"You wanted a solid plan, and I have one," Tyson said, flipping open a folder.

                The others watched him warily. They still didn't think this was a good idea, and I could tell by Farren's expression that he was ready to call this whole thing off if even one little piece of Tyson's plan wasn't solid enough.

                "Two dogs and a security camera," Tyson said. "We draw the dogs into the basement, take them out, and wait a half hour for the family to fall back to sleep."

                "Take them out?" I said. "You, uh, you don't mean..."

                "Fuck no," Connor said. "If Tyson was killing dogs I'd be killing him. Stop talking about it. You're going to scare Jonesy."

                "Jonesy shouldn't even be here!" Bishopp said. "Honestly, it can't be good to keep a dog in your backpack all day."

                "I have him trained not to bark in the bag, and I let him wander around outside during lunch," Connor said defensively. "He has separation anxiety."

                "Oh my god." Bishopp shook his head. "Tyson, carry on before I have to acknowledge that this is my life now."

                "We just make the dogs sleep," Tyson said to me. "PETA wouldn't approve of our methods, but the dogs aren't injured or killed, so it's fine. Anyways, Connor, can you hack the camera?"

                "Already tested it. I can hack their computers and their security camera," Connor said. "Send the twins in to set the laptops up."

                "No," Tyson said, shaking his head. "Not this time. The twins are going to stay hidden in the basement. If I run into any trouble with the outcast, they'll cause a distraction and get out quickly. I just need them to get us in and stay alert for any signs of someone waking up." Tyson looked at the twins, but they just nodded. "Farren will keep guard outside, as usual, and he'll have to alert us if any lights go on in the house. That'll be our earliest warning that someone is awake."

                "And if something goes wrong and you two are trapped? You don't know which room is Tiffany's," Farren said.

                "We'll find it," Tyson said, waving away his concerns impatiently. "If something does go horrendously wrong and we get caught, it's the two of us in trouble, not any of you. But I'm not even worried about that. Connor, hack Tiffany's laptop so I can get in when we're inside."

                "I'm no help to you if all I'm doing is watching the security camera. It's just trained on the front porch and park of the driveway," Connor said.

                "It'll be fine. Her dad works a night shift tonight, so we'll have one less problem," Tyson said.

                "Tonight?" Nyssa said in disbelief. "That's a little short notice, Tyson."

                "Is it?" Tyson glanced at the clock. "I know my eyesight is a little limited, but it looks to me like you have plenty of time to prepare, Nyssa."

                "I can't agree with this, Tyson," Bishopp said. "I just can't. So many things could go wrong."

                "So many things could always go wrong, Bishopp. But they haven't, because none of us are idiots. And this time will be no different than any of the other times. We'll get in, set up our blackmail display, and get out," Tyson said. "We act tonight, and if you don't show up on time, then I'll just assume you're not part of this plan and move on without you." Now he was looking around at all of us. "Outcast, you'll find us on your own this time. Don't be seen sneaking out."

                "I can get out easily," I said. Uncle Brian wasn't always the best at keeping tabs on where I was.

                "Good. Then we'll meet in that cluster of trees behind the sign for Judd Street. If anything goes wrong and we need to make a quick escape and hide, keep to the trees and make your way to the mini golf course nearby. We can hide behind that building. The twins can break us in if we get desperate enough," Tyson said. "That's all I've got for us."

                "That's hardly a solid plan," Farren said.

                "It keeps you, Connor, and the twins out of danger," Tyson said. "That's what you want, right? The only rush you crave is the rush of ripping someone off and walking away with their money. So I'm keeping you safely hidden away on this job, just like you want."

                Farren smiled, and it looked charming but his eyes were cold. "I'm going to laugh my ass off when I see you in a jail cell, Ty."

                Tyson returned the smile. "Yours will be the first name I drop when I'm aiming for a plea bargain."

                "Enough," Bishopp said. "Honestly, you kids make me regret my decision to become a teacher."

                "Your decision to become a teacher, or your decision to become a teacher who aids teenage criminals in their risky revenge schemes?" Tyson said.

