Chapter 8: Quite Frankly
Sterling’s Point of View
I flipped positions in my bed for probably the millionth time tonight. I knew that the faster I went to sleep, the faster the day would end, but my body refused to succumb to slumber. I glanced at the clock that read ‘1:58’ and groaned. Would this nightmare of a day ever be over?
I thought back to last night. Bren actually trusted me enough to tell me why she was upset when she hadn’t trusted me with anything in a long time. She actually let me hold her in my arms. She even asked me to stay, which I hadn’t expected at all. I’m going on and on about this stuff like a fourteen year old school girl. What is wrong with me? I already knew the answer to that question though; I had been through this before. Oddly enough, this thought caused a smile to spread slowly over my face and sleep finally came to me.
***
How is it time to get up already? I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands as I sat up in my bed. The memories of yesterday came flooding back to me. My day started off with being grounded for two weeks and no phone. Then after my little fight with Grey, my punishment was extended to four weeks and they took my TV away as well. My parents literally removed my TV from my bedroom. Who even does that? What could I possibly do for a whole month at my house? The only other time I wouldn’t be home would be when I was at school or basketball practice. This whole situation was ridiculous, honestly; I was just trying to help out a friend.
I slowly climbed out of my bed and staggered to the bathroom, still half asleep. I turned on the water and stepped into the steaming shower. The hot water made me want to curl up and go back to sleep, so I finished up as quickly as I could. I wrapped a towel around my waist and walked back to my bedroom. I pulled on my black, ‘Please Don’t Feed the Models’ t shirt and some jeans.
I ambled my way down to the kitchen to eat some breakfast. I had just pulled out the box of Lucky Charms when my mom walked into the kitchen, phone in hand.
“Brian is on the phone, Sterling,” my mom told me.
“Your point being?” I retorted as I poured a heaping amount of cereal into a bowl. It’s not like Brennan’s father would be calling for me.
“He wants to talk to you,” she replied as she held out the phone for me to take. I looked at her with a mixture of suspicion and shock for a moment before taking the phone. She gave me a look that said ‘behave or else’ and walked back out of the room.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Sterling. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be picking Brennan up from school while I’m home. I really appreciate you giving her rides when she needs them though. Actually, I’m sending her with some gas money to give you today.”
“Mr. Shaw, I really don’t mind giving her rides, it’s right on my way home. Besides, it doesn’t make sense to have you drive and pick her up every day when I’m already there,” I said as politely as I could muster. I was barely going to see Bren now as it was, I didn’t want to miss out on bringing her home from school too.
“Thanks for the offer, Sterling, but I don’t mind,” he paused for a moment, like he was debating something in his mind. “Quite frankly, I don’t like you being around her. I didn’t like it much before and I especially don’t like it now; not after what you did to her. I’m only going to tell you this nicely once, stay away from her!”
“I don’t think I can do that, sir,” I spat. “Bren and I are friends and quite frankly, I care about what happens to her.”
“Well as her father, I have to do what I think is best for her and you’re definitely not it,” he replied, his building anger evident in his voice.
“Again, I disagree with you. I don’t know how you think you would know what’s best for her. You’re never home. Besides, Bren isn’t a little kid. I think she’s old enough to decide whom she is and isn’t friends with,” I shot back and felt my hands clenching into fists. Mr. Shaw never liked me.
“It’s never just friends with guys like you, Sterling. I was your age once, I know how you think.”
“You don’t know me at all, Mr. Shaw. You’re barely around enough to know your own daughter, let alone her friends,” I snarled and hung up the phone, before he could respond.
“Sterling! That better not be Brian you’re talking to like that!” my mom declared as she marched back into the kitchen, hands on her hips.
“Well it was,” I said gruffly and stormed past her back up the stairs.
I walked down the hallway until I reached Greyson’s room and knocked. “Grey, I’m leaving in five minutes whether you’re ready or not.”
I didn’t wait for his reply, but headed to my room and opened the door. I quickly gathered up my things for school and my car keys, before heading back down to my truck. I wrenched open the door and hauled myself on to the seat. I just stared at the white garage door in front of me, while I tightly gripped the steering wheel. I finally got Bren to trust me and now her father is telling me to keep away from her. Every time it seemed like things were improving, it would all come crashing back down again.
