I hated Amber. I could honestly say that I'd never really hated anyone before I'd met her. Hating someone was a lot of work and for the most part I'd never really found it worth my effort. There had been plenty of people I disliked, plenty of people I avoided, but I'd never really wanted to take the time to get revenge on someone before. But I wanted revenge on Amber.

"What do you want to get revenge on her for," Iris had asked me. "It's not going to make things better."

"I know..." I traced my name on the cover of my notebook with my finger. The two of us were talking in the classroom after school. Iris was sitting backwards in her chair to look at me while I sat primly at my desk. "But it's just not fair."

"Don't you think you're kind of overreacting? It's just a picture, a juvenile prank. No one's even going to remember it in a few days."

"A picture?" I looked at her blankly. It took me a moment to remember what she was talking about. To be honest, the edits that had been made to my photo had barely even registered. It wasn't like I had never had to deal with that sort of thing before. There'd been bullies at my old school too. What Amber had done to me wasn't enough to upset me. No, it wasn't what she had done to me. I felt a tear roll down my cheek and quickly drew a hand up to my face to try and hide it. I'd let Iris see me cry, how shameful.

"Missy, are you okay?" Iris was looking at me with compassion in her eyes. She was a nice girl. I hadn't known her that long and I already liked her a lot, but one good friend was not a replacement for another.

"I don't care about what she did to my photo. She's welcome to take all of my photos and draw on them however she wants. Like you said, it's just a juvenile prank."

"Then why do you want to get revenge on her?" A sudden realization crossed her face. "This is about Ken, isn't it?"

I could feel my eyes watering and I knew that I was going to start blubbering if I wasn't careful. So much for being brave. So much for facing things with a smile. "I miss him so much."

Iris looked thoughtful for a minute before she spoke, "I think I have an idea."

To be honest, I felt silly. The clothes looked terrible on me. They were too frilly, too artificial, too posh. I was the type of girl who wore hats so she'd have something to hide under if someone ever decided to look her way. Trying to stand out just felt wrong. The observations I so loved to make relied on my invisibility. Until I met Ken, I'd never dreamed of trying to be anything else. This thought sobered me and reminded me why I was dressed like this in the first place. Confident. I just had to think confident.

It wasn't working. It seemed to work less and less as I saw Amber sashay towards me, her hips moving in time to some popular rhythm I had never been able to hear. It was only when she broke away from her group of friends that I remembered to smile. "Hello, Amber." I struggled to keep a tremble out of my voice, hating myself a little for how good I felt when I saw the horrified look on her face. Had I always been this petty?

"You little copycat! What do you think you're wearing?"

No, this wasn't petty. I thought about what she had done to Ken and pulled my best spiteful look. "Oh, these old things? I thought I'd buy some designer clothes, but I think I got ripped off, don't you? They're really last season, not to mention ugly." My blood felt like it had been injected with cold iron, but I had started on this path. I couldn't back down now.

Amber's face cooled into a sneer. "Yeah, they are pretty tacky; on you. Really, Mel-lissa," she drew my name out as if it was an insult, "you can't come up with your own style, so you have to copy someone else's? I suppose I should be flattered." Her hips gyrated past me and I could feel my cheeks burning with shame.

I wondered what Ken would do in my position. He would have smiled her words away. He never would have cared what Amber said about him. He certainly wouldn't have done what I was planning to do.