Study Sessions With The Bad Boy

Chapter 15

Brooklyn’s POV

I pull up in front of Hannah’s house early today. Five minutes early to be exact. Her door opens and she walks out, almost skipping, to the car with a wide grin on her face. I unlock the door and she hops in. “Good morning, best friend. How are you?” she asks.

I smile. “Now that’s way better than the first day of school.”

“Being on time is also way better than being late,” she adds, pulling the mirror down and looking at herself.

“Says the one who thinks I should ditch the strict time schedule, let loose, and be more spontaneous. Those are most definitely your words.”

“Well, we both know this is a different circumstance.” Looking at herself always ends up with her applying lip gloss and fixing her hair. The topic of her house always causing her to do so. “Speaking about your family’s strict time schedule, I can’t believe your mom forgot to pick up Bruce.”

“Believe me, Bruce and I are still not over it.” 

Even though Bruce was extremely silent the whole dinner, causing me to not have much to say either, my parents still said nothing about her forgetting him. I doubt my mom even told my dad that it happened, and since he’s barely connected with us, Bruce probably never got the chance to reveal why he was so sad. As long as those pies, cookies, brownies, and all the other desserts she’s frying her brain over are on their way to being finished before Saturday, nothing else seems to matter. 

However, it didn’t slip their minds to check up on my tutor sessions with Mitchell. I can’t possibly tell them that things are now going horribly because, as Carol says, I’ve played with his emotions and embarrassed him. I simply said we’re doing great and he’s learning a lot. I wish that was the truth.

“I just can’t wait until this business party comes and goes. You’re coming, right?” I ask, hope filling my voice. Having to attend these business parties and smile, talk about my academic achievements and lifetime goals is already not my favorite thing to do, but it’s even worse when I have to converse with these coworkers the whole night because my friends aren’t there to rescue me. 

“Of course. I’ll be a little late, though. I have to wait until my dad falls out drunk on the couch so I don’t have to answer any questions, but Stacey and the others will be there.”

“I know. I even invited Jason,” I say, grinning. We’ve been texting here and there more lately. Hopefully this Saturday will be a lot better for us to spend time together without Mitchell ruining it. He won’t be anywhere near this event.

“Well, the more the merrier.”

I can already see Ryan leaning against his car as he waits for us. I park right along side him and Hannah and I get out. She wraps herself in his arms and they share a few pecks. Nice to know that everything is still flowing well with them, just like with the rest of my friends. I’m still stuck on the fact that Mitchell is saying I’m oblivious to their life problems. None of them seem to be going through anything dramatic. Stacey and Cody are doing great, they proved it while they were at my house, and Jeffrey is still as cool as a cat. 

“Hello...I’m still here, guys,” I joke, patting them on their backs and getting them to start to move towards the entrance of the school.

“And it’s nice to see you both,” Ryan says, throwing his arms over our shoulders, directing us down the next hallway. “How was your nights?”

“Mine was fine. The guys and Stacey came to see me. Where were you two?” I ask, smirking.

“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Ryan says, laughing. “We weren’t together last night.”