A/N: Hey, everyone! Woot, I'm almost on-time for once! Anyway. I hope this chapter is good enough revenge for you guys. You just have to keep in mind that Jude, Ty, and Lizzy can't do anything terrible enough to her that they would get arrested/kicked out of school, ha.

Note2: I'm not listening to anything at the moment, but I have "You're the One That I Want" from Grease stuck in my head for some reason. Ughhh.

Chapter Twenty-five
"In Which Vengeance is Sweet"

You know, some people say that living well is the best revenge. I say that those people have never experienced the thrill of slapping someone back. Because, really—what is Karma going to care if I end up living in a mansion with a perfect husband and our 1.6 children? On the other side—we strike back now, and she runs back where she came from, tail between her legs.

It's pretty obvious what path Lizzy and I took. No one messes with Shay and gets away with it. Ever.

This philosophy is what led The Revenge Party to the dormitories on campus—where Satan herself dwelled.

Ironic moment of the day: Guess who should have been living in this very dorm room? Oh, yeah, you guessed it—moi. Aren't coincidences like that just fun?

Anyway. It turns out that having Ty on our mission was probably the best thing that could have happened to us. He just-so-happened to know perfect info…like, that Karma worked at a Hollister at the more expensive mall after her morning classes, so she wouldn't be here. Or that she didn't get along with her roommate…at all. Which definitely worked to our advantage.

A small, sleepy looking black girl opened the door at the dorm room and studied us in confusion. "Karma's not here," she said slowly.

"That's…kind of the point," Ty said cautiously.

"Sorry, I'm not up for whatever you're wanting," the girl said, frowning. "Banging random strangers is Karma's thing."

The back of Ty's neck flushed red. I'm not sure if it was more out of anger or embarrassment. "That's, um, not what we're here for," he said uncomfortably.

"Wait—are you that Shane kid?" She studied him curiously.

"Um," Ty said, as I corrected, "Shay."

She opened the door wider and stepped back to let us in. "Come on, I've been wanting to talk to you."

"I'm, um, I'm not Shay," Ty said, hesitating. Of course his dang good morals wouldn't let him lie for a few minutes. Jeez. "He's my…friend." The last word was said tonelessly.

"You're wanting to get back at Karma for whatever it is she did to him?"

"Yeah," I said boldly. My expression dared her to defy my thirst for vengeance.

"Well, I'm Kat, your inside source of Karma," she said. She ushered us into her small dorm room. She shut the door behind us and sat down on one of the twin beds in the room. I sat down across from her, banging my knee on the bedside table in the process. I glared at the table—and then stopped and picked up the picture frame on top of it.

The picture was a typical myspace-whore pose where you hold out the camera and snap a picture of you and a friend. It showed Shay and Karma, both about fourteen or fifteen. Shay had one arm thrown across Karma's shoulders, and the other held out with the camera. Karma had her head tilted toward his. Shay's hair was a bit lighter. His eyes were more innocent and happy than I'd ever seen them—which hurt to see. Karma had braces with pink bands. She didn't look so evil in this picture.

Maybe she wasn't Satan. Just like, his mistress. Not always evil…but definitely now smelling of fire and brimstone.

Give me wicked.

Flash.

I put the picture down. We had a mission. I needed to stay focused. "So. Kat. We have a pretty decent plan. We just need to know a few things."

"Fire away." Kat crossed one leg over the other and leaned back on her hands.

"Does she wake up easily?"

"Like, if we put something on her head, will she wake up?" Lizzy elaborated. "Something wet?"

Kat smiled, looking like she liked where this was going ."She won't wake up. You could carry her out to the roof and she wouldn't wake up."

Lizzy and Ty shared a raised-eyebrow look, obviously seeing all of the lovely little doors that this opened for us. It definitely worked to the advantage of The Plan. And though the roof idea was tempting…we had a plan to stick to.

"All right! So…here's what we need you to do, Kat…"

I guess in some situations, living well is the best revenge. Not in situations involving evil skanks—but in situations of being kicked out of your house and left to fend for yourself, living well actually works.

