Liquid Feels - Book 3 - DP Series - Complete

10. Plastic Women

When I'm miserable, I tend to do bad things. There's a twisted side to me that enjoys watching others experience my suffering. Emma happens to be the target of most of that.

When Roger returned my duffle bag it weighed significantly more than it did when I first gave it to him. Not thinking much of it, I tossed it on Emma's bed. I'd planned to leave it there, too tired to bother with it until morning. But, the toss somehow sent a sheet of dirt spraying across her sheets.

Now, I stand staring at the disaster, considering whether to clean it up or leave it until morning. And then I remember the dog pee pillow she snuck into my pillowcase, and the horrible reality that Seth and I will probably forever just be friends—if I manage to survive such torture—and evil creeps its way into my conscience. I easily submit to it. I have no clue what prompted Roger to shove dirt into my bag, but I guess it worked out for me. Now I don't have to put any energy into thinking up another prank.

Sliding my bag off Emma's bed, I gaze at the mess again and smile. I'm actually looking forward to what she comes up with next. Payback will not be kind this time but the possibilities are exciting.

——— 

I wake to find Emma sound asleep in her dirt-covered bed. Poor thing didn't even have the energy to clean up first. Nasty.

I expect payback from her all day, but nothing out of the ordinary happens. I go to class, meet up with Roger for a deadly game of lay-in-the-football-field-and-and-stare-into-the-sky-as-long-as-possible. It's torture and I know the sun is slowly blinding me, but dang it, I can't pass on a challenge and that one seems to be Roger's favorite.

But two things remain on my mind all day: Emma and her plans for retaliation, and Jamison and the information about Seth. As mentioned, I love a good challenge, and knowing how to go about my friendship with Seth is the greatest one yet. Learning how to push my own desires aside and offer him nothing but support. It's making me realize some not so great things about myself.

In truth, I'm not sure I've ever been a good friend. I choose friends based on how well they can entertain me. Yes, I care for them, but over the past few weeks and watching Seth with his friends, I can see just how different we are. He holds his friends close because their existence is precious to him. I hold my friends close because I don't like to be alone.

My mind is swimming with doubts and self-loathing until I crawl into bed around eight-thirty. Typically, thoughts like this would keep me awake, but somehow they manage to hypnotize me to sleep. I drift off quickly, but it's an uneventful sleep. There are no dreams—just blackness. It's as though time has stopped, frozen. And then I wake up to the chipper orange hues of morning...

But something isn't right.

I try to move but my body refuses to listen. Arms won't budge and legs won't stir. Panic tries to creep in, but I push it away as I let logic sink in. Either I became paralyzed sometimes through the night, or someone decided to play a very cruel trick on me.

Glancing down, my eyes swim across the sight of myself and it takes a moment to understand what I'm actually seeing. Dropping my head back onto my pillow, my chest struggles to pull in oxygen as laughter flitters around the room. I can't even be mad about this. I deserve it.

She's good, I'll admit. Waking up plastic-wrapped to my bed was definitely not something I could have ever planned for. Emma got me this time so I'll have to think up something really wicked to get back at her.

I spend the next two hours laying in bed, having given up the struggle to escape long ago. I'm pretty sure I even fell back to sleep for a few minutes at some point, but the sound of someone hollering and knocking outside the door startles me awake.