Imperfect Life: Arc 4

Chapter 14

It was early Saturday morning now. Crys and Brandon were sitting in Crys' room on the couch. Crys had asked Brandon to join her for a moment so she could ask him something.

"And they invited me to lunch today at the cafe." Crys said, continuing her explanation to Brandon. She had been talking with him for the past few minutes, explaining what was going on.

"So are you going to go meet up with them?" Brandon asked.

"Yeah. I am." Crys replied, caught in between happy and annoyed. "But uh, I was wondering if you'd want to go with me." She added on nervously.

Brandon frowned. "I'd uh, prefer not." He said, feeling a bit uneasy considering what happened the last time he joined Crys and her friends.

"I know last time was not the best for you." Crys admitted. "This time though I'll make sure they don't bug you, how about that? They mess with you at all and we leave. Just like that."

Brandon thought it over for a second. "I mean...." He said, unsure.

"Please?" Crys asked, practically begging.

Brandon looked at Crys. He could see in her eyes how desperate she was, with a sad and worried look. "Alright." Brandon said. "I'll go with you."

Crys smiled with joy. "Thank you." She said warmly. "And I promise, I won't let them bully you at all. If they do so much as say one mean thing, we're gone."

Brandon nodded. "Thanks, Crys." He said with a faint smile. He knew he'd probably get rude comments anyway, but it didn't matter all that much to him. He knew Crys cared for him regardless of what her old friends said, so he figured he'd just go for Crys' sake. He'd probably just get bored, if anything.

With that, the plans for later that day were cemented.

Later that day, just a while after noon, Crys and Brandon made their way to the cafe to meet up with Crys' old friends. Crys had sent them all a message earlier warning them not to mess with Brandon, so when she and Brandon walked into the cafe, they quickly found the rowdy group they were there to meet.

"Crys, you're finally here!" Exclaimed Steph upon seeing Crys.

"You still wearing that same bland outfit?" Brit said with a bit of disgust in her voice.

Crys sat down on one side of the table, next to Teague and Will. Brit, Steph, and Quinn sat across from them. "You're just jealous I can actually look good in something like this, unlike some people." Crys snapped back at Brit.

Brandon quietly took his seat next to Crys. Thankfully, it seemed like nobody was really paying attention to him this time around. He still felt uneasy, though. What Crys said bothered him. It just didn't sound like her.

"Sheesh." Brit responded. "Bit touchy, aren't we?" She said with some drama.

"Both of you shut up." Teague interrupted. "Crys, we didn't get you anything. Feel free to go grab something for yourself."

"Well, duh." Crys said. She turned her head, thinking about getting up to grab something, and remembered Brandon was there. He was so quiet already that she had almost forgotten he was there. "Come on." She said to Brandon, her tone a little lighter now. "Let's go grab something."

Brandon got up, followed by Crys. They walked over to the counter where they could order what they wanted. Brandon got a hot chocolate while Crys got both a hot chocolate for herself as well as a little pastry. The two of them waited for their drinks up at the counter since it wouldn't take too long.

"No one's said anything about you this time." Crys said kindly to Brandon.

"Yeah." Brandon said, trying to hide how much he didn't want to be here. "I'm glad."