I was lonely. All that I had ever wanted was to have someone love me. For somebody to feel lost without me. To have a Soulmate I guess you would say. But I don't tell anybody that. Totally ruin my bad girl reputation. And we would not be having that.

"Brooke! You need to leave for school!" My mom hollered.

God! She was such a pain! Didn't she understand that I could tell time?! Gosh.

"I know, mom! I'm getting my keys!"

Silence.

Go figure. She always did stuff like that. Whatever. I grabbed my keys off my desk and headed for the door.

"Bye honey!" Mom yelled after me.

I slammed the door. Let her chew on that for a while. Ha! I get into my unnecessary Mercedes. I didn't even want one. Her and her stupid new husband Phil bought me one for my birthday. Ugh. Phil. The name even sounds lame! It's not just me. Whatever. Concentrate on getting to school in this stupid car. I don't see why their so expensive. Their just an average car. God dang. Just ran a red light. Whoops! Oh well. Just get to prison. Er-- School.

* * * * * *

I park my car pretty close to the building. I get out, lock the doors, and start walking into school. Uhh. This sucks! Whatever. I walk into the school and everybody clears their way for me and look like if they came to close that I would bite. I smile. Good. But as a continue down the hallway, I start to hear the whispers.

"I heard that she's tried to commit suicide…..,"

"I heard the she's gone to juvy…..,"

Why were people saying this? It's not like I go to school decked out in black. I wear a leather jacket. That's the only black I wear! Oh people are very strange. As I walk farther down the hallway, I see one person in my path. He was new but knew some people her. His friends are looking at him like he was insane, but he just stood there, smiling at me. So I decided to walk right up to him. I stopped inches from his face. It was quiet all around us. But when I looked into his eyes, everybody else disappeared. He looked as if the same thing was happening to him. And we just stood there staring at each other. He had dark brown hair like me and her wore it half spiky and half down. He had dark green eyes. They would look pretty good with my light blue ones. And he was tan! Like me! He tried to move closer to me so I moved a little away. No matter how cute he was, I couldn't let my guard down. So, when he tried to touch my face, I snapped right out of what was happening and slapped his face so hard, it started turning red almost instantly. I gave him a death glare and made sure I bumped his soldier as I walked away. Everybody was so shocked they couldn't even laugh at him. Bummer. That's just so dumb. I mean they think that i've been to juvy for goodness sake! Why are they so shocked that I slapped someone?! Whatever. I better get to class.

So I continue walking down the hall listening to all of the whispers.

"Oh my god. Drew is totally into her! Why did she have to punch him and ruin it for herself?! Oh well, at least he's still single. I should totally ask him out!"

For some strange reason, this kind of bothered me. I felt kind of protective of him. Why? I don't want to. I am not falling for him, I told myself. No. I can't be. But why do I still feel so protective over this new kid. He hangs out with the crowd that I hate. The little popular crowd. And no, I am not one of those people that just hates on the popular kids because they don't give me the time of day. No. I could honestly care less. They can do whatever they want. The thing that really irritates me is that they all walk around like their cooler than everybody. Which I guess technically is true. But whatever. I just hate how that they think they can boss everybody around because their daddy is rich. It just irritates me. But enough about that. It's time for class. History. Uhh, I hate High School. So of course I am late to class and there is only one seat to left. So I apologize to the teacher for being late and sit down. So the teacher starts talking when I see someone hand me a note. I open it up.

It says, "So the teacher gets an apology when your late, but I don't get one when you slap me? Interesting how things with you work with you. -Drew"

I look behind me. Unbelievable. Of course he would be in my class. I am sitting here debating whether or not to write him a note back when I get another one.

This one says, "Hey just kidding. I don't mind. You've got quite an arm on you. Wanna hang out Friday? I heard about this great restaurant in town. So, what so you say? -Drew"

I sit here in disbelief. Is he honestly asking me out after I slapped him? Couldn't he tell that I wasn't interested? So I pull out a piece of paper. And I start writing.

"Sorry. Not interested. So why don't you go and hit on a girl that actually cares. -Brooke"

I pass it back to him. And I look at his expression as he reads it. He's SMILING. Smiling. What was up with this guy?! My thoughts were interrupted by Mrs. Anderson as she called out my name. God. I wasn't listening at all.

"Yes?" I reply.

"Your partner for the project with be Drew. He's new. Drew please stand up and introduce yourself to the class."

Drew stands up and introduces himself.

