Brynn and Jaxon to the side, played by Kelli Berglund and Colton Haynes.
~ ~ ~
"You're back! What happened, oh my god, is that blood?" Melanie ambushed me as soon as I walked into the house.
"Would you relax? It's paint." I told her, putting my back pack down next to the door.
"Why do you have paint in your hair?" She asked as we sat down at the bar in the kitchen.
"I met Jaxon, that's why."
Her eyes widened. "Oh my god. I completely forgot to tell you about him, I'm so sorry Brynn!"
I shrugged. "It's fine Mel. He wasn't that bad, honestly. He just needs to be knocked down a few pegs."
She shook her head quickly. "I don't think that's a good idea. He's so much worse than Hanna. Not only does he always get revenge, he makes it twice as bad as what you did to him."
"I'm not afraid if him." I told her.
I heard the front door open and the sound of my friends' voices filled the house. They entered the kitchen and immediately started asking questions.
"So how did it go?" Clara asked.
"Were there any hot guys?" Marina asked.
"Did you kick that little blonde bitches ass?" Maeve asked.
"It went okay, yes hot guys were flooding the halls, and no, I didn't really see the blonde bitch." I answered.
"Dude!" Marina yelled and we all turned to her. "Did you get their numbers?"
I rolled my eyes. "No, I didn't. I was a little busy getting pushed around in the hallway and paint dumped on my head."
Melanie winced. "I knew this was a bad idea. I'm sorry Brynn, I should have never agreed to this. We should switch back."
"Mel, what are you talking about?" I asked in confusion.
"You shouldn't have to go through this, you don't deserve it." She said, sounding defeated.
A wave of frustration came over me. "Neither do you! There is no way we're switching back until they're all begging for forgiveness." I said.
She pursed her lips and crossed her arms. A worried expression took over her face as she sighed.
"Honestly Mel, chill out. You stress so much about everything, I can already see the wrinkles forming on your face." Maeve said.
Mel immediately raised her hands to her face and started rubbing her cheeks.
"I do not have wrinkles." She said.
"So, moving on," I interrupted them, "Jaxon needs to go."
Mel's eyes widened. "What does that mean?"
I looked at her with a serious expression and spoke monotonously. "It means we're going to kill him and hide his body until Clara's uncle brings his truck over so that we can use it to transport the body to a guy Marina knows in the black market."
Melanie's mouth dropped open and I laughed loudly. My friends joined in with me.
"That's not funny." She huffed.
"Yes, it is." Clara said pinching Mel's cheeks.
"I knew you were lying the whole time." She mumbled.
I shook my head with a laugh before parting from my friends to take a shower. It took three wash and repeats to get the red completely out of my hair. I changed into my pajamas since I wasn't going anywhere else tonight. I walked into Mel's room to find all of them in either mine or Mel's different pajamas.
"Oh, we're spending the night. I would have asked for permission, but we're staying no matter what you say so I didn't bother." Maeve said.
I laughed. "Yeah, I figured. I don't care though, it's not my house." I said and gestured to Melanie.
Mel shrugged. "Like she said, they'll do whatever they want."
We decided to order a pizza and we all sat around the living room watching a movie that I ordered on pay per view.
The doorbell rang and I jumped up.
"Pizza!" I hopped over Marina, who was cocooned in a blanket on the floor and ran through the house to the front door.
I opened the door to find the pizza guy holding two large pizzas and buffalo wings.
The guy looked at my outfit and raised an eyebrow. I looked down and almost laughed when I saw that I was wearing my blue tweety bird pajama bottoms and white t-shirt. My hair was parted to the side in messy waves.
I looked back at him. He was tall with dark wavy hair, he had almost golden eyes and a five o'clock shadow. He looked maybe a few years older than me.
"So, what was the total?" I asked with a grin.
He blinked. "Oh, right. It was $27. 98."
I only had $25 in my hand so I turned around and called into the house.
"Someone bring me more money!" I yelled at them.
"I got it!" I heard Clara call back.
I turned back toward the guy who was standing awkwardly in the doorway.
I blew out a breath. "So," I looked down at his name tag. "Todd. How's your night going?"
