That Little Twist

Chapter One: Hooked

"Yeah sure, whatever. Do you know anything else about him?" I asked.

Much to my surprise, it was my little sister who spoke up.

"He's a cross-country runner. A really good runner too…the rumor is that after his mom walked out on them, his dad became obsessed with two things: work and Brett’s success. Umm…other than that though, he's a huge nerd. He's always reading and he has the dorkiest glasses I've ever seen…his dad makes him wear contacts, though."

Everyone sent the same questioning glance towards my little sister, and I couldn't help but ask how she knew anything about Brett.

"His dad works with Frank," she explained, referring to Nicolette's stepfather, the Governor of our state. "He's Frank's personal advisor."

I watched Brett and Nicolette turned away from each other. Brett turned to his other friends and Nicolette hurried to the stairs where the seven of us were sitting and smiled pleasantly at us.

Two senior girls, two junior girls, two sophomore girls, and two freshman girls. Every year, the junior girls would move to take the place of the seniors, the sophomores would take the place of the juniors, the freshman would take the place of the sophomores and two new freshmen were chosen as the newest additions to the clique. It was a long standing tradition and every year the small group of eight girls would be ranked at the top of the social ladder. Being in the group was the greatest social privilege known to our school and everybody knew it.

"In other words," I started, my back straightening as I watched Brett make his way towards the main school building. "He's loaded, too, huh?"

"Duh."

I ignored Taylor's sass and watched as Brett neared me. He started to climb the steps and when he passed me, his green eyes ventured to meet my brown ones. He hesitated…and sent me a smile.

From that moment, I was hooked.

I mentally shake my head as I take a moment to reminisce.

Brett Connors never had the muscle or desire to be the football captain. He didn't have the confidence to be the hottest guy in school, he was too shy to be the most popular, and he was too nice to be the bad-boy.

In high school, he was known for a few other things. He was the second richest kid in the school, after Nicolette, for one. He was a cross-country star, for another -ranked number three in the country. Also, during the middle of his Junior year, he started exclusively dating the Assistant Cheer Captain and the eventual Cheer Captain, who was yours truly. Finally, he was known for his life-long friendship with the sweetest girl in the school.

Anna Lynn Darling. Even her name was as sweet as apple pie. With her strawberry blonde hair and bright brown eyes sitting atop her 5'2" figure, she was easily the cutest girl in school. She had a smile that could brighten anyone's day and never had a bad thing to say about anyone. She'd been Brett's best friend since the first grade and Nicolette was positive that Anna had been in love with him since middle school.

A couple of times I breached the topic with Brett only to come up against complete denial and eventual frustration on his part. As time went on, I ignored my worries and the topic came up less and less, but when I couldn't hold back and the topic did come up, his response was always the same:

"She doesn't feel that way about me…but even if, in some alternate universe, she did, I love you, not her. Got that?"

I kept my mouth shut when I realized she'd be attending the same college as Brett and I. I didn't say a word when I heard she joined the sister Sorority to Brett's Fraternity while I opted to join a Sorority that my mother had been a part of. I even stopped voicing my discomfort at feeling out of place when I was around the two of them…they had more inside jokes than any one else I knew.