So he came here all the way from Alaska. How was he so tan?

"Drew this is your partner for the project. Her name's Brooke." Mrs. Anderson said.

"Oh, we've met." Drew says with a devious smile. Guys.

"Well then, perfect! You two already know each other! That's great."

Oh. My. God. I cannot believe that Mrs. Anderson would partner me up with Drew. Could she not tell that I didn't like him? At all?!

"Actually, Mrs. Anderson, I am sure there is somebody else that wants to be partners with him. I will do this project alone! Please!"

"Ms. Greene. Don' t be rude. Drew is new here and your the only one in here that he knows. And besides, If you switched partners, it would totally mess up my system! You and Drew are partners, and that's that."

God. I always hated when teachers treated me like I was their child. It really irritated me! Well, no sense in arguing with her now. So I just said,

"Okay."

I turn around and look at Drew. I scribble my number on a piece of paper, and hand it to him.

"Here. Since we have to do this thing together were doing it at my house. Call me and i'll give you directions."

Then I simply turned around and sat back down in my chair cutting off whatever he was about to say. But I felt a sudden little spark of happiness, and realized that I was smiling. I immediately blushed and noticed that everyone was staring. Oh boy. I was going to have to put on full brat mode.

"What! What are you looking at?!" I gave them all a dirty look before they flushed and turned their attention back to the teacher.

I situated myself and looked straight ahead the rest of the period. When the bell rang I picked up my books, and walked out as fast as I could. Apparently, it wasn't fast enough. I felt somebody grab my arm.

"What the-"

It was Drew. Wow, so not who I was wanting to see. I stopped dead in my tracks and stood there looking at my arm and then looking at him. He saw what I was getting at and let go of my arm.

"Did you need something?" I asked him, not so nicely.

"Oh um, I just wanted to know if you changed your mind about Friday?"

Actually, I had thought about it. Some part of me wanted to know more about him, but then another part of me wanted to say no, and just stay home. And then I heard myself saying,

"Well, I didn't really think about changing my mind. But i'll let you know, okay?"

What did I just say?! Oh my gosh, I just cannot believe that I just said that. Whatever. So I quickly turn away and walk to my next class. It was going to be a long day.


I went home for lunch that day. I didn't want to deal with people. So I just went home. And partly because I was avoiding Drew. How could I let my guard down like that? I can't believe the words popped out of my out without me even wanting them to. So of course, i'm embarrassed. And the day was a little slow after lunch. I went to all my classes, and by the end of the day, I had learned that I had the grand total of four classes with Drew. Four. That was a lot. Not that I was affected by it. But when I walked outside, you'll never guess who was leaning against my car with his backpack over his shoulders. Yup. You guessed it. Drew. Looking as cute as ever. Wait. Did I just think that? What's going on with me?! I think i'm falling for him. Oh no. This isn't good. Especially when I found myself saying,

"So I made up my mind about Friday. I want to go. It could be fun." And then I smiled at him.

He smiled right back and grabbed my hand. Mistake. Snapped me right out of it.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaim as I snatch my hand away. "Just because I agreed to one date, does NOT meant that we are dating."

"Oh. Okay." He said simply, but I could see the little hurt in his eyes, that was gone so fast, I wondered if I had even seen it at all. I decided I did.

"Hey. Sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. It just kind of freaked me out."

And then I thought that he probably needed a ride home.

So I asked simply, "Need a ride?"

"Actually, yeah. Thanks." So I nodded toward the passenger seat and he got in.

"So what way?" I asked him.

"Your house." Did I hear him correctly? Because I was almost sure that I hadn't.

"W-What?" I stammered.

"Your house." He said again.

"Um, why are we going to my house exactly?"

"To work on the project. It seems a little hard, so we should start early. And it gives us a little bit to kind of get to know each other, before Friday."
Huh. Well that kind of made sense.Well, it couldn't hurt. Right?

"Oh. Okay. My house it is!" I said with a shaky laugh. God. I was so stupid. But when I looked over, I didn't see any teasing in his eyes, or rudeness. But what I saw, was care. And kindness. Not teasing at all. That was nice.

"Mind if I turn on the radio?" He asked me politely. He was really nice. I liked him.

