Chapter 1: The Locker Prank

Tara’s POV 

My hands were shaking with rage as I yanked open my locker door, and that is when I saw a dozen clean of white tampons scattered across my textbook like some sick confetti, the’d been carefully expanded, as If someone had taking the time to make sure they looked as mortifying as possible and tapped to the inside of my locker door was a note written in bold letter. “Maybe this will help you to stop being such a little bitch.”

The blood rushed to my face fast, and I felt dizzy. Around me were students, they were starting to notice, pointing fingers and whispering at me. My jaw clenched so tight I thought my teeth might crack. 

I knew exactly who was responsible.

Without bothering to clean up the mess, I slammed my locker shut and marched outside straight to my classroom, where I could already hear Xavier’s obnoxious laughter echoing through the hallway.  I burst through the door like a hurricane, not caring that half the students seemed to be watching. 

Xavier, captain of the hockey team, sitting at his usual desk with some blonde girl practically draped across his lap.  His dark hair was perfectly Styled, his uniform shirt rolled up at the sleeve, an infuriating smile plastered  across his stupidly handsome face. God, I hate that I noticed how the morning light caught the sharp line of his jaw. How is green high seem to dance with amusement even when he was being a complete ass. 

“Get off,” I snapped at the girl, grabbing her arms and pulling her away from Xavier before she could protest. She stumbled backward, looking shocked and slightly afraid. 

“What the hell, Xavier?” I planted my hands on his desk and leaned forward, staring right in his face. “You think you’re funny?” 

His smirk only widened. “I think I’m hilarious, actually.” He leaned back in his chair, completely unbothered by my fury. “Did you get my special gift? I spend a lot of time picking those out. Made sure they were the super absorbent kind.”  

The classroom had gone silent. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen next. My face burned with humiliation, but I refused to back down.

"You're disgusting," I hissed.

"And you're still a little b*tch," he shot back, that lazy grin never leaving his face. "Consider it revenge for what you did to my car last week."

"Your car deserved it after you put that dead fish in my gym bag!"

"Which you deserved after you…”

"Both of you, enough!" Mrs. Henderson's voice cut through our argument as she walked into the classroom, but I barely heard her. All I could focus on was Xavier's infuriating face, and the way he was looking at me like this was all just a game.  

From the corner of my eye, I caught the side of Jasper lounging in his seat two rows over, watching the whole scene with obvious amusement. He was identical to Xavier in every way that mattered the same dark hair, the same green eyes, the same insufferably perfect bone structure, but Xavier was all sharp edges and cocky grin, Jasper had this quietly intense going on that was somehow even more maddening.  He caught my eye and had the audacity to wink at me. 

I wanted to scream.

"This isn't over," I told Xavier, my voice low and dangerous. "This is just the beginning. Whatever you think you can dish out, I can do ten times worse."

Xavier's eyebrows shot up, and for just a second, something like respect flickered in his expression. "Is that a threat, sweetheart?"

"It's a promise."

I straightened up and walked to my seat with as much dignity as I could muster, trying to ignore the way my heart was racing. It was not fear, it was pure, undiluted rage mixed with something else I did not want to examine too closely. Because the truth was, no matter how much I hated the twins, no matter how much they tormented me for absolutely no reason, I could not stop myself from noticing how gorgeous they were. Funny how the most annoying people in my life also happened to be the most attractive.    

The rest of the day dragged by in a blur of whispered gossip and sideways glances. By the time I got home, I had a plan.

I set my alarm for five AM and spent the evening doing research on my phone. If the twins wanted a war, they were going to get one.

---

The next morning, I slipped into school through the side entrance that was always propped open for the janitor. The hallway was empty and quiet, my sneakers sounded softly against the floor. I made my way to the boys’ locker room.

My heart was pounding, but I felt more alive than I had in weeks.

I knew from overhearing the conversation that both Xavier and Jasper kept their hair gel in their gym lockers. They were meticulous about their appearance, spending more time on their hair than most girls I knew. It was their weakness, and I was about to exploit it.

I found the lockers easily. They were right next to each other. I pulled out the two bottles of chocolate I brought and got to work. Carefully unscrewed the caps on their expensive hair gel containers and poured out the content, replacing every last drop with thick sticky chocolate syrup. I made sure to wipe down the outside of the container, so it looked exactly the same as before. 

By the time I was finished, I was grinning so hard my cheeks hurt.

I slipped back out of the school and drove home to get ready for the day properly. 

I was already in my seat when they walked in, and the sight was even more absorbing than I would have imagined. 

Xavier came in first, his usually Perfect hair now a sticky chocolate brown Mess that stood up at odd angles. Dark syrup was still dripping down his forehead, and he kept trying to wipe it away, but only making it worse.  Behind him was Jasper, who looked equally ridiculous, his hair matted against his head like he'd dunked it in a vat of chocolate sauce.

But the best part? The flies.

Apparently, the combination of chocolate syrup had attracted a small swarm of fruit flies, which were now buzzing around their heads like tiny, persistent paparazzi. Xavier kept swatting at them frantically while Jasper just looked resigned to his fate.

The entire classroom erupted in barely contained laughter. Even the teacher was struggling to keep a straight face as she called for order.

"What happened to you two?" she asked, though her tone suggested she already suspected this wasn't an accident.

Xavier’s eyes found mine across the room, and the look he gave me was pure murder. 

"Hair gel malfunction," Jasper said dryly, trying to brush flies away from his face. When he looked at me, one corner of his mouth was actually twitching upward, like he was fighting a smile.

I gave them both my sweetest, most innocent smile and wiggled my fingers in a little wave.

For the rest of the class, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud every time one of them tried to fix their hair or swat away the persistent flies. It was absolutely perfect, humiliating enough to get my point across, but creative and also show them I was not just a victim they could push around. 

After class, as everyone filed out, Xavier caught up to me in the hallway. His hair was still a disaster, and there were chocolate fingerprints on his white shirt where he'd tried to fix it.

"Very clever, sweetheart," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "But you should know our next prank is going to be twice as bad."

Jasper appeared beside him and despite an equally ridiculous appearance. There was something almost predatory in his smile. “We are impressed,” he said, and I hated how that statement made my heart skip. “But you just declined on the wrong person.”