Take Over

Chapter Eight

            November came and went in the blink of an eye. By the time December had made its appearance, not much had changed. The rumors about me in school were getting worse, especially after I didn't show up at Brad's Halloween party. Bella was the only person who knew that I actually attended but she didn't know I left early. Not that she tried to stick up for me or anything. In fact, everyone else seemed more concerned about me not showing up. Brad never asked where I was.

Winter break couldn't come soon enough and as I made it home in the icy cold weather, I couldn't wait to hibernate in peace.

When I got up to my bedroom, my laptop was still on from the morning – oops – and there was a message from Simon. He had invited me to video chat. It didn't take me long to accept the chat. While Simon was making all the wrong choices, he at least made an attempt to keep in touch with me.

I accepted and his face popped up onto my computer. He smiled and waved and I stuck with my poker face. Simon slowly frowned and sighed.

"Can I, uh, talk to you about the Take Over?" he asked sheepishly.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to ask you to join or anything. I want to talk to you as a friend."

I scoffed. "Last I checked, friends didn't go behind other friends' backs. They don't try to convince their friends to do anything they don't want to do. They don't randomly stop talking and hanging out with them simply because the said friend doesn't want to go along with their stupid plan. Oh, and friends stick up for each other when all the kids at school make up ridiculous rumors about them."

I didn't mean to rant to him. I was angry and even I knew those words were meant for Brad. Unfortunately, Brad wasn't here. He hadn't been in a long time.

"Fair enough," Simon said somberly. "Maybe I should just log off then... I'm sorry."

"Simon," I groaned. Now I felt guilty. "What do you want?"

"Well... there are bigger things going on that you don't know about." Simon said softly. "When I saw you at the first meeting, I felt so bad. Then you and Brad had that argument I accidentally listened to..."

"You could have easily logged out of the chat," I grunted shaking my head.

"Right," Simon cleared his throat. "Anyway, I just feel really bad and I'm beginning to wonder if this is such a good idea. I mean, I knew it wasn't a good idea, but the fact that Brad only cares about the Take Over and feeling powerful is a bit odd. Plus, doing it because I want Brad's approval might not be the best reason to go along with it."

I stayed silent. I appreciated Simon trying to apologize to me but I didn't know what to say to him. Again, I should have been having this conversation with Brad.

"Darren and Jay just want Brad's approval too. They have something to do, they feel important with the Take Over. Bella... well, she just wants Darren to like her. None of it are good reasons to take over the school." Simon continued.

"There is no good reason to take over the school," I added.

Simon nodded in agreement. "The thing is, Brad is in way over his head. Even if he wanted to stop it, which I don't think he does, but he'd disappoint the whole school. Everyone would be pissed at him."

I hummed to myself. He had a point with that one. Brad had dug himself too deep. If he announced to the kids the Take Over was, in fact, a prank on them, they'd want his head.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know you have one friend by your side." Simon looked into the webcam with a tight, hopeful smile.

I cracked a smile in return. "Well, thanks, Simon. That's nice of you and I'm glad you came around before it's too late. Still, it's not much compared to everyone else."

"Yeah, but you won't be alone anymore. That should count for something, right?"

I nodded.

We were silent for a few minutes. He was looking somewhere off screen and I was trying to read his face. I trusted Simon, but at the same time, I hoped this wasn't some sort of trick to get me to join the Take Over at some point.

"So..." I broke the silence awkwardly. "What did Brad say when you told him?"

He didn't answer. In fact, he slunk downward in his seat.

I sighed. "You didn't tell him?"

"I chickened out! The whole school is under Brad's control. The power is getting to his head. It's scary. Brad doesn't seem to notice though. He just thinks it's fun." Simon said hastily.

I took a deep breath. "Well, I can't say I blame you."

"It's not easy to go against the crowd."

"Tell me about it."