Dynamite's Diary - 17th December 2021

The school play was on tonight...but that's not I'm focusing on here. What I'm going to focus on instead is that I may risk being kicked out of school again for the first time since that incident in elementary school.

So the play was about to start and everyone was getting all excited about it backstage. Steve was pumped up about it and kept looking through his script just to make sure that he wasn't forgetting anything. The lead actors were getting all lovey-dovey, so I assume that the play must have really brought them together. Marlene wasn't so thrilled though - she was just nervously kicking her legs back and forth as always. I mean, she wasn't even one of the actors! All she had to do was just blend in, but apparently even sitting near a stage is just too much for her.

So far, so good. All I had to do was just sit there too, just to show that I had a role in getting everything together as well. Except that I was pretty sure that I heard a rustling. And then I was pretty sure that I noticed someone sneaking out of the back door. Meanwhile, everybody else was just too excited to notice what was going on.

My first thought was "Kinsey's sabotaging things!" So I decided to sneak out and follow this mystery person.

Gemma saw what I was doing almost straight away.

"What are you doing? The show's just starting!"

I almost stuttered in my response, worried that other people had noticed. "Gemma, I think there's a saboteur behind the scenes and I need to make sure they don't mess things up tonight. Look, just promise not to tell anyone, 'kay?"

She was pretty relaxed about it, as she usually is about most things. "Sure, if you say so."

So I was free to go. Hopefully nobody else picked up on my mystery disappearance. And hopefully I'd be able to make it back in time.

Once I was in the hallway, I took a glance round and then made a mad dash. As I neared the end, I noticed a leg belonging to someone exiting the building through one of the emergency exits. I knew I had a play to go back to, but I had to follow this person at the same time.

At this point, I was glad that I'd been wearing my jacket all this time. And wearing my rucksack. I'd rushed in a bit late to the hall earlier on so I hadn't had time to remove them. But what if my pursuit lasted longer?

It was once I was outside the building that I realized who I'd been following the whole time. No, it wasn't Kinsey, thank god. But the other person I'd been concerned about that evening.

"DAD?!"

Seriously, he'd taken one of the props from backstage and just gone off with it. Luckily it was the crumped tree prop that we weren't using anymore, but still.

"Dad, what the hell are you doing?! You can't just come into the building like that and then leave with the props!"

He didn't even bother answering my question. He just seemed chuffed about getting the tree.

"Could tell this was yours from how you painted it. Don't know why you'd think about tossin' it aside."

We continued walking out of the school gates just bickering with one another, me getting pissed off at the fact that he had the gall to do something like that and him getting all huffy about me getting pissed off at him. We even ended up crossing the street because things were getting so heated.

"Look," he was all like, now making these wild gestures with his hands that he does when he's super agitated. "Can't a dad just appreciate his daughter's hard work?! That's all I'm saying-"

As he was continuing to moan about it all, his hand struck the face of someone walking pass with a ridiculously large purse.

"Mind out, you idiot!"

It was Kinsey. As if my night wasn't going off the rails enough. And now both her and my dad were getting into a scuffle. He just turned round, looked shocked, and then gave her sheepish grin.

"Oh, um hey! Sorry 'bout that."

Kinsey just railed at him. "God, can't you keep your stupid fat hands to yourself?!" She almost spat as she walked off. "Disgusting tramp."

Boy, Dad was livid over that. He just started freaking out and yelling angry comments back at her. I had to try and restrain him in case he actually started physically attacking her, but he just broke out of my grip.

And then, without warning, he just collapsed on his knees, covered his face with his hands and started crying. All he could muster out was a feeble "W-what the hell?" under his breath.

I was completely at a loss at what to do. Normally if Dad gets insulted like that, he just carries on flipping out. And on the occasions when he does cry, it's usually faked so he can guilt trip someone. But since I've known him for some time, I can tell when it's genuine and when it's fake. And this time, it was truly genuine. And truly upsetting.

And then, at that point, I could feel a disgusting sense of rage boiling over. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have let it get the better of me, but I didn't see anything else I could do at the time.

First of all, I took my jacket off and gave it to Dad. Plopped it on his shoulders. I felt he needed something to keep him warm - it was a cold night after all.

"Dad, you stay here. I'll sort her out in no time."

He looked so confused about it all - I guess he was still emotionally overwhelmed. Meanwhile, I just walked over with my rucksack to where Kinsey was about to head into the school gates...

...And proceeded to jump kick her in the back.

"Disgusting tramp, eh?! And you're an arrogant bitch!"

Kinsey staggered, but then turned round and noticed me. Despite us attending the same school, this was pretty much the first time we properly interacted with one another.

"What the-? Since when-"

"You DO NOT talk like that about my dad when I'm around!"

"Sure I can! I mean, have you seen him for yourself? He's definitely not one who should be getting boned with an appearance like that, I'm telling you!"

"Oh THAT fuckin' smarts!"

Yep. It wasn't the past things that Kinsey had done that had ticked me off at long last. Even the possibility that she would have sabotaged the play didn't phase me. But getting my Dad involved in all this...

