piece by piece~j.d

~43~

Aubrey grinned as she watched her students work, for the most part quietly. Not that she would be too angry if they had started to make noise, she was the same when she was in school. She'd talk to her friends when she was supposed to be working and she turned out just fine. She reminisced on the simplicity of it all, they were so naive to the big bad world that existed on the outside, one that they would slowly, slowly become more exposed to as they grew up, though some would be so earlier then others. Through heartbreak and sorrow, maybe some of them already had.

She was at school unaware of the messages that were going back and forth in the group chat that included Mila, Jamarra, Baz and herself. The news of the youngest playing his first game had just broken for them all and the invite had been extended, opening a whole other can of worms, specifically for one of the Smith siblings.

"Miss Smith, my cousin said that you have a brother. What's his name?" Dylan, one of the students in her year 5 class asked cutely, he had gone up to show her his maths worksheet and the conversation he had previously had, came to his head.

"I do, his name is Bailey. You might know him." Aubrey smiled, she often had some of the kids at her school coming up and asking her about Bailey, she was always more then happy to answer the questions that people had about him and was considering bringing him in for people to meet, if he didn't mind. Though she didn't think that he would, his ego would be fed and that would keep him happy for a period of time. "Bailey Smith."

"He plays for the bulldogs doesn't he?" Dylan said, taking the maths worksheet back and looking at all of the ticks that were next to the answers, only half glancing at some of the corrections that he had received, much more interested in the talk of the footy player.

"Sure does, you're a bulldogs supporter aren't you Dyl?"

"Yeah, did you know that the number one draft pick is playing this week, dad told me that this morning." Aubrey's smile grew with that word, she hadn't heard anything about Jamarra's debut having been off of her phone since she arrived at school. "Do you know him as well?"

"I do know him, and no I didn't know he was playing. How exciting is that?" Dylan nodded but due to his rather short attention span, was already moving back to sit in his seat. Leaving Aubrey to wait impatiently for lunch time so that she could check her phone which she was sure had at least a few messages from Mila, possibly even Jamarra depending on how many people had already messaged him, this was a big deal.

~~~

mils😩
im crying, just so you all know

baz🤢
woah, no way. wouldnt have
guessed that

jam🍞
much love ppl, ik mila and baz
are going to be at the game, you
gonna come too aubs?

mils😩
shes teaching boy, but im making
the executive decision and saying yes

baz 🤢
better keep a certain someone far
away from her during the night

jam🍞
she doesnt have to come if she doesnt
wanna

baz🤢
ik my sister, she'll definitely want to
and mila will make sure it works out
somehow

mils😩
she just will complain a lot about
mentally preparing thats for sure

jam🍞
fingers crossed the answer is yes

JAMARRA HOLY SHIT I CANT BELIEVE
IT. IM SO HAPPY FOR YOU BOY, THE
GAME IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN
AND YOURE GONNA LOVE IT
IM SO FUCKING PROUD OF YOU
YOU BET YOUR ASS IM
GONNA BE THERE, NOTHING
IS STOPPING ME YEAH BABY

mils😩
my reaction with a few less tears
so we can lock you in for coming?
no backing out

jam🍞
once youve promised you cant
go back on your word, i will hold
you to it

dont worry bestie, ill be there
and ill be wearing your number and
all

baz🤢
what about my number? you
always wear my number

mils😩
except for when she wore the
number 5

hushhhhh, baz i wear ur number
all the time, dont be jealous
it looks as ugly as everything else
looks on you

baz🤢
i have hundreds of thousands of
followers who would disagree with
you, just saying

jam🍞
all i care is that you'll be there when
i finish

you have my word, i have to go
brag to the other staff that i have
much cooler friends then them,
see you saturday or whenever

~~~

Bailey was worried, he was concerned that his sister might snap at something during the two days before the game, that she might snap and breakdown while trying to hold herself together so that it wasn't going to pull anyone else down with her. She wouldn't want to put a damper on anyone else's mood. Especially not her best friend who was having a happy moment because of her boyfriend, Bailey knew she wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone, including him.
Which was why he found himself at her door with a box of chocolates and some movies that he knew they wouldn't end up watching together, but she might find joy in watching them herself at another time. He knocked relentlessly, impatient that she wasn't answering straight away, knowing that she would be back from school by now.

"Aubrey, open the damn door." Bailey called and his wish was quickly granted as the girl pulled the door open and smiled at her brother.

"Shouldn't you be training or something, you don't seem to be doing that very often lately." Aubrey mused, but graciously took the chocolates, ignoring Bailey's comment about how they were his not hers, opening them and taking one for herself and throwing one at him, which he luckily caught with his quick reactions.

"Done for the day, just thought you might like some company." Bailey said, though they were no longer living together they seemed to be spending more time together. "I bought movies and stuff."

"What did I do to deserve this?" Aubrey asked, leading Bailey in so that they could both take a seat on the couch, she chucked a blanket over the top of both of their legs as it wasn't necessarily the hottest of weather. "You're not pitying me are you?"

"Saturday is really soon, I know you're saying you're okay but you are going to see Josh. It's practically inevitable. Are you ready for that?" Bailey didn't shy away from his real reason for showing up.

"I'm okay, Saturday is for Jamarra. If I see Josh I'll be civil and I'll deal. You know I will, everything will fall into place, I have enough friends there anyway, I'll be able to escape any conversation that I need to." With a pat to Bailey's head, she attempted to keep him happy with her answer.

im rewatching the 100 cause why tf not