"Fine, okay," she said. I had to work really hard to hide my smile, but I couldn't believe she was actually falling for it. Shortly after my eyes clenched, laughing echoed in my head as Pern's vines wrapped around me and the table. A giant plant bulb looked across the table at Kendall.

 

We actually did it! This is amazing. We're going to have so much power over her now! We can threaten her to do whatever we want and she can't do shit! At least for now, so let's make the most of it.

 

Finally I let my smile through and enjoyed this. Even just being in this position made my hands shake.

"I knew you were a stupid bitch, but I didn't think you wouldn't know how bad it is to wake up an anima."

"Uhhh, what do you mean? Sure it's kind of freaky at first, but it hasn't been too bad."

I got up and walked around the table to her. "You really think that's what I mean? It's really fucking illegal to wake up someone's anima."  I lowered my head down to her level like she always did to me, "So don't worry about doing what I say if you go to jail." I gave her a small wink and turned towards the door.

 

Come on, man, this isn't good enough! 

 

I tried to hide my smile, but it was just too good to hold back. I opened the door to bring my family back in.

 

I'll do the rest when I'm out of here. I can barely keep myself together like this.

 

That's what we like to hear! We need to do everything she did to us and more. Make her regret ever messing with us.

 

It was impossible to tell if I was shaking because of excitement, or anger or something I couldn't think of, but at the same time I got such a different feeling with Pern waking up. He made my body feel more relaxed, and being relaxed but shaking made it one of the weirdest experiences I've ever felt.

I was just about to tell my family we could talk again before Kendall walked in front of me.

"Robbie, you're kidding about all that stuff with the anima and jail stuff right and it's not actually that bad and I don't and nothing's really going to happen, right?" 

"I'm done talking to you. Leave me alone."

"Hold on just a minute," she said as she grabbed my shoulders, "I just need to hear that you're kidding about-"

Dad moved her back, "Get your filthy hands off of my son."

"Sir I'm not trying to hurt him I just-" 

"Is there a problem here?" The security staff here walked up.

"This person won't leave me alone," I said as I backed up more behind Dad.

"I'll leave you alone just please tell me you were-"

"Alright, that's enough," the two guys moved closer to back her up. 

"Okay okay. Just. I'll leave."

Dad turned to me, "Are you alright?" 

"Yeah. She wanted to tell me she was sorry, but I didn't want to hear it."

Mom and Dad looked at each other for a split second before Dad opened the door back up. "Well she won't be allowed back in here. Let's go inside for now."

We all walked in to sit down and Emily insisted she climb on my lap.

"So tell us about the place. I hope it's been going well so far," Mom said.

"It's a lot better than I thought. I already met some pretty cool people."

"That's great to hear," Dad said, "I know this was a good place but we were still worried about how you were doing."

"Yeah, but I'm starting to really miss my friends at school."

"Well Sophie's supposed to be here soon. I heard she got in some pretty big trouble for what she did to Kendall."

That was one of the reasons I didn't want her doing anything, but Pern broke out into a concerned laugh.

 

We fucking love that girl, but she can't do stuff that'll hurt her like that.

 

"She's going to be okay, isn't she?" I asked.

"I don't know, but she should be coming soon."

"Alright." I hugged Emily and just sat and talked a bit more with my family until the nurse came in.

"Your friend Sophie's here to see you. Do you want her in here?"

My shoulders perked up and I leaned forward in my seat. "Yes please." 

The moment Sophie walked in I moved Emily off me and almost walked into Sophie as I hugged her as tight as I could. I knew I missed her, but it didn't hit me how much until I saw her.

"It's good to see you," she said as she crushed me in her hug. Even if it was only for a day, it felt a lot longer after everything.

"I missed you…" I said while just being near her again made me emotional.

"I missed you too. Sorry I'm late. I got held up by some stuff."

"You mean with what you did to Kendall?"

She broke the hug to look at me. "You heard?"

"I heard and saw. Kendall came to see me before you got here and I let her."

A flash of anger shot through her eyes. "Why?"

"She wanted to say sorry or something like that."

She tightened her grip on my shoulders. "Like hell I believe that."

"Yeah, I didn't buy it, but I'm done letting her do whatever she wants." I leaned next to her to whisper. "I found out her parents think she's a really good person, so I told her I'd tell her parents everything she did to me if she didn't do what I say."

Her eyes widened as she looked at me, and there was pride in her look. "And that worked?"

"Better than I thought. She's not going to bother me anymore."

 

We know we celebrated earlier, but we don't know what that sadistic bitch will do. Save that kind of talk until after we deal with her once and for all.

 

She brought me into another bear hug before she walked me back to the table."I can't tell you how happy I am for you that you stood up to her," she said as she pulled up a chair right next to mine and sat down.

"Sophie," Dad said to get her attention, "I know your dad was probably upset with you for what you did. I don't condone violence usually, but thank you for watching out for Robbie. It means a lot to his mother and me."

"And me," Emily said, but I doubt she had any idea what was going on and just wanted to be included. 