                "Isn't this the part where you tell us to get out?" Bishopp said, standing up with his bag. "Don't get caught." His face had gone serious, concern lurking in his eyes. "I don't like this. But if you're thick-headed enough to go through with it, at least be careful."

                "I always am, Bishopp," Tyson said.

                Bishopp looked like he was going to argue, but instead he just shook his head and left the room. Connor pulled Jonesy out of his bag, gave a short wave to us, and left the room. The twins got up and Talon rested his arm against his sister's shoulder, glancing at Tyson.

                "I'm not getting trapped in the house again," he said. "You little shits were going to leave me."

                "That's the plan," Farren said. "If something goes wrong, we'd rather have one person get caught than the whole group. You knew that from the beginning."

                "You wound me," Talon said, placing a hand over his heart. "I have to admit, I'm a little excited for this. I love a challenge."

                "You also love being an idiot," Nyssa said. "Don't get too full of yourself. We stick to the basement."

                "Shame. I'd love to see this one," Talon said.

                "If you leave that basement and find yourself in any other part of the house, I will wake those damn dogs up myself and let them tear you apart," Tyson said. "Now go on, get out of my sight."

                "We'll be at the track if you need us," Nyssa said, tugging her brother out of the room.

                Farren caught Tyson's arm before he could get up. "Is this about Mallory?"

                Tyson looked at Farren before shrugging him off. "You know what I did this morning? I woke up early and I went downstairs to have breakfast. And my dad was already awake, so he made me breakfast and talked about some great fishing spot his coworker told him about. I guess he's dragging me there this weekend. He joked about the time I was running on a dock and fell in the water. He dove in after me even though I knew how to swim at that point. I should be plotting revenge schemes and instead I'm reminiscing about fishing with my dad."

                Farren stood up, grabbing his bag. "You need to stop obsessing over Mallory, Tyson. He is nothing."

                "Nothing? He's a successful business man with the whole town in his pocket. He's got the pretty wife and pretty kids. He's creeping his way into politics and succeeding at it." A grin stretched on Tyson's face, and I was surprised at how dark it was. "He should be rotting in hell, but instead he's living a great life."

                "The outcast is still in here. Reel in your grudges." Farren clapped a hand on Tyson's shoulder. "You're not rich and powerful, but you're living a decent life yourself. Forget about Mallory. Because right now, you're so focused on Mallory you're forgetting about yourself."

                Farren left the room and Tyson leaned against a desk. I could see the way he was digging his nails in his palms, trying to calm himself.

                "We're striking a blow at Mallory tonight," I reminded him.

                Tyson shot me a look. "You don't even know why I hate that asshole so much. What do you care if we strike a blow at him or not?"

                "Because he clearly did something that earned your hatred," I said. "You're rude and unpleasant, but I doubt you'd hold such a grudge if he'd only done something mild. Let me impress you and help you at the same time, Tyson."

                Tyson looked surprised by that, but he composed his facial expression quickly. "Get out of my sight."

                "I'll see you tonight," I said, heading towards the door.

                Tyson reached out and caught my arm. Once I was facing him, he released my arm and held his hand out to me.

                "Bullies, Mallory, whoever we have a vendetta against. We strike," he said.

                I took his hand in mine, feeling his firm grip. "I want to be a nice guy. But if being a bad person protects others, I'll do that, too."

                His grin was becoming familiar by now. "You're a lot more interesting than I thought you'd be."

                "I'd say I'm close to impressing you. I can sing, if it helps. I do a fantastic cover of Uptown Funk," I said.

                "I'll pass." He released my hand and nodded at the door. "Don't be late tonight."

                "Wouldn't dream of it," I said, leaving the room.

                                                                                                ***

                I checked the time, knowing I'd have to leave soon to meet the others. Uncle Brian had come home late and gone right to bed before I'd even had the chance to greet him.

                I had my phone out, my eyes scanning over that old text message again and again. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the past as it crept up on me.

                I locked my phone and kicked the covers off myself, getting out of bed and changing into dark clothes. Hopefully Tyson would think to bring the mask and gloves for me again.

