It was less than a month before graduation.
At the moment, Alyssa, Brooke, Eli, Chase, Derek and I were sitting in our favorite corner of the library, next to the big windows. We gazed longingly out the window at the sunny Southern California day and wished to go outside and just hang out. But alas, we had finals.
"This is torture," Brooke huffed, sinking in her seat on the couch.
"It should be illegal for college seniors to take finals," Chase said.
"Right? I have no motivation whatsoever to do well on these exams," Derek said.
"Well, I do. Med school still looks at second semester grades to see if you slack off," Eli said.
"Well, that's your's and Sophie's and Derek's problem. That's what you get for wanting to become doctors," Brooke said. I threw my pen at her and she dodged it, making it skid about 10 feet away. She stuck her tongue out at me.
"Go get it!" I hissed.
"You're the one that threw it!" she exclaimed.
"You're closer!" I replied. She rolled her eyes. I let out a sigh of frustration and put my anatomy book down to retrieve my pen. As I passed her, I yanked on her ear and she let out a yelp of pain.
"Jerk," she hissed.
"Right back at you," I replied, sitting back down.
"Guys, act your age. We're a few months from going to grad school," Alyssa said.
"Oh hush, you Psych major," Brooke said, flicking Alyssa on the side of her head. Alyssa swatted her hand away and Brooke laughed. A girl at the table next to our's shushed us. Brooke made a face at her when she turned around and we chuckled slightly.
We all fell into silence and went back to our books for a moment to study. Then Brooke spoke up again.
"Can we get something to eat? I can't concentrate. My stomach wants food," she complained.
"I don't think it's your stomach that's not letting you concentrate," Derek said, shaking his head at her.
"Yes it is! Besides, it's lunch time. We need to take a break," Brooke said. We all sighed.
"She's right. We should eat and then we can get back to studying," Chase said, stretching his arms and back. As he did this, his shirt went up to reveal his sculpted abs. Brooke threw a pillow at him.
"Stop showing off, moron," she said.
"You know you like the view," Chase said, winking at her. She rolled her eyes and threw her books into her bag. We all followed suit and packed up our things, too. Then we got up and exited the library.
I smiled as the California sun kissed my face.
"The weather is just too cruel," Alyssa whimpered, shielding her eyes from the sudden brightness of the sun.
"It's so gorgeous out," I agreed.
"Man, I want to hit up the beach," Derek said, shifting his backpack on one shoulder.
"That sounds so good right now," Eli said.
"We should study at the beach," Chase suggested. We all laughed. Like hell that would happen.
"Well, let's look at it this way. In less than three weeks, we'll have graduated and be on our way to Spain," Brooke said. We all started speaking at once in excitement.
"Oh my God, I cannot wait for this trip," Alyssa said.
"It's going to be epic," Derek agreed.
"It'll be a summer worth remembering, that's for sure," Eli said.
"I'm so glad that this is actually happening," Brooke said, her hazel eyes wide.
"I know. We've been talking about doing this since, like, freshman year. And now it's actually going to happen," I said.
"We've been talking about it for even longer than that," Brooke added, nudging me with her hip. I smiled at her.
Brooke and I had been best friends since high school. I remember the day I met her.
She was the new girl in the school. She hadn't graduated middle school with everyone else because she had previously lived in New York City with her mother, who was an aspiring Broadway actress. Apparently, Brooke's mother was also an alcoholic and one day, things took a turn for the worse for Brooke. So she it was decided that she would come live in California with her father, who was a wealthy business man that had absolutely no time for family.
She had a pretty rough family life, but she never let on about it. When she came to our high school for the first time, she made sure she made an entrance. The day she walked in, she was wearing a pair of tight black skinny jeans, a low-cut ruffle tank, and nude stilletto heels. She was the definition of fabulous and all the guys wanted her.
Just my luck, so did my boyfriend. His name was Craig and he cheated on me with her. But he had told her that he was single. However, when she found out that this was a lie, she had made it her goal to find who he had cheated on and apologize.
She had marched up to me during lunch one day, wearing yet other one of her fabulous outfits. She put her foot up on the bench and leaned forward.
"Are you Sophia Joslin?" she asked. I looked her up and down and glared at her. I did not want to talk to her.
"Yes, and you must be the new slut," I replied viciously. Her eyes flashed with anger, but then calm restored on her face.
"I guess I deserve that," she muttered. She swung her leg over the bench and sat down, straddling the bench. "Look, I found out that that Craig kid cheated on you. And it's kind of my fault," she had said. I looked at her, confused. "I just wanted to apologize and tell you that I'm willing to help you make his life hell if you want because I'm actually pretty good at that," she continued. I gaped at her incredulously. The queen slut was apologizing to me? That's not how high school was supposed to work. Who was this chick?
"So, what do you say? Water balloon him as he walks out from the locker rooms or draw tiny penises on his car with red lipstick?" she asked me. I burst out laughing and she continued to look at me with her serious face.
"Neither. But thanks for offering," I said. She smiled at me and leaned forward slightly.
"I really am sorry, though. The scumbag told me he was single and well, he was hot, so I went with it. I should have known better, though," she said.
"It's all right. He was a jack ass anyway. It was bound to happen. If not with you, then with someone else," I said. She beamed at me.
"So we're cool?" she asked. I nodded.
"We're cool," I replied.
"Wicked. I'm Brooklyn by the way. You can call me Brooke," she said.
"I'm Sophia, but I guess you already knew that," I replied. She grinned and stood up.
