Spite: A Bully Reverse Harem Read online

  Spite

  Candace Wondrak

   2019 Candace Wondrak

  All Rights Reserved.

  Book cover by Victoria Schaefer at Eve’s Garden of Eden – A Cover Group

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Books by Candace Wondrak are only available at Amazon. If you are reading elsewhere, please note it is an illegal, pirated copy, uploaded without my permission. I, the author, nor the distributor received payment for the copy, and if prosecuted violation comes with a fine of up to $250,000. Please do not pirate books.

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven - Epilogue

  Chapter One

  With a last name of Payne, it was only a matter of time until I started inflicting pain on others. A self-fulfilling prophecy, if you will. I’d spent the first seventeen years of my life mostly inflicting pain upon myself, but now it was time for other people to feel the anguish. Year eighteen of my life was set to be the best. It was high past time I turned over a new leaf.

  New school, new parents, new life.

  Only, there were a few things wrong with that. One: it wasn’t a new school. It was a school I’d been to years ago, a school district I’d somehow survived in from kindergarten until sixth grade, when a whole lot of bad things happened and my mom dragged me out of this God-forsaken place.

  Two: I didn’t have new parents. I was just stuck with my dad, who I honestly couldn’t give a shit about. I might’ve been young at the time, but even a sixth-grader was old enough to understand the fact that affairs were wrong. Walking in on my dad with his new lover that was not my mother? Traumatizing, to say the least. And what sucked even more now was that he was currently married to the bitch who’d helped break up my parents’ marriage by offering herself to him.

  Diane. A lovely name for a lovely woman. But we’ll get to her later, I’m sure.

  Last, but not least: it wasn’t exactly a new life I had, either. After all, how could it be new when it was a life I’d lived before? A life I was more than grateful to be taken from when I was twelve, after what I did. Everything had come full circle. Everything was the same.

  And yet, when it all boiled down to it, everything was different. I was different. I would make all those kids pay for what they did to me, how they made me feel. Today was the start of a new day, a new chapter in my life, and I was prepared.

  Today, the bullied would become the bully. Today marked the beginning of the end.

  It was six-thirty in the morning, and I was prepped and ready. My brown hair was curled into soft, luscious waves. I’d just gotten it trimmed, so it looked healthy and vibrant, not a split end to be seen. Very touchable. My eyes had perfectly blended mauve shadow around them, my eyelashes curled and thick with mascara, eyeliner running along the top lid.

  Honestly, I looked like a damn Instagram model. I looked hot. So unlike myself, but it was necessary. You caught more flies with honey, and I was not above using my looks to catch the flies at River High.

  I wore a slim-fitting red shirt—red would draw attention to me, which was what I wanted. What needed to happen if my plan was going to succeed. Long-sleeved, though, with added bracelets around my wrists. Sparkling earrings in my earlobes. Tight, dark jeans and ankle-high boots.

  Oh, yeah. I was ready for war. Bring it, boys. I looked nothing at all like the chubby girl they’d last seen. With my mom’s help, and with Leah’s help, I became someone new after moving away. Someone I was actually proud of.

  Then my life took a turn for the worst, but I wouldn’t think about it now. My makeup would smear.

  I sat at my desk, in my room. It was my old room, still decorated with everything pink and girly, unicorns and stuffed animals galore. I’d have to do a massive overhaul in the room, but one thing at a time. I’d only gotten here last week, and I’d spent most of it planning.

  I opened my laptop and dialed Leah. She was in another time zone, but she knew today was my first day. She’d be up. She had to. She was the pep-talker, the one who gave me the courage to actually go through with this. She was my backbone when I needed one, the kick in my pants when I felt anxious about it.

  She took her sweet time, but she answered. Leah’s face appeared on my screen, and it looked like she’d just rolled out of bed. Her blonde hair was up in a messy bun—something I could never do for the life of me; my messy buns always looked like shit, while hers looked cute—and her brown eyes sat behind glasses. I was fortunate enough not to need glasses or contacts; one less thing to worry about, at least.

  “I am so tired,” Leah whined, pausing to yawn. When the yawn was finished, she lifted a finger in the air, swirling it. “Let’s see the outfit.”

  I got up, moved away from the desk, and spun, giving her good view of my chosen ensemble.

  When I came back to the desk, she nodded her approval. “You look like a sexy bitch, Elle. You’ll have the whole school eating out of the palm of your hand in an hour.”

  I laughed. Personally, I didn’t think it would be that easy, but I would try my hardest. Not everyone got the perfect chance for revenge against their childhood bullies, and I planned on making the most of it. “Maybe not an hour. Give me until the end of the week, at least.” I sounded much more awake than Leah did, mostly because I’d been up for two hours already getting ready for school. Makeup like this took time, as did the hair.

  “Let’s do a quick rundown of the plan,” Leah muttered, “and then I’m going back to sleep.”