He looked amused by my attempt at conversation.
"A lot more interesting now." He said with a smile. "What's your name?"
"I'm not sure if I should tell you. My parents did teach me about stranger danger." I said teasingly.
"You don't seem like the type to actually follow that rule." He stated.
"You're probably right." I nodded with a smile. "I'll tell you what, you get to choose. You either get my name or a tip."
His grin widened. "Well, since I'm not likely to see you again, most would expect me to go with the tip. But since I have high hopes that we'll meet again, I have to know your name."
I raised my eyebrows. I wasn't expecting that.
"Well, since you asked so nicely,"
"Here B." I heard Clara say from behind me. I turned and she smirked. She'd heard the everything, I was guessing.
I looked down and saw a few dollar bills in her hand. I didn't miss the rolled up piece of paper in between two dollar bills. I grinned and took them from her. I got out the exact change and stepped towards Todd. I put the money in his uniform shirt pocket and pulled the food from his grasp. I handed the boxes to Clara and turned back to Todd.
"Have a good night, Todd." I said with a little wave.
He looked into his pocket, finding the piece of paper he unfolded and read it. He looked back at me with a dazzling smile.
"Goodnight, Brynn." I gave him one last smile before closing the door.
I turned and made my way to the living room. I walked in and saw my friends all innocently eating pizza and watching the movie. I rolled my eyes.
"I know you guys were eavesdropping the entire time." I told them.
They all gave up the act and applauded me. I accepted their praise with a smirk.
"That was so smooth, B!" Marina exclaimed.
"It was like magic." Clara said.
I gave a fake bow. "Thank you, thank you."
"How did you do that?" Mel asked.
"That was just basic flirting." I told her with a shrug.
"Oh please, there was nothing basic about that." Maeve said.
"That wouldn't have ended any differently if any of you opened the door." I said.
"Except Mel." Maeve said. "No offense, but you're still a baby in that area."
Melanie nodded in understanding.
We spent the rest of the night ignoring the movie playing in the background and talking. We tried teaching Mel how to flirt since she was totally clueless. Eventually we all fell asleep.
I woke up wrapped in a fluffy comforter. I sighed in content and reached out for my phone which was sitting on the coffee table about a foot away from me.
It read 7:13. I had about a half hour before I had to leave for school.
I stood up, still wrapped in my blanket, and made my way to the bathroom. I showered quickly before getting dressed in a pair of black jeans and a white flowy shirt that hung off of my body nicely. I put on a pair of black converse and went back into the kitchen. I had five minutes.
I grabbed my box of coco pebbles that I had brought from my house and poured them into a bowl. I couldn't just live in this house without my favorite cereal.
I ate quickly and placed my bowl in the sink. After quickly brushing my teeth I walked into the living room. My friends were all still sleeping. I placed my blanket onto Marina, since Maeve always ends up taking her blanket in the middle of the night, and left the house.
The school parking lot this morning seemed exactly the same as it was the day before. Kids were still standing around, waiting for the bell to ring. I touched up my make-up: eye liner and burgundy lip stick, like every other day.
I grabbed my backpack and got out of my car before locking it and making my way into the school. I got to the locker and opened it, pulling out my history text book.
I sighed. Today was Tuesday. Mel's school had weird schedules with P.E. and electives on different days. I had art yesterday, meaning I had P.E. today. This was the advantage of being on independent study: no athletics. I hadn't run a lap since freshman year.
I closed my locker and turned to start walking to class. Unfortunately, some asshole had a different plan for me because they stuck there foot out right when I stepped forward.
My folder and history text book hit the floor and I tripped after them. I fell onto my hands and knees and seconds later the laughter began. All around me people were laughing and some even had their phones out, recording my fall. I turned over into sitting position on the ground to find Jaxon smirking down at me.
"Wow, that was a pretty nasty fall, Melanie." He said smugly.
My eyes narrowed on him. I huffed and stood up, grabbing my folder and text book. I decided to ignore their immature actions and turned towards my class again.
"Oh, what's wrong? You were so confident yesterday, don't tell me you're going back to you old ways." He continued.
