The Payback or The Adventures and Pranks of Zachary O'Connor

Chapter Seventeen: The Journal

The moment I got home, I began to read Reagan's journal. The picture frame displaying Anti and Reagan, I left in the car. I wasn't sure whether or not I would actually give it to Anti (more on that later). Anyway, Reagan had started journaling in January of the past year.

January 26th

Cheerleading season is over, and I'm starting to miss it. Being a varsity cheerleader as a junior has certainly been fun, though. I swear, the football players fucking love me...

I decided to skip ahead a little so that I wouldn't have to endure this crap, but something caught my eye in September.

September 30th

September is finally ending. We're about halfway through the football season, and I certainly don't wanna wish that away, but this pageant has really been getting to me. A girl named Emily that I legitimately like won the pageant this year. Out of all of us, she really was the only one who deserved it because she was the only one who actually did any of the shit she said she did. And maybe some of the girls actually did go out and do some public service or something, but they only did it for some stupid popularity contest. Emily did it because she's actually a decent person. Some lowerclassmen are displaying some traits of not being full of shit as well. That's good. So, at least not everyone is an asshole. Unfortunately, I figured out that I am.

So, everything Reagan told me about pageantry was true. It always had its jerks, but there actually were good people in it. That last sentence really got me thinking, though. This must have been the beginning of Reagan's evolution into the girl that would become one of my best friends. She came clean to herself. She even called herself an asshole. Granted, she was still acting like one when she confronted me and Meghan that night at the football game, but she had also shown us that she was capable of human emotion that night. So, that was the next account that I read.

October 17th

Something really weird happened tonight. Everyone on the squad (I assumed Reagan meant the cheerleading squad.) is ignoring me because of my efforts to break up Eric and Kate. I'll be the first to say that my plan worked perfectly, though. Kate and Eric weren't a good couple to begin with. Anyway, I was at the football game, and we were about to lose. Right when Eric was about to throw the ball, a few people stood up in the crowd with signs that said: ERIC #1 DICK-HEADI was the first to chase after them when they dashed from the stands.

Eric got sacked on the last play, and the crowd began to leave. I was ahead of all of them, though. I rushed after a couple of people that had been holding the signs. The guy had been the one holding the sign that said "dick." I followed them behind the Ram Stand, and they ripped off their ram's-horns hats to reveal that it was Meghan Harper and Zach O'Connor, two people that I vaguely know. Meghan, Zach, Gabby, and Anti have been best friends all throughout high school. I used to be friends with Meghan and Gabby, but they got stuck with Zach and Anti while I got involved with cheerleading.

Anyway, the two crept into the shadows under the bleachers, and I followed quietly behind. They must've been trying to stay silent and wait for the crowd to disperse before coming out because they were being very silent. I crept up and alarmed them, ready to accuse them. But then, I had a complete change of heart. I lead them out into the light, and they were extremely surprised to see me, especially Zach. He was practically drooling. (OK, so I had just made out with Meghan and was looking at ultra-untouchably-hot Reagan Hamilton, so I was a little dumbstruck, but I was not drooling.)

Instead of accusing them and attempting to win my friends back, which I knew would be near impossible, I tried to recruit them. I wanted to wreak havoc on the lives of my ex-friends. Judging by the looks on their faces, they were already planning on doing this, which I confirmed by asking them straight up.