"Your plan, to take down Tom, when do we start?" I asked Ryder. He smiled at me and clapped me on the shoulder. "So you say you're ready, huh?" He asked, causing me to nod.
"Walk with me," he started as we took off on a slow pace into the parking lot, "it's obviously not going to be easy, but with enough time you and I will rule this school and Tom Kennedy will be no more." Ryder promised as we came to a stop in front of his car.
"What're we gonna do first?" I asked, "like I said, he's nothing without his goons and girls, we start there, we start tomorrow." Ryder said.
"But tomorrow is the weekend." I pointed out, "exactly." He smirked, getting into his car and driving off.
The next day at around 2 pm I met Ryder at his house and was surprised to see at least five other people there.
"Beck these are some of my friends, they have a similar...distaste for Tom." Ryder introduced me to them. The first was a girl named Ginny, she was a short light-skinned girl with braids, she said she hated Tom because he cheated on her twice. The second person was a boy named Aaron, he used to be a part of Tom's friend group but Tom saw him talking to his girlfriend at the time and kicked him out. He'd been getting bullied by the group ever since. Darren, the third kid, was young, a freshman, he never met Tom but Tom's bullying caused Darren's older brother to kill himself the previous year. Kate and Maggie were the last two, they were sisters who Tom dated, at the same time and manipulated them into hiding their relationship, when they found out they hated each other and fought over Tom before they came to their senses when he leaked Kate's nudes all over the school.
Basically, Tom was pretty fucked up, and he never got in trouble for anything. But that was going to change.
"Like I told you Beck, the plan starts today, or rather tonight. The Saturday after every first basketball game of the season is celebrated with a party, tonight that party is at Tom's. We're going, and we're going to set him up, call the cops at the perfect time, his true colors will show and he'll sell out his friends. Aaron knows firsthand." Ryder said.
"It's true, I got a night in jail because they found weed in Tom's car and he told them it was mine, all his friends backed him up." Aaron said, disappointed. "That's messed up, what kind of friend does that?" I asked, "the kind that only cares about their ass." Ryder supplied easily.
We hashed out a plan and I left around 4 to get ready for the party that would be happening at 8.
I was just getting out of the shower, putting on a brand new outfit when the doorbell rang, I was the only one home because my dad was out running errands so I quickly added some finishing touches before running downstairs to get the door. I opened it to see Chloe standing on the porch, she had on a dress and some vans.
"Hey?" I frowned, did I forget we were hanging out again? I tended to do that a lot. "Hey Beck, you're going to that party tonight right?" Chloe asked, stepping into the house as I held the door open wider for her.
"Party?" I asked, I knew what she was talking about of course but I didn't want her to go, not with the plan we had set up.
"Yeah, the first Saturday after the start of every basketball season there's a party at someone's house. I figured you knew because you're on the team." Chloe said, looking at me expectantly, "ohh! That party! Yeah I'm going." I said, hoping I came off natural. "Why're you asking?" I asked a beat later, "well me and the girls were going and were hoping to carpool, maybe split an Uber if no one's up for being the designated driver?" Chloe suggested.
"Oh sure, I'll drive, I wasn't planning on drinking tonight anyways, I have conditioning tomorrow and rather not be hungover." I told her, "great, I'll text Bree and Stace and let them know to meet up here at 7:30 if that works?" Chloe said, already pulling out her phone, "yup." I nodded.
She left a few minutes after, claiming she had to bribe her sister to cover for her tonight. I was hoping the girls wouldn't go to the party tonight, the last thing I wanted was for them to get in trouble, and I couldn't tell them the plan or they'd ask why I'm even talking to Ryder in the first place which would throw everything off kilter.
Why was something always interfering!?
Around 7:30 there was a knock at the door and upon opening it I was face to face with three girls. "Sup." I moved to let them in, "you look cute." Stacie eyed me with a smile, I looked down, hoping the tint in my cheeks wasn't noticeable, "thanks. You look great, as always." I said looking over her attire. She had on a short black dress the had a slit in the middle that showed just enough chest but left something to the imagination. She added some shiny black pumps and a cropped jacket that added to the look perfectly.
"Thank you." She smiled, "ok enough flirting, are we going or not? This ginger needs her jiggle juice!" Chloe said excitedly as she shook her hips. I chuckled before grabbing my keys off the table, "yeah let's go."
