I only let Bea run through two of her schemes before shooting them down altogether because, frankly, they didn't feel substantial enough to truly snuff out a psychobitch like Lily.

Bea wanted to slap the girl on the wrist.

I wanted to peel away her snakeskin to show her true serpentine nature in all its hissing glory for everyone at Ashton Wellesley to judge and demonize. My classmates kept buying into her sugary sweet act, and it was time for me to open their eyes to the evils she was really capable of. Honestly, stealing from a charity and framing someone else for it would've been right up her alley except, this time, I would be the one pulling the strings in the background. Lily needed to be punished for her past crimes, especially for what she did to Zac's friend, Tariq, as well as all the shit she pulled on me.

I turned to Bea and laid out the details of my plan. Not once did I stutter or falter. When I finished telling my sister what I intended to do, her jaw hung ajar in shock.

"Let me get this straight," she stammered with huge eyes, "you want me to report to the Fellowship club sponsor, Ms. Wilkes, that $1,000 of the funds from our charity ball went missing... even though they didn't? Then, you're going to use your own money to set up a fake account in your name and somehow trace the deposit back to Lily?"

"Yes."

Anxiety pinched Bea's delicate features as she remarked under her breath, "Damn. And to think all I wanted to do was slip some alcohol into that bitch's locker for an out-of-school suspension or something. This is some next level shit, Cate."

"Are you willing to do it?"

Bea's voice wavered slightly. "I-I don't know. I feel like if I say 'yes,' then this isn't about justice—or even revenge—anymore. It's going to be us literally trying to destroy a person's life. Lily could go to jail."

I frowned. It was a very strange feeling to be lectured by Bea on the subject of morality, especially considering how horrendously she had treated me in the past. However, I knew that my sister was unaware of the heinous acts that Lily had committed over the past few years to the kids at her previous schools. She didn't know that the girl should probably be in juvie already. If not for her father's lofty connections and elite team of lawyers, I bet she would be serving time by now. This was why I wanted to involve as many people as possible in this scandal and publicize it and sensationalize to the point where her father couldn't sweep it under the rug.

I tried to reason with my sister. "Calm down, Bea. I already did the research earlier today. Only minors who commit crimes involving serious bodily harm or the threat of serious bodily harm are usually upgraded from delinquent to youthful offender."

She blinked rapidly in confusion. "What does that even mean?"

"Youthful offenders are tried like adults. All other minors, however, are typically charged with delinquencies and only serve a few months in juvenile detention. Worst case scenario—they're released by their eighteenth birthday and may request for the record to be expunged, which means to have it sealed or destroyed for good, after the case has been closed for three years. I swear, I'm not trying to ruin Lily's entire life. I just wanna shove her in a juvie cell for a few months so she can have a long, hard reckoning over what she's done."

"But what about us? And Zac? All three of us could go to juvie, too, if we get caught—and that's only if daddy doesn't murder us first. He works for the government. Any kind of scandal will hurt his career."

"You should know by now that I never do anything half-assed. We're not gonna get caught. And, even if we do get in trouble, then I promise I'll take the bullet for you and tell everyone that you had no idea what was going on and that you genuinely believed the money had gone missing when you reported it. I was planning to donate the $1,000 to your cause, anyway, once all this blows over."

Bea hesitated. "Still, I don't feel like Lily's fate should be on us to decide."

Defensively, I flung back, "That's easy for you to say! Your mom is alive and well. Her corpse wasn't the one plastered all over a giant screen for the hundreds of our classmates to gawk at like some freakshow!"

"Goddamn it, Cate! Don't pull the 'dead mom' card on me. I understand why you're upset, but I apologized already! There's gotta be a better way to handle this situation. Are you sure you don't wanna throw some weed in Lily's locker and call it day? We shouldn't lower ourselves to her level."

I rolled my eyes. "When did the need to be a good person ever hold you back? Don't act like you've suddenly turned over a new leaf."

"Well, maybe that's what I'm trying to do," Bea protested, "I've been going to church with Evonne every weekend, and I wanna change. For her. And for myself. I'm really trying here, Cate. If you can't see it, then you're fucking blind!"

This gave me pause. I wasn't blind. I knew there was something different about my sister.

In gentler tones, I admitted, "I see you, Bea. I really do. I wouldn't come to you with this kind of shit if I didn't trust you. I know our relationship has changed for the better. I can feel it."

A smile crept across my sister's face. "Really?"

I smiled back wearily. "Really."

"You have no idea how much that means to me, Cate. I think this might be the first time in my life I've ever felt this close... to you."

"Then, don't leave me hanging. Please. We're supposed to be sisters. You and I can do this, Bea. Let's take out Lily together."

Bea sighed. I could feel her resolve beginning to crumble. "It's so illegal, though."

"I know."

"For the record, I'm still 98% against this."

"Of course."

She sighed again. "But..."

I eyed her anxiously. "Yeah?

"But maybe there's 2% of me that would like to see Lily locked up. Just for a few months."

I grinned. My chest swelled with satisfaction. "Ah, there it is! I knew you had it in you, Bea."

She chuckled nervously. "So... what happens now?"

"You report the missing money to Ms. Wilkes while Zac goes after Lily's phone or laptop, whichever one ends up being easier to hack. Once we're in, Zac can set up my fake account under my name and deposit the $1,000 from her device. Then, we'll start leaving a trail of cookie crumbs for admin and authorities to find the real culprit."

Bea grunted, "Are you sure that Zac knows how to hack into phones and shit? I thought he was the one who was targeted by that anonymous loser, you know, the one who posted on Sassy a while back? What if he doesn't come through? I'm supposed to tally up the final numbers for the cash, check, credit card, and Venmo donations and then turn everything into Ms. Wilkes by tomorrow. I'm worried, Cate."

"Don't be worried. Just add an extra grand to your final count. I'm sure Ms. Wilkes will notice the discrepancy right away."

What Bea didn't know was that Zac had already hacked into both Lily's phone and her laptop back when the two of them were still fake-dating. He had been looking for dirt on her dad. Getting into her devices wasn't going to be a problem at all.

Bea bit her lip and watched me closely. "Are you sure that you wanna go through with this, Cate? It's not too late to change your mind. I'm planning to tell Ms. Wilkes about those pictures of your mom that Lily added to the Fellowship video, and I'm pretty sure everyone who went to the charity ball will be talking about it at school tomorrow. Our parents and admin will definitely get involved once they understand what happened, and Lily will be disciplined for it. It's not like she's going to get away with it scot-free, you know?"

"Why do you keep second guessing me?"

"Because I feel like you should be better than this, Cate. I've never seen you act so vindictive before. I mean, you've always been aggressive to a fault, but, whenever push came to shove, you still followed your own code of honor."

For some reason, Bea's words made my stomach twist uncomfortably even though I wanted nothing more than to put Lily in her place. The writhing feeling inside made me a little sick. It made me feel... ugly.

But I pretended not to care as I set my jaw resolutely. "Don't try to change my mind, Bea. I'm positive that I wanna do this. That bitch must burn for her sins."