Case in point: Graduation day, class of 2007, where no one could have expected me to be between trying to pay rent and struggling through my classes.

I stood on the side of the stage, waiting for the principal to call my name. To give me my ticket out of here—one way, please. There were only two people left before me.

Out in the crowd, I could see Jamie's nana, watching him with a proud smile as he stood on the other side of high school. He was a stranger by this point—just someone that I had once loved as a close friend, just a past neighbor.

Possibly sensing my far-off look, Kyle caught my eyes and did a double-thumbs up. I grinned at him, glad that I had at least a few friends, a few people to cheer me on.

"Jude Harrison," the principal said, jolting me back. I strode across the stage, most of my thoughts on not falling down. (Because, man, how mortifying would that be?)

He held out his hand and my diploma. I clasped his hand and took the roll of paper that would set me free.

His hand was warm and sweaty—whether on his own, or from all of the nervous students who had shaken his hand in the past quarter-hour, I didn't want to know.

His smile was too practiced, too forced.

He said that he was proud of me, even though I could count on one hand how many times I had spoken to him.

Give me irrelevant.

Flash.

I didn't care. I was free. I was out of there, no regrets, no strings attached. I was a six-hour drive away from the rest of my life. Six hours away from my sanity. I said thank you and exited to the side of the stage, where I was immediately tackled by an enthusiastic Kyle, who had been cheering the whole time I was up there.

"We're outta here, Jude," he said, grinning. His voice was low enough that we weren't death-glared by the administrators. "Couple of weeks and you won't care what happened here, dude."

I just smiled, rolled my eyes, and hugged him from the side. Right now, there were things I couldn't forget.

The fact that Sadie wasn't here.

The fact that no one in my so-called family had shown up for one of the biggest landmark days of my life.

The fact that Spiederman was eyeing Monica Darcy from the other side of the stage, instead of me.

But who knew how much could leave me once I was away from the constant reminders?

Give me false hope disguised as optimism.

Flash.

Just as we were about to leave, Kat reached under Karma's mattress and held out a small book bound in plaid fabric. "It's her diary," she said needlessly, raising her eyebrows. "Might help, huh?"

She put the book in my hands and I bit my lip.

Give me moral conflict.

Flash.

I had everything that I needed in this diary. I could tear into her darkest secrets, her fears, everything I needed to rip her to pieces. Her diary, her plan book, her defenses and pretenses.

All I had to do was move the band that closed it, and let the book fall open…

But I couldn't do it.

That was too low a strike, even up against her. Even though she deserved it, I just couldn't make myself. I handed it back to Kat, shaking my head wordlessly. She shrugged and shoved it back under the mattress. "Whatever. See you guys tonight." She hesitated for a moment and then added, "Um, Jude? Sorry I switched your dorm out. Someone else was supposed to be here…but they never came, and I got stuck with…well. Sorry."

My eyes caught the picture of Shay and Karma again, and I smiled warmly. "Nah, don't be."

Just for the record, Hot Topic pretty much rules for their neon-colored hair dye. And Ty's pretty amazing for knowing that Karma has always sworn off hair dye of any kind because she has some psycho phobia of roots. (I have no idea why something like that would come up in conversation, so don't ask.)

We pooled our money together and purchased hot pink, orange, neon green, and electric blue. I was sure that they'd look just adorable all layered together.

Melanie was wearing a "Karma's A Btch" shirt when we went to check out. "Dude, I like your thoughts," she snickered as she scanned the hair dye. "Seriously, I need pictures of this girl when you're done with her."

"Oh, the joys of myspace," Lizzy replied in a sing-song voice. "Trust me, we'll have tons of pics up."

Melanie handed me the bag. "Have fun, kiddies."

Ty took the bag from me while we walked out of the store. "Lizzy, you must've been a pretty demented child to think this up," he commented.

Lizzy looked flattered. "I've always had criminal mastermind on my career list."

Ty laughed slightly. "You're crazy."

