The Star's Revenge

Zola looks up the dark sky, disappointment washing over her when she sees dull stars. None of them shine or speak to her; express a constellation. It’s a pity. She hoped with tonight being a special occasion and all the night would smile at her and her friends. 

Cheap wheels that hardly ever spin in the correct direction run on the pavement around her. One bump, then another. Zola glances down to see the red car that’s parked in the corner of the lot. Too far away from the supermarket for its own good. With laughs and giggles, Zola’s friends push the carts into a circle around the car. 

Her friends, Sena, laughs, “Revenge is sweet after all!” Sena runs back to get another cart, her flannel playing in the wind with her. 

“That it is!” Jeb says, taking a step back next to Zola to watch their masterpiece come together.  At this point, Zola doesn’t even remember what in specific Draven Cole did to the three of them. It’s always been prank after prank, play after play. 

Zola shifts back and forth on her feet. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”

“Of course it is.” Jeb crosses his dark arms over his chest, showing her a fearless smile. “Also, it’s way too late to back out now.” She looks back at the car. He’s right, it’s way too late to back out now. 

“We should hurry up then. He’ll probably get out soon.”

“We’d be done sooner if you two stopped standing around and helped me,” Sena interrupts. Zola laughs and walks across the parking lot to get a shopping cart. The metal is ice cold, stinging her pale fingers. She pushes through the cold, knowing Sena would never let her live down being too weak to handle the cold. 

Once Zola gets back to the car, she notices how far they still have to go. Only half of Draven’s car is surrounded. “Maybe it’s not too late to back out,” Zola whispers. Sena takes the cart from her and flips Zola’s ponytail into her face. 

“Don’t be pathetic. We started so we’re finishing.” Sena walks around the car, now being the one to admire it. She hates Draven, always has. 

Zola sighs, “Remind me, Sena, why are we doing this again?”

“You’ve forgotten?” Jeb asks, teasingly. Her face flushes, she hopes the darkness hides it. Sena points to her own car and is silent. As if the simple motion is meant to tell Zola everything. 

Sena rolls her eyes. Slowly, she steps over to Zola. Each step of her sneakers is loud and prominent. And Zola finds herself gazing at the door of the store, wondering if Draven will hear her. “Last week, Draven and his friends painted the word ‘bitch’ on my car in acrylic paint.”

Zola feels like an idiot. How could she forget that? It’s all Sena talked about. She musters up a tiny bit of her voice, trying to pretend that Sena’s presence doesn’t make her hair stick up straight. “Then I guess we should finish this.”

“That we should,” Sena smiles. 

For the next few minutes, they run back and forth, repeating the same patterns until the group watches as an old woman comes out of the store. Sena grabs Zola and pushes her down to the ground. They wait, hearing the ominous creek of her bones as she makes her way over to them. 

“Hello?” the woman croaks. She walks closer to the car, then squints her eyes towards them. For a moment, she stands there; as if she can see the trio. Then they hear her stumble away, back towards the store. 

“Shit,” Jeb whispers. “She’s going to tell someone. We’ve got to go.”

Another unfinished project. Though Zola’s sure this one will still hold its impact anyway. Her and Jeb run over to Sena’s car. They pull on the handles, finding the doors to be locked. Panic momentarily runs through Zola. Sena seems too calm and Draven is bound to kill them if he sees them. 

“Unlock the doors, please,” Zola says. 

Sena waves away her worry. “Relax. The woman could barely walk. There’s no way she’s told anyone yet.” Despite her own calm demeanor, she unlocks the doors with a click of a button. Jeb rushes into the backseat. While Zola hesitates for a moment, she waits for Sena. If one of them goes down they all go down. That’s their golden motto. 

Like a gust of wind, the door to the market swings open. And Zola locks eyes with Draven. He glances at his car, an angry snare carved into his mouth. “Sena, we gotta go,” Zola warns, getting into the car. Sena glances at the door, and waves at Draven.

“Happy birthday!” she laughs. It’s not his birthday. They’re all aware of that, but the smirk on Sena’s face as she jumps into her car says that she wishes it was. As if making his day poor would richen her life.

Sena sticks her key into the ignition, pulling her car around to the entrance of the store where Draven is still glaring at them. 

“You’re a real bitch, Sena!” Draven yells, his voice loud enough for the whole store to hear. 

The car slowly, rolling steadily in front of Draven. She rolls down the window, laughing uncontrollably. “So I’ve heard.”

Zola is pulled forward as Sena slams her foot on the pedal, dragging the car down the road. In the car’s mirror, Zola finds Sena’s dark eyes and her wicked smile. 

“Thanks for coming with me tonight,” she says. 

“No problem,” Jeb replies, clearly unaware of the moment he ruined for Zola. She just bites her tongue, looking out the window back to the sky. None of them are ever aware of the small moments of hope they ruin for Zola. The ones where Sena looks at her as if she created the world. 

Zola finds the stars in the sky again, noticing that they’re now celebrating their success. They’re shining proudly at the group; something Zola feels might be personalized for her. She always chickens out when these events pop up, but tonight was different. She stayed. The stars speak to her now, and relief washes over Zola as they assure her that she’s made the right decision.