"No, go right ahead." He turned it on, and an up beat kind of song came on and when I looked over, he was moving his lips to the words, but silently. He's shy! He didn't have to be shy around me. And I knew the song anyways so I turned it up really loud, rolled down the windows, and started singing along laughing at myself as I did. Wow, I thought. He makes me happy. And silly. I really, really like him. And when I looked over once again, he was smiling at me before he finally joined me and was sang and laughed until I pulled into the driveway and pulled the keys out of the ignition. I smiled as I looked over at him. He was smiling too. We were so comfortable around each other. There weren't any of those well known and hated awkward silences. It all just came naturally.
"So just a heads up before we go in. My mom is a little hyper so you can just ignore her. And my step dad, Phil, will be home soon. He's really weird. Trust me." I explained to him. He laughed. I was serious though.

"Sounds normal compared to my family. Their crazy. Not weird. Probably crazier than your parents. I'm willing to make a bet about it."

"A bet, hmm? That could be interesting…," I trailed off. This was gonna be fun.

"20 bucks?" He offered.

"Alright. But let's make this interesting. Loser pays 25 bucks and buys Ice Cream!" Making things interesting.

He changed the position he was standing in kind of putting his hip a little to the side and putting one hand on his cheek and the other under his elbow like he was considering turning this perfect offer down. He was obviously joking around. Finally, he straightened up and said,

"Your on." I smiled.

We just stood there for a few minutes joking around having a great time until we heard somebody.

"Brooke? Is that you out there?" My mom called.

"Yeah mom, it's me. And a friend from school. We got assigned to do a project together."

"How wonderful! Please do come inside. I'll make you some snacks!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

Oh. My. God. Could she be any more embarrassing?! Snacks? I felt my face turn redder than a tomato. When I look at Drew though, he was chuckling. And then he looked at me and saw that I was embarrassed.

"Hey. My mom is the same way. No need to be embarrassed. Especially around me." Why did he make me like him?!

"Alright. Should we go inside now?" I asked.

"Sure."

So we walked up the front steps into my house. On the outside it looked like a mini White House. Yeah. We did live in one of those houses. We were what you considered rich. Thankfully he was the first person i've had over that went to our school, so as long as he didn't have a big mouth, nobody would know. As I was thinking this I looked over at Drew to see what he was thinking. He didn't look like he was in awe like most people usually were. He looked like he was just walking into any others persons house. That was a first.

I honestly couldn't stop myself from asking, "So what do you--" Just then my mom walked up and greeted us.

She walked right up to him and offered her hand, saying, "Barbara Greene. But you may call me Barbara." With her picture perfect smile.

He shook her hand smiling, replying with, "Andrew Briggs. But I go by Drew." With the same picture perfect smile. Jeez. At least they get along.

"Well, Drew and I are going to go work on our project." And with that I grabbed Drew's arm and hauled him up the stairs and to my room.

My heart started beating a little fast when I shut my door, turned around and saw him laying on my bed with his hands underneath his head looking around my room. It was pretty clean. I cleaned before school that morning thank god. But if I hadn't the maids would have. Actually no they wouldn't have. I banned them from my room. We didn't even need a maid. They were so unnecessary! But the maid have also banned me from several spots in the house. As have my parents. There bedroom, their personal office, pretty much anything that was theirs. Which was a little weird in my opinion. But I didn't argue with it. I glanced over at him fast and then quickly turned away when I realized he was looking at me again. I blushed. Since when did I blush out of embarrassment? Usually I just blushed when I was mad. Why was I changing so much because of him? It was really frustrating. So I quickly grabbed our bags and set them in the middle of the floor. I went to the activity room, (Yes we had one of those.) and grabbed a poster board and some markers. When I got back he was on the floor with my laptop researching for our project. We started some conversation, laughed like idiots, smiled till our jaws cramped, and actually got a lot of work done. We were almost done with our project. We decided to take a break when my mom knocked on my bedroom door.

"Would Drew like to stay over for dinner?" She asked, a little too hopefully.

I looked at him. He shrugged. I was taking that as a yes.

"Yeah. Thanks." I replied. I waited until I heard her footsteps wandering away.

When I looked back at him he was making the ugliest face, I couldn't help myself from laughing. Like a fool. We both blushed and looked down. When I looked back up he was closer than I remembered. I knew what was going to happen. And I wanted it to. So I closed my eyes and leaned a little forward. Giving him permission. I felt my lips touch his in what was an almost kiss until someone knocked on my door informing us dinner was ready.


