Deplorability 2.1

"You got a job?" My dad asked. A little excitement crept into his voice.

I sighed. "Yes, that's how I met the friends I told you about."

"Well, that's great! I'm glad you're getting out of the house more. And meeting new people. So tell me about these friends."

"Well...they're a little older than me."

"By how much?"

"1 and 2 years." I lied.

"Hope they're not getting you to do something you don't want to do."

"No, they're not. They don't-...actually nice to me."

My dad nodded. "Ok Taylor, I trust you. I know you wouldn't lie to me so I believe your friends are treating you right."

I felt a twinge of guilt over what he was saying. Why does family always believe your lies when you're protecting the worst things?

I moved the muscles of my lips to smile. "Well, I'm glad you do. Maybe you can meet them one day." Wait, what the fuck!?

My dad smiled back. "Yeah, I'd like that."

I nodded and went to eat my waffles, silently kicking myself for suggesting what I just did. Why did I suggest that? Of all the things to say that had to be one of the worse.

I finished my breakfast and went out the door, waving to my dad. "Bye, dad."

"Bye Taylor."

I walked out the door and ran to school. When I did, I started thinking about The Gang and their actions.

Just thinking about it made me sick.

They manipulated people, they stole a baby; they tore down a tree, and PAINTED that same baby just so they could make money off of it? They didn't even care about it. They only cared about themselves.

And worse of all? I was involved in it. Because of my need for closure and, admittingly, Golden God's charm. I hurt someone for no good reason. It didn't help anyone. It didn't fix anything. It just made me and him feel worse.

I mean, what's the point of revenge? All it does is pass pain around. It doesn't make anything better. It just makes the other person feel worse. As long as they're not hurting anyone else that's innocent, it doesn't make sense to try to hurt them.

Now that doesn't mean I don't believe in self-defense. If someone is hurting you, you have the right to fight back. If I had more courage, I would.

Revenge isn't that though. It's someone hurting you or someone you care about once And going back to hurt them or even anyone they cared about.

It's why I don't like grudges. I heard someone say that it was basically taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. I couldn't think of a more apt description.

So why? Why did I feel the need to go the route? Why did I go that far? Why did I do it in the first place?

What would my dad, Clockblocker, or any one of my fellow heroes think, if I told them that I hurt someone out of pettiness and spite?

Worse, what did it say about the people I associate myself with when they would do terrible things for their own gain and think it's perfectly reasonable because of their own ego and stupidity?

My cell phone rang. When I flipped it, I saw who it was.

Oh, speak of the devil.

I answered the phone. "Hey Dennis."

"Hey Taylor." Dennis said. "Frank wants you to know if you told your dad about your…ahem…'Job'"

"I did."

Great! Then Frank wants you to come to the bar after you do your schoolwork."

"More team-building?"

"He didn't specify. Just come after you get done with your shitty schoolwork."

"Whatever."

There was a pause for a second. "Taylor, we're not, like, on bad terms, are we?"

I rolled my eyes. "Why do you say that?"

"Because for one you seem guilty over screwing that guy over. And I'm the one that convinced you to do it. So now I'm wondering if you-"

"Dennis." I interrupted. "It's fine. I don't care. I'm a supervillain. It wouldn't make sense if I felt bad because I screwed someone over."

"But you do!"

I stayed silent for a second. Shit. What was I supposed to say in response to that? Why did I even bring my guilt to further attention? Or bring the illogical of it to attention? Now I'm trapped without an explanation...unless I say…

"This just hits close to home, alright? It's as simple as that."

"Ok, well, you don't have to worry. We don't do things like that consistently. So you won't-hey! HEY! LEAVE MY TASER ALONE CHARLIE! YOU CAN'T USE IT ON-uh…er…I'll be right back."

And Dennis hung up.

I sighed. And put away the phone. At least I won't feel bad putting these guys away.

Eventually, I made it to school. Going here was always hell on my day. Whether it'd be Emma, My previous best friend Sophia, her psycho best friend or Madison, the third pathetic one, someone would always be trying to make me miserable, no matter what. Even though I never did ANYTHING to hurt them. Every time I came here, I would just think about not whether they would torture me, but when. They had already came into the bathroom and ruined my one sanctuary in this school, so now I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Walking up the steps and through the door, the first thing I noticed was girls staring at me, snickering and giggling like I was the fucking funniest thing in the world. No doubt reminding themselves of when Emma made me cry yesterday. I decided to go through the motions.

I got to my lockers and took out my books, still drenched in soda and juice that they splashed me within the bathroom. I went to my first class. Mrs. Knott arrived at the classroom around the same time I did and unlocked the room to let us file in. As one of the last of fortyish students to arrive, I'd wound up at the back of the crowd. While I waited for enough space to open up at the door, I saw Sophia talking to three of the girls from the class. It looked like she had just come from her track practice. Sophia was dark-skinned with black hair normally long enough to reach to the small of her back, though she currently had it in a ponytail. I couldn't help but resent the fact that even with her being sweaty, dusty, and a notorious Charlie, pretty much every guy in the school would still pick her over me.

She said something, and all the girls laughed. Even though I knew, rationally, that I probably wasn't on the list of their top five things to talk about and that they likely weren't talking about me, I felt my heart sink. I moved up towards the jam of students waiting to get into the door, to break the line of sight between myself and the girls. It didn't quite work. As a group of students entered the room, I saw Sophia looking at me. She made an exaggerated pouting expression, drawing one fingertip in a line from the corner of her eye down her cheek like a mock tear. One of the other girls noticed and chuckled, leaned closer to Sophia as Sophia whispered something in her ear, then they both laughed. My cheeks flushed with humiliation. Sophia gave me a final smirk and turned to saunter away while the other girls filed into the classroom.

Kicking myself even as I did it, I turned away and walked back down the hall towards the front doors of the school. I knew it would be that much harder to go back tomorrow. For one and three-quarter school years, I had been putting up with this shit. I'd been going against the current for a long time, and even though I was aware of the consequences, I'd face if I kept missing school like this, it was so much easier to stop pushing so hard against the current and just step in the other direction.

My hands jammed into my pockets, already feeling an ambivalent sort of relief. I caught the bus back to the docks.

Author Notes: Glad I could get this one out sooner than the others. Hope you enjoy!

Also, I made some updates to my site TheUltimateWriting with a .com at the end. Check it out if you want sneak peeks of my fanfiction and knowledge of my dark Parody/Satire/Deconstruction/Reconstruction. I think you'll enjoy it. if you don't want to come to my site, feel free to tell me in the reviews!

That's all I have to say! This is Super Ultimate Number One singing out. Peace!