“Dude, you okay?” Grey asked with a frown as he climbed into the passenger seat.
I just nodded my head and backed out of the driveway. We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Then Grey broke it. “What actually happened with Bren Saturday night?”
I sighed, but decided to fill him in. He was quiet for a moment after I finished.
"Her dad found you guys? He barely tolerates Bren and I being alone in her room and he likes me. He must have been furious,” Grey finally responded as we pulled up to the school.
“I’m surprised he didn’t rip my head off or something, honestly,” I remarked as I parked the truck. We both hopped out and strode towards the school.
“Me too,” Grey agreed. “What was Bren upset about anyway?”
“I’m not doing this to be a jerk, but I think she should tell you. It’s not really my business to tell,” I replied truthfully. He just nodded slightly.
We had reached the doors by then and I pulled them open. I walked through and Greyson followed closely behind me.
“Actually, you can ask her now,” I added as I noticed Bren rifling through her locker down the hallway. She was wearing dark blue jeans and a grey hoodie that looked way too big for her. I frowned slightly as I tried to think where I had seen it before. Her long, blonde hair was wavy and cascaded down her back. I had to fight the strong urge to stride over there and run my fingers through it.
“Yeah, I think I’ll do that. Thanks.” Greyson clapped his hand on my back before he strolled over to Bren, breaking me out of my thoughts for what seems like the millionth time this week. I shook my head. I hate being this spacey.
There was nothing I needed out of my locker, so I headed straight to Calculus and sat in my normal seat. There was still quite a bit of time left until class started, so I was the only one there besides my teacher and Gordon.
“Hey, Gordon,” I turned around and greeted him. “How was your weekend?”
He seemed kind of surprised that I was talking to him, but he adjusted his glasses and responded, “Pretty good, I guess. You?”
“Well, Saturday night was amazing, but Sunday kind of ruined it for me. I got grounded for a month.”
“That sucks. I’m guessing since you’re sitting there that you and Brennan worked things out?” Gordon asked and he looked genuinely interested in the answer.
“Yeah, we did. She might be mad at me for something else now though,” I sighed.
Gordon chuckled. “Dude, you’re just never going to win with this girl, are you?”
“I’m starting to think that,” I agreed with a smirk. Our conversation was cut short due to Bren’s arrival at that moment.
“Hi, Sterling,” she greeted me cheerily as she plopped down in the seat beside me.
“Hey. I’m guessing you’re not mad at me?” I asked with a note of hopefulness to my voice.
“No, of course not! You were there for me when I needed someone. What happened after that was just bad luck,” she replied simply.
“You’re the best, Bren,” I told her with a grin. I eyed her sweatshirt again. Why did it look so familiar to me? Bren noticed me staring and looked down at the sweater too.
“Oh, yeah, you forgot this at my house Saturday night,” she told me as she started to pull it off.
“It’s alright, you can wear it. You look much better in it than I do,” I said with a wink and I smirked as I saw a faint blush creep up her cheeks.
“Thanks,” she replied quietly. I glanced at her again. It filled me with an odd sense of joy to see her wearing my sweater.
Bren looked at me curiously, her blue eyes twinkling. “What are you grinning about?”
“Nothing,” I muttered, even though I knew she probably wouldn’t buy it.
I was saved from her interrogation when the idiot Carson walked in. I saw the change in her eyes immediately. I wasn’t sure what that look meant, but I was sure as hell gonna find out.
I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “What did he do?”
I could see her body tense up, but she avoided my gaze and muttered, “Nothing.”
“I can tell when you’re lying, Bren, even if you aren’t looking at me.” I cupped her face and gently turned her to look at me. “You know you can tell me anything.”
I watched her features soften and she sighed, “I’ll tell you later, ‘kay?”
“Alright.” I grinned smugly and I turned towards the front of the classroom just as the bell rang.
“You know I hate you sometimes, right?” Bren muttered causing my grin to widen even more.
"Ouch! That stung a bit there,” I told her as I jokingly clutched my heart.
"Good,” she replied bitterly. Brennan absolutely hated that I knew how to get her to tell me anything.
I burst into laughter and earned a glare from Mrs. Stevenson, so I swiftly quieted down. I glanced over at Brennan to see her smirking, which caused me to smile even more. Just being around her always turned a bad day into a good one.