“Let her; I’m not going to react to her actions, whatever they may be but leave her to react to mine; that’s the only way to keep the upper hand.”
“How do you plan to pull that off? The not reacting, I mean. Isn’t it going to be hard to ignore someone coming at you?” Jess shook her head at Alexis before I could answer.
“She’s an expert at ignoring her bullies. I still don’t know how she does it. I’d have buried a few people already if I were her.”
“I keep telling you, Jess, the trick to beating the enemy is not to stoop to their level. I won’t bully a bully because that’s just becoming what I hate; you can’t fight evil with evil. I think I know what she’s like; I’ve seen her kind before, so it will be easy to beat her at her own game.”
“So, what do you plan to do?”
“I’m going to hit her where it hurts, and all I have to do to do that is become the daughter my mother always wanted.”
“You’ve lost me.” Jess looked stumped.
“I gave it a lot of thought even before I decided to go head-to-head with her. That’s why I asked you two to find out whatever you can about her.”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Susie’s big on prestige and high society crap, right. Do you know anyone more high society than Blaire Davenport?” Jess nodded with understanding.
“I still don’t see how that’s going to help us.” Now it was Alexis who looked confused.
“From what I can see, she likes to flaunt her wealth; it seems to be her only strong point. Look at her friends; they’re all either from less well-to-do families or the ones that aren’t she’s used her overbearing personality to bully them into staying by her side.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Know your enemy, folks. Anyway, I plan to use her strengths which in essence are her weaknesses, against her.”
I’d be killing two birds with one stone. First, asking mom for pointers and shopping tips, which I knew would make her happy, and using that knowledge to bring Susie down a peg or two. As bullies go, she’s nowhere near the top ten. I have a whole list of grievances and years of pent-up vengeance to unleash, and since the others aren’t here to reap the whirlwind, she’s in for a treat.
“So, you plan to buy stuff, and then what?”
“You don’t get it, Alexis, but you will. For someone like her, whose identity is all wrapped up in her family’s wealth and lacking all substance, otherwise, if someone else looks better, has better things, and all that nonsense, it’ll get under her skin like an itch that won’t quit. You ever had an itch you couldn’t reach?”
“I think I get where you’re going with this, but hey, when did you become so devious?” Jess tugged on a lock of my hair. I imagine the smile I gave her had a bit of impishness in it.
“As retaliations go, it’s not much. I’m just going to stand out in the places where she usually does, and to do that, I need ammunition in the form of high fashion and pretty baubles.”
I feel like I’m back in elementary school. Or maybe it’s the bullies who never outgrow their infancy, and that’s why they annoy the heck out of everyone else around them. By rights, I shouldn’t even pay her any attention since she’s so pedantic, but since she’s got her sights on my guy, I have to take her on. And after tonight, I have even more reason to.
“Okay, I get it. Tonight was the first step in standing out where she does right. Getting us all into the sorority like that without any real effort must’ve been a real blow to her ego, especially when they ignored her complaints in front of everyone else.”
“That’s right, Alexis. Now she knows that there’s someone whose society she can only dream of reaching, and since I’ve never been into this stuff before, I’ll have to rely on mom to help out like she did with the sorority deal.”
I’m not genuinely interested, which might be the hard part, and I hate using mom like this, but since I know it will bring her pleasure, I figure there’s no harm done. She’d be happy with my new interest in high fashion and anything to do with societal norms. These are all things I already know after years of her teachings, but as a young adult, I’d shied away from them more and more, choosing to go my own way as much as I could under her watchful eye.
If I come right out and ask her for advice, I have no doubt I’d be inundated with more than I know what to do with, but if I take baby steps back into the fold, I just might make it with my sanity intact. “Here’s what we’re going to do next. I need to find that Tracy girl who told us about the party.”