We drove into the neighborhood of the party and as we got closer to the house I pasted it.
"Uh where are you going?" Chloe asked, "yeah you passed the house…the one with all the cars outside of it…and the kids on the lawn blackout drunk." Aubrey said slowly.
"No, I know. I like to park a bit further down so it's easier to leave later." I explained which wasn't a lie technically but not the full truth.
The girls took that as an excuse though and when I parked we got out of the car and walked back towards the house. I had parked three houses down so it wasn't a long walk but far enough.
When we got to the house and finally pushed through all the bodies outside to get in we made our way to the kitchen.
"Yo! Beck!? You made it!" Ryder smiled as he walked up to me, "yeah, wouldn't miss this party, I hear things get wild." I said. We talked for a bit more before he told me to meet him upstairs in about fifteen minutes.
"You know Ryder?" Stacie asked from next to me once he was gone, "yeah, he's on the basketball team, so we talk." I said nonchalantly, definitely not mentioning our outside of school hangouts.
"Oh, well be careful, he's bad news Beck." Stacie said with an edge to her voice, the same edge Kyle and Jordy had when they warned me about him. "I don't know why everyone says that, he's been nothing but cool." I shrugged. "Look Beck, all I'm going to say is this; he picks his friends wisely and his enemies wiser. I don't trust him and the last thing I'd want is for you to end up in a bad place. He'll throw his 'friends' under the bus faster than they can blink." Stacie told me.
She didn't wait for me to respond before she turned and walked away over to the others who were mixing drinks and talking.
I wanted to listen to Stacie and put distance between me and Ryder but first I had to knock Tom off his pedestal.
I looked at my watch noticing it had been almost fifteen minutes, I told the girls I'd be right back and left to go find Ryder.
I walked upstairs and looked in every room before finding Ryder in what looked like Tom's bedroom. It was him and the same group from before.
Aaron was doing something in Tom's drawer and Darren was spreading something on the bed.
"What's that?" I asked, pointing at the stuff, "well there's only one way to get Tom to show his true colors, and when you left Aaron had a good idea that would not only get Tom to lose his friends but also get kicked off the basketball team." Ryder said, handing me a white bottle. I read the label and my eyes widened.
"Sport enhancers. You're framing him for using steroids!?" I gave the bottle back, "yup, with the way he's been acting coach won't take this lightly." Ryder shrugged, "dude, that's pretty serious, it could fuck up his future." I said, starting to feel uneasy about all this.
"So? He wouldn't think twice, why should we?" Ryder said, "yeah, besides, he's got Daddy's money, his future is fine." Darren scoffed. "When he framed me I spent a night in jail and lost my scholarship, I think he deserves this." Aaron said.
I nodded, "I guess you're right, I just-"
"Just what? Started to feel bad for him? The same guy that tried to beat your ass, talked about your friends, your girl." Ryder raised an eyebrow.
"My girl?" I frowned in confusion, "look, you may deny it, but everyone sees how you feel about Stacie. Your reaction at the park showed that. Don't let him get away with the bullshit he pulls." Ryder said, and it was convincing.
"You're right. But what if they test his system for the steroids, they won't be in his system." I thought, "don't worry, we got that covered, I slipped a tablet in his drink an hour ago along with some sleep medication, it won't leave his system for at least thirty days." Ginny explained.
"Alright, and what about the cops?" I asked after, "an anonymous tip about a party with drugs was called in fifteen minutes ago." Kate said, holding up her phone.
As if on cue we heard the sound of sirens in the distance, I swallowed and looked at the group, "see you later." I quickly ran out of the room.
Students were running out of the house quickly or frantically trying to find their friends. I saw Chloe and Aubrey rush out the back door but couldn't find Stacie anywhere.
Tom was loopily stumbling into people trying to get them to stay, while his friends tried to get him to go.
"Beck!?" I heard from behind me, I turned around and saw Stacie. " I was looking everywhere for you!" she let out a breath of relief, "same." I let my shoulders sag a bit, happy to know she was safe, they tensed back up as I remember the current situation. "Come on!" I grabbed her hand, pulling her through the house and towards the back door. Just as we ran out, the cops barged in through the front, shutting down the party. They handcuffed some kids, while others were escorted out.