I turned to him and shook my head. "Nope, I just thought you might have forgotten that we're in high school, not elementary school. I was going to give you some time figure it out for yourself."
He tilted his head to the side, assessing me. He took a step forward.
"So your inner bitch hasn't left us yet." He stated.
I smiled. "Oh, no honey. She's here to stay."
I finally made my way to first period after finally separating from the crowd of assholes in the hallway.
I met Madison outside of our classroom and we walked in.
"What's wrong? You look ready to kill." She stated as we sat down.
I rolled my eyes. "Just Jaxon being the immature ass that he is."
"Oh." She said in understanding.
"Okay everyone, take out your text books and let's get started right away. Page 76." Mr. Reid said.
The door opened and Jaxon walked in with full confidence.
Mr. Reid sighed. "Just take your seat, Mr. Abbott."
Jaxon saluted before he walked over and sat next to me.
I narrowed my eyes at him before turning front as the lesson began. The teacher began lecturing about the origin of Greek myths as I sat between Madison and Jaxon.
"I'm handing out your chapter 7 worksheets. They're due tomorrow." Mr. Reid said holding a stack of papers.
We still had almost 20 minutes of class so I began answering the questions. I had only made it past question two when I felt someone's eyes burning a hole in my face.
"What do you want, Jaxon?" I asked turning to him.
He was staring at me with a curious look on his face. "I'm just trying to figure you out."
I raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you should worry more about figuring out the answers to these questions. You might have a better chance at succeeding."
"See? Like that. A week ago you were not that clever." He said.
"How would you know? Have you ever taken the time to actually talk to me?" I asked putting my pencil down on my desk.
He opened his mouth to speak but then closed it.
I nodded and started working again.
"That's what I thought."
"Maybe that's because you aren't worth talking to. I tend not to associate myself with weak, pathetic people, like you." He said, his voice was ice cold.
I looked at the clock and saw that the bell was about to ring and I put my work away.
"I think the most pathetic thing, is people who need to find their confidence by making others feel worthless." I stood up as the bell rang and walked out with Madison following closely behind me.
Madison was silent as we walked and only gave a silent wave when we separated. The rest of the day went sort of uneventfully. It seemed like everyone could sense my negative mood and sort of left me alone. I only needed to get through one more period and then I was done.
I made my way into the locker room and turned to the left. Mel said that her P.E. locker was six down. I opened the locker and pulled out a pair of long black shorts and a grey baggy shirt. I wrinkled my nose at the pairing and reached into my backpack, pulling out my own work out clothes. A pair of black shorts that went to about mid-thigh and a turquoise blue work out tank top. I pulled my hair into a messy ponytail.
I changed quickly and put my stuff into the locker. Madison and Rhea came to wait beside me as I finished.
We walked outside with some other students and sat down in the bleachers. There were a few clouds in the sky and a slight breeze. About twenty-five more students came out of the building before the teacher blew the whistle and everyone turned to him. He was really tall and his muscles were extremely defined in his tight shirt.
"Circle up." He said.
Everyone got up from their spots and walked over, forming a circle around him.
"Alright, we're doing soccer today. Two teams; Abbott and James, you're team captains so pick your teams." He said sternly.
I sighed in relief when I heard we were playing soccer. Before my parents began to travel, my father would always take me to the park in our town and we'd play one-on-one. It was his favorite sport, and after bonding with him with every game, it became my favorite too.
Everyone stood around awkwardly as Jaxon and some guy I recognized from my History class went and stood up on the first bench of the bleachers.
"You can pick first, Jax." The guy said crossing his arms over his chest.
"Mc'Donald." Jaxon said unsmiling.
"Kase."
"Brady."
"Cortez."
This went on for another two minutes as they picked through all of the guys and a few of the sportier looking girls. Soon all that was left were frail, skinny girls, plus Madison, Rhea, and me.
We were standing off to the side, waiting for our names to be called.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll forget we're here. Then we won't have to play at all." Madison said nervously.
"Oh, lighten up Maddie. It won't be so bad." I told her.
She looked at me in surprise.
"Maddie?" She repeated.
"Do you prefer Madison?" I asked.