* * * * * * *


Drew and I have started a routine. We hung out at school all the time, we went on what we called, "Almost Dates", he'd come to my house after school, we would study until we got bored, and he usually stayed over for dinner. And sometimes, we would kiss a little. Not very often though. Once or twice a week. But I still remember our first kiss.


It was a Tuesday night and we were at my house doing our homework together. Well we were mostly goofing off but our homework always got done. So we were sitting on the floor leaning against my bed. And we had our books and papers on our laps. I was laughing super hard at something that he had just said, that was so stupid it was funny. When I finally got ahold of myself and sat back up and smiled at him he was smiling too. We looked into each others eyes, and I guess we got lost in the moment because suddenly nothing else in the world mattered. Just him and I. We leaned closer and closer until our lips were just barely touching. And one of us moved forward and then we were kissing. My hand moved and cupped his neck. He did the same to me. After a few seconds we moved apart and looked at each other. I could see so deep into his eyes… pain, loss, love, regret… And then his walls went back up before I could see anything else. I wonder why. I didn't want to suspect anything so I closed my eyes smiled, blushed, and looked down. He lifted my head up so he could see my face. He smiled. And when I looked into his eyes this time I only saw happiness. And after that we kind of just forgot about our homework. We talked and laughed all night long. It was the best.


And it wasn't like a total make out session. It would be like a simple kiss. I'm not sure how it felt to him, but it was almost everything to me. It took my breath away every time. It was probably nothing to him. Or thats what I thought until tonight when we kissed….


It was a typical Tuesday night. We were ing my room studying, having a good time until we looked at each other and the laughs faded. We both leaned forward and our lips met. It was like fireworks. I moved closer to him and grabbing some of his hair in my hands, holding him closer as we kissed. It almost broke my heart that it was going to be over soon. But as we kissed, I noticed some different things. Usually these were twenty to thirty second kisses. We'd been kissing for two minutes now. I could't resist. So, as much as it killed me, I pulled back. He opened his eyes and looked at me. It seemed like a million questions wizzed between us, going unanswered, as he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled my lips back to his. I was in Heaven. I honestly think that I was falling in love with this guy. Just a few months have led to this. Swoon…. I was so happy until he pulled away, as a sudden sadness came to his eyes. I was immediately concerned. I put my hand on his cheek and lifted it up so I could look him in the eye.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"There's something i've got to tell you." He stated regretfully.

"And what's that?" I asked curiously.

"I'm seeing someone. And I honestly, truly, really care about her. So this thing between you and me? It's got to stop. i'm cheating on her right now. And even though you and I are so close, her and I are dating and i'm not this kind of guy. I'm sorry I let it go this far."

Was he really saying this? The tears rushed down my cheeks before I could stop them . I took my hands away from him, got up off the floor and went and sat on my bed. I was upset that he was seeing someone, yes. But he also cheated on her (I have got to figure out who it is!) with me. Was that all that I was to him? Fine. Screw him. I wiped my eyes, and I put my imaginary wall up.

"Get out. Now. And don't come back." I told him, cold and flat with no emotion in my voice whatsoever.

Shock and hurt crossed his face. Good.

"Why? We can still be friends! We just can't think of each other as anything more than that.."

"Do you honestly think that I want to be friends with you? You've just proven to me that you have no respect for me whatsoever. People are going to think i'm a whore. Because of you. All your ever going to be is a player. Was this a joke to you? Making me fall for you and then as soon as I fall hard enough, you move one step over and just let me fall?" I said in anger. . And it sure did make a big impact on him. I could see the hurt all over his face.


You know, I've never ever seen him angry. And I don't think he intended to let me. Because he kept trying to play the innocent on trying to get me to forgive him I guess. That wasn't going to happen. Not for a while.

"No! I didn't mean it like that. Your not a whore. I didn't know that the feelings I had were returned. I'm so so sorry Brooke." He really wanted to stay friends. Well… No. He doesn't deserve to get what he wants right now. I deserve the right to get over him. And he really wasn't having that. I could tell.

"No Drew. We can't be friends. Don't talk to me at school. Don't try calling or texting me. Don't talk about me. Don't even think about me. Now get out of my house and don't ever come back." I got up and walked to my bedroom door and held it open. My face was stern.

