Forever

After a short conversation with her dad, Brooklyn went up to her room and texted Cameron.

‘Hey, I have to look after my brother tonight...’ she sent, biting her lip and adding another message, ‘Maybe we could watch a movie at mine instead.’

The rest of Brooklyn’s Sunday was spent looking after Braxton and checking her phone for a reply from Cameron, but she never received one. Waking up for school the following morning, she skipped breakfast and made her way straight out the door.

She wasn’t avoiding her dad, she was avoiding the tense atmosphere and the lecture that she knew without a doubt would accompany it. Entering the coffee shop just down the road from her house, she ordered her drink and stepped to the side to wait. It wasn’t long before she was on her way to school, arriving a little later than usual and finding Brandon waiting at her locker.

“Morning,” he greeted as they headed towards their English class, swiping the coffee from her hand and grinning as he took a sip.

“Jerk,” Brooklyn stated, spotting Axel and smiling, “Hey Axel.”

“Hey Brook,” he replied as he returned her smile with one of his own.

“Since when are you chummy with Axel Garcia?” Brandon asked, following her into the classroom and taking a seat at the desk next to her.

“I’ve known Axel for a long time,” Brooklyn told him, noticing the familiar hint of jealousy and smirking, “Excuse me, sir, your green-eyed monster is showing.”

“Shut up,” Brandon mumbled, shoving her shoulder playfully and glaring as Brooklyn laughed.

Lunch soon arrived and Brooklyn found herself in the cafeteria, pushing her food around the tray absentmindedly. It had been a weird day so far, what with the looks she’d been getting from Cameron’s friends and the uneasiness that stirred within her.

“What?” Brooklyn finally inquired, addressing the table opposite where some of the jocks were sat and watching them expectantly for an answer, “Well...”

“Nothing,” Lukas replied with a smirk, causing Brooklyn to roll her eyes and head out to the bleachers.

She was in the girl’s bathroom towards the end of lunchtime and was about to leave the stall, when she heard her name mentioned.

“Did you hear about Brooklyn Bishop?” a girl said, causing Brooklyn to freeze with her hand on the door lock and listen, “Apparently the basketball team dared Cameron to ask her to go out and she actually thought it was real...”

“Delusional,” another girl added, “What happened?”

“Cameron lost,” the first girl replied, “She didn’t show up or some shit like that.”

Hearing the main door open as the voices faded, Brooklyn fought back the tears that were threatening to fall and made her way to her class when the bell rang. Sat at the back of the room, she heard the sound of her name being called and felt anger boil in her stomach as Cameron approached her desk.

“Hey,” he stated with a smile, “How are you?”

“Just peachy, I mean I’m not the one that lost a dare...” Brooklyn snapped.