The Art of Revenge

Serene “WestBridge Academy must burn before I die”, I mumbled to myself, my eyes never leaving the lit candle perched on my 18th birthday cake. That was my wish. That has been my wish. Eight years of plotting and planning and today marks the day I begin the reckoning. Taking a deep breath, I blew out the candle, cheers from my friends following right after. “Cheers to our baby girl finally becoming a legal adult!”, Yasmin squealed, a glass of vodka in her manicured hands as the rest of the group joined in her toast. I had a rather large friend group- too large for my liking. Four girls and three boys. I didn’t hate it, certainly not, but I preferred being alone majority of the time. They, on the other hand had no sense of privacy. Especially not with the name I carried. Montgomery. My gaze shifted from a slightly tipsy Yasmin, her blonde curls bouncing everywhere as she hyped everyone up with the rest of the group. I wanted this to be a small get together with the gang. However, Nolan, another one of my friends saw it unreasonable that Serene Montgomery would clock 18 and just have a small, modest party at one of her ridiculously large penthouses. “That’s like so non-negotiable. Party it is bunbun” I recall her saying to me a month prior after I mentioned just a small gathering for my birthday. I was the youngest in my friend group of seven- Jamie, Yasmin, Matteo, Zoe, Nolan, Noah and me. Jamie was 23. He always made jokes. Jokes that hinted at me, regarding him as a big brother. He only made those jokes when he was going live on one of his streaming sites. Yasmin was 23. However, she was younger than Jamie by months. She was my favorite. I loved her bubbly personality and her sense of individuality. Matteo was a year younger than Jamie. He was always faded with an undying love for philosophy. I got along with him pretty well but our conversations never lasted more than five minutes. Zoe was Matteo’s age, only younger by two months. She was pretty chill. However, it wasn’t hard to tell she adored Matteo. Her adoration caused her to start mirroring his habits. I watched her go from ‘your preppy, neighborhood, church girl’ to ‘stoner, mini skirts baddie’. I loved it for her. Nolan and Noah were twins. Nolan was older by seconds. They were 20. Nolan loved to rave, Yasmin accompanied her all the time. Those two were party geeks. Noah was more into sports. He hated gatherings but secretly had this devotion to show up for me. He didn’t owe me anything. His loyalty remained suspicious to me. I had learned early on that people never gave out loyalty for free. I looked round my once tidied apartment. My friends had invited their friends. People I had never met were everywhere from my kitchen to my balcony, some sneaking back into my indoor pool. Phone cameras were up, flashes of light, people making sure they angled their cameras just right to get me in frame. I was a Montgomery. It was inevitable. “Come on Serene! We’re going in the pool in a couple minutes”, Zoe said, snapping me out of my head. “Come on, hurry”, she urged disappearing into one of the hallways that led to a room. Getting up from my crouched position by the glass coffee table, I headed towards the kitchen. Today was my last day with my friends. They did not know that though. As much as I didn’t like the idea of getting in the pool right now, being present at this party was my last act of kindness to them. I headed towards the kitchen, grabbing an opened bottle of whatever high brand alcohol that was and taking a swig directly from the bottle. Perhaps, I’d let loose tonight. Whatever version of Serene they knew would be entirely rewritten by the end of this night and then they would never see Serene Montgomery ever again. We depart to meet again.