"So if you're gonna be that way around him..." I opened my rucksack and got out the several sticks of dynamite and lighter I keep in there just in case situations like these arise. "You just fucked up big time!"

Kinsey looked super stunned at first, but then made a face like some sour lemon before reaching into her own purse.

"'Kay then. If you're gonna be like that, fine."

And at that point she pulled out a freaking rifle. Seriously!!! I've heard of her spreading nasty rumors about others and framing others for cyberbullying and ruining others' dresses with buckets filled with tomato juice...but shooting others?! Was THAT how she planned to sabotage the night? To be fair, I did hear rumors about last year's prom queen at school "mysteriously" losing her eye the next day. That was probably why.

"Shouldn't have even been the talk of the school back in October!"

Yeah, she was still pissed off about that too. And now she was snapping out in the same way that I was.

Not that I was backing down or anything. I just threw my first dynamite stick at her. I'm surprised that she was able to jump out of the way in time before it exploded.

Kinsey then fired the rifle. I managed to get out of the way in time as well, though one of the bullets did graze across my cheek. I then lit my second dynamite stick and threw it, but ultimately threw it too hard and hit a street lamp in the process.

Bizarrely enough, Dad actually sounded happy and was cheering me on. "Yeah, you show her! Way to go!"

I don't know how long Kinsey and I spent fighting. I'm sure that if Dad had gone ahead with attacking her in the first place, he would have finished her off in seconds. I'd pretty much gone through all of the dynamite sticks I had except one. That said, Kinsey did seem to be having problems with her last few shots. Still didn't stop her from landing a kick to my face with her high heels and knocking me to the ground in the process.

With that, I probably would have been done for. My last stick of dynamite had been knocked out of my grasp and I couldn't reach it since Kinsey had stomped a high-heeled foot on my chest. It felt like it was stabbing right through my ribcage. Plus, she'd got her rifle right towards the center of my eyes.

I could actually hear Dad angrily whimpering nearby. "If you dare-"

Good news though! When Kinsey pulled the trigger, nothing came out. Guess she must have used up all her bullets.

"Shit! Why isn't this-"

At which point I yanked the gun and slammed it with all my might back into her own face. Sent her staggering onto the ground. Great! Now I just needed to fetch that stick of dynamite and then it would be done.

I grabbed it and lit it, and then threw it where Kinsey was. She was trying to get up from the ground before noticing it flying towards her.

That last explosion nearly blinded me. Well, I had made the mistake of standing too close. Pretty much got sent flying backwards.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed Dad looking at me with this wide-eyed expression. If he was planning to say anything, it wasn't coming out. Despite the pains in my body, and especially my face and chest, I got up and looked over at where the explosion had come from.

I don't really know how I should feel about it even now. On the one hand, Kinsey was an absolute bitch who needed to be knocked down a peg or two. ESPECIALLY after making Dad cry. But I didn't expect things to have to end this way.

We just stared at the crater and where Kinsey should have been. There wasn't really anything we could say about it. She just wasn't there anymore. It was just a ring of ash. We then turned to each other.

Dad got up from where he'd been...and then slapped me upside the head.

"You idiot..." He was still choked up, but he actually sounded a bit happier. He clearly was, since straight afterwards, he pulled me in for another one of his bone-crushing hugs.

"That was a super awesome show you put on there and MUCH better than whatever your school play whatever was!" Dad was laughing and crying at the same time. "Oh thank you so much!"

"Dad - it was nothing - really - it wasn't," I tried to say, even though my windpipe felt absolutely crushed from Dad squashing me that tightly.

"Oh, but they'll be coming back for you in a minute," he then started. "We've got to get away! We've got to run away -- quick!" Well, I guess he'd been watching The Wizard of Oz earlier that afternoon. He's not quite kicked the habit of referencing movies he's recently watched.

To which he then took my hand and started running backs towards the direction where his shack was, dragging me across the ground in the process. I couldn't really do much except complain "But the play Dad! I've got to get back to the play!" Not that he heard me. He was WAY too euphoric to notice.

So yeah, I didn't get to see Steve perform or take part in the curtain call after all. To be fair though, I did say that I wasn't that interested in the play itself. But still, it would have been nice to watch Steve acting onstage and possibly steal the show from the leads in the process.

Gemma texted me later about it all. She says that the play was a moderate success overall, though there was a moment of panic when a weird explosion sound was heard from some distance away. One of the teachers even thought that there had been a gas explosion and was still in hysterics afterwards.

So yeah, I have no idea what happened to Kinsey. Who knows? Maybe she survived after all and she'll be back next week? All I can do is hope that the school doesn't find out and I don't get kicked out or arrested or anything.

As I said, I'm still not sure how to feel. Should I feel smug that I finally got that stupid brat out of the picture and that she didn't mess up the play after all? Or should I feel ashamed of possibly getting someone at my school killed and getting myself potentially expelled as a result. Just like when Mel Crombey made the same mistake at elementary school by saying that my dad

Well, the holidays are coming soon. I guess I'll just try to enjoy them and worry about all of this afterward. Everyone says that Christmas is a time to relax and have fun and not get stressed out by anything else. I don't know it that philosophy will work for this situation, but I hope it does.