"It was nice meeting you, Sophia. I'm glad we cleared things up," she said. I nodded and she walked away to go sit at an empty table. I frowned as I looked at her. She was so gorgeous, but the sight was somewhat disheartening. She looked so lonely.
So I did the right thing and I stood up, leaving my own friends to go sit with her. And just like that, I had made friends with the girl that would be by side for the rest of our lives.
"One plus side of leaving this school is that we can stop eating this horrible cafeteria food," Chase said, stretching out the cheese on his pizza. "This cheese is stretchier than a rubber band," he said, setting the slice down and cleaning his hands on a napkin.
"Your face is stretchier than a rubber band," Brooke said.
"What the hell is that even supposed to mean?" Chase asked as we laughed.
"Well, let's see," she said, reaching out and grabbing his cheek, pulling at it. He yelled in anger and slapped her hand away. Chase hated it when anyone touched his face. He claimed it made him break out.
"Acne is a huge turn off for girls," he had told us once when we made fun of him.
"I'm excited to eat some legit Italian food," Eli said, poking at his French fries.
"Dude, your mom is Italian," Derek said.
"My mom can't make toast," Eli replied. We chuckled and nodded in agreement. This was true. We had gone to Eli's house once for Thanksgiving break and after his mother burnt the turkey in the oven, we all decided to go out to Olive Garden and have dinner.
"Ugh, I have the world's biggest headache right now," Brooke complained, rubbing her temples.
"You always say that," Alyssa said, rolling her eyes. Brooke closed her eyes, her face turning slightly pale. I glanced at her worriedly.
"You are the world's biggest headache," Chase said snarkily. She elbowed him in the side, her eyes still closed. We all looked at her and exchanged glances when she didn't open her eyes.
Suddenly, she got up.
"I need to take a nap. I'll see you guys later," she said, walking away abruptly.
"What the hell is her problem?" Chase asked as we looked after her.
"She said she hasn't been feeling that well lately," I said.
"It bet it's because she ate at that shady Mexican restaurant that one day," Derek suggested. We muttered in agreement, but I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. She had been quite irritable lately and she was usually in a relatively good mood.
"Well, back to the books," Alyssa said after a few moments. We all got up and walked out of the cafeteria.
"Hey, I'm going to go check on Brooke to see if she's all right," I said, adjusting my bag on my shoulder.
"We'll be in the library. Tell her to take Tylenol or something," Derek said.
"Do you want someone to come with you?" Eli asked as the other began walking away. I smiled at him softly and shook my head.
"Nah, I'm just going to check in on her and then I'll meet up with you afterwards," I said. He smiled at me and squeezed my elbow before walking off. I felt my heart flutter slightly at his gentle touch and then cleared my mind.
Brooke. I was going to check on Brooke.
I turned on my heel and began walking towards my apartment, which wasn't too far off the main campus.
"Hey, Sophia!" I heard someone call. I turned to see a pretty blonde haired girl named Debbie, who was the girl in charge of one of the sororities on campus, wave at me. I waved back.
"Hey, Deb," I said, as she walked up to me.
"God, can you believe we have to study when it's this nice out?" she asked. I shrugged and smiled uncomfortably at her. Alyssa was in her sorority, which is how we knew each other. I never really liked her, though. She was a bit of a bimbo.
"Yeah, it sucks," I agreed.
"Are you coming out tomorrow night? The girls were going to hit up the club or something, you know, to like, relax," she said. I shook my head.
"I don't think so. I've got so much to study. I'm not getting anything done," I said. She frowned dramatically.
"Aww. That sucks," she said. "Well, anyway, good luck!" she said.
"Thanks, you too," I replied as she walked off, her wavy hair bouncing behind her. I rolled my eyes and continued towards my apartment.
When I got inside, the lights were off and the curtains that covered the balcony door windows were drawn. I saw Brooke's bag sitting next to the small dining table. Brooke herself was passed out on the couch, her arm thrown over her eyes. I sat at the end of the couch where her feet were. She stirred and glanced at me.
"What?" she groaned, putting her arm back over her eyes. She was cranky. She always was when she got her headaches.
"I wanted to see if you were doing all right," I said.
"I'm fine, Soph. Go study," she mumbled.
"Are you sure? You've been looking kind of sick lately," I said.
"It's just stress," she replied, her voice muffled.
"I still think you should go to the campus medical center," I said. She shook her head under her arm.
"I don't need to. I'm fine," she said.
"Brooke..." I started.
"Soph. Seriously. I just want to take a nap. When I wake up, I'll be fine," she said, her voice sharp. I bit my lip. I still wasn't convinced, but it was no use arguing with her right now.
"Did you take Tylenol or anything?" I asked her.
"Too tired," she mumbled. I sighed and got up and went to the kitchen. I pulled the bottle of aspirin ou of the medicine cabinet and poured her a glass of water. I set it down in front of her. She got up slowly and grabbed the pill, downing it in one gulp. She looked at me, her eyes tired and her face gaunt. She really did look sick.
"Thanks, Soph. Sorry I'm such a bitch to you," she said, her voice hoarse. I patted the side of her face.
"Go to sleep, Brooke. I'll be back in a few hours," I said. She lay back down and I got up.
As I walked out of our apartment, I felt a small feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.
Brooke was my best friend. I couldn't imagine what I'd do if something happened to her.
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A/N: There it is, everyone! Chapter 1!!! I think it's a pretty good start. What about you guys?
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