It was a typical day for Brooke.
She woke up tired after falling asleep tired. She got out of bed and took a shower. She brushed and pulled her hair back. She got dressed in her usual t-shirt, jean shorts, and hoodies. She pulled on her knee-high socks, then her tennis shoes. She put on her glasses. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed downstairs.
Brooke made herself some toast and left the empty house quickly.
The two-story townhouse was empty often. The Atkinson family owned the entire row, and had used it as a bed-n-breakfast before the twins were born. After that, the other houses were rented out for vacations in the Big Apple, aside from 15, 16, and 17, for a reason unknown to Brooke.
With a sigh, Brooke locked the door behind her as she headed off to school.
She despised her school. It wasn't a bad place or anything of the sorts, but...
(1.) It was a middle and high school mixed together, so she crossed paths with her siblings way too often.
(2.) She had one friend. (Who was great, but that's beside the point.)
(3.) The teachers did not like her, aside from Mrs. Rene.
"I don't know, Jakob." said Brooke doubtfully as she watched her best and only friend climb up a ladder set against the roof.
"Trust me, Rook!" The brune sent her a reassuring smile.
Needless to say, Brooke was not reassured.
"The cord won't reach that high." she called up.
Jakob White rolled his eyes. "Of course it will! I measured it myself!"
He reached the roof and began pulling the cord up to the special 'display' he had created earlier that morning, an assortment of lamps and lights.
The cord was short by at least a yard.
Brooke's sigh was audible to Jakob, even though he was two-stories high.
"I tol-"
Brooke was cut off by Jakob. "Don't you dare finish that sentence." He groaned. "Please tell me you have a solution for this?"
The blonde laughed. "Of course I do."
She went over to the gardening shed, and unlocked it. Glad I joined the gardening club. she thought to herself as she grabbed an extension cord.
She walked back to the dangling cord and plugged the extension cord in. "How's that, O Genius of Pranks and Magic?" she called.
"Thank you, Rook!" came the reply. "Just sit back and enjoy the show!"
Brooke grinned. "Will do!"
"Mister Anderson!"
Principal Martin (No matter what she says, she is not your 'pal,'), came storming down the walkway, brown bangs swinging wildly. The vice principal, Ms. Osborne, followed in her wake, holding her trusty clipboard of detention slips.
Brooke observed this from her spot at the lockers as she pretended to look for her health textbook.
"Mister Anderson! Get down from there at once! We tolerated you the first few times, but no longer!" yelled Principal Martin, shaking her fist at Jakob.
"Detention for a week!" added Ms. Osborne, scribbling furiously on her slips.
Brooke snickered. The school had been gifted front-row seats to one of Jakob's special light shows, and this is how they acted in return? How shameful.
Jakob laughed and weaved another design out of light, reading 'NO THANK YOU!' He waved cheekily at the two adults, who were fuming.
Brooke envied him. His flair was beautiful, and helpful. He could weave light from any source except the sun. He could light the dark forest of the park with wisps of moonlight. She had seen him helping out those who were out late at night, giving them moonlight tied to a stick to light their way.
She knew she shouldn't envy his flair. Her own was incredible as well, but... it always seemed darker to her. Jakob was like a brother to her, he lit up her life. Literally.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice she was staring at the 'crime scene.'
A hand latched onto her shoulder. Brooke yelped and spun around to find the vice principal. "Detention, Miss Atkinson, for skipping class!"
"But-"
"No excuses! You have been gawking at us for more than long enough, when you should be in class!" declared Ms. Osborne, waving a slip in my face before scribbling on another slip. "And that is another day of attention for your backtalk!"
Brooke frowned. "You mean 'detention,' not 'attention,' right?"
Ms. Osborne's face turned a reddish color. "How dare you! Another day of detention!"
She handed Brooke a total of four pink slips. Brooke opened her mouth to comment of the amount of slips, but a look from the vice principal shut her up. "Yes, ma'am." she grumbled.
"Good. Off to class with you now, Miss Atkinson!"
Brooke grumbled under her breath, stalking down the halls.
Brooke sighed as she exited her final class before lunch. She wandered the halls with her lunch box held loosely in her hands, looking for Jakob. "Jakob," she groaned, drawing out the 'ay.' "Where are you?"
As she was meandering, someone threw their arms around her neck, nearly knocking her to the ground. "Guess who!" chirped a peppy voice.
"Emmi." she sighed. "What do you want now?"