"No, no it's just," she pushed her bangs from her eyes and gave a small smile, "no ones ever given me a nickname before."
I smiled back at her.
"Allen."
"Well, there's no time like the present to get one." I said.
"Allen!"
I jumped and turned towards the rest of the class staring at us.
"What?" I asked in confusion.
"You're on my team." The guy that I didn't yet know the name of said.
"Oh." I bit my lip and walked over to his side.
There were about six or seven girls left to choose from, including my friends. It took maybe another minute before everyone was on a team. Madison and Rhea were both on the other team looking extremely nervous and uncomfortable, as if they had never touched a soccer ball before.
We separated to go over positions.
"Captains, you have two minutes." The teacher said.
"Cameron, I got goalie." Someone said from behind me.
Our captain nodded and I made a mental note to remember that his name was Cameron.
"Okay, I want Hansen, Cortez, and Craig on midfield. Defense will be," Cameron paused and looked at a small girl standing beside me. "What is your name."
"Veronica Wilde." She quietly.
Cameron nodded. "Okay, I want Wilde and Allen on defense."
"Um," I started to speak up but stopped myself.
He stopped and looked at me. "What is it?"
I hesitated but answered anyway. "Can I play forward?"
A couple of the guys laughed and Cameron raised an eyebrow. I pressed my lips together and waited for his answer.
"Why not?" He said and I smiled.
"Okay, so it'll be me, Allen, and Kase on forward. Gregory, you'll be with Wilde on defense." Everyone nodded in agreement just as the teacher was calling us back to the field.
Coach Richmond, as I had heard some people call him, blew his whistle starting the game. There were too many people on the teams so about five from each team had to sit out. I noticed that Maddie and Rhea were also sitting out, much to their delight.
Kase kicked the ball forward and we set off. I moved up past the other team's forwards and kept along as Kase faked out one of the players and passed the ball to Cameron. Cameron kicked the ball to me and I dribbled a couple of feet before the defense came to try and take the it. I was going up against another girl, she was skinny, but definitely fit.
She obviously wasn't a soccer player though, because she spread her legs apart and held her hands up to block me.
This isn't basketball, honey. I thought as I kicked the ball through her legs and swiftly moved around her. The goalie was right in front of me now so I quickly kicked the ball to the left, right as Cameron came up to make the goal.
"Yes!" I cheered to myself with a smile on my face.
Cameron grinned widely and ran over to hi-five me.
"Nice one." He said.
The other team didn't seem too happy about it. In fact, they got a lot more aggressive. The game went on and we were neck and neck the whole time. By the time the final quarter came around, three people were out for injuries, two being from our team, and we were tied 4-4.
Jaxon's team got the kick off this time. They started forward when, suddenly, Jaxon's teammate chipped the ball right past us. Our midfielders went after it as the other team moved in. Two different players went for it and kicked at the same time. The ball flew straight up and one of our defenses head butted it back up to us.
Jaxon watched the ball come towards me before charging. I quickly pushed it up in the direction their goal and started running with it. I could almost feel Jaxon gaining on me. He would slide-tackle me, as he had been doing the whole game, and take the ball any second. The goal was still a few yards ahead of me. I tried thinking of a quick solution and one finally popped into my head. I halted myself and stepped in front of the ball, bringing it to a stop as well. Jaxon zoomed past me a foot or two before realizing what I had done and stopping too. The sudden move had confused him and he turned around, ready to take the ball from me.
In my peripheral vision I saw Kase run up. He was completely open. Unfortunately, Jaxon saw him too. If I tried kicking to Kase, the ball would be blocked for sure. I bit my lip and decided that I only had one choice. I popped the ball up into the air before kicking hard enough to make it over Jaxon's head. Kase ran up behind him and kicked the ball. It soared right into the upper left corner of the goal.
Coach blew the whistle announcing the end of the game and my whole team cheered.
"Yeah!" I yelled throwing my hands in the air.
Cameron ran up and hugged me tightly, lifting me off of the ground. The rest of the team came around us as he put me down.
"We won!" Kase yelled and everyone cheered again.
"Alright, ladies, go get changed." Coach Richmond said.
