Bitter

thirty-five - ?

They were both exiting the movie theater across the street. Lydia Bosher and Meg Sadler were walking together, talking and laughing every once in a while like they hung out every day. That was interesting. I wanted to know what they were saying but I was too far away to hear anything. I couldn't risk being seen by them, so I kept my distance but still followed, passing behind streetlights in the shadows and using cars parked along the curb as cover.

It was kind of cold out and I was hoping they'd stray away from other people soon. Not only was I freezing but my shoulder was aching all because of the girl my eyes were trained on right now. Lydia was going to be scared tonight and it was going to be fun. I'd make sure to tell West all about it too. And just because Lydia was my target didn't mean Meg was getting out of this either. She had actually wanted to go to homecoming with Cal when he'd asked her and I still didn't know how I felt about that. She was supposed to go with me. I was going to ask her after she said no to Cal and she was supposed to say yes when I asked her. That's not how it went though.

They continued to stay in the light and I pushed on, hidden and waiting for the moment to creep up on them. I needed them to be alone, without all of these people around. West promised I wouldn't have to pay him anymore and instead my payment to him would be doing what he said. I wasn't sure how long that promise would hold up, but I didn't really care because this was fun. Being a part of the action, scaring Lydia, seeing her reaction. Cal just didn't do it like this.

I had hidden under the bed at the party on Saturday night and to tell you the truth, I hadn't initially been aiming to grab Lydia's ankle. Cal was the one that should've walked back into the room after West pushed Marco into the pool from that balcony. He would break his leg or something like that. I didn't hate Cal, but he'd gotten boring lately and he didn't scare easily, so I wanted to see his reaction for once. To be fair, West hadn't known I was trying to help him, but if we had worked together that night we really could've done something. Maybe he had taken it a bit too far with Marco but he didn't kill him. As long as everyone was alive, anything was fair game.

Now that West saw I wasn't messing around, he made this deal with me. I did the services (like providing him with Cal's weaknesses) and he gave the goods. It was a win-win for both of us and nothing could beat that.

Oh, now Lydia and Meg were rounding a corner and I casually strolled a good distance behind them, hood up, breath billowing into the frosty air while my hand felt the switchblade in my pocket. They were heading for a parking garage, undoubtedly to their car. I needed to catch up to them quick. It was almost time.