  I nodded. Already my nerves were starting to be jittery, but I’d have to learn to control them. I didn’t think of myself a mean, horrible person, but starting today, at least while I was out of this house, I would be. I would be the meanest bitch around. The one who would do anything to get her way.

  “First, you’re going to walk into that school like you own the place,” my best friend said. “Next, you’re going to draw attention to yourself in every way you can—all positive attention, Elle. Don’t go giving anyone a swirlie on your first day.”

  A giggle escaped me. The only ones who I’d ever dare try to give a swirlie to were those on the aptly-named Dick Squad. Leah chose the name, and it fit perfectly. Alec Perry, Xander Hill, and Christian Moore—they had no idea what shitstorm was headed their way.

  “And, last but certainly not least in this not-too-specific plan,” Leah paused, letting the silence sink in for a minute, all dramatic and completely ridiculous, “make those dickheads pay for what they did to you all those years ago—and then?” She waited for me to finish, to murmur the words I had drilled into my very soul.

  “Crush them,” I whispered. Break their hearts, their souls, their minds. Whichever came first. Whoever said being vindictive wasn’t worth it had no idea
what it felt like to hate living, and to have a cause for it. Alec, Xander, and Christian may not have been the kings of the school, but they were popular, even back then. Their word was pretty much like law, and their words shattered me into a million tiny pieces.

  It was high time the tides turned. I could only imagine what they were like now, but even if by some miracle of nature they’d changed, I would not veer from my plan. I would break those boys, and I would enjoy doing it.

  My name was Elle Payne, and the Dick Squad was in for a world of hurt.

  “Oh, my God,” Leah quickly said, “you gave me chills just now. Go get them, you self-made bitch!” It was as much of a pep talk as I would get so early in the morning. “Now text me later, because I’m going back to bed.” With a yawn, she exited the voice chat, not even giving me the time to tell her goodbye.

  Which was fine. Me and goodbyes didn’t mesh well. My last goodbye was…not at all something I wanted to remember.

  I smiled to myself before standing and grabbing the backpack leaning against the wall near my bedroom door. I was shocked my dad and his annoying new wife hadn’t changed my room after all these years. I was kind of expecting to walk into a gym or a new office, or something. Not my gaudy, nausea-inducing love of all things pink and fluffy when I was younger.

  Don’t get me wrong, I love pink and fluffy, but there was a time for it. A place. And a few of my old stuffed animals would probably haunt my dreams for years to come. I’d left them for a reason. Well, mostly because Mom hadn’t given me the time to pack it all up, but still.

  Mom.

  I froze in the dark hallway, my backpack half slung around my shoulders. I missed her. I missed her so much.

  But now wasn’t the time to think about her. Thinking about Mom would only make me sad, and being sad on my first day back at River High was the last thing I needed. Today, I would rock that school, and I would continue to rock it for weeks to come.

  Yeah. Confidence. It was something I had now. Usually.

  As I finished swinging my backpack around, I went down the stairs. My dad was in the kitchen, making coffee. He was still in his pajamas. He worked as the local orthodontist, so he didn’t have to be in work until eight or nine. He made enough off of insurance companies and the local crooked teeth of nearby kids that Diane didn’t have to work. She was a stay at home wife, and she was still in bed.

  It was fine, though—I wasn’t expecting a send-off. In fact, I was shocked my dad was up. I thought I’d just hop out of the door and get going.

  My dad had brown hair like me, eyes that were more hazel, flecks of brown littering the color. He was a tall, skinny sort of guy, exactly who you’d imagine when you thought about an orthodontist. Kind of nerdy, kind of weird, but nice.

  Nice to everyone except my mother, but that was neither here nor there. If I thought about it, if I really stopped and thought about the past and what he did to her, I’d only get upset, and for this plan to work, for me to rock River High like no one had ever rocked it before, I had to be cool, calm, and collected. The opposite of my real self, basically.

  “Have a seat, I’ll make you breakfast,” my dad, Jon, spoke as he gestured to the kitchen table. Sitting and eating was the last thing I felt like doing, so I just shook my head and went for the door. “Where are you going? Isn’t it early? I can drive you.” He set his coffee mug down and went for the keys hanging on the wall.

  Spending time alone with my dad in the car? Not an experience I wanted. I didn’t have anything to say to him, nothing beyond the usual, so once again, I shook my head. This time, I met his eyes. “No, I’m going to walk. I want to get there early, see if I can do a run through of my schedule before classes start.” A run through of my schedule meaning: make sure I had enough time to stop at my locker between classes. Truly, it all depended on where my locker was in the school, and whether we had five minutes or three between classes.

  My old school had five minutes, so there was always enough time. Plus, I’d had one of the lockers in the main hall, which was nice. I didn’t leave much behind, but I did miss Leah already, and a few of the teachers. Transferring during my senior year would be hard on its own, let alone after you tossed in my revenge scheme against the Dick Squad.

  The Dick Squad. Might be immature, but they’d earned their nickname years ago, way back before I knew what a dick even was. As I left the house and waved goodbye to my dad, who still wanted to drive me—or kill me with awkwardness—I couldn’t help but think back.

