It's a Wonderful Death - Sarah J. Schmitt Page 0,52

over my chest and lean back slightly. “Really?”

“Yes,” she says, and I honestly think she believes what she’s saying.

But the memories of my new past are well implanted in my mind and while I’m not proud of them, they’re mine and nothing is going to take them from me again. Not if I can help it. “Then why did you tell me to put tequila bottles in Penny’s car after she was nominated for homecoming queen?”

“What?” Penny says, snapping out of her bystander trance. “That was you? I got suspended. They kicked me off the court.”

Felicity shakes her head and points at me. “She’s lying.”

“Am I?” I ask, scanning the faces for any sign of doubt. “Or am I finally showing everyone who you really are?”

“You’ve been like this ever since your social meltdown!” Felicity yells, moving around the table. I resist the urge to step back.

“Like what?” I ask, meeting her vicious stare with one of innocent calm.

“You’ve been trying to worm your way back in. And when I take pity on you and accept you back into our circle, you repay me with lies. Can anyone say, jealous much?”

This is exactly what I expect her to say. It’s what I would say if I were in her shoes. One of the most important rules of being on top: use jealousy to explain why anyone would dare stand up to you.

I’m sure she expects me to stoop to her level, but instead of my blood boiling and steam coming out of my ears, I smile. “What do you have that I could possibly be jealous of?”

“That they choose me over you,” she says, pointing to everyone watching us. “The only place you had to go was down and boy, how the mighty have fallen. All the way down to the bottom feeders of the social ladder. That Daniel guy is a freak. Leave it to him to hook up with a girl who’s probably going to die before we graduate.”

The room is silent again but this time it’s from shock that even Felicity would say something so cruel. While no one in the room really knows Madeline, I don’t think anyone has anything bad to say against her.

I push my way around the table until we’re only inches apart. What do you know, it’s not just the bullies who can pull off the in-your-face move. “Let’s get something straight, you narcissistic egomaniac. No one picked you over me. I left. I made the choice. I picked me. So hold on to your fantasies if you need to, but don’t bring Daniel and Madeline into this. They are five times the person you can ever hope to be. They know what’s important. It’s friendship. And in case you didn’t know, that’s about having someone’s back instead of stabbing them in it.”

I gather up all my stuff as quickly as I can and head for the door.

“Wait,” she calls, and for a moment I think maybe, just maybe, she’s going to have a change of heart. But even before she opens her mouth, I know it’s wishful thinking.

“Leave the fundraiser stuff,” she orders.

I turn around slowly, shaking my head. I see Dave standing behind her. Is he supposed to be the muscle? It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing they can do to me now. I’ve come too far to back down. “I don’t think so. In fact, I think I’ll drop these off in Principal Kauffman’s office in the morning. He can make sure every single penny gets to the Quinns in time for Madeline’s next treatment. We wouldn’t want her to miss it because you wanted to frame me for theft or something crazy like that.”

Dave’s head snaps toward Felicity and I’m guessing he’s made some promises to people about the party. She ignores him and instead keeps her eyes on me. “Wow. Now you’re paranoid,” she responds.

Here’s the thing about people who spend their life putting on a fake face for everyone. There comes a moment when that face begins to crumble. I see the moment where Felicity first begins to implode. And I have two choices. I can go in for the kill, or I can be the bigger person. I really want to end her. But I don’t.

“It doesn’t matter what you think about me. It doesn’t even matter what you’ve done.” I can’t believe what I’m about to say to her. “Felicity, I forgive you for everything. Everything you’ve done and everything you intended to do. I