Ugly Secrets, Pretty Lies

Fourteen

Silly string?

Check.

Strawberry smoothie?

Check.

Super glue?

Check.

Laptop?

Check.

Satisfied, I put all of those things in my large shoulder bag and slung it over my shoulder. 

"You ready, Quinn?" Lily called. She and Harper stood on the sidewalk in front of my house, both with shoulder bags. I nodded and hurried over to them. 

"I was born ready!" I said, smirking.

Lily, Harper, and I had planned an evil revenge for Miss Kelly Hollister. Very evil. So evil we might as well be going to jail when this is over. 

Okay, okay, I'm just kidding. We won't be going to jail for this and it's not that evil. But it is a very carefully planned revenge that is sure to humiliate Kelly so badly that she's going to want to transfer schools and move to China.

 Maybe not... But hey, I can dream.

"You got that video camera?" I asked Harper.

Harper nodded, gesturing to a small bump on the side of her bag. "Yep."

"And I've got the toilet paper!" Lily chirped, taking out several rolls from her bag and showing them to us. I marveled at the fluffy paper and watched as Lily put them back in her bag. Thankfully, lunch wasn't over yet and we had hurried to put everything together. And we didn't need to worry about after lunch, since we'll be having an assembly. Our school's assemblies usually last for 2 classes straight, so we have plenty of time to do what we're about to do. After Lily and Harper had help me clean up in the bathroom and I was dressed in an extra pair of jeans from Harper and my shirt underneath my sweater. And it was my favorite sweater. Kelly is so going to pay for ruining my favorite sweater. And for saying that I 'stole' her boyfriend. And for pouring cold coffee on me. And for embarrassing me. And for existing. And for-

"Shut up, Quinn!" Harper exclaimed, taking hold of my shoulders and shaking me.

I blinked, my body shaking. "What..?"

"You were talking on and on about how Kelly is going to pay for ruining your favorite sweater, for embarrassing you, and blah blah blah," Lily explained.

Ohhh. 

I didn't even realize I was talking aloud. 

"We should hurry if we want to get to school on time," Lily says, checking her watch.

Harper rolled her eyes. "Relax, Lily. We have plenty of time."

"Actually, Lily's right," I said, starting to walk. My friends followed me. "I really want to get this done."

*

"Ladies and gentlemen, please make your way to the auditorium for the assembly."

The voice of our school's principal, Mr. Candelario, boomed around the building in every room over the speaker. Lily, Harp, and I hurried to the auditorium and backstage. Lola, the technology expert, waved us over. 

"Quick," she hissed. 

We hurried over to her. Lily slip her bag off her shoulder and took out the tape she had snagged from her cousin, who dated Kelly courtesy of a dare and then broke her heart. As he told us, Kelly was devastated. And one of Lily's cousin's friend taped the whole scene, gave the tape to Lily's cousin who gave it to Lily. 

"The tape," Lily said, a smirk forming on her face. 

Lola took the tape and slid it into the projector, closed the lid, and adjusted the laptop on top of the projector. She clicked on a bunch of buttons on the laptop. 

"The tape will play first thing after the principal makes the introduction," Lola told us.

"What is this assembly about anyway?" Harper asked. 

"A fundraiser for the senior yearly trip. This year, we're going to Jamaica, the trip costs a thousand dollars, covering the plane ticket, hotel, and all activities. It'll be over spring break," Lola said. 

"You're kidding!" I said, my eyes widening. 

Lola laughed quietly. "Nope. It's suppose to be very fun, but I'm not sure if my family an afford it. That's why we're going to have a fundraiser."

"I definitely can't," I said gloomily. 

Lily patted my head. "Don't worry, Quinn. That's what this fundraiser is for, so you'll be able to go!"

Right.... I bobbed my head, as if agreeing with her. 

"Okay, so are we all ready?" Harper asked, cracking her knuckles. "And we all know what our jobs are?"

"Yup. You're staying here and taping the whole scene of what happens when the entire auditorium sees the tape, Lily and I are going to Kelly's house and giving her house a makeover," I rattled off.

"And me?" Lola inquired.

Lily smiled at her. "You've done enough, helping us like that. You an go, Lola." 

Lola nodded slowly. As she passed me, I took a five dollar bill from my pocket and slipped it into her hand with a wink. Lola smiled slightly and tossed a wink back. Thanks, I mouthed. Anytime, she mouthed back and scurried out to the front.

"Make sure you don't get seen, Harp," Lily said to Harper. 

Harper winked at her and walked to the edge of the backstage, hidden by the curtains. She took a video recorder from her sweater pocket. "Don't worry, darling. Cette fille est née Sherlock."

A/N: That means 'This girl was born Sherlock'.

I arched an eyebrow. "Doesn't really make any sense, Sherlock."

Harper just grinned and made a shooing motion at us. "Don't worry," she repeated, "Now go!"

"Bossy pants," Lily muttered, picking up her bag. I picked my bag up too and we ran quickly out the backstage's back door, leading to the first floor. We looked both ways, making sure the halls were empty before dashing out the entrance doors. The wind nipped at our bare skin as we burst out and I shivered a little, since I was only wearing a shirt. Note to self: wear a damn jacket next time.

Lily and I ran the 23 blocks to Kelly's mansion.

"We should've taken a damn car!" Lily panted, breathing heavily.

"You're one to talk," I muttered, wiping sweat from my forehead. I hate running. I've never done any sports, except for this one time when I played basketball in freshmen year. Now I'm a little rusty, and I can't run as fast as I could before. Lily's the one who has never ever done any sports. Nice to know that I can at least run a little faster than her.

The outline of Kelly's mansion soon rose into view and Lily and I skidded to a stop at the front gate and immediately burrowed into the bushes next to the gate.

"Fuck! I forgot there were security guards!" I cursed. 

Lily grimaced. "Brilliant. Now what are we going to do?"

I bit my lower lip and raked my mind for an idea. "I don't know, Lily! An emergency? A fire?"

 Lily pursed her lips and ran a hand through her short hair. Then she bit her lip. "How about we just sneak in? We obviously can't do the house with all these guards patrolling around."

I looked at her. "We came here to trash the house, not sneak in," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but there are guards everywhere! We can just sneak into Kelly's room, steal something that's very personal and then we can get the hell out of here!"

I thought about it for a moment before nodding frantically. "Okay, let's do it."