I'm In Love With The Football Player

6. A Different Side To Bree

On Wednesday I arrived at school early hoping to see Bree. I walked to the gym where we had to wait until the bell rang every day. She was nowhere to be found.

I went to my usual 1st through the 4th-period schedule. I never have those hours with her. We have the same lunch shift, but she wasn't there either. Only Andrew which was enough company for me.

I started getting concerned about her. What if the death threats were real? Was she still on this Earth or was she no longer with us. I got shivers at the thought of Bree not here anymore.

I got my phone out not caring if a teacher would see me. I search for her contact when I remembered, I don't have her number. I panicked a little. Okay, I panicked a lot. I started to sweat and my vision became blurry. Andrew started panicking a little at the sight of me panicking. Haha, ironic.

"Zac, what's wrong?!" Andrew said pushing my shoulders down to keep me seated.

"Bree- Yesterday- Not here-"

"Woah, Woah," Andrew says cutting me off. "Complete sentences."

"I have to go see her!" I said standing up and running out of school property. I remembered where her stop was so I ran trying to remember where the bus passed. I ran for 30 minutes straight not knowing what I was going to say once I got there. I finally got to her house and stopped in front staring at her two-floor house. My heart was beating fast. I don't know if it was because of running or because of how nervous I was.

I didn't realize when I started walking. I just noticed when my finger was on the doorbell and you could hear the sound that a mansion doorbell sounds like. A lady with a sky blue uniform opened the door. I suppose it was the maid.

"Is Bree Home?" I asked politely trying not to show how nervous I was.

She looked at me up and down, clearly noticing how sweaty I was. "Who are you? I can't let you in without knowing you."

"I'm Zac. A boy from her school. A friend." Could I dare call myself that? I didn't know where our relationship stood.

"Ah, so you're Bellington." She says. "You have no idea how much she's been talking about you for the past week."

I stared at her confused.

She seemed to notice because she explained why. "Bree doesn't have a lot of friends. She talks to me and treats me like her real best friend."

"Oh." I didn't know what to say.

"Come in." She says stepping aside from the door. "I'll go tell Bree you're here. You can sit on the couch."

She walked down the hallway and up the stairs. I sat there looking around her ginormous house. A few minutes later she came down.

"She's ready." Said the maid. "Hey hun, do me a favor and don't mention her parents unless she mentions them first."

I nodded not wanting to ask why. Something told me that I was about to find out. The maid walked me to her bedroom door and left me there. I slowly knocked. I heard the sniffling stop. 

A voice so low I could barely hear said, "Come in." 

I opened the door not knowing what to expect. I was amazed by the posters of boy bands and MTV shows hanging on her wall. I was actually amazed it wasn't full of football team posters and stuff like that.

"I'm in the closet." Bree said.

I looked for the closet but couldn't find it. I then realized that the wall of mirrors was actually sliding doors. I opened them and saw the walk-in closet full of used tissues, chip bags, and empty soda cans. At the far right corner was Bree crying as I've never seen before. She had mascara smeared all over her face, but she didn't seem to care.

"Bree!" I say running to her. "What happened?"

She just stared at the ground and tried to stop crying, but failed and cried even louder.
I sat near her until she felt comfortable enough to talk.

"My parents are getting divorced!" She shouts and cries more. A little bit harder this time.

"I'm so sorry," I say pulling her towards me so she was laying on my chest. I embraced her as she kept crying covering her eyes with her palms.

After a full hour of crying, Bree finally stopped. Neither of us talked. We just looked at the yellow light which turned all the closet yellowish.

"When did you find out?" I asked quietly trying to make her not cry again.

"Yesterday." She says. "That's why they couldn't pick me up on time."

"They were filling the paperwork," I added.

She nods. "Mhmm."

"They aren't getting divorced." She says. "They already are."

"Are you living with your mom or dad?" I ask.

"Dad. I'm visiting my mom on breaks." Bree says.

We stay silent for 5 minutes. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was a silence that we both enjoyed and seemed to need to process everything going on.

"You know, I never thought you cried." I said changing the topic.

"What do you mean?" She asks confused still looking at the light.

"You're a football player," I say. "I've been to most of your games and every time you get hurt, you never cried."

She laughs. "That's because nothing has hurt more than this." She says. "This is a different side that not a lot of people know about me."

"Well, I'm glad you showed me this side," I say.

For the first time since I came Bree looks at me. We stare into each other's eyes not saying anything. Just smiling at each other.

"Aren't you suppose to be at school?" She asks bringing me back to real life.

"I got out," I explained. "well, more like ran out. I was worried for you."

She laughed and blushed a little. "No one has ever done that for me."

"What? Come to see you?" I ask.

"No," she says. "Cared about me."

My smile slowly fades. "Well, now you do. And I won't ever leave."