Me and Stacie ran out of the back gate that was left open and down the street. We're left on the opposite side of the neighborhood than where I parked and we have to walk back. It's quiet and dark, the street lights adding some light that made Stacie's skin glow.
"That was crazy right?" Stacie said after we had been quiet for a moment, I nodded as I turned slightly to her, "yeah, I wish the night could have lasted longer though." I said solemnly.
"Where's Chlo and Bree? I saw them run out but haven't heard from them since." Stacie asked as she checked her phone. "I'll text Chloe, see if I can find them." I said, texting her immediately.
"Homecoming is next weekend." Stacie said, I nodded unsure as to why she was bringing it up but from her tone I knew there was more to what she was going to say. "Typically there's always an after party and I was wondering if you'd like to go? I know after tonight a party might seem stupid but-"
"I'd love to." I cut her off, normally I was the one rambling, it was nice to be able to calm her down for once. "Really?" Stacie asked excitedly. "Yeah, of course." I didn't need to be asked twice to spend time with Stacie.
Before either of us could say something else, my phone chimed with a message. "It's Chloe." I said as I checked, "read it!" Stacie looked over my shoulder quickly, "she said they're at my jeep waiting." I read off, "oh thank god. I thought they got caught." Stacie sighed in relief. "We better get back then." I said and we both quickened our pace.
When we reached my car both girls were already sitting in the back, me and Stacie got in the front seats and I started my car up. We drove passed Toms house and looked over, seeing him being handcuffed and placed in a cop car.
"Jeez, good thing you parked a bit further down." Chloe said as she watched the scene, "right, it's kinda like you knew this would happen." Aubrey joked, and I forced a laugh out hoping they wouldn't see through it.
Gladly they didn't and we drove on in a content silence, the radio playing lowly.
I dropped them all off home and went home. When I finally changed and got settled in bed I looked at my phone to see it was blowing up with messages. I had silenced it before going to the party and hadn't thought about it since. Now looking I saw that the group chat Ryder made was flowing with a ton a messages.
One of the girls, Maggie, had sent a screenshot from the Barden page, the home page was a photo of Tom being put in a cop car. Everyone was replying with how well the plan was going and that we needed to keep a low profile for the time being.
I sent a quick message agreeing before I closed my phone and went to sleep.
On Monday while we were sitting around during lunch, a group of police officers walked into the cafeteria, collecting a group of kids that I recognized to be Tom's friends.
I got a message from Ryder almost instantly, all it said was "Room B300", which was a classroom on the top floor of the school.
"I'll be right back, I totally forgot to go give my teacher an essay." I lied to the girls as I stood up from the table, "who, I'll come with." Chloe offered, "nah, I have to talk to them about something anyways, I don't want to take up your lunch." I dismissed quickly, "oh, alright. See you in dance." she smiled.
I left the room and walked through the school to the top floor, I found the room easily and noticed the door was cracked, I pushed it open slowly, looking around the dark room. The lights were off, the only light source being the large widow. It was a standard science classroom, lab desk at the back and regular seats at the front.
"Beck." I looked to the right and saw the whole group sitting at a large table in the back of the class.
"Close the door and join us." Ryder commanded and I did it, sitting next to Darren at the table.
"How'd you get access to this room?" I asked, "there was a fire in here last year and they never fixed the damage so this class has been locked up. All I did was pick the lock. We'll meet here during school from now on, we can't risk being overheard." Ryder told us.
I couldn't help but to feel like I was way in over my head, getting involved in something I probably didn't need to be. But I ignored it, Tom was a bug that needed to be squashed, and after hearing what he's done to these other people, whatever happened would be worth it.
"What happened with Tom and the boys?" Aaron asked, getting us back on track, "right, well a friend down at the station told me that Tom was released because he told the cops that his friends had the drugs." Ryder shared, "typical and predictable." Aaron scoffed.
"Yea, I have a feeling we either wont be seeing those boys for a while or if we do they won't be walking behind Tom." Ryder smirked, we all agreed and talked about the next step before the bell ringed and we decided to wrap up this meeting.
I snuck out the classroom and headed to my next period. There was a lot to worry about, but right now I wasn't gonna think about that, Homecoming was this weekend and I had a feeling I'd have a lot more to worry about with that.
A/N: I've been gone a minute, but luckily I was in the groove and got back to writing! I hope this was a sufficient chapter.