If you'd told me a month ago, or even last week, that I'd stop dreading the end-of-period bell, I probably wouldn't have believed you. That shrill, haunting ring had needled its way under my skin and become my greatest fear by an act of unknown but familiar magic. I knew that once I stepped out of class, reality would immediately step into my life. I'd see all the faces I hated (and love-hated), all the smiles I wanted to kill, all the attention I wanted to own, and all the futures I wanted to crush, but I wouldn't be able to do anything.

I was royally helpless.

But desires get fulfilled with time, no matter how long it takes, and as I listened to the murmurs of speculation and disbelief floating through the hallways after first period that bright Monday morning, I knew I had done it. And I'd done it right. One Band-Aid had been ripped off, and even though it hurt, the reward wasn't bad.

"Did you see the Smooches post?"

"I can't believe it's back. We haven't heard from Kairi in a long time. I heard she's no longer on social media."

"Obviously she is. I'm speechless about Macy An, though."

"Macy does drugs?"

"Oh my God! She indirectly killed someone."

All those sentences followed me all the way to my locker, and I found it hard suppressing the smile threatening to tear my face in half. I hated Ridgerock High with everything in me, but today I was feeling elated because I had done it. I had let out Macy An's secret.

But before I could fully roll in this feeling, a scream tore down the hallway. And it was a scream I had been waiting to hear for half a year. In it was shock, confusion, and that subtle hint of fear—so subtle that it was obvious the owner was trying to hide it. A perfect concoction.

"I said no!" Macy An's voice was frustrated, high-pitched and loud—everything I wanted it to be. "I can't believe you just said that to me!"

"Can we just talk in private. Please? You're drawing too much attention." The boy's voice was low, but everyone had fallen quiet, so I could hear him clearly.

Macy stared at him incredulously for a few seconds, before angrily turning on her heel and approaching us.

"Macy," Axel Denvers called behind her, hot on her trail. Consequently, my blood boiled.

Macy's shoes slapped against the floor as she hurried away from him, and he quickened his pace when he saw that she wasn't submitting. Her head was held up high, chin up, eyes focused ahead, not meeting with any of ours, but she lacked her usual poise.

Unfortunately for me, my locker was placed right next to the turning that lead to the hallway where most of the science classes were held, and as Macy sped past me, I caught a whiff of her familiar perfume, barely getting the chance to recover from the nostalgia before Axel brushed by, his cool scent hitting me with a wave of something I was trying to keep under control.

Just like that, the murmuring resumed, and my mood dropped to a level below zero. I turned to my locker, fuming, and snatched the books for my next class. I wasn't even sure why exactly I was mad, but it was suddenly consuming me whole.

The moment I closed my locker door, a persistent spray of a chemical-smelling liquid met my right eye, and with a surprised yelp, I turned to the source. I clutched my stinging eye, glowering at the boy with widened eyes standing next to me with a spray bottle filled with—no doubt—sanitizer.

"I am extremely sorry, Kimie. I didn't know you were going to close it," Jamie pleaded, the fluorescent lights reflecting in the lens of his glasses. He reached an arm out to me, but hesitated halfway, and even though I was clutching my irritated eye, I wanted to scream at him to just leave me alone.

Jamie never touched anyone, not because he wanted to stay out of trouble, but because he was a self-professed germophobe. He walked around school with a bottle of sanitizer—or some other cleaning solution—spraying virtually everything in his path.

If this was the first time he was rudely introducing something to my eye, I would've let it go, but that being the umpteenth time, added to the annoyance I felt towards Axel Denvers for following Macy like a puppy, when in reality she deserved to die, really cut the last strand of self control I had left.

"Are you okay, Kimie?" he asked, taking a brave step by moving closer to me, but I just shut my locker door with all the force I could exert, sending a metallic slam through the busy hallway, and pushed past him. With my good eye, I saw how terrified he looked, and I had to wonder if he had it on his daily to-do list to annoy me whenever he found the chance.

I burst into the girl's bathroom without warning and rushed to one of the sinks. After regulating the faucet to a steady stream, I bent over so my hurt eye could be hit by the water. I remained that way for as long as it took, before turning the faucet off and lifting my head to the mirror.

