Ever After

A Plan Worth Executing

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This chapter is in Jack's perspective.

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It was alarming that I'd received a text from Felix (of all people) at three o'clock in the morning, but once "Mark" had proven that it was him, I had no reason to question him further. The proper grammar had been enough to explain itself – I could remember how terrible Felix had spelled out his words before, despite our most recent text conversation having taken place at the beginning of the last school year (when everything went to shit).

I'd offered to call the kid, but he'd said that it would only wake up his brother and father – he was "already in enough trouble as it was." He'd told me how odd it was for him to find Felix's phone in his brother's backpack, taking the time to outline the meeting conversation in further detail as he went on. He described (in full detail) how it must have had something to do with the reason why Felix had been leaving the manager's office at the exact same time he'd been entering it, but neither one of us could find a good reason as to why his phone would be in his brother's school bag. I decided not to question that further, as well, for Mark had mentioned some sort of plan, meaning he'd finally found the perfect way to play at my heart's strings (by plotting revenge against Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg).

He'd mentioned how he'd seen it in a movie before. It wasn't a mastermind of a plan, but it was something, something Mark promised would get Felix suspended for at least one day. And, after all the shit the Swedish meatball had thrust into the fan, how could I not want his academic performance to suffer?

To put it simply, Mark planned on sending rude, foul messages to me, ones that would make it appear that Felix was picking on me. I made sure that he threw in small threats, simplistic sentences like "I'm going to get you after school" or "Your eyes are gonna be as black as my soul when I'm done with you." It didn't matter how they were, just as long as they had improper grammar and were enough to tickle at Mrs. Jefferson's brain (if she had one, of course) – once she screeched "This is not according to script!", we would have full knowledge on the fact that he wouldn't be attending school for the next however many days.

We didn't limit the text messages to the plan, however – once the bullying scene was said and done, we'd started getting into different conversations, ones involving things much more personal and flirtatious than the kinds I'd share with Felix. I couldn't stop myself from sending him text after text – the way he was so crazily excited over it made my heart giggle, the image of Mark leaning anxiously as he awaited my next text the only thing I could see. The way it was all so seemingly new to him, the way he reacted excitedly by saying "What're Emojis!?" – his adorableness was all far too much to handle, as per usual.

Once the conversation (filled mostly with teasing, flirtatious comments, Mark's overuse of Emojis, and pictures of Hollywood superstar Shia LaBeouf) had started to die down, Mark decided to end it by saying that his brother and father were awake, forcing me to come to the sudden realization that it was suddenly seven o'clock in the morning. I could hear the reluctance in his voice just as loudly as he could hear the sadness in mine – I wasn't ready to start the day, need not mention how unprepared I was to end such an amazing conversation (which you knew were good when they kept you rambling for a total of four hours).

Before sending him my final picture of Shia LaBeouf, I felt the need to question him on just how he'd managed to get into Felix's phone; not only was I intrigued in finding out what kind of ridiculous passcode he would have, but I also felt as if it would be vital information for the future.

"Hey, Mark," I started, "before you go – what's Felix's passcode?"

Less than a minute of waiting before his response.