                Then again, Tyson was always carefully prepared for these things. He'd have the stuff for me.

                I left my room, creeping my way downstairs. I could hear Uncle Brian snoring upstairs and knew he'd be out cold the rest of the night. He worked so much during the day that nothing seemed to wake him up at night. I'd once dropped three pans at 2 a.m. trying make a late night snack while I was studying and he'd slept through it.

                I snuck out the back door and started down towards the meeting spot, knowing it'd take quite a walk to get there. But the night breeze was cool, and I tipped my face up towards it as it ruffled my hair. Fresh air was what I needed right now. It'd help me get my mind off of things.

                So I kept myself out of sight, staying close enough to the roads that I could follow them, but hidden enough that no one would see me. I used the walk to think about what we were doing and how this needed to be done. Maybe it seemed like a cruel idea, releasing the names like this. But if it would stop current and future bullies, then surely it was worth it.

                My moral debate was still going on in my head as I reached our meeting point. Tyson and the twins were hidden behind some trees, Tyson unreadable, Talon looking excited, and Nyssa looking focused.

                "Where's Farren?" I asked as I approached.

                Tyson tossed me a mask and gloves. "Late. I guarantee it's to taunt me."

                "Or it was to make sure Mickey didn't bark and wake my parents up," Farren said, coming into view. "Stupid dog wanted to sleep in my room tonight."

                "No dogs are stupid." Connor's voice was faint, coming out of the earpiece Tyson was holding. He tossed us our earpieces and stood up.

                "Stick to the plan. This should be a simple job," Tyson said, pulling his mask on. "Farren?"

                Farren handed something to Tyson before pulling his own mask on. "I'll keep a lookout from the edge of the backyard. Connor's watching the front camera, though we all know that's a useless job."

                "I have remote access to Tiffany's laptop. You'll be able to access it when you find her room. The laptop is shut so I can't use the camera to get a bearing on where her room is," Connor said.

                "That's how you keep a visual," I said in surprise. "Laptop cameras."

                "The twins set them up so we can see," Tyson said. "Not tonight, though. Be on your toes, outcast."

                I pulled my mask on and we started towards the house. Tyson had a bag on his shoulders, and I just hoped that the contents of that bag didn't make me regret this decision.

                We reached the house, Farren crouching behind a bush at the edge of the yard. The twins approached a window that was nearly touching the ground, peeking in. Tyson grabbed my shirt and pulled me so that I was pressed against the side of the house.

                Talon and Nyssa knelt in front of the window, Nyssa sliding a bag off her arms and the two getting to work on the window. I tried to watch what they were doing, but Talon's body blocked my view.

                Talon moved aside as Nyssa pushed the window open slightly. A loud barking came from inside the house, and Tyson knelt next to the window as the barking got closer.

                He pulled out whatever Farren had given him, tossing it into the house. The barking stopped as the dog investigated whatever Tyson had thrown into the house.

                Tyson watched for a moment before tossing something else into the house. He pushed the window down so that it was nearly closed and gestured at us to back off.

                We crept to the side of the house and sat against the side together. I leaned close to Tyson so I could talk to him.

                "What did you give them?" I kept my voice low.

                Tyson shrugged. "Just some pills to knock them out. It'll take time for them to kick in, and we want to make sure the family's gone back to sleep if the barking woke them up."

                "You drugged dogs?" I hissed.

                "Don't turn into Connor. We just put the pills in pill pockets and toss them to the dogs. It's just a snack that makes them a little drowsy," Tyson said dismissively.

                I shook my head and let myself fall silent. Tyson checked his watch and leaned back against the house. I could hear Talon and Nyssa whispering with each other.

                It was a few minutes before Nyssa leaned in close to me. "Are you nervous? One of us could go in your place."

                I shook my head. "I'm not nervous. I can do this. But thank you."

                Nyssa took a quick glance at Tyson to make sure he wasn't paying attention to us. "He trusts you. Don't let him down."

                "I won't," I said confidently.

