Chapter 15

 

November 26

Laura

 

Laura was perfectly happy to be spending this Thanksgiving day alone with a pizza from D’Amore's. She’d spent the previous November holiday weekend wrapped up in bandages from the second of six surgeries required to make her transformation complete, so anything would have been more comfortable. Also, now felt like a nice time to think through all the things she was thankful for over the past two years.

Laura grabbed the five-subject notebook where she’d kept all her plans around Project CO. She was up to the last section now: Execution. Section One was filled with pre-planning; Section Two became all about survival; Section Three was dedicated to transformation; and Section Four was devoted to her return. Sarah had been a straight-A student for her entire life, but this notebook belonging to Laura was her proudest achievement.

She found a spare page among all the notes and reminders she had for what had happened over the past three months and what was still to come, then wrapped herself in her bedspread and sat down in her backyard on a beach chair she had bought for the party. In twenty-four hours, this space would be filled with all her friends and fans from EHS. They would fawn all over Laura and her amazing party-planning skills. Most of them would be insanely jealous. And not a single one would know that the girl they wished they could be was the same girl they’d barely known existed. Sometimes Laura felt like it was all too good to be true, but she hated that stupid phrase. Nothing was too good to be true because the truth was something you could control, if you were smart enough.

 

Things To Be Thankful For, 2015 Edition

 

Thank you, Andrew, for being the person who really made this all possible. If you hadn’t given me the chance to blackmail you with a statutory rape claim I would have never gotten the money to live on my own for all this time. I used to think that “Sass” was to blame for what happened in the woods that morning because she didn’t have the strength to really say no. But I was a child and you were an adult, and I’ve come to learn that there was zero excuse for what you did that day. I think based on everything I’ve put you through since then, you’ve come to learn that, too.

 

Thank you, Dr. Jerry Craig, for your incredible plastic surgery skills and for agreeing with me that it was better to do what I said than deal with the repercussions of having your son on trial. You made a wise decision, and you did beautiful work. Also, it was so nice to see you in sunny California for a little touch up a few weeks ago. I’ll be back for another checkup in the spring!

 

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for making it so easy for me to exist on my own in two states for almost two years. Your total lack of attention to me after you couldn’t “fix” whatever you thought was wrong with me really made me independent, and that has definitely paid off.

 

Thank you to the very kind criminals of Los Angeles who sold me a fake passport and a fake driver’s license, which allowed me to buy a car, rent a house, register for high school, and countless other things without anyone knowing I’m a sixteen-year-old dead girl. You guys get a bad rap, but you’re really so smart.

 

Thank you, Lexi…or should I say Sasha. This one is tough because I wish I could tell you everything I’ve been up to. You know I’m doing this for you and for me—it’s for all the girls who were ignored and tortured like I was over the years. I promise that I won’t stay hidden from you forever. There’s a bigger plan, and you are involved.

 

I can’t forget you, Amanda. If not for you there would have been no plan to pretend to be my friend and then freak me out. You were really the ringleader defending Charlie’s honor after the whole silly “Chelsea” incident. I get that you wanted to help him after everything he did for you. Pretending to be the father of your baby is a pretty intense gift. I remember him being pretty affected by it when he told “Chelsea” everything that happened. But you two are a big part of the problem with this world—you let the bad guys be bad. Maybe it’s time for the real bad guy in your story to pay for what he did. I made mine pay, and it feels really, really good.

 

Thank you even more to the secret tipster who let me know what Charlie’s crew was planning for me that night so I could take matters into my own hands. I always suspected that you were some concerned Englewood kid who suffered like I did and wanted to protect me. I tried to figure out who you were, but ultimately decided to let it go and just appreciate your gift. Maybe some day we’ll reconnect, though I would have to make my thank-you a secret as well.

 

And finally, thank you, my Charlie. Without you I never would have had the courage to leave my old life behind for the one I was destined to live. You were my constant motivation, and every struggle I’ve been through has been worth it because of what I’m gaining in the end—total and complete power over you. For the next few weeks, it may seem like my moves are driven by anger, but I promise you’ll someday understand that everything I’ve done for you has been out of love. You need to get out of the crazy cycle of lies Amanda started. You are better than all that you’ve done. I wanted to teach you a lesson, Charlie, but now that I’m almost done with that, I want to show you that we can be happy together. Chelsea was real—a real version of me—and you fell in love with her. And now I’ve made myself over, and you’ve fallen in love with me again. We’re meant to be together. And soon I’ll make it so that you have no choice but to agree.