That was when I heard the sniffling. It was faint, like whoever it was didn't want me to know they were crying. Blinking water out of my eye, I turned around, only to find my legs weakening beneath me immediately.

Because Axel Denvers stood there, outside the first bathroom stall with folded arms, watching me.

When I listened closely, I realized the stall he was standing in front of was where the crying was coming from, and no one needed to tell me who was in it.

I didn't ask him what he was doing in the girl's bathroom, or yell at him—at the way he was silently watching me like he was a predator and I was his prey, at how threatening he looked in that moment with his face stoic and his muscular arms folded over his chest like that.

No, I didn't do that. Because that girl wasn't who I was anymore. Not after he and his crew ruined my sister's life. Not after I had become a hundred percent sure I wanted to ruin his life—and the lives of everyone that contributed—too.

I turned around, turning the faucet on again and placing my eye back in the stream of water. The bell rang before Axel said, "Macy, you gotta come outta there. You'll miss class."

"Go away, Axel," came her teary reply, and my chest burned with more anger at the tone she talked to him with. It was that kind of anger that simmered at the bottom of your stomach, slowly setting you and everything you lived for on fire first, before completely consuming you.

I got some toilet paper and dabbed my face with it as water droplets fell onto my top—that I was suddenly glad I wore, because it hugged the curve of my waist perfectly.

Strangely, I could feel Axel's eyes on me from behind, and I turned around in one quick motion so I could catch him. Just as I expected, he was looking, and I internally celebrated when he averted his eyes.

Disposing the ball of tissue in my hand on my way out, I glanced over my shoulder at him one last time, and was delighted to see him uncomfortable.

My drive home was full of distractions. There was always one thing or the other going through my head, and, lately, those things had doubled.

There was a time I wasn't allowed to drive, because my sister, Kairi, always claimed she was the owner of the car, and I was considerably still young. That was a long time ago, though. Now, Kairi hardly left the house. She only did under two circumstances—sanitary products and therapy—so the car automatically belonged to me.

It was a dream come true, but I wasn't enjoying it as much as I thought I would, probably because I never thought I'd get the ownership this way.

When I pulled into my driveway, I couldn't help but remain in the car and stare at my house. From the outside, you could already tell it had a gloomy interior. What used to be a fun home, where a chirpy blogger lived with her antisocial sister, funny mom, and kind-of-boring dad, was now a home to an ex-blogger, her bitter sister, pictures of a now-dead mom, and engaged dad.

Staring at my house fed me with something, and I knew that I had to make them pay.

We were struggling to hold our family up after we lost our mom, but all hope of having a happy family crashed when Kairi's life was shattered online by people she called her friends.

It was extremely quiet inside. My dad was still at work, and Kairi was probably locked up in her room like she always was lately. The television was turned off, and the only sound I could hear was the low hum from the refrigerator in the kitchen.

I released a breath, then went up to my room to have a shower and change into comfortable clothes. I had a lot of work to do.

I'd just put on my favorite T-shirt when I heard the doorbell ring. It was odd because lately, no one except Eliza, my dad's fiancée, cared enough to come visit, and she was still at work, so I was slow about my trip to the door.

I pulled it open after putting my hair up in a ponytail, and the glare that went to settle on my face was something I'd practiced several times but had become a part of me at this point.

The boy on the other side of the door stared at me for a moment, his lips parted in confusion. When he finally came around, his eyes studied me, trailing down my body from my face.

Then he said, "Hi. Is Kai home?"

Of course. I wasn't surprised the idiot didn't know who I was. When he and my sister were still together, I did my best to avoid him. There was something about him that didn't click, so we never officially met. I only caught glimpses when he came over, but based on recent developments, it was clear I was nothing but a stranger to him. Kairi was right, though—he was cute. She never shut up about how soft his hair was, or how his eyes "spoke to her"—as cliché as that may sound. But I couldn't see why she fell for a guy like this—a guy that hurt her without thinking twice about it.

"Kairi," I said to Dray, hearing the coldness in my voice.

He stared at me again, his brows coming together in perplexion. "What?"

"Her name's Kairi," I explained. "Only people she cares about calls her Kai."

"You must be her sister."

"So?"

"Can I see her?"

"No."

