FATE

18. Dodgeball

BROOKE

There have been a lot of questions asked. Some of them were funny, some highly personal and some of them made Danny scowl.

Jonah switched places with Danny a while ago. I guess he got tired of Britney's annoying attitude and her constant need to touch him all the time. He simply said the word "hey" as he sat next to me. It's the first thing he's said directly to me since I got here and pretty much the only thing because he went back to being mute.

Hailee and Louis seem to be having the time of their lives. I think they both had too much to drink and now they're just happy for some unknown reason. I only feel slightly tipsy, reason being I didn't want to have too much alcohol and risk exposing how inexperienced I am when it comes to drinking. The questions thrown at me haven't been all that bad thankfully.

Britney hasn't said a word out of line since Jonah told her to stop. I wonder if she feels bad or just embarrassed.

"Okay, we're almost done with the third bottle", Danny says staring at the almost empty bottle sitting in the center. When I asked why in God's name, he had so many bottles of alcohol in school, he sarcastically replied "for drinking Brooke, why else?"

I think Danny might have a drinking problem.

"So, who's next?", He asks.

"I am", Louis says. He grins as he stares at all our faces, "Hailee, what..."

There's a ringing sound coming from somewhere in the room and it takes me a while to realize that it's my ringtone. I grab my bag and take out my phone. My eyes widen at the name on my screen.

"Oh my God, no no no", I start to panic as I stand up quickly and stare at their confused faces, "I have to go now. I have something to do"

"Oh, that's cool", Danny says smiling at me, "it was nice to meet you by the way"

"Yeah, it was", Louis says as he smiles at me too. For two people who are related, they look nothing alike.

"It was nice to meet you guys too", I say before turning to look at Hailee, "bye"

"Bye Brooke", she grins excitedly and I chuckle.

I stare at Jonah but he has his eyes on Danny or is it Britney?

I walk towards the exit, leaving the locker room and heading straight for the basketball court. Last week, the gym teacher said we would be playing dodgeball soon. The entire class seemed happy to hear that they had the chance to hurt each other. I on the other hand, am not looking forward to it.

"Brooke", I hear a door open and close quickly. I turn to find Jonah standing behind me.

"Uhm, hi", I say softly.

"It's going to get pretty boring in there soon so I think I'd just rather walk you", he says as he walks towards me. "Where are you going?"

"The library", I say flatly.

"Okay", he nods and walks past me. I follow quickly.

"So, you're fine with talking to me when we're alone but not when you're with your friends?", I ask.

"What are you talking about Collins?", We reach the exit and he opens the door for me to go out first. The fresh air welcomes me to the great outdoors once again.

"You didn't talk to me when we were inside, why are you talking to me now?"

"I don't know. There's really no reason behind it. I was caught off guard when Hailee brought you. It didn't seem like something you would willingly do so I was trying to figure out if you had been threatened or something"