Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
Yawn and stretch and try to come to life.
~ Dolly Parton "9 to 5"
The sun hadn't quite risen when Brooklyn woke up for school on Monday. It was the first day of school, and Brooklyn was less than enthused about it. Sure, she would be able to see all of her friends throughout the day, but school always came with the added pressures of her advanced classes and extracurricular activities. And she couldn't even smoke with Seth to de-stress because the varsity soccer team had random mandatory drug tests throughout the season.
Brooklyn sighed and got out of bed. She stumbled over to her dresser and pulled out some fresh clothes. Once she was dressed, she went to the mirror and ran a brush through her hair a few times, and then put on a couple coats of mascara. Brooklyn glanced at the clock to make sure she had time to eat, and then she went to the kitchen to grab some breakfast.
She entered the kitchen to see her brother sitting at the table devouring a box of cereal. Brooklyn rolled her eyes and decided to get toast. She and Paul hadn't been on the best of terms lately. Ever since the night of the party that she had gone to with Seth last week, he had been acting really weird. His usually short hair was even shorter, his already buff physique had become even more buff, and he had a brand new tribal tattoo. Not to mention he had begun spending most of his time with Sam Uley.
Brooklyn didn't like Sam Uley. Growing up with Seth as a best friend meant that she had spent a lot of time at his house, and subsequently, she had developed a relationship akin to friendship with Seth's sister, Leah Clearwater. Leah and Sam had dated for about three years before, out of nowhere, he cut off all his hair, got a tattoo, and began dating her cousin. Sure Brooklyn and Leah weren't really close, but she was Seth's family, and Sam Uley had destroyed Leah's self-esteem and caused her to develop some serious trust issues. So, yeah, Brooklyn was definitely not a fan of Sam Uley.
Brooklyn was snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of her toast popping out of the toaster. She quickly buttered her toast and grabbed her bag. She finished eating as she walked to school. Normally, Paul would have driven her, but since he graduated and started acting like a total dick, she hadn't really wanted to be stuck in a car with him for the few minutes it would take for them to arrive at the school.
As Brooklyn approached the entrance to La Push High School, she scanned the crowd for familiar faces. Not seeing any, she sighed and continued on to look for her homeroom, so that she could receive her schedule for the year.
"Hey! Lil' Fish! Brooke!"
She turned to greet whoever was shouting at her, and came face-to-face with Shawn.
"Oh. Hi, Shawn."
"I remembered this time," he grinned.
"What?" she asked confusedly.
"Your last name. It's Fisher, not Lahote."
"Right," she laughed in response. "It only took you three and a half years of knowing me for you to remember."
Shawn smirked and said "So I heard your brother started roiding it up with Sam Uley. Some of the guys were saying that he won't hang out with them anymore. I guess that makes me a trendsetter— because he stopped talking to me way before that."
Brooklyn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess he is. Also I'm not sure that being unfriended is really something you should be proud of."
"That's what you think, but I choose to be proud of everything I do. I'm fucking fantastic," Shawn said cockily.
"One time I saw you eat pizza out of a trashcan. Like it had literal trash on it."
"I stand by that. I am a living legend," replied Shawn.
"Yeah... sure you are," said Brooklyn. "I gotta go to class."
Brooklyn didn't wait for Shawn to reply before hurriedly moving down the hallway and entering her intended destination. Unfortunately, Seth's homeroom was in a different class, so she had yet to see him that day. She sat down in a random desk just as the bell rang.
The school day passed relatively quickly. Unfortunately, she came to realize that she didn't have any classes with Seth, but she did get to sit with him at lunch along with the rest of their friends. She wasn't that surprised though— she had signed up for a lot of advanced classes, while Seth had opted for easier classes. He wasn't that into school. If she was being honest, neither was she— her mom had been the one to push her towards a more academic route. Her mom had tried to do the same with Paul, and he had graduated ninth in his class, but ultimately he had decided not to apply to any colleges. Instead he opted to take a gap year in hopes of figuring out what he wanted to do with his life.
It wasn't as if Brooklyn didn't want to go to college. She really hoped to one day, but the older she got, the more competitive academics became, and the more aware she became of her family's financial situation. They weren't poor, but her mother worked more than most of her friend's parents did. She was a single mother with two kids, and Brooklyn's father's child support checks only helped so much— Paul's father didn't no longer needed to send child support (not that he had ever really done in the first place), so that didn't help. Brooklyn was thankful for everything her mother had done for her and Paul, so she was doing her best to secure not only a spot in a university, but a scholarship as well. There was no way she could go to college without one. At least not without asking her father, and even then, she doubted he cared about her enough to help like that.
"Seth!" Brooklyn called out. He had just come out of his last class. They had plans to hang out after school seeing as the first day never yielded much homework.
"Hey," Seth smiled at her. "Leah just texted me. She said that she got called into work. That means we have the house to ourselves for an hour until my dad comes home from work."
Brooklyn loved spending time alone with Seth. Not to sound too codependent, but he was her favorite person in the whole world, and she looked forward to the time they spent together— this feeling had only intensified as their relationship became more romantic in nature.
