Get in your car and drive

Was it wrong to admit that fucking over the Kirkharts like this made James feel really fucking good? James didn't think it was. He was probably having some sort of aneurysm, and this was just the fantasy that a brain dying from lack of oxygen was spurting out, but he was careful not to say that aloud. If this was real, he was just clearly on such a different plane than the Kirkharts, that his mistreatment was more akin to a human accidentally smushing an ant rather than one human mistreating another.

It would be hard to find another person that he hated as much as Russell Kirkheart. He knew of some bad people, but Russell Kirkhart was a special breed of shithead. No, he didn't know anyone as terrible as Russell or Rusty Kirkhart. He went through his mental rolodex of people, and tried to think of another shithead he knew.

Well, she maybe wasn't a shithead, but her shittiness did hurt in a way that still stung a little. Katherine Erickson was a girl in his high school class. She came from money; both her parents were doctors. In fact, both her parents were doctors who owned their own practices, which occasionally caused some confusion because one was an ophthalmologist and the other was a thoracic surgeon, and people sometimes went to one clinic thinking they were getting a surgical consult and had to be redirected across the river, since they could only do eye stuff here. If James and Kaitlyn lived in a bigger city, she probably would have gone to some fancy pants private school, but the only private schools here were the weird Christian ones, and the public schools weren't so bad.

Anyways, the pretty and popular Katie didn't spend a whole lot of time with James. Not the same social circles. But it was after-prom, junior year. The girl James took really just wanted to hang out with her friends, and so he was kind of just wandering the school, dipping in and out of post-prom activities. Katie and her boyfriend Billy were going to try to sneak out of after-prom and to an actual post-prom party that some seniors were throwing, but Katie found Billy making out with some dance squad skank at the after-prom. She was sobbing alone in the hallway when James found her.

There was no one around, not even some stupid chaperone, and James comforted her. Not, like, sexually, he just sat there and let her cry, and tried to reassure her that Billy's stupidity didn't reflect any fault of Katie's. It was, all-in-all, a genuine moment of human connection. She actually literally cried on his shoulder. He really did think of that moment fondly.

He didn't run into Katie much in the month or so left in their junior year. He'd smile and wave at her, and she'd be embarrassed and wave back. It wasn't until senior year that her shittiness manifested. They had the same off-period. Some seniors would leave campus on the off-period, but since it was maybe a total of an hour, they couldn't go far. Most seniors usually just hung out somewhere on campus, either outside or the cafeteria or library. Maybe hang out, maybe do some homework. It was pretty early on in the school year, and he saddled up to her and her friends. He just wanted to hang, and it wasn't like he was some social pariah, he was a normal dude, and he and Queen Bee Katie had a connection. She told him off, and told him to get lost. She acted like he was particularly disgusting piece of already-chewed gum on the bottom of her shoe.

He left her alone after that, but she went down in his book and not as a good person. He ended up in community college, she ended up going to Vanderbilt. He ended up dropping out, and she was still a junior, probably? Either working on pre-med or her MRS. degree.

He didn't want to make this drive alone though. It was maybe an eight hour drive from here to Nashville? And he did just get himself a brand new Tesla Model S last night.

Who did he want to take with him though? Monica was his whore, but did she even know who Katie was? Probably not. Molly was a little pervert now, but she was sophomore when he and Katie were seniors. Katie wouldn't care about her. Ms. Yokoyama was closer to the mark, both he and Katie had her as a teacher. But he also had given his algebra teacher a new lease on life. No reason to drag her back into his high school psychosexual struggles. No, he needed one of Katie's friends from high school. Most of whom had moved on and out. Very few stayed in town. In fact of her close personal friends in high school, there was maybe one who was still in town as far as he could remember.

Hailey Ramos was pretty, but not rich like her friends. She wasn't going to jet off to some fancy private college. She was at the local community college as well. James knew because he had seen her there. She had a job at the make-up counter at the department store at the mall. The only question was if she was at class this morning or at work.

Wait, no, that wasn't a question. "Obviously, I know where Hailey Ramos is, this morning," James said out loud, and then, clear as day, he obviously knew that she had a morning shift at the department store, and would be there until 2 PM, and then she had class from 3 until 6. It was coming up on 8 AM, when the store would open, so James just hopped into his car and drove to the mall.

It didn't take long for him to find Hailey. Like before, he didn't really hang out with the girl back in school. It probably took her a second to realize she recognized James. "Hey, Hailey, would you like to come with me to Nashville and help ruin the life of your friend, Katie?"

She crinkled up her nose. "What? No! What? Is that some sort of joke?"

"Hey, Hailey, its me, James Cain, the boyfriend you're madly in love with. Would you like to come with me on a car trip alone, where we will ruin the life of that former friend who abandoned you, someone you hate, that bitch Katie Erickson?"

"God, babe, I'd love to, but I've got work and school. I can't just take off in the middle of the week with no planning ahead. I need the hours, and I need the classroom time."

"Hey, Hailey, can you open up your purse, and realize that you've got four hundred thousand in fifties and twenties in there, and also realize that your professors cancelled class due to illness for the next three days. How about now, can you come along with me?" James tried again.

"God, babe, that sounds like the most fun thing I can imagine," she squealed as she opened up her purse.

"Great, why don't you go buy something fun and frilly to wear on our car trip, and I will go talk to your manager real quick? Meet me at the car, its the red Tesla in the New Mothers stall in front." Hey, its not like its illegal to park there. She flounced away to the lingerie department, while James made a beeline to the customer service desk.

He returned to the car, and took a second to appreciate the hot babe sitting on the hood. Yeah, this would work.