"Brooke.." That was the last thing he said to me before he got up and walked out my door. I slammed it and locked it behind him. And then I… collapsed. I leaned against the door and slid down, and the sobs just kept coming. I heard knocks a few times but I didn't answer them. Some time later that night, I went to my bed. When I woke up at 5 the next morning I had a killer headache. That's why I really hated crying. And as of this morning, I also hated Drew. I was going to school for sure today. And I planned to look hot. I want him to do a double take and regret what he's done. Because i'm done with him. But I had liked him. A lot. So I want to do this to help me get over it. I was going to put on a big, cute smile. And I was going to ignore him and just flirt. And that doesn't make you a slut. I'm only going to flirt with other guys to make him jealous to be honest. But whatever. I went into my closet to see what I could find. I found my favorite dress that I had never worn because I thought that it was too short. Not anymore. It was a solid purple blueish silk dress that barely made it to mid thigh. It was spaghetti strap too. I put on a pair of nude heels from Steve Madden. They were like 3 inches. I grabbed a big black purse and loaded my school stuff in it and set it on my bed. I went into the bathroom to do my hair and makeup. For my makeup, I did a neutral eye. So mostly browns. But it looked good. And I did a pinky nude lip because color would have taken attention away from the dress. And I had long straight blonde hair with those natural highlights. I found a curling iron, and I did big wavy curls. When I was finished, I went to my body mirror and looked at myself. I looked hot. It was almost 6:30. My mom would be getting up soon. I had to leave before she saw me and flipped. I grabbed my bag and rushed out the door, grabbing my jacket on my way out.


When I finally got to school, on time for once, I actually had extra time. I drove through the parking lot heading towards my usual spot, only to find the queen bee, Alyssa Rich. And her last name described her well. She was even richer than I was. I looked into her car. She was making out with someone! But who? Before I could look harder, they stopped kissing. Thank god. The guy she was making out with looked back and saw me. When I saw who it was, I almost died. It was Drew. With Alyssa. Kissing. I thought that I was going to throw up. Drew did too. There was a lot of guilt on his face. I couldn't take it. I backed away and drove away to find a different parading spot.


When I walked into school, I had a lot of confidence. I left my jacket in the car because it kind of ruins this outfit. I smiled and started down the hallway, looking at everyone as there jaws dropped almost to the floor. All the guys stopped whatever they were doing and just stared at me. And so did Drew. I didn't pay attention to him. I was thinking about what guys were single. And then it hit me. Austin. Drew's friend. Even though I didn't want to stoop to that level, I always did have a crush on Austin. Way before Drew even came. So there. Austin was staring at me anyways. So I walked up to him and introduced myself.

"Brooke." I said as I put my hand out for my to shake. And that was totally what I expected until he got ahold of himself and looked at me, smiled, and said,

"Austin." And then he took my hand and kissed it. And as I noticed out of the corner of my eye, Drew was watching us. Honestly, right here in this moment, I didn't care. I smiled up at Austin.

"Such a gentleman!" I gushed.

He seemed pleased that I was liking him. Right now I was the talk of the school. It would be something he can rub in people's faces. Dating me. And you know what? I did want to date him. I liked him. But I didn't know him that well yet. So we were just going to have to be friends for the time being. But again, that was fine with me.

"So i'm actually surprised your talking to me." He told me as he blushed.

"Seriously?" I asked. I was like a complete loser compared to him. I was actually surprised that HE was talking to ME. This was different.

"Yeah. I seriously thought that you noticed. I've had a crush on you since like 5th grade. But as you remember.. Uhh, I wasn't really the cool kid then.."

Oh. Austin had a fateful of acne and nobody talked to him. I guess i've never had the problem with acne but I didn't have anything against anyone who had it. I had tried talking to Austin but I guess since he was so used to everyone else ignoring him and teasing him he thought that I was going to do the same. To be honest, I have had a crush on Austin since 7th grade. And I was going to tell him one Monday, but he came to school with new clothes, new haircut, and a clean face and he was immediately accepted into the popular crowd you would say. And they would have never been caught dead talking to someone like me.

"I was going to tell you this year, but then I saw you talking to Drew… And I thought you guys hit it off so I stayed away."

"Drew and I were friends, yes, but never anything more. Actually him and I aren't friends anymore." As I said this I saw a little hope in his eyes and I blushed, but I took a deep breath, stood on my tip toes because, well jeez he was tall, and I kissed him very softly on the lips. And that's all it was going to be until he wrapped his arms around my waist, forcing me to kiss him full on, which you know I didn't mind, and it felt so good. I had butterflies in my stomach. Good butterflies! I had never felt like this during a kiss, not even with Drew. I put my hands on his shoulders as we kissed. We weren't making out. We were just holding the kiss. And then he pulled away and tooled my hands in his. And then he said the sweetest things i've ever heard and I knew he meant them.