He looked surprised, like he couldn't believe I'd just denied him access to his ex-girlfriend. It was my turn to stare at him, but mine came with practiced venom. Dray didn't look like he had anything to say, and neither did I, but just as I was about telling him to leave, Kairi's voice came from behind me.

"Kim, who's at the door?" she asked with her trademark bored voice. The same monotonous, robotic sound I was slowly getting used to.

"No one," I said at the same time Dray piped, "It's me, Kai."

When I turned to my older sister, I saw her hand frozen on the handrail, her swollen eyes unblinking. Then, out of the blue, she said, "Dray?"

I shut my eyes in frustration for a second and felt Dray walk past me and into the house.

"Kai," he said, relief in his tone, and I was angry again.

"You can't be in here, Dray," I said as I turned to face his back, but he ignored me, his eyes firmly fixed on my sister.

I knew why Dray was suddenly there after six months of nothing. He wasn't there because his feelings for my sister had magically reappeared. No, I knew, just the same way I knew that there was blood in my veins, that Dray was there, trying to worm his way back into Kairi Sato's life because of the surprising return of her old blog, Smooches—which I hacked, reopened, and renovated.

He was feeling threatened, so he was there to get on her good side to avoid future humiliation.

But Kairi wasn't seeing what I was seeing. She was just seeing the face of the boy that hurt her by abruptly and brutally breaking up with her in Ridgerock's hallway for everyone to see.

"You need to leave," I continued when he didn't react, then moved to grab his arm.

But as soon as I did that, my sister went crazy. She wrapped her hand around my arm with surprising swiftness, her nails painfully digging into my skin, and when I looked up at her, I saw that she was glaring at me, her tired eyes narrowed into an expression I hadn't seen on her face in a long time. Her grip was strong, and I could feel a sting, as if her fingernails had torn my flesh.

"Don't," she said, seething, her words coming out through gritted teeth, and I felt my eyes double in size at the realization. She wanted to hear Dray Fox out.

I continued to stare at my sister in disbelief, even after she let go of my arm and turned to Dray with a smile, like nothing ever happened. I watched her smile widen, exposing some of her teeth like she was genuinely happy. Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, she stepped closer to him, her arms going around him immediately. That was when I knew it was time for me to leave.

I stopped on the stairs to look at them, still not believing my eyes, and sure enough, they were still in the position I left them. The bolt that shot up my spine that time surprised me. I felt like throwing something at Dray's head. I felt like throwing it so hard it would lead him into a coma. And I felt like hitting my sister really hard, too—like smacking her on the cheek. Not just for hurting my arm, but for accepting that . . . backstabber after everything he did to her—to the both of us (even though I wasn't hurt directly).

By the time I got to my room, I was consumed with rage, and the plan I'd been putting off for days suddenly didn't seem as scary as it initially was. I let my door slam loudly behind me—loud enough to make a statement—then went to get my phone from under my messy covers.

Scrolling through my messaging history, I took my laptop from the top of my dresser, then brought up the word document that contained the details of my plan. When I got to Skye's contact, I took my seat on the floor, carefully setting my laptop down in front of me. Then I texted her.

Gotten it yet?

I could feel my face hurting from all the frowning I did that day, and every second after I hit Send seemed to last a thousand years. I distracted myself by scrolling through the document, carefully analyzing every detail to make sure I'd put every necessary thing down.

My eyes kept darting between my laptop and my phone for the next few minutes, and when nothing new happened, I highlighted everything I'd typed under Macy's name, then italicized them, indicating that they'd all been accomplished. Then I scrolled to the next name.

Axel Denvers.

I honestly wished he hadn't played with fire, because hurting him would hurt me. But I had no choice. No one would be left out. No one that participated or liked their posts or followed them because of my sister would be spared. One way or another, I'd find a way to deal with all of them.

Minutes had passed, and my text still hadn't been replied to. It sat there, unread, and I was getting frustrated. It wasn't until I forced myself to calm down enough to hear Kairi and Dray talking quietly downstairs that my phone buzzed with a reply.

I held my breath as I read what I'd been waiting for for almost twenty minutes.

It wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be but I got it! We meet at the usual?

I didn't realize I was smiling until I caught my reflection in the screen of my laptop, and, ignoring my older sister's giggle from downstairs, I replied to Skye.

So we have the first chapter. What are your first impressions of Kimie? Thanks for reading! 💕