                She turned back to talk to her brother. I hugged my knees to my chest as we waited, the minutes feeling like hours.

                Finally, Tyson stood up and gestured for us to follow him. We went back around to the window and Tyson carefully lowered himself into the basement.

                The rest of us followed him and I felt guilt hit me as I looked at the sleeping dogs on the floor. Talon tried to nudge one with his foot, but Nyssa kicked his leg away and pulled him a safe distance from the dogs.

                "Connor," Tyson said, voice a silent whisper.

                "Nothing happening out front," Connor said.

                "We're moving in. If something happens and the twins can't cause a distraction, I'm relying on you to pull off another strange miracle," Tyson said.

                "Great," Connor said dryly.

                "We need to find Tiffany's room. Only her mom is home right now, so search the rooms and be careful not to wake anyone up," Tyson said before starting up the stairs.

                I took a deep breath and followed him, my footsteps so light that they made almost no noise at all. Invisible Boy. A role I was good at playing.

                Tyson led me around the house until we found the stairs, heading up to a dark hallway. Our eyes had adjusted by now, and we could see the several shut doors lining the hallway.

                "I'll take the ones on the right sides, you take the ones on the left," Tyson whispered, heading for the nearest door.

                I turned and grabbed a handle, pulling it up. At home, my bedroom door always seemed to creak less when I turned the handle up instead of down, so hopefully that'd work in this case too.

                I got lucky as the door opened with only the slightest creak. I peeked into the room, but it seemed to just be a spare bedroom. I shut the door and moved onto the next one, which only opened into a cluttered office space.

                The third door, however, opened to reveal someone sleeping in their bed. I turned and flicked my fingers enough to make a light noise that caught Tyson's attention. I pointed at the room and he nodded, sliding his backpack off and unzipping it slowly.

                He came over to me and we entered the room together. Sure enough, the girl sleeping on the bed was about our age, a fan blowing on the windowsill next to her head. That was good. The noise would hide any accidental sounds we caused.

                Tyson set his bag down and pulled out a paper, handing it to me. I looked down at it and realized it was a list of some of the targets they'd hit, complete with reasons for why they'd targeted those certain bullies. Tiffany's name was the last one on the list.

                Tyson handed me a tack and I looked around, wondering where the best spot was to put this. It needed to be somewhere that Tiffany's mom would see it, but hopefully where Tiffany wouldn't notice it in case she wanted to hide it.

                I moved over to her bed, my already quiet footsteps masked by the noise of the fan. I leaned over the bed slowly and tacked the paper over it. Even if she woke up, she'd look around her room and probably get her mom before she ever checked the wall behind her.

                Tyson was already on Tiffany's computer, whispering something to Connor on the earpiece. Tyson had sat on the ground with the computer so the light wouldn't wake Tiffany up, but it still seemed pretty reckless to go for the laptop before we'd finished everything else.

                I went to his bag and pulled out the remaining papers. Several were pictures of Tiffany cornering kids, and even holding them against lockers in some. The pictures were taken at an angle that I was sure meant Farren and Tyson had probably followed her around to get them.

                I pulled tacks out of Tyson's bag and began setting the pictures up on her wall, along with Tyson's note about knowing what she did and that they had copies of those pictures ready to distribute if she didn't stop her bullying.

                The final note, though, I went over and laid in front of Tyson. He typed on the laptop for about two more minutes before shutting it and setting it back on the desk. He picked up the final paper and his grip on it tightened a little.

                It was the callout note for Mallory. Mocking him that for all his money and power, he hadn't been able to stop us.

                Tyson tacked that up across from the list of revenge victims. He zipped his bag up and pulled it over his shoulders, taking a folded up paper out of his pocket.

                I looked back at Tiffany, relieved she'd slept through this. We left her room, carefully shutting the door.

                "We need to find her mom's office. I made another copy of the list in case Tiffany tries to hide that one since it has her little crimes on it," Tyson said.

                "I think it's the room next to Tiffany's," I said.

                Tyson went to the door and pushed it open. "Good for you, you actually found the two rooms we need. All I found was her parents' room and a bathroom."