  I shuffled into the classroom, tugging at the bottom of my shirt. To say I felt self-conscious would be the world’s biggest understatement. What I really wanted to do was turn on my heels and run home. The morning announcements hadn’t started yet, so I knew I wasn’t late. Still, I didn’t want to be here, not after what I saw…my mind was still not putting it together. I didn’t understand it.

  Neither did Mom, clearly, for she’d forgotten to do laundry again, and it was picture day today. While the rest of the class wore their clean, new clothes, I was stuck in a t-shirt that was a size too big and pants that had mud stains on them. They were the same pants I’d worn that day, when my world started to crumble around me. My hair was an unkempt mess—usually my mom braided it for picture day, but this morning she was passed out. Walking to school had become the norm, because I refused to call dad for help.

  I headed straight for my desk, lifting its top to get out my pencil pouch and the notebook I knew I’d need for math. When my eyes landed on the contents of my desk, I felt my skin clam up. Something sat atop everything, something that didn’t belong: a stick of deodorant.

  It was something small, something that I knew shouldn’t bother me. It was something Mom would’ve told me was just kids being mean, but my heart turned to ice all the same. I was so tired of kids being mean, mostly because it felt like they were always mean to me.

  Me, and only me.

  They’d taken to calling me stinky, to holding their noses and waving the air when I walked by them, making comments under their breath that were purposefully meant to hurt me. It wasn’t much, but added onto everything else…I felt like I wanted to die. Not a new feeling for me.

  I bit my bottom lip, fighting the urge to cry—I was so tired of this. So tired. Mom said to ignore them, that they’d find a new target eventually, but what if they didn’t? What if it was always me? At eleven years old, I wasn’t sure I could take an entire life like this. No one had ever told me how hard living was.

  I pushed the deodorant aside, slowly closing my desk once I’d grabbed my notebook and pencil pouch, hyper aware that in the front corner of the room, a trio of boys were staring at me. The other kids in the class were nice enough to look away and pretend like they weren’t watching, but those three? They stared at me like their lives depended on it.

  Alec and Xander stood near Christian’s desk, huddled around it. Their gazes were cruel, and even though it wasn’t true, I felt like they could see into me, peer straight into my soul. Did they know how much their words hurt me? Did they know how badly I wanted school to be the one normal thing in my life? Did they care about me at all?

  Probably not. No one would notice if I just stopped existing.

  I purposefully ignored the looks the three boys gave me, not wanting to get into it, not wanting to watch them wrinkle their noses and make fun of me. I wished I could say I was good at ignoring kids, but I wasn’t. I might not have been looking at them, but I knew they were staring at me; I could feel their eyes like tiny pinpricks on my skin. My shoulders slumped, and I huddled over my desk as the morning announcements split the air.

  My day was long and way too hard, and when I got home—or should I say, the apartment Mom and I were living in while the divorce finalized—I found my mom passed out on the couch, empty bottles scattered around her. Even if she managed to wake, she’d complain about her head hurting; she wouldn’t listen to what I had to say.

  Truthfully, it was times like these that made me wish I co
uld call my dad, talk to him. Get his advice. But then, when those thoughts came to me, I remembered what he did, and then those thoughts vanished quickly. After all, it was his fault Mom was like this. It was his fault we were here, living in an apartment and not our house, that we didn’t have our own washing machines.

  Everything was his fault. Him and those stupid boys.

  I focused on my feet as I walked along the sidewalk to school. River High was ten minutes from my house, so it wasn’t like a super long walk. Plus, I had a lot on my mind.

  If I was honest, a big part of me still blamed Dad for all of it. I blamed him for Mom’s drinking, for destroying our family. But kids were cruel by nature; if they wouldn’t have made fun of me for smelling, or the divorce, or the bleeding incident, they would’ve just found other things to mock.

  I wondered what kind of people those same kids were now. Alec, Xander, and Christian. When it came down to it, I didn’t care whether they’d changed or not. I didn’t give two shits; they still deserved what I was going to do to them. Every ounce of pain they would feel from now until graduation would be entirely at my hands. Not saying I was going to beat them up physically, but I wasn’t above using every weapon in my arsenal.

  Those three…I would destroy them, and only when I was happy with the results would I move on and forget about them. Maybe then I’d turn my focus on Jon and his pretty wife, Diane, the new Mrs. Payne.

  I was getting way ahead of myself. The first thing I needed to do was get my schedule, and the second thing…I needed to find a friend with some insider gossip.

  Chapter Two

  The principal wanted to meet with me, but he didn’t have time now, so the secretary just gave me my schedule and sent me on my way, which I was more than fine with. Sitting down with the principal, hearing him go on and on about how this school was my new home, was the last thing I wanted to do. I’d rather try to pick up a feral cat than sit across from anyone and listen to their bullshit. Because that’s all it was—bullshit.