Some time later, Brooklyn was laying in Seth's bed with her head on his chest. His hand was stroking her bare shoulder. Brooklyn wished that she could freeze this moment— she wanted to remember it forever and revisit it should anything ever change.
"Are you sure Leah won't notice that we stole some of her condoms?" Brooklyn asked.
"She hasn't needed them since Sam broke up with her," Seth replied. "And even if she did still need them, I don't think she counts them. I've been stealing them from her drawer for months... like before they broke up even. She hasn't said anything about it."
Brooklyn opened her mouth to respond, but their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the garage door opening.
"Crap. I totally lost track of time," Seth said as he moved to get dressed. Brooklyn scrambled to redress and fix her hair. Just as she sat back down on the bed— fully clothed this time— Harry Clearwater knocked on the door.
"Come in," shouted Seth. His cheeks were a bit flushed, but other than that, Brooklyn saw no signs of their previous activities.
"Hey Harry," Brooklyn greeted as Seth's father poked his head into the room.
"Hello there, Brooke," he replied with a warm smile. "Seth, your mother told me to tell you that you have to help prepare dinner tonight. She's running a little later than usual."
Seth rolls his eyes, "Alright. It's nice to see you too, dad."
"Sorry, hello Seth. How was the first day of Sophomore year?," Harry laughs heartily.
"It was fine. Kind of boring," Seth replied.
"I should probably head home. It was nice seeing you, Harry. I'll see you later, Seth," Brooklyn said as she gathered her bag. She gave Seth one last look and mouthed a quick "Love you." behind Harry's back before exiting the room, and beginning her walk home.
She was just past the beach when she heard rustling coming from the trees. Whipping her head around to see what made the noise, Brooklyn saw a flash of what looked like brown fur. It was probably just a deer, she shrugged it off and continued home.
"Mom, I'm home," she called as she entered the house.
"In the kitchen," her mom called out.
Brooklyn dropped her bag on the living room floor—she'd come back for it later. She walked into the kitchen and was greeted by the sight of her mom stirring something on the stove.
"I'm making pasta. Want to help?" her mom asked.
"Sure," Brooklyn obliged. She didn't get to spend very much time with her mom— they were both very busy people. She walked over to the counter and began chopping the vegetables that her mom had laid out.
"So, how was your first day of school?"
Brooklyn shrugged, "Not too bad. I don't have any classes with Seth, but I got to see some of my other friends which was nice."
"Do you still hang out with Heather? She's such a nice girl," her mom said.
"Yeah, sometimes. We don't really hang out outside of school anymore, but she's in my Algebra class, so maybe I'll see more of her this year," replied Brooklyn.
Her mom moved to put the pasta into two bowls, so Brooklyn grabbed a couple of forks.
"Is Paul eating with us tonight?" she asked her mom.
"No, he said he was going to eat at his friend Sam's house."
Brooklyn rolled her eyes at the mention of Sam Uley.
"What was that for?" her mom questioned.
"What was what for?" Brooklyn countered.
"You rolled your eyes," her mom answered. "Do you have an issue with Sam?"
"I dunno. I guess I still haven't gotten over what he did to Leah. And now he's turning Paul into his carbon copy. Like they have the same haircut and matching tattoos! They've only been hanging out for like a week! It's weird," Brooklyn ranted.
Her mom shrugged. "Yeah it does sound kind of weird when you put it like that, but Paul's a grown man, and I raised him to know what's right, just like I'm raising you to know what's right. And as of right now, he hasn't given me enough reason to intervene. He needs to make his own choices, and he's going to experience the consequences of any bad choices that he makes. I can't baby him forever. Now, let's eat. I had a long day at work, and I'm ready to be off my feet."
One thing that Brooklyn realized while eating with her mother, is that family dinners felt a lot sadder with only two people. It wasn't the same without Paul, and his empty chair only served as a reminder that he wasn't there. Brooklyn furrowed her brow at this thought. It had only been a week, so there was still hope that he'd go back to being his old self. She missed the version of him who used to slide funny notes under her door when she was grounded, and who would make her a milkshake with extra whipped cream when she had a bad day at school. Now, she felt like she barely knew her brother, he was a lot angrier than he used to be (he always had a short fuse, but now every little thing seemed to set him off), and he was rarely home. They had always been pretty close, neither of them cared that they only shared one parent in common. It had never impacted their relationship.
Brooklyn finished eating her dinner, and asked to be excused. She grabbed her bag off the living room floor, and brought it to her room so she could work on the few "Getting to Know You" exercises that some of her new teachers had asked their classes to complete. After filling out the worksheets, she pulled out her phone and texted Seth.
B: are you busy?
She waited only a few seconds before receiving a reply.
S: no why?
She quickly typed a response.
B: i'm bored and i miss u
Her phone dinged with another response.
S: date night saturday? if you don't have too much homework
Brooklyn smiled at her phone.
B: i could never be too busy for you. i love you.
The reply was almost immediate.
S: i love you too. i gotta go to bed. it's late and we have school tomorrow.
She replied with a brief text.
B: k. goodnight. see u tomorrow :)
With that, she plugged her phone in to charge, and got ready for bed.