                He went over to a computer in the room and unfolded the list, setting it against the computer. We left the room, shutting the door and creeping back down to the basement.

                "What? We didn't even need a distraction?" Talon asked, sounding way too disappointed for such good luck.

                "Get out of here. We're done," Tyson said.

                "What did you do to her computer?" I asked as the twins started to help each other through the window.

                "I deleted all her files," Tyson said. "I left one file that says 'Karma's a bitch and so are you'."

                Tyson stood under the window and held his hands out. I stepped onto his palms and he hoisted me up to the window, where Nyssa caught my arms and helped me through.

                The two of us turned and helped Tyson pull himself up and out. We shut the window and headed to the part of the yard Farren was hiding at.

                "I love it when jobs actually go smoothly for once," Farren said.

                We started walking, heading back to the spot we'd all originally met at. Tyson grabbed my arm and nodded at the others to head out, waiting until they were gone before pulling his mask off. I copied him and handed the mask and gloves back to him.

                "You didn't even hesitate to hang that list," Tyson said.

                "It needed to be done," I said.

                "For a bully victim, you never seemed fired up about it before," Tyson said.

                Maybe it was because it was late and I was tired. Maybe it was because I'd been alone with my thoughts all night. Maybe it was because I was still on edge from the revenge job. Maybe it was because that text was replaying through my head.

                Whatever the reason, I felt my temper flare up. "It needs to be stopped. Now we're making a difference. A real difference. This will make others think twice before they bully people. It's a ripple effect, it really is. These guys get away with bullying now, sure, and adults pass it off as just high school stuff everyone goes through. But then these bullies grow up and have kids who bully. And these victims grow up and never forget what was done to them."

                "Is that what drives you?" Tyson said. "What they did to you?"

                "It's not what they did to me. It's what they did to..." I bit my lip, so hard I was surprised I didn't taste blood. "I'm not standing by anymore. I'm not."

                "But now we're the bullies, yea?" Tyson said. "The tangled webs we weave."

                "We're doing it to stop them. We're trying to put an end to this. We'll never win. It's a hopeless battle, because someone will always step on others to get higher. But it's a battle we can't stop fighting." I clenched my fists.

                Tyson reached out, catching my wrist and holding my fist up. "Who did they break so hard that it cracked you?"

                I looked at my fist, at his fingers closed around my arm. "My best friend." I looked up into his subtly mismatched eyes, at the way his real eye was so intense while his fake one was so empty. I hadn't even realized I was crying until I felt a tear slide down to my chin. "He died trying to please people who only looked for his flaws."

                I reached out with my free hand, gripping Tyson's arm. He tightened his fingers around my wrist in response.

                "I won't let anyone else suffer that if I can help it. I'll be nice to give someone a reason to smile, and I'll be brutal to give someone a reason to think twice about what they're doing." Another tear sliding down my cheek. "This is a shitty world. If a smile and some revenge can make it a little brighter, I'll throw away who I used to be."

                Tyson tugged me towards himself and put his arms around me. I gripped his dark hoodie, fistfuls of the fabric as I pressed my forehead against his shoulder. He rested his chin on my head.

                "And here I thought you were going to be boring, outcast," he mumbled.

                "It's going to change now, isn't it? What we just did tonight. It changed the whole game," I choked out.

                He nodded, his chin shifting my hair as he did so. "It's about to get a whole lot riskier."

                "I'm not backing down. I'd rather be caught than live the rest of my life knowing I could've made a difference but was too afraid to," I said.

                "You've almost impressed me," he said. "Keep it up."

                All that anger I'd tried so desperately to hide away was steadily creeping up. If anger was a flame that burned you from the inside out, and sorrow was an ocean that drowned you, then what was happiness?

                Happiness surely wasn't an emotionally taxed boy crying in the arms of a boy aching for revenge against a man who'd wronged him.

                But, twisted as it seemed, risky as everything had just become, perhaps these were the steps towards a brighter place. Maybe someday, this dangerous path I'd chosen would finally reveal to me what happiness was.