Silence (Dance Moms Fanfic)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

“What?” Brooke blinked from Kelly to Randy, quickly taking a glance at Paige’s pale, expressionless face. That couldn’t really be happening, could it? Josh slammed his hands on the table and loudly pushed his chair out from the table. Stomping off. Brooke glanced to her younger, yet taller, brother. She watched as her dropped his head and ran up the wooden stairs. A stomp and a creak sounding with each step he took until the family could hear the slam of the door. Brooke’s tear filled eyes turned back to her parents. “You can’t be serious…” Brooke trailed off. “This isn’t funny,” She said. “C’mon someone say something.”

The room became hot. Brooke couldn’t think straight. Everything was becoming mashed up in her mind. From what happened that morning at school to losing the football game after two overtimes. Kissing Vinny was about the only thing she could hold onto. It was about the only thing she had still. Vinny was the only person who was steady. Constant. Always there, standing strong. Brooke licked her lips as her breath began to harden. Inhaling deeply. Exhaling quickly. Brooke’s blue eyes slowly turned brighter and brighter as they swelled with tears. Brooke didn’t know who to look at or what to do.

“I’m so sorry, honey.” Kelly said, taking small breaks in between her words. Kelly’s finger tips brushed Brooke’s arm once.

“No, don’t touch me.” Brooke snapped, pulling her arm away from her mother. “It’s all your fault.” Brooke stood up, staring at her mother. The edge of Brooke’s seat touched the back of her legs. “If you hadn’t nagged him so much. If – if you hadn’t said the things you did on the show. If you weren’t so damn –“

“HEY!” Randy said, popping from his seat, leaving Paige wrapped up in a blanket in the chair where they had both once sat.

Brooke whined for a moment before tears spewed from her eyes for the seventh or eighth time that night. “I hate you,” she wept.

Brooke turned away from the kitchen table and walked back through the living room and to the steps. Her lighter footsteps not making as loud of a clank that Josh’s had, but all the same creak. Brooke ran down the hallway, her back cramping as she approached her door. Brooke’s door slammed with the same loudness Josh’s had. Only this time, it had a slight echo. But the echo didn’t have the same sound. It was much more of Randy’s voice, calling Brooke’s name. Brooke full name. “Brooke Marie Hyland!” But Brooke didn’t respond. She locked her door and collapsed into her bed.

Brooke’s tear filled eyes zoned into something on the far wall. Her mind still racing. What made them wait all day to tell them? How long did they know they were doing this? Is that why they’d been fighting so much? Is that why Randy had been taking longer hours in the office? Brooke pinned her eyes shut. Her ears tingling as she heard a soft knock at the door.

“What do you want?” She sniffed, her already raspy voice, croaky and scratchy.

On the other side of the door stood a boy. A young boy. About fourteen. His eyes were puffy and they stung, strained from crying. His voice like that of his older sister’s. Raspy, croaky, and scratchy. He still couldn’t breath steady though he’d been trying to calm down for the last fifteen minutes. His nose red and his mouth like cotton. His usually strong, steady shoulders shook. His stature broken. Josh’s head hung low, Brooke’s words sinking his heart. “B?” Josh finally spoke up.

“What?” Brooke whine again, her pale arms wrapped around one of her pillows, her make up running onto the already-mascara-stained pillow case.

“Uh,” Josh started again – pausing to clear his throat – and then said, “My door is open if you need anything.” That wasn’t what Josh was really going to say, but after hearing how upset Brooke was, he knew he needed to be strong for her. Josh needed to be Brooke’s rock, especially since the rock the kids always looked to was crumbling. The marriage. The family. Everything was just crumbling.

Brooke heard Paige’s door click shut, followed by Josh’s. The walls in the house were thin. Sometimes, at night, Paige could hear every word Brooke would say to Vinny on the phone. Even the curse words she tried to whisper. And the mushy-gushy, love-dovey stuff. The pet names. The “I love you”s, and especially, “no you hang up first”. Paige would be disgusted by the time she did finally fall asleep. But in turn, Brooke could hear every word Paige said. All the times Chloe said that she liked Josh, and every time Paige would tell Randy that she loved him when she was being tucked in at night. Brooke knew when Paige cried herself to sleep, and Paige did Brooke. Josh was across the hall. He would know when the girls were upset. He could hear their light sobs from a few closed doors, but he couldn’t hear what they would say. Just faint laughter and his name every once in a while. But then again, Josh was a fairly popular name, so he tried to not let it go to his head.

Brooke sat up in her bed and went to her bathroom. She started the water in her sink, letting it warm up before soaking a wash cloth in the clear water. Brooke used her make up remover wipes and took her gold eyeshadow off. Brooke pulled the shell top off, revealing her too-tight sports bra. Brooke slid her skirt off and quickly jumped into a pair of fuzzy pants and a t-shirt. Brooke washed her face with the warm wash cloth and a bit of her face wash. Even her nightly routine had to be perfect. Everything in order. Even with tears continuously rolling down her cheeks, Brooke followed her routine. Then she brushed her teeth. Twice. Brooke knew she needed to take a shower, but she wasn’t feeling up to it. She’d take a shower in the morning before they left for the competition.

The competition. The dance. The girls. The moms. Abby. Did the other moms know? Did Abby know? Did the other girls know? Brooke sure hoped not. She couldn’t show up to the competition and act like everything was fine with all of the girls knowing what was happening at home. The Ziegler girls had lived through a divorce, and they turned out perfectly fine. A little on the spoiled side, but the Hyland kids were too. Maddie and Mackenzie suddenly became role models for Brooke. Brooke looked at a small picture of herself with Maddie and Mackenzie. The two younger girls looked so happy, like nothing was wrong. That gave Brooke hope. The hurt was only temporary. And that was something she had to hold on to.

Brooke took her hair down and threw it into an awful, ugly messy bun. Her hair appearing thicker than it really was. Brooke grabbed a section of hair in the back that hadn’t quite made it up into the pony tail and pinned it up with a single bobby pin. Brooke flipped the light in her bathroom off and crawled back into her bed. Brooke heard light sobs. She didn’t think it was Paige, but just to be sure, Brooke got out of bed again, pressing her ear to the wall. But nothing. The sound was coming from somewhere else.

Brooke crept out into the dark hallway, the crying louder than before. Brooke put her ear near the crack of Josh’s door. He hadn’t shut it all the way. Brooke tapped the door with her knuckle just a few times before opening the door and proceeding to let herself in. Brooke walked to the bed and pulled down a corner of the sheets. She grabbed an old teddy bear from the ground, knowing it was Josh’s favorite. Brooke crawled into Josh’s bed, wrapping an arm around her brother’s waist, holding the bear in her hand and pressing it against Josh’s chest. Josh let out a shallow whimper, and Brooke squeaked out a few tears. And there the two teenagers laid all night, crying together.