A Blaze of Glory

Chapter 4

Friday came quickly and Brooke spent the whole day distracted from classes, focusing on the night ahead. Throughout the week leading up to her night, she had purchased some essentials; hair elastics, bottles of water, lip chap, and baby wipes. Brooke had learned a hard lesson the last time she had visited Teaz, and she was sure to avoid any awkward moments at the store, on the way home or God forbid, with her parents. In her backpack she packed a change of clothes to switch into prior to going to the store, hopefully protecting her identity as much as possible when she arrived. As the final bell rang for the day, Brooke made her way to her locker to grab the supplies she would need for the night ahead. As she was putting her books away, she was surprised by the sound of a throat being cleared behind her.

"Hey, Brooke!" Leah said, happily leaning against the locker and smiling at her friend. "I know you said you were busy tonight but... you're coming to the party, right? I wanted to make it up to you for how the twins treated you at lunch the other day..."

"Oh... sorry Leah I can't," Brooke said, finishing with her books and grabbing her backpack. "I would come but I really can't cancel tonight."

"What are you doing?" Leah asked suspiciously. "It's not like you to have plans on Friday nights. At least, plans that aren't with me."

"Well, I had to find something else to do since Jack was so desperate to get you alone." Brooke joked, winking teasingly at her friend. "I just have some shopping I need to do then I promised my parents I'd spend the night at home with them. It's fine honestly, just have fun and I'll go to the next one."

Before Leah could object, Brooke turned on her heel and quickly made her way down the hall, calling a quick goodbye to her friend. She knew that with enough time, Leah could break her down and convince her to go to the party, and if she bailed now she would never make it back to Teaz. Strolling out the front door of her school, Brooke put her headphones in to listen to music, with the added benefit of an excuse to avoid any other awkward conversations as she walked off of school grounds and to a nearby bus stop. Conveniently, the bus Brooke needed to take came regularly so it wasn't long before she was on her way deep into the heart of the city.

This time, Brooke disembarked from the bus at the same stop she previously did, but instead of heading straight to the store she instead went to a nearby cafe to grab a coffee and use the bathroom. This was for practical reasons; as she went into the bathroom she pulled out a spare set of clothes from her backpack, a t-shirt, zip-up hoodie, and black leggings. Now that she was comfortably out of her uniform, Brooke pulled the hood up over her head to conceal her face, packed her uniform away in her bag, and made her way back out onto the street toward her final destination.

She arrived at the large nondescript building, but unlike the first time she had come to Teaz, Brooke walked straight inside with a feeling of confidence. The neatly organized store with rows upon rows of toys, magazines, and other paraphernalia was much the same as when she was previously here, the rows having a few other patrons of the store browsing the selection. Brooke made sure not to waste any time and went straight to the counter, the same man standing behind it checking his cell phone. Pulling her hood around her face tighter, she walked up to the counter and cleared her throat, putting a $10.00 bill down on the counter.

"Hey uh... I'd like to rent out one of the booths please," she said quietly, trying to keep her face low so the man wouldn't recognize her. The cashier looked up from his phone in surprise, and took the bill, nodding.

"Huh? Oh, yeah of course go ahead back and pick any of the free booths," he replied, opening the cash register to put the bill in. "You'll have it for two hours. Have fun in there."