How Revenge Led Me to My Enemy’s Humiliating Truth

Never judge a book by its cover.

The Set-Up

I jumped into the shower after gym class. When I came out, some of the girls were looking at me and laughing, while others gave me pitying looks.

I caught the eye of one of the laughing girls.

“What’s up? Why are you laughing?” I asked.

A friend pointed to my locker and said, “You won’t like this.” I turned to my locker, only to find it open and empty inside.

“Where are my clothes?” I screamed.

The same friend replied, “Charlotte took them. I told her not to, but she didn’t listen.” There I was, stranded in the locker room with a towel wrapped around my body.

My enemy, Charlotte, had stolen my clothes from my locker and taken them away!

The Reason Behind the Theft

I knew why she had done it.

We had a Chemistry exam the day before, and as usual, Charlotte hadn’t studied.

She sat in the chair behind me, wanting to copy from my paper.

Throughout the exam, she kept whispering, “Move to the right… I can’t see… Show me the answer to the other question.”

After the exam, I told her, “Charlotte, what you’re doing is dangerous. You could get both of us into trouble.” “Don’t say that again, or you’ll have to deal with the consequences,” she screamed.

So, her taking my clothes was the consequence she was talking about. Even though she pulled these kinds of tricks all the time, I couldn’t fight back because her father was the general manager at the company where my father worked.

She threatened me by saying, “If you tell the school administration, I’ll tell my dad, and he’ll fire your dad.”

I had no choice but to tolerate her to protect my dad.

According to my dad, Charlotte’s father significantly changed once he became the general manager. My dad went to his office to congratulate him. “Congratulations, Greg,” he said.

Do you want to know Charlotte’s father’s response? “I’m your superior now. Don’t call me by my first name. From now on, you need to call me Mr. Doxon!”

This is so weird, but Charlotte started treating me the same way.

One morning, when we got off the bus, she threw me her backpack. “Take this to class. I’m going to check my make-up in the restroom,” she said and rushed away.

I yelled after her, “Charlotte, what do you mean? Why are you ordering me around now?”

She walked away without a word.

Charlotte Got Me Wrong

A few weeks passed.

A kid in my class named Toby asked, “Hey, what are you doing this weekend? Do you want to do something?” “Oh, my grandma is visiting,” I replied, though that was a lie.

I didn’t want to go out with Toby because there was someone else I liked.

When Charlotte saw Toby with me, she rushed over. “What were you and Toby talking about? I don’t want to see you near him again,” she yelled.

I had no clue that Charlotte was into Toby. “You don’t have to get upset. He wanted to go out on the weekend, but I made up an excuse,” I said.

“Toby can’t be into you. I’m sure you were hitting on him. You’ll pay for this,” she screamed. Whatever I said, I couldn’t convince her that she wasn’t right. She wouldn’t believe me.

“You’ll get the punishment you deserve,” she said as she walked away.

A few days later, when I came home from school, I saw my mom was crying. My dad was home, and he looked devastated.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

My mom said, “They let your father go for no reason.

We are so upset. He has been treated so unfairly!” I knew the real reason behind this was Charlotte, but I couldn’t say anything. I hugged my dad and started crying. He had lost his job because of me.

The Discovery

I couldn’t let Charlotte get away with this.

That night, as I was thinking about what I could do, I thought she had told me they were always moving across the country because of her father’s job.

Was it possible that the reason for their moving wasn’t her father’s job but Charlotte herself?

Perhaps they had to keep moving from state to state because Charlotte was getting caught shoplifting.

I went on Google News and searched for “Charlotte Doxon shoplifting.” Nothing came up. Unfortunately, I was wrong. There was no reason for Charlotte to steal, anyway.

Suddenly, I thought of something.

Charlotte was underage. Perhaps the police weren’t revealing her full name when informing the press. This time I searched with her initials: “C. D. Shoplifting.”

Bingo! I got five results.

There were no photos, but all of them were about stealing clothes, and each incident occurred in a different state. And, brace yourself… the stores were always Macy’s!

I had an important clue, but it wasn’t enough to corner Charlotte.

Gathering Evidence

I needed more substantial evidence.

I skipped school that week and waited on the sidewalk across from Macy’s every day. On Thursday, just as I was about to give up, I saw Charlotte.

I was so excited. I took her photos as she was going into the store.

You know why I did that, right?

If she planned on pulling the same trick, she would wear the clothes she stole while leaving the store. Twenty minutes later, Charlotte left the store and, just as I suspected, was wearing different clothes.

I took more photos of her. This was significant evidence.

Using those photos, I could prove that she was a thief. I ran home. My parents were still devastated, and they were surprised to see me so happy.

“I have great news for you,” I said and started to tell them what Charlotte had been putting me through for months.

My dad said, “Why didn’t you tell us? Her father Greg was acting the same way with me, and I couldn’t say anything. But you didn’t have to take it.”

“That’s okay, Dad. Soon, they will no longer be our problem,” I said, explaining everything that happened since I saw Charlotte at Macy’s.

I showed them first the news stories I found on Google and then the photos I took in front of the store. They were really surprised about Charlotte’s obsessive stealing from Macy’s using the same trick.

The next day, my dad took the photos from me and went to work.

According to what my dad told us, Greg was shocked to see the photos. “Charlotte is shoplifting again? But she’s in treatment. We thought she wasn’t stealing anymore,” he said.

The Confrontation

Charlotte had a behavioral disorder called “Shoplifting Addiction.”

People living with this psychiatric condition generally shoplift from grocery stores, and some of them, like Charlotte, get obsessed with one clothing store and keep stealing from that same place.

Greg also had a necessary confession to make. “Unfortunately, I fired you because my daughter wanted me to.

Her psychiatrist warned us, saying, ‘Anytime Charlotte gets stressed, she’ll get back to stealing again.’ When Charlotte asked me to fire you, I just had to do it.

I didn’t know she was still stealing while getting treatment.

I didn’t know.” Then he apologized to my dad and rehired him on the spot.

Redemption and Closure

The following day, I saw Charlotte at school. She changed her path when she saw me, but I ran and caught up with her.

“I’m not going to show the photos I took of you to anyone. My dad also promised your dad. All of this stays between us.

Your dad resigned from his job at the company, and he said you all would move again. You’ve been using me for months, but I think this is enough punishment, and I’m happy to see it.”

“Lauren, I’m so sorry. I’m really so sorry. I’m a bad person. Please forgive me,” she cried, her voice breaking into sobs.

I looked at her in disgust.

I turned around and started walking away without saying a word.

“I deserve it. Please forgive me! You’re my best friend!” Charlotte cried in the distance as I kept walking away.