Welcome to Oceanside High: Revenge of the Bully

Chapter 20

Two hours tops. It only takes John an hour and maybe twenty minutes to get the trojan app loaded into the burner phone. He has a bin of phones he rifled through until he found one that still works. It looks like it's from the year 2010. Most of the phones in the plastic bin are ones he said were testing prototypes which went really bad.

"Really, really bad." John repeats.

"How bad?" I ask, not sure if I want to even touch the phone he's about to give me.

"You don't want to know what happened," John says, tipping his head toward the bin as he finally hands me the phone. To me it feels like he's handing me a top secret weapon. It actually kinda is...and now I can't wait to use it.

"Whatever you do, don't double-press the volume button to increase the volume."

"Why?"

"It's a glitch in the trojan application when it inserts itself into the phone. I still haven't figured it out yet."

"What will happen though?" Travis asks, sounding concerned for my well-being.

"It overheats the battery."

"Oh, is that all?" I ask, turning the phone over in my hands to see where exactly the buttons are so I don't end up pressing them before our top secret mission can even begin.

"Have you seen what happens to a phone when the battery overheats?" John holds his hands together and then mimics an explosion, with sound effects.

Travis snatches the phone from me. "There's no way we're doing this! There's got to be another way. One that isn't so dangerous."

"We?" I snap at him trying to get the phone back.

John leans away frantically crossing his hands in the air, "Hey! Volume buttons! Please try and be careful!"

I relent and step back. "Travis. This is something I need to do."

"This is about us now." Travis puts a hand on my shoulder. I feel it tighten as he tries to comfort me. "Britt, let's not do anything stupid just to get back at some bullies who don't know when to quit." Travis looks at me with those eyes of his, this time pleading with me.

"You're right." The words fall out of me. All this time the world has always felt like it's been against me, and then when my best friend found someone else in the same world, I felt like I was a loner in it. I look at John, knowing finally I'm definitely not alone in it. "But please let's do this. I can do it and I swear I won't get myself blown up."

After what feels like an eternity of looking into his brooding face he finally relents. "Okay but you keep your fingers off that volume button and I—"

I wrap my little arms around him and smile up at him to be sure he sees that he's just made me happy. Plus, I really want to do this. The excitement of us back-dooring Lindzey Wellenberger is palpable. All three of us, including Galecki, are practically rubbing our hands together as we stand around in our little group.

"Thanks boob." I say to Travis and give him a little nudge in his side.

"Boob?" He asks.

"I think it's a good Honey-Baby kind of nickname. I think I like it for you."

"What?" He says in all seriousness.

"I'm kidding. Now can I have the phone?" I hold my hand out.

He breathes uneasy, his shoulders slump forward. But he hands it over anyway. "Just be careful."

"Thanks boob." I smile and turn around to see the guys all watching us with big smiles. Then they burst out laughing. "Travis got a girlfriend!"

"Hey!" I point the phone at them. "Don't forget that his girlfriend has a ticking time bomb in her hand."