6. Unpredictable

The next day at school, Sky decided to get back at Charlie. Anger burned through her veins and she knew only one thing could make her feel better.

Revenge.

Charlie walked a few steps behind her, silent and steady as always.

Sky slammed her locker open and glared at her books like they personally offended her. “You ruined everything,” she muttered under her breath.

Charlie stopped beside her, watching the hallway like he expected danger to leap out of a biology classroom. “You are still angry.”

Sky grabbed a textbook a little too aggressively. “You dragged me out like a bag of trash.”

“You were in a club you had no business being in,” he repeated the same thing he said last night and Sky wanted to punch him. Or choke him. Or glue his shoes to the floor. She was still thinking about which option was best.

As they walked toward her first class, Mila ran up to her, hair bouncing and mascara slightly smudged.

“Girl!” Mila whispered loudly. “You disappeared last night! Some giant man in a suit told me to go to my car and leave. I thought I was getting abducted by the CIA.”

Sky groaned. “That was my father’s guy. Charlie called him.”

Mila glanced at Charlie and grinned flirtatiously. “Hey Charlie,” she cooed.

“Stop that,” Sky hissed. “He is an asshole.”

Charlie pretended not to hear.

Mila leaned closer. “So are you grounded?”

“Not yet,” Sky said. “But only because Charlie has not told my dad.”

Charlie spoke without looking at her. “Not true. I told him.”

Sky stopped walking like she hit an invisible wall. “You what?”

Charlie finally faced her. “I told him you sneaked out. It’s my job to keep him informed.”

Mila mouthed the word “ooooh.”

Sky stared at Charlie for several seconds.

“You are the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” she whispered dramatically.

Charlie didn’t even blink. “You are still alive, so I am doing fine.”

Mila winced. “Ouch. Zero mercy.”

Sky groaned and stomped inside the classroom.

She stormed toward her desk next to the window and slammed her bookbag on the floor. She hardly heard the scrape of the chair next to her until someone spoke.

“Rough morning?”

She looked up to find Jonah leaning back in his seat, eyebrows raised, fighting a smile. His brown curls were a mess as usual, and he had that calm, easy expression that made him look like he was permanently half asleep or half amused. Maybe both.

Jonah had been her best friend since middle school, somehow surviving every year of knowing her. It was a miracle, honestly, especially after her older brother had interrogated him the first time he came over.

Sky could still picture it: her brother, asking Jonah questions like he was applying for a job at the Pentagon.

Jonah had stayed anyway. Sky still wasn’t sure why.

She slumped forward dramatically. “It is not a rough morning. It is the worst morning of my life.”

Jonah snorted. “Yeah, because you say that at least twice a week.”

“I mean it this time,” she hissed.

“Sure you do.”

“Let me guess. It involves you doing something chaotic and someone stopping you before you broke fifteen laws?” Johan waggled his eyebrows.

Sky narrowed her eyes. “Who snitched?”

“Nobody,” he said. “I just know you.”

She sighed loudly and pointed behind her with her thumb. “He dragged me out of a club last night.”

Jonah blinked. “Like, physically dragged?”

“Over his stupid shoulder.”

Jonah let out a laugh that earned him a glare from the teacher setting up her computer. “You have got to stop living in a movie,” he whispered.

Sky crossed her arms. “He is a menace.”

Jonah looked past her and nodded toward the back of the class. “Is that why he is staring at you right now?”

Sky glared at Charlie. He was calm, focused, arms on his desk, taking notes as if he hadn’t ruined her entire night twelve hours ago.

“He’s going down,” she whispered.

Jonah sighed. “I don’t like being near you when you start thinking.”

Sky flipped open her notebook with a wicked grin.

Revenge class was now in session.

Sky pretended to take notes, pen hovering above the page like she was totally focused on the lesson. In reality, she was sketching evil plans. Literally sketching. Her notebook now contained:

1. Charlie tied to a rocket

She sighed. No, that’s ridiculous. Where would she even find a rocket?

2. Charlie stuck in a trash can.

Hmm…could be possible.

3. Charlie falling into a pit of legos.

Her pen tapped against the desk impatiently.

Sky wrote in neat, bubbly letters:

4. Ruin his social life.

But then she crossed it out. He didn’t have one. He didn’t want one. He was like a ninja monk. Or a sad squirrel. Hard to sabotage that.

5. Annoy him until he quits.

Better.

But she paused. Charlie didn’t care about embarrassment. He didn’t even blink when she yelled at him in front of a whole nightclub. He was… un-botherable.

Sky twirled her pen and narrowed her eyes.

If she couldn’t embarrass him, couldn’t ruin his reputation, couldn’t out-stubborn him… what could she do?

Jonah leaned sideways, trying to peek at her page. His eyebrows shot up when he saw Charlie drawn like a stickman being launched into space. He whispered, “Please tell me that’s metaphorical.”

Sky whispered back, “No promises.”

Jonah just sighed and faced forward, clearly praying for whoever crossed her path today.

Sky exhaled slowly. She needed a tactic that worked on someone like Charlie.

Someone disciplined. Someone focused…

Her pen froze midair.

Someone who hated chaos.

Sky’s lips curled up into a slow, dangerous smile.

Charlie didn’t care if she yelled. He didn’t care if she insulted him. He didn’t care if she tried to run away or annoy him directly.

But what he did care about was order.

Rules.

Control.

Structure.

Sky wrote in large, triumphant letters:

6. Become more unpredictable.

She underlined it three times.

It was perfect. If she turned her life into nonstop confusion, Charlie would have to chase every mess, clean every disaster, and report every incident. Eventually, he’d snap. Maybe even quit. And she’d be free.

She leaned back in her seat with a satisfied grin.

Jonah, noticing her expression, whispered, “Whatever you’re planning, should I run?”

Sky patted his arm. “You should sprint.”

Charlie had no idea what was coming.

And Sky couldn’t wait.