I rolled my eyes but walked back towards the locker room anyway. Maddie and Rhea ran up and congratulated me on winning.
"That was awesome! I didn't know you played." Rhea exclaimed.
I shrugged. "It's just a hobbie."
"Seriously, that was so cool. You won it for them." Madison said. "Jaxon's team always wins.
I shrugged again, not commenting.
We got dressed back into our regular clothes, after re-applying deodorant and walked back out of the locker room. The bell rang and I waved to them before going off towards the parking lot.
As I made my way there my phone rang. I took it out of my pocket and the word 'Mommy' lit up the screen. A smile broke out onto my face as I answered.
"Hi Mom!" I said happily.
"Hi baby doll, how are you?" Her voice filled my ear and I could feel tears coming on. I really missed her.
"I'm great, how are you? How's dad?" I asked.
"We're getting along just fine. That's actually part of what I wanted to call you about." I heard talking in the background of the call and strained to hear her better.
"What is it mom?" I asked nervously.
"Well, it's good and bad news. You might not like it." She said. I heard her voice a little more clearly.
I waited for her to continue.
"It seems your father's career is taking off!" She said, it sounded like forced enthusiasm.
"I thought his career already took off. That's why I never see you guys." I said. My heart sunk as I thought of what this could mean.
"I know, and I'm sorry. Believe me, I would love to come home to you every day, but this is good for him. For all of us." She said sincerely.
"What's going to happen?" I asked.
"Some producers heard about his success on the conjoined twins in India and they offered him a chance to start an educational, documentary-based television show." She said.
"A show? About him doing surgeries?" I asked.
"Yes. We think it would be a good way to get his name more known. He could help so many people." She said in admiration.
"That's great! Why would you think I wouldn't be happy for him?" I asked her.
"Well, the thing is, filming would start in a month and by the looks of the schedule, we probably won't be able to get down there for thanks giving. Maybe even Christmas." Her voice was quiet and filled with sadness.
My heart dropped more than it had been.
"Oh." I forced out. It felt like there was a ball in the back of my throat and tears burned in my eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Doll. I was hoping so much that we'd be down this year but it doesn't seem likely. But I swear, I will not just give up. I will try my hardest to find a way to make this work and come see you." She rambled on.
"It's okay mom. I understand." I said quietly.
I heard more yelling in the background and she answered back something that I couldn't hear.
She sighed into the phone. "It looks like I need to go for now."
"Okay."
"I will talk to you very soon, baby doll. I promise. I love you." She told me.
"I love you too, mom."
After I made her promise to send dad my love I hung up my phone and put it into my pocket. I then realized that I was stopped in the middle of the hallway. I sighed and turned towards a locker, leaning my head against it. After a few deep breaths I swallowed and mentally told myself that I just needed to hold in the tears until I got to my car.
I blew out a breath and turned to leave when I ran into a wall. Just kidding, it was Jaxon.
The impact made me step back and I hit into the lockers. I composed myself and stood up straight, prepared to try and leave again but Jaxon began speaking.
"What's wrong with you?" He asked referring to my glossy eyes. "You won, didn't you?"
I felt too emotionally drained to come up with a sarcastic response, and all his words did was break down the mental block that I put up to keep me from thinking about my parents. To keep me from crying in the middle of the hallway.
"You know Jaxon, some people have more things to worry about than winning some stupid fucking soccer game." My voice broke and I dropped my head down before quickly moving past him and out of the school.
I barely made it to my car before I broke.
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Wow okay. This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written in my life.
Honestly I was going to split this into two chapters, but I couldn't find a good spot to stop in the middle. Whatever I thought you guys might enjoy this super long chapter.
So let me know what you think. COMMENT and VOTE!!!
Ps. School is ending very very soon so I will be updating all three of my books much more frequently. But please remember, I do have three books! It will not be every day updates. Sorry.
To the side is Brynn/Melanie! She is played by the beautiful Kelli Berglund!!
Anyways, I really liked writing this chapter. However, it is unedited so if you see any mistakes feel free to point them out and I will fix them!
Thanks so much for reading!
Until Next Time.....
~Lori~