to infiltrate the football team and see if you can turn them against him.”

“It is,” I agreed. I needed to focus on that. It was the only thing that might work. “Oh!” I lifted the Target bag I’d brought full of the things Jensen had left at my house over the last year. “I brought a bunch of his stuff to burn in the bonfire. Do you think Theo will have a bonfire?”

Deja shrugged. “I’ve never been privileged enough to come to one of his parties. Did he have one last time?”

“Yes, he did,” I said. “But I’ve only been to the one.”

“Were we even invited tothisone?” Lee asked.

“Wait,” Deja said, eyes wide. “Were wenot?”

“He had to expect I’d bring my friends, right? I wasn’t going to come alone.”

“That would’ve been madness,” Maxwell teased.

“What are we waiting for?” Lee asked as we all sat in the car, no one making the initial move to exit the vehicle.

“People,” I said.

“What?” he asked.

“There are hardly any cars.” I pointed at the street. “We must’ve come too early.”

“I thought we were late—fashionably late,” Deja said, checking the time on her phone.

The neighbor’s house that we had parked directly in front of was dark, the shades drawn, the porch light off. But I could still tell it was a fancy house. This whole neighborhood was nice oceanfront properties. Theo was obviously loaded.

“We should’ve brought something besides this bag of burnables. An appetizer? Chips?” I hadn’t thought much of it before because I’d assumed a lot of people would be here. Parties like that didn’t require contributions. Ten-car parties? That was a different story. “Let’s go get something…or, you know, go somewhere else entirely. I heard the drive-in is playingThe Purge.That sounds very cathartic right now.”

“No, it’s fine,” Lee said. “It will be fine. We’re not leaving.”

“Jensen isn’t here,” I said, noting the cars on the street. He often ended up at parties where the rest of the team was, regardless of who was throwing it.

“That’s a good thing, right?” Lee said. “You don’t want him here if you’re trying to get in good with the rest of the guys.”

“She looks hot,” Maxwell said. “Iwanted him here.”

“Youdolook hot,” Deja said with a nod. “Like a rave goddess.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means you look like you’re ready for a dance party, all wildwavy hair, smoky eyes, and flared jeans. I love it.” Max opened his car door, making the final decision for all of us. “We can’t let that go to waste.”

Lee gripped both my shoulders from behind. “You got this.”

I took a deep breath. I had this. Make friends with the football players. Turn them against Jensen. Make football the least fun part of his life. Mission accomplished.

“I bet more people will come later,” Maxwell said. “That’s how these parties work. They last all night.”

He was probably right. We weren’t exactly the party type. I’d been to a total of two parties my entire high school career so far, both while dating Jensen. Ourfashionably latewas most likely everyone else’sway too early.

I pushed my door open and stepped onto the sidewalk.