don't worry, i bite | s.m