"Well, what kind of kid were you?" Lizzy folded her arms.

Give me indignant.

Flash.

Ty didn't miss a beat before grinning at her and responding, "The kind that stuck paperclips in light sockets."

"That explains…so much," I teased.

Little moments like these, it was easy to forget that we were on a mission against Satan's mistress. We were just a group of college kids goofing off. Of course, after tonight, we would be a step closer to going back to being a bigger, not-so-awkward group of college kids goofing off.

Give me hope.

Flash.

"Shh! Ty! Tell me that was not just you that tripped over the garbage can!" I hissed in the dorm parking lot that night—or, specifically, very, very early the next morning.

"Eh…guilty as charged," Ty whispered sheepishly. "Sorry."

The three of us were decked out in black from head to toe. Lizzy and I were wearing black knit caps over our pigtail-braids. Officially, we were trying to blend in and not be noticed. (Really, we just thought it added to the spy theme we had going for us, and it felt cool.)

Our plan had been to sneak in quietly, paint the multi-colored dye onto Karma's head, take pictures, and sneak out, on to Phase Two. But the "sneaking" part was not going so well, seeing as Ty was a total klutz. He'd already managed to trip up the curb and over a trashcan. (Not even one of those little dinky indoor ones, either. One of the huge ones that was almost as tall as Lizzy.)

"Ty? How about you start with Phase Two?" Lizzy suggested. "I don't know if we're gonna have to run for it or not, so we could get more done if you start now."

Ty shrugged, and in the beams from the street slight, I could see that he look vaguely disappointed. He took the needed supplies from Lizzy and walked back toward the car…which was strategically parked right next to Karma's.

"Okay, let's do this," I said, grinning at Lizzy. The excitement and nervousness I was feeling sparked back at me in her eyes.

We slunk through the dormitory, finally ending up at Kat and Karma's room. By my watch, it was 4:59 on Wednesday morning. Kat should be opening the door in less than a minute.

Too many emotions to name were twisting in my stomach.

I guess I wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. Don't get me wrong—Karma deserved much worse than what we were giving her. (Revenge is limited when you can't break laws or get thrown out of school.) I just kept seeing that picture of her and Shay in my mind, and wondering what could have possibly caused her to hate him so much, when they had been so close.

That small, pitying part of me was followed by anger over everything she'd put Shay through. Shay and Ty. If it weren't for her and her slutty ways, the two of them wouldn't always have that hint of sadness behind their smiles. If it weren't for her, Shay would still have his family. And I would still have my surrogate family. Remembering all of this caused my blood to boil all over again, pushing the guilt out as steam.

Kat opened the door at exactly five AM, just like we'd planned. She let us into the darkened room, and we silently walked over to the bed we'd sat on earlier. I pulled my camera out as Lizzy began uncapping the first bottle of hair dye.

Karma was asleep, facing away from us—meaning that the majority of her dark hair was within easy reach. Lizzy pulled on a pair of latex gloves that she'd snatched from the supply closet at work, and got started on painting hot pink dye onto Karma's hair. I dutifully snapped pictures, hoping that there was enough light coming through the windows that the pictures would show up after some photoshopping, even though I wasn't using the flash.

Five minutes passed, and Lizzy capped the pink and reached for the orange.

I snapped pictures.

I don't think Lizzy was really paying any attention to where she was painting the dye onto—she was just applying it in large clumps, overlapping the dye that was already there. The more disgusting her hair looked, the better, I guess.

Give me destruction.

Flash.

Lizzy capped the orange and reached for the green. I realized that it was going to look like someone had vomited on Karma's head. Except a bit more permanent. And a lot less rank.

Kat was watching with an amused smirk. I didn't feel like asking why she was so ready to help us. I guess Karma just wasn't a very charming person. Other than to guys she wanted to screw around with. Slut.