He said, "Brooke. You are like a dream come true for me. Seriously. And I don't want to take advantage of you. I want to take this slow. So tonight, I am taking you out to dinner and a movie. Does that sound good to you?"

It honestly sounded amazing. I was just about to say yes when Drew came running over and shoved Austin into the lockers.

"Look! You can treat all of your girls like that, but not Brooke! She isn't just some toy to play with!" He would have kept going if I hadn't pushed him. Him and Drew weren't standing very close He had just shoved him and stood where he was. So it didn't look like Austin had a girl fighting for him. I made sure of that. It sounds sexist but you know guys. Drew turned and looked at me with such anger I almost flinched. But I resisted the urge. I punched him so hard in the face I think I broke one of my fingers. But right this second, i didn't care. I had taken boxing classes since I was 6. That's 10 years so I was a pretty good fighter. He turned and looked at me.

"Drew! In case you can't remember, were not friends! You can't just get all mad when im talking to someone you don't want me to. So chill out and leave me alone. And you and Austin are friends. BEST friends. Why are you pushing him? You two are going to talk and i'm going to class. We can talk at lunch if you really want to, okay?" When I said that last part he relaxed a little. So I turned back to Austin and when he saw me looking at him, his expression softened, and he smiled. I smiled back and walked over.

"Were still on for tonight, right?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course we are. Just because you can fight, doesn't mean I don't like you." i smiled gratefully up at him and Stood up on my tip toes again to give him a kiss before class. Yes we were taking it slow, but I wanted to kiss him. He din't seem to mind. It was a little bit more of a passionate kiss than earlier but who cares? I broke off, smiled, pointed and looked at Drew, and then pointed and looked at Austin, and before I turned to leave for class I simply said,
"Talk." And that was what they did. When lunch time came, I sat at a table by myself. Just a second later Drew appeared at my side.

"Can we talk?" He asked.

"Of course. Sit!" I told him with gesturing hands and a smile on my face.

"So whats up?" I asked deciding to play dumb. Ha.

"I wanted to talk about last night."

"What about it?"

"I really don't like how it went. I was really hoping we could still be friends."

"You know what? Let's just forget it happened."

"Really?" He asked hopefully.

"Yeah! You, Brittany, Austin and I could double! It'll be great." I said excitedly.

"Yeah. Wont that be great." His enthusiasm didn't really match mine. But whatever. And just then Austin showed up.

"Hey bro. Hey babe." Him and Drew did that stupid guy hug/ clap thing and he gave me a peck on the cheek. When we sat down Brittany showed up. Oh, hell. Here we go. In like 3rd grade she decided to give me the nickname "Fatty Maddie" Since my middle name was Madeline and I was a little chubby. Okay I was huge. And I was begging god please don't let her come over here and call me that. And this is what she said.

"Hi honey, hey Austin. What are you doing over here with fatty Maddie? I know she lost all her fat but still." She looked at me and smirked. I was trying so hard to fight back the tears and they all saw it. I had tried so hard to keep that buried down. And I only thought about it when I was working out, I'd repeat fat jokes in my head as I did 50 more Push Ups. I had tried so hard to let the name die down and here it was again. Haunting me.

"Who are you talking about?" Drew asked. I forgot. He was new and hasn't known us since 3rd grade. Oh god. Now she was going to explain it.

"Oh well, Brooke here used to be.. How do I put this? Really fat. And I came up with that cute little nickname. Don't you just love it?" She squealed.

I am honestly so glad I had these guys right here, but right this second I didn't need them. I stood up and gently pushed them back in their seat and turned to face Brittany.

"You know what? Call me what you want. But I am no longer Fatty Maddie. Thanks to you I now have a better body than you. It was your mean and hurtful jokes and comments, that pushed me through. So thank you. And thank you for showing us all that you haven't changed. Your still the hurtful bitch you used to be. Now go and run back to your little posy and gossip and start all the rumors you want about me. I don't care anymore. Now go."

And she was pissed. She stormed off and her little friends went after her. I sunk down into my seat and let one tear fall and then took a deep breath and looked at Drew.

"I changed my mind. I don't want to double with her." We all laughed and Drew assured us that they were done. He still could believe the hateful things that she did to me. I told him it was fine and I was over it. We talked the rest of lunch and then Drew and I hugged, and Austin and I kissed and we were off to class. After school, I met Austin by his car.

