Just Revenge

Chapter Fifteen: Go Out With A Bang

I gotta say, for all their big talk, I wasn't super impressed with where we ended up. We were at the marina. It was a place that I'd driven past every day of my life, it was essentially smack dab in the middle of everything our town had to offer and it was not all that impressive. Sure, it had a lot of cool, big boats in it, but it was literally just a big dock.

"I don't get it." I vocalized my confusion. "Why is this place so special?"

"Just wait and see." Aurora promised, running to the edge of the pier.

Harper was already there, waiting with her hands on her hips. "Where the hell'd you guys put them?"

Cortland smirked, "Impatient much?"

Luke shook his head and walked over to the fence separating the marina with the small playground next to it. He jumped the fence and walked over to the small slide and began digging in the wood chips at the bottom of it.

"What's he doing?" I whispered to Alex.

"Uncovering it." She said simply.

"Uncovering what?" I was so confused.

Before anyone responded, Luke yanked a plastic bag out of the ground and held it in the air proudly.

"Under a slide?" Max yelled jokingly across the fence. "You're pathetic!"

"How unimaginative." Cortland shook his head, a small smile playing on his mouth as he did so.

"Fine." Luke stalked back over to the fence and jumped it, making his way back over to us. "Where'd you guys put yours?"

Max smirked. Moving abruptly, he walked over to the edge of the dock and reached his hand underneath. He leaned so far over, I thought he was going to fall in, but he only swung himself back up with a white plastic bag of his own.

"Funny how you didn't push him in a lake, and he was halfway there on his own." I heard Cortland bite at me under his breath.

I darted my eyebrows up for a second, "Some people just deserve it more than others."

He smiled and shook his head, watching Max plop his bag in the middle of the group.

"Nice spot." Luke hedged, "Except that the water will ruin them."

Max's smile grew, "Not in Ziploc's they won't"

Harper smiled proudly at him, "Nice. Thought of everything didn't you?"

"Yep" He popped the 'p' on the word, then turned to Cortland. "Beat that."

"Okay." Without so much as a smile or another word, Cortland walked directly toward the marina's office. He stopped at a tree next to the building and started climbing.

"Up a tree?" Max taunted, "I did that last year!"

But Cortland didn't stop moving. He dragged himself up the tree until he was even with the first story's roof. It was a precarious position, but Cortland supported himself between two branches as he inched towards the roof. He stopped at the edge of the branches' sturdiness, about two feet from the ledge.

I turned to Aurora, "You don't think he's gonna..."

Before I even finished the sentence, Cortland jumped. He was only in the air for a second before he touched down on the roof of the building.

"Oh my God." Alex and Izzy gasped.

"There aren't burglar alarms on that thing?" Luke sounded a little bitter in his awe.

I just stared. Cortland crossed the small ledge of a first story roof in just steps, reaching up to grab the edge of the second story's. He was just barely tall enough to reach the slanted ledge and he had to stretch to get a good grip on it. His shirt slid up just a little and I may or may not have caught myself looking at the slit of bare skin that flashed out. Who knew Cortland Bellamy would have abs? It wasn't a six pack by any means, but underneath his slender, nerdy frame the boy had actual abdomen muscles. Damn. His grunt was barely audible as he hauled himself up on the second story roof. Once up, he walked to the building's chimney and reached in. His hand lifted triumphantly into the air, holding a small, white, plastic bag. Reversing his path, Cortland made it back down to the pier in a couple of minutes. I don't think any of us uttered a single word the entire time.