Lizzy reached for the blue, but nearly dropped it when a car alarm in the parking lot started blaring. Lizzy looked down at Karma, who had shifted and groaned slightly. Lizzy mouthed a string of four-letter words. She started shoving the bottles of dye back into her bag. I capped the blue and threw it in there as well. Kat ducked under the covers on her bed, feigning innocence. Lizzy and I bolted. I made sure to shut the door quietly.

Both of us were breathless with laughter when we got out to the parking lot. It was Ty's car alarm that had gone off—he was now sitting the driver's seat with an odd expression.

Give me panicked.

Flash.

Give me accomplished.

Flash.

Next to his car, Karma's car was tightly wrapped in toilet paper—enough that you could barely see the maroon paint underneath. When she pulled it off in the morning, she would find that someone had taken car-chalk to it so that the words Karma's A Btch were collaged across it, Riot! style.

I swapped with Lizzy—my camera for a big black marker from her bag. As Lizzy hurried to get into the car, I wrote across the toilet paper: "Go home, whore!"

A mind-numbing shriek pierced the night air, and my revenge-sweetened smile came back, full watts. I ducked into Ty's car, grabbed my camera from Lizzy, and took a picture of Karma's car. Then, it was back into Ty's car, and we hauled out of there before Karma could come screaming out of the building.

Give me extreme satisfaction.

Flash.

I saw Karma the next day. We were closing up at Morgans' when she burst through the doors. Her hair was tucked up into a hat…meaning she obviously hadn't gotten around to dying it a normal color.

I've never seen someone so livid. "You—!" Her words morphed into a half-snarl, half-scream. She pointed a shaking, manicured nail in my face.

Somehow, I managed to contain my amusement behind a confused expression. "What am I being accused of, exactly?" I asked.

Give me bored.

Flash.

"You—my hair! My car!" Fury was rolling off of her in waves. "Why?" Her voice cracked.

Shay gave me a wide-eyed look. (Did I mention that our revenge plot had not been, um, disclosed with him?)

"What are you talking about?" Lizzy questioned, looking baffled.

Karma pulled her hat off of her head, letting her hair fall out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shay cringe. Lizzy's eyes widened at the monstrosity that was in front of us. She'd done an even better job than we'd hoped for. Or worse, depending on how you look at it.

Give me pleasantly disgusted.

Flash.

Her glossed bottom lip was quivering. She was breathing heavily, and her eyes were red along the edges. "You…" Her eyes landed on Shay, who was watching the scene with a slightly agape jaw. "I didn't even…" She shook her head, turned around, and walked away.

To my disbelief, Shay struggle to stand with his crutches, and went after her. "Karma—wait."

Lizzy and I were left in a confused silence. After a few moments, I broke the quiet. "Liz…why did he do that?"

Give me total confusion.

When Shay came back, around ten minutes later, he looked dumbstruck. He stood in the doorway, studying us. After a few moments, he sighed. "That was, um…"

"Awesome?" Lizzy offered.

"Sweet?" I suggested.

"Really…really not cool," he finished.

Give me disappointment.

Flash.

"I mean," he said. "I think I…um, understand it now." Even as he said this, the confusion on his face deepened. "And I know you guys…meant well, but…"

I tried to feel guilty about Karma, but I couldn't. Maybe if Shay would tell me what had just happened, how she had seemingly just redeemed herself, then maybe I could. But he wasn't elaborating, and I wasn't going to force it out of him. So the only guilt I had was for making Shay sad—making him see a slightly more cruel side to me.

"Sorry, Shay," I said, honest enough that he could see. "We just…wanted to give you something to laugh about."

He smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "It's okay…and besides…you couldn't have known that she flips when it comes to hair dye. Um…bad experience as a kid."

Lizzy and I avoided eye contact.

Give me revenge.

Flash.

Give me intended justice.

Flash.

Give me backfired plans.

Flash.

A/N: Woo! End of chapter. If you're wondering what happened with Shay and Karma…well, you'll find out in a few chapters. It kind of explains why Karma got so vicious toward him, better than what he had thought. Anyway—next chapter is the big unveiling of the project! I'm nervous to see what you guys will think. ;)