Emmi was one of the popular girls, only a grade beneath Brooke and Jakob. She wasn't the most popular by far, but still decently popular. She had this horrible habit of blackmailing and manipulating anyone who had something she wanted to get it. Unluckily for Brooke, she had a horrible crush on Jakob, the poor boy. She was constantly threatening Brooke with getting her in trouble with her family (an easy thing to do), to try get Brooke to help her go on a date with Jakob.
Brooke slipped out of the brunette's grasp, and watched with a smidge of satisfaction when the girl flailed a bit. Emmi straightened out and gave Brooke a thinly veiled glare. "I want you to show me where you and Jakob eat lunch." she said, all fake cheerfulness gone.
Brooke rolled her eyes. "Yeah, not happening. Keep dreaming." she snorted.
Emmi growled. "It's that or you get in trouble."
This threat made Brooke grin. "Oh, dear, in trouble?" she mocked. "What ever shall I do?"
Emmi blinked in confusion at this outward display of contempt. Usually, Brooke put up with her or walked away.
Brooke straightened her back and looked down on the brunette. "I would love to see you try, brat." she hissed. "I'm sick and tired of your stupid little threats, your little petty 'blackmailing', and your ideology of you being superior to all others."
"Wha-" Emmi started angrily.
"No, listen. Your sick attitude are going to get you in trouble one day. I hope to be around then, so I can watch your wings of popularity be clipped, grounding you forever, stuck with the very people you look down on." Brooke looked at the speechless girl, a cold look in her eyes.
"You're sick!" spat Emmi. "You want to watch me burn!"
Brooke smiled at her. "I almost do. However, I know that you will one day realize that who you are right now is a useless person."
Emmi gasped. "How dare you! This is all because you don't want me with Jakob, because you like him!" she accused, pointing her finger in Brooke's face.
Said face darkened. "You have about three seconds to get that finger out of my face before I bite you." she promised.
Emmi paled and whipped her finger away to fidget with her red floral sundress.
"You're a savage, you know that?" she hissed angrily.
Brooke smiled at her once more. "You act like a ticked-off cat, you know that?" she replied pleasantly. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to go eat my lunch. Have a great day, Emmi."
She walked off, victory singing in her veins at the brunette's angry face. She knew she would most likely pay for it later, but, right now, triumph was sweet. Or maybe it was the chocolate she had just bitten into to help calm herself down. Ah, chocolate. The most wonderful blessing upon humanity.
As she trotted through the halls, Brooke realized what she had just done. "Oh, darn." she muttered.
She had made Emmi mad, to the point where retribution was eminent. Or rather, Emmi-nent. Brooke fumed quietly at her need for the upper hand and the last word. Why, oh, why could she not keep her mouth shut for once in her life? "It's always my mouth that gets me in trouble." she groaned as she broke another piece of chocolate.
She tossed it up in the air and leaned her head back to catch it in her mouth. Score. Brooke let the sweet melt in her mouth before stopping at a water fountain to get a quick drink.
"Rook! There you are, I've been looking for you!" called Jakob, jogging towards her.
Brooke coughed at the unexpected appearance of her friend. "Hey, where have you been?" she asked, straightening up. "I was look for you earlier, but I ran into Emmi instead."
Jakob winced as he came to stop beside her. "Well, Mrs. Rene kept me after class to help me out with my science work. Unit conversions are difficult, you know? Sorry to have ditched you."
Brooke clapped him on the back. "No harm, no foul." she said.
Jakob laughed. "What, did you do something?" he joked.
Brooke rubbed her neck.
He got serious and stared at her. "Brooke, really?"
"It was just a small catfight!" she defended. "Besides, she had it coming."
"Regardless, you know you're going to get in trouble with your parents." sighed Jakob.
Brooke gave him a smile. "I appreciate the concern, but I can handle it. My mistake, my problem. However, my main concern is when you became a voice of reason in my life." she teased.
Jakob grinned. "I've always been the level-headed one of us two!" he said proudly.
Brooke snorted and threw a package of crackers at him. "Yeah, right. Come on, let's go eat before we have to go to class." she groaned.
Jakob snorted. "You have it easy. All you have to do is science, history, and computers. I have math, computers, then grammar. Do you know how hard I find grammar?" he grumbled.
Brooke laughed. "Yeah, I've seen your A's, Jakob, so hard."
The two sat down in a small corner near the math room and spread out their lunches, enjoying each other's company.