Bad Girls

Chapter Seven

"WHAT DO YOU think you're doing?"

I jumped slightly and whipped my head around to check who on earth that was.

"Will! Holy shi—" I caught myself in time. "You don't just scare people like that." Placing a hand on my chest, I immediately tried to regulate my breathing as William snorted rather ungracefully.

"And you don't just spy on people like that too!" I glared at him and raised a finger to his face, flipping him off.

"Don't sass me, William Jerald. Now, keep quiet." I reached my hand out and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him to the ground beside me.

"So," William started to ask, "what are we doing?" He shifted himself slightly to peep from behind the bush.

"We, my dear William, are spying on dear little ole Charlotte."

"And why are we doing that?"

"'Cause I don't believe her good little girl act."

For the past week, I had followed Charlotte around, seeing exactly what she does after school. Every two days, I observed that she only went home straight. The third was spent either on a date with Blake—to which I promptly left—or to a local cafe known as Cafe Joe's to work. That day, however, I hit jackpot. She trailed off a few streets from our school and where her house was and had been acting sneakily the whole time as if she had sensed my presence following her. I poked my head out of the bush and examined Charlotte. Dressed in a white tank top and a pair of jeans, Charlotte walked slowly inside a tall building. It was only when I had examined the building carefully I noticed that it was an orphanage. What is Charlotte doing at an orphanage?

"What is she doing at an orphanage?" Will voiced out my thoughts, and I shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm just as clueless as you are. Let's go see." I pulled Will, and when we were about to cross the street, Charlotte appeared with about six other children. Cursing, I ducked behind a bush and roughly pulled Will in as well. As Charlotte got closer to the park and passed by us, I craned my neck to listen to what they were saying. Charlotte's lips moved quickly as she said something to the little kids. Altogether, they nodded their heads obediently and dashed into separate directions, off to play with their friends.

Charlotte, on the other hand, sat on a nearby park bench. She pulled out a pair of sunglasses from her bag and wore it casually, then folded her arms and leaned her head back, dozing off.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't she supposed to watch the kids?" Will scratched his head slightly and looked at me with a confused expression.

"Yeah, she probably is supposed to be, but she isn't doing a very good job, huh?" I commented, slowly shifting my position to grab my phone. It all started to make sense now. Charlotte needed to do more charity work to build an impressive résumé after graduation, and these children were her current victims.

The next part of my revenge plan began to form beautifully in my imagination. I just needed some proof. Just as I was about to snap a picture, a little girl began to run toward Charlotte, making me halt.

The girl appeared to be crying, and being unable to resist it, I quickly started to videotape their conversation, inching closer to get a better view.

"Peter fell into the pond again, Ms. Brooke." The little girl rubbed her eyes, waking Charlotte up from her slumber.

"What? Again? That stupid little imp. How many times must I tell him to stay nearby? Go get him, then. Do you expect me to do it?" Charlotte snapped at the little girl, who looked not more than five years of age.