The Other Hailey

19| a thing called family dinner

It is true what they say:

"Don't bottle up your emotions, let them go. Release is cathartic."

I know I made the right decision by getting revenge on Avalon Grint. And I've learnt something through that— if I can't blow up as Hailey Marshall without getting punished, I'll blow up as Veronica. That bitch gets away with literally everything. And it works in my favor. Turns out that being Veronica is therapeutic for me.

With a sigh of contentment, I sink further into the backseat of the vehicle as I enjoy the ride home from school. However, my peace is quickly disrupted when Dimitri yells in my face.

"I still cannot believe you did that!"

I cringe at the sound of her voice.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

I try to ignore her, but I can feel her boring holes into my skull. Slowly, I turn to make eye contact, and my skin prickles when I see her face harden into an expression of anger.

She has made it clear over the past twenty minutes that she's unhappy with the stunt I pulled at school. But the thing is, there's no amount of yells, curses, glares that'll make me feel remorse for doing what I did. I like that I took revenge on Avalon. I'm glad I let go of my anger. I'm pleased with myself for bringing down the enemy— well, one of the enemies.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" She questions.

I hunch my shoulders. "What is there to say? You're clearly going to disagree with whatever comes out of my mouth."

"That's because what you did was totally wrong."

I roll my eyes, briefly locking eyes with Gabe in the rear view mirror. The Russian bodyguard quickly detaches his gaze and refocuses his attention on driving the vehicle.

Looks like he's not going to be a part of this conversation.

"Dimitri," I say. "I thought we agreed to do things my way if I was to take this job back."

"And we specifically told you not to do anything extreme." She grits her jaw.

"That wasn't extreme." I shrug.

"Publicly humiliating a girl by slapping paint balloons onto her head is not extreme?"

"Well, it doesn't compare to what she did to Adam's jersey. That girl drenched the jersey in pig's blood. You know she's the reason I missed the game, right?"

Dimitri fists her tablet. "You should have left the pig's blood incident to us to handle."

I squint then shake my head. "Nah, it wouldn't be nearly as satisfying."

"Is this your way of relinquishing anger after running away from home? Is this how you act up?"

I don't reply.

"What if I tell you you're doing this the wrong way?"

I shake my head. "No, I know what I'm doing."

She hisses. "Aren't you getting more annoying everyday?" Dimitri huffs, frustrated. She throws her tablet onto the seat. It bounces for a second before occupying the space between us. I look down at the screen to see a gif of the incident from school playing, and I can't help but giggle. "You're enjoying this?"