Devoured by his Enemy Eyes

The Plan

Jojo's POV

Four years later...

“You're really okay with this?” Aunt Sherry gives me another once over.

“Of course, Mom,” I squeeze her stiff shoulder, “I'm social media influencer Jojo Dukes not boy-crazed stalker Dian Fibarthorn.”

“You know we'll call this off the moment you say the word.” Uncle Will chirps from the back of the car.

I look back at the Manhattan Mansion I called home for four years and don't feel an itch to stay.

I won't miss the nosy neighbors who always complained about our lawn or the enormous space that was empty most of the time.

I won't even miss my best bitches, speaking of, my screen lights up and I see two new messages from our group chat.

A grin splits my face as I read the chat.

KMJ BITCHES

Mal: @Me, U gon yet?? I need me ur logins to get these for our next vid.(sent a pic) Moscow has some crazy roller skates.???

Ken: I miss u Jo ???

Me: Not❌❌❌ on ur deathbed @Mal

Me: Ah miss you too loli boo??

Mal: @me b***h. And stop PMSing Ken, she ain't dying. yet.

Ken: Shut up Mal ?

Me: Yeah, shut up Mal ?

Mal: yeah shut the f**k up, Mal??

Me: Dumbass

Ken: Ass

Mal: Admit it, u bitches are obsessed with my ass???

I grin like a toothless fool until someone coughs and I see Aunt Sherry staring at me with a small smile.

“Time to go!”

She draws me in for a hug, “Promise me you won't lose that smile.”

“I promise… Mom.”

With a soft nod, we turn to the Mansion one last time and she squeezes my hand as we stare at our home for the last four years.

“Let's go,” she mutters and we enter Uncle Will's Ford and ride into the sunset.

…

Contrary to the plan to start over, things went downhill after I took Uncle Will's name. Aunt Sherry got promoted so she wasn't around much, Uncle Will's Construction Company got swamped with contracts. Their children went off to college so the house was empty half the time and I couldn't cope with the silence. I fell in with the wrong crowd and stopped therapy. I skipped classes and went drinking and pot smoking but the adults found out and I was sent to an uptown rehab for the summer and that's where I met my other halves, Mal and Ken.

Mallory took a baseball bat to the boyfriend's head after she learned the asshole tried to sexually assault her kid sister. Her actions earned him three weeks in the ICU, a slap on the back by her Dad, and a summer in rehab for anger management issues.

Kendrick was traumatized after her obsessed Ex kidnapped her and tortured her in his family basement for twenty-three days before she escaped. Her socialite parents quietly sent her to rehab because they couldn't handle the mental stain on their pristine reputation. Their loss.

We bonded like three peas in a pod and became one inseparable unit that at the end of summer I cried that I didn't want to lose them as I packed my stuff, soon we were bawling like broken fourteen-year-olds, then Kendrick suggested we get enrolled in the same school. Three weeks later we were students of Trinity Girls, a Catholic boarding school in Connecticut.

It happened on our second friendship anniversary when we'd snuck out of our dorms during lights out and were on the old church rooftop, munching on forbidden snacks and slurping spiked punch when Mallory cleared her throat.

“When I was six, my Uncle would creep into my room in our vacation home to touch me,” her breath hitched, “He threatened to touch my sister if I ever said a word to my parents and I believed him.” Her voice thickened with self-loathing, “Five years I let him use me. He called me his little whore.”

As we soaked in the silence, Ken spoke, “I never told Lady (our head psychiatrist at rehab) but Fin (kidnapper Ex)… when his friends watched, when he hurt me, even when they hurt me… he always made sure I… came. Then he'd laugh in my face and say I enjoyed it, that's why I'd come. He called me… filthy words and made me believe I deserved it,” she shudders, lost in her memories, “That day, I saw an empty can of Gatorade and ripped it in half and was about to use the rough edges to— he caught me. He was so furious, he kept hitting—,” She was shaking so Mal and I held her, muttering words to calm her.

Then I spoke up, “I used to be Dian Josephine Fibarthorn until my parents died.” I told them everything that led to my parent's death, the bullying at school, and how I blamed myself for it.

“What about your boy crush?”

“He never came. He deleted our chat, called me a deranged stalker… because I'd called him my boyfriend,” I sucked in a trembling breath, “The town blamed me for my parent's death while kids at school called me a psycho for stalking and killing my parents. His Mom filed a lawsuit for mental blackmailing against me.”

There's a minute of silence before Ken comments, “Men suck.”

“Yeah.” Mal agreed and brought a straw to her lips.

The idea hit me like a lightbulb, “What if we got our revenge on them,”

“On who?” Mallory asked.

“The ones that hurt us,” Kendrick answered.

Mallory, always ready to cause trouble, grinned, “Tell me about it.”

That was how “the plan” was born. We brushed up our image and became influencers. we had to become ‘fashion faves' from Kendrick with a mix of 'goth chic fire' from Mallory.

It took us a year and more of breaking civil rules, doing crazy stunts, and being a headache to our parents till we had over six million followers on our socials.

We needed an adult on the team so we picked Uncle Will. After we kidnapped him, tied him up in his garage, and threatened to reveal his slip back to old gambling habits to his wife –which we did–he agreed to help us out, but not before painstakingly confirming we weren't going to end up with a dead body. Or dead bodies.

He convinced Mallory and Kendrick's parents to let them have their senior year with us in California. Kendrick's parents weren't an issue because they couldn't care any less but Mallory's dad was a bit difficult because he's a world-class MMA fighter who's super protective of his girls. Her Mom was all for the adventure but she made Mallory promise to phone and Skype every day.

Aunt Sherry was stubborn about the move though she'd recently been promoted to director of the ER ward in California. She was about to reject it when Uncle Will convinced her about getting closure for me yada yada.

Oh, we're getting closure, we're going to take our apologies from the assholes that thought they could ruin us.

Watch out Justin Sullivan Kingston, the gone girls are coming for you.