"So do you want to come over to my house and hang out until the movie or do you want to have me pick you u around seven?" He asked looping his arm around my shoulders as we leaned against his car.

"Why don't you pick me up at seven. I need to change."

"You could change at my house.." He said and winked as he started walking me to my car.

"Haha you wish." I said and nudged him in the ribs gently. When we got to my car, he opened my door for me. How sweet. I asked if he wanted to come over to my house. He said sure. Austin has been to my house plenty of times for birthday parties and stuff when we were little. So we walked in and went up to my room. When I closed my door and locked it like I always did, I turned around to see him looking at my bulletin board that was still covered with pictures of Drew and I. Just friendly pictures. But still, there had to be thirty of them. They were in kind of in a collage. It was pretty cool. I came up behind Austin and put my head on his shoulder and looked at the pictures with him.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him.

"No, I'm fine." He replied uneasily.

"Wait hold on. Your not, jealous, are you?" I couldn't control my giggles. I threw my head back and laughed until I couldn't breath.

"Hey! I can be jealous! You'd be upset if i had a bunch of pictures of a girl and me in my room. I have every right to be." But even he couldn't suppress his laughter. When we finally stopped laughing, I looked up into his eyes and all I saw was a honest guy. I smiled and stood on my tip toes and kissed him gently on the mouth.

"Babe, you don't need to change. You look great." He called to me.

"Yeah yeah, but this dress is so ITCHY! It's been killing me all day." I complained back to him.

"Just be quick!" He replied nicely.

I looked at all my clothes. I grabbed the skinny jeans that I had that made my legs and my butt look fantastic, and put them on and ditched the dress. I found a light pink tank blouse that had little white flowers on it. It wasn't supposed to be super cold but just in case, I grabbed a white long cardigan and put it on over it. I grabbed a new pair of flats and put them on. I ran to the bathroom before Austin saw me to touch up my hair. We left at 6:45 on the dot. We were taking my car but Austin was driving. He put his hand on my thigh and turned and smiled at me.

"Eyes on the road." I told him jokingly.

"You look beautiful. You did earlier too. I just wanted you to know." He said and blushed and smiled nervously at me.

"Wow. Is Austin Davis, the school player, nervous?!" I laughed a little.

"I am not a player. I have only flirted with a few girls. And it's mostly a joke. The only person that I have ever truly liked, is you." He told me seriously. Before I realized it the car was slowing down. Then we stopped.

"What's going on?" I asked, starting to panic.

"Nothing! Oh you thought- Oh god no. I just wanted us to talk. Nothing more. Were going to talk at dinner, sure, but I just wanted to clear some things up." He told me franticly. Oh god. Overreact much Brooke? Jesus. He probably thinks i'm a freak. Or maybe that's why he wanted to talk. To tell me that I wasn't a freak.. I kept thinking about this until I realized that he was waiting for me to respond.

"That sounds fine to me. You just never know. I've been fooled before. So what do you want to talk about?" I asked. I was silently praying in my head that he wouldn't bring Drew up.

"Do you have feelings for Drew?" He asked cautiously. I totally just jinxed myself. He looked over at me and I faced him straight on.

"No. Were just friends." I lied. I was still getting over Drew. It was only last night that we had had that big fight. I wasn't over him. Yet. And we were just friends.

"Okay. I trust you. You hungry?" I felt so bad for lying. But I had to. Soon it would be the truth.

"Starving. But I have to ask you one thing." I told him slowly. He turned in his seat and faced me, curiosity all over his face.

"Anything." He told me.

"Why did you wait until we were sophomores in high school, to ask me out? Or at least tell me. And why did you finally decide to ask me when I looked like I did?" I asked him seriously. I really wanted to know.

"I was scared. I know that sounds like an excuse, but it's not. I was so scared, Brooke. And I was actually going to ask you out. The day Drew came. But I saw you two together, and I didn't want to ruin it. I had never thought that you felt the same way." He told me.

I honestly couldn't think of anything to say. I leaned over and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. Then I pulled away and took his hand.

"Thank you for being honest with me." I told him. And I really meant it. I grabbed his hand and sat back in my my seat. And then he started driving to the restaurant. When we got there I was a bit relieved that it wasn't super fancy. We walked in and I never could have prepared myself for what I saw when I walked in.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 10.05.2011

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