B.R.O.N.X. (Justin Bieber Fanfiction)

"You're not you anymore."

On the other hand, that was all I heard about Justin: what Tyson told Kelsey. It wasn't much, basically snippets of rage and self-hatred. I wasn't sure she was telling me everything. I suspected she wasn't, but I was afraid to ask. Did I really want to know if there was more?

Sleeping became a difficult task. Every time I closed my eyes I saw that man with his huge teeth and his knife in front of me, breathing in my face, his hands groping my body. I clutched the pillow Justin had slept on that last night and wore his white t-shirt, but they were both losing his scent with every passing night. One day they just didn't smell of him at all. Starting that day, I slept with some light in the room on, which I would've never admitted to anyone because it made me sound like a two-year-old scared of a zombies movie.

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"Yo soy, yo estoy. Tú eres, tú estás. Él es—I just don't get it!" I exclaimed in frustration. "Why do you need two meanings for the same verb? Why are Spanish people so complicated?"

María laughed at my lame attempt to learn the verb 'to be'. You'd think something so simple would be easier to understand, but the fact that it meant two completely different things depending on what you were trying to say threw me off.

"Just learn the grammar rules, it's not that hard," she said gently.

"I honestly don't know how you speak this," I said pointing down at my notes.

María laughed again. "Es mi lengua materna."

"What did you just say?" I asked in confusion.

"It's my mother tongue," she repeated in English, making me sigh. I needed to understand all of this for my test the next morning. "You know, Brooklyn, I think you're just distracted and that's why you're not understanding it. Why don't we take a break? I'll make dinner meanwhile," she suggested, standing up from her chair.

I remained seated as she left the room. I felt bad for keeping her occupied with my stupid exams, especially because I knew a break wouldn't help me be any more focused. The place where my mind was constantly wondering to couldn't be locked up with a key.

Kelsey was on my bed going through a new issue of VOGUE—lucky for her, she didn't have Spanish this semester—but now she was staring at me with a knowing smile.

"He still hasn't called?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.

I shook my head, dropping my notebook on the desk and twisting in my chair to face her. "It's been 5 days already. I'm going crazy."

Kelsey gave me a sympathetic look. "You know what he's like. He probably feels so bad about everything that he thinks he's doing the right thing by staying away."

I scoffed to myself. "Well, if it isn't obvious. He isn't."

Kelsey had nothing to say to that. I was aware she'd had to put up with moody, miserable me for the whole school week, so I wouldn't blame her if she just ran away from me too.

I was biting my nails in stress when I came up with a crazy, most likely not good, idea. "Should I call him?"

Kelsey widened her eyes, closing her magazine and sitting up on my bed. "I don't know." She shrugged. "What would you say?"

"I'd probably scream at him," I admitted, which made her let out an amused sound.

"In that case, I'm not missing it." She made herself comfortable before pointing at my phone, lying on the desk next to the mess of papers and textbooks. "Go ahead," she urged.