"And of course Emily," my dad added.

Sophie sat up straight with chin up high. "Thank you, Mr. Reynolds, but I really can't do that stuff anymore." That posture slowly lowered. "The school said I'd get expelled if I did something like that again, and I got in trouble with the cops too..."

My heart skipped a beat, "What did they want?"

"I have a hearing I need to go to, but it shouldn't be a big deal since it's my first time and with what Kendall did. At least that's what my dad said."

I didn't say anything, and instead just brought her in for another hug. "Please don't get in that kind of trouble over me…"

She patted my shoulder. "I know I went too far." She stared off into space for a moment. "I just saw her and after I heard what happened. I don't know, but when I calmed down she was just laying there."

I leaned against her. "I'm sorry, but can we just focus on anything but Kendall right now? I don't want to focus on her anymore than I need."

"Right, sorry."

She put an arm around me and I talked about what it was like in here. Everything that's happened and who I met. There wasn't a lot going on, but it was nice to tell them everything. We kept going until visiting time was done with. We all got up, and before Sophie walked out with my family, she gave me one last big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"And I mean it," she said, "We're throwing you a party when you get out of here."

Yet another thing to look forward to when I got out of here.

"Looking forward to it."

Emily ran up and joined in on the hug, turning it into a group hug.

"Can we play something when you get out?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. Whatever you want."

That put her in the best mood I've seen her in this entire time as they all walked out the room. Shortly after, I was brought back to the main room with the other kids.

 

We're way too tired still to hang out with the others, so go and lay down some more. We also need to do our goal for today.

 

I walked into my room and laid down on my bed.

 

I feel pretty relaxed right now.

 

Not that goal. We mean what we're going to do to Kendall when we get out of here.

 

The goal was to think about what to say to her. Not do.

 

We can do that too, but let's take it one step further. We can put her through the same hell she put us through. Make her say she's a mistake like she used to do to us. Or smack her around and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it! 

 

I rolled over to face Pern as his bulb head hung over me.

 

We can hurt her and make her pay for every time she picked on us.

 

I know you're angry, but can you calm down with that a little bit?

 

His vines flailed around the room.

 

Calm down!? Why should we? We deserve to be angry and we've been bottling up this anger for too long. It's driving us crazy!

 

Well then tell me what you want to do to her.

 

We want to bash her fucking skull against the pavement! We want to push her down the stairs and break every bone in her body!

 

That's just me being mad at her. What do you actually want to do?

 

That's what we want to do! We've been imagining it this entire time!

 

I stared up at my ceiling.

 

That's...really messed up.

 

So? Why should it matter how messed up it is? After everything she's done she deserves it!

 

I know she's evil, but I'm not like her. Come up with something you want to do that won't get me in trouble or actually hurt her like that.

 

Of course we're not like her. She did everything because she's sadistic, but we'd do it because people need to experience what they do to others!

 

That doesn't make it sound any better.

 

He slammed his vines against the floor.

 

If we can't even pay her back properly, then she still has power over us! She's going to keep having power over us until we have full control. Don't think for a moment that we're going to allow that.

 

What does it even matter? She's going to get locked up probably.

 

His bulb lowered down closer to me.

 

She's a stupid freshmen in high school that can barely string together a thought that doesn't involve making fun of someone. Don't act like we're knowledgeable enough to know how that'll turn out. It was hilarious, but that's besides the point. She is still a real threat to us if she wants to be.

 

I rubbed my forehead.

 

I know there are other ways to get her to stop.

 

We don't know if they'll work! And in case we didn't realize, we enjoyed thinking about getting revenge like that.

 

I know we're pissed off, but you can't just do stuff like that. Come up with a way to get her back that isn't something as fucked up as hurting her like that. And I'm not going to go to join her in jail for something this stupid.

 

This is about protecting ourselves. She has her own anima now, and do we really think we're going to be able to use that flimsy 'telling your parents' thing against her for very long? We won't be able to. She's going to get tired of it eventually and find a way to get back at us. What then? She almost killed us both in that alleyway and in our room, and she admits she wasn't even trying to! What happens if she decides to actually try? There'd be no one to protect us at that point, and no one to stop her. If we don't stop her now, then she's going to put our lives in danger.

 

I laid there as I listened to every word he said. I still wasn't going to go through with what he wanted, but it became terrifyingly clear how anima could get a bad reputation. He was making way too much sense. If Kendall really did try to get more serious with hurting me, then I wouldn't be able to do anything... 

 

Look. I know I imagined doing that stuff a lot.

 

We imagined it almost every day.

 

Everyday, whatever. I guess you wanting to do this is my fault, but there are better ways to get back at her. She's all about having control, so I bet it'd be a lot more satisfying if we did something that made it clear she can't lay a finger on us without going that far.

 

His bulb lowered itself and rested next to me on the bed.

 

We can't think of a way to stop her like that.

 

Then we can come up with a plan that will keep us safe without going that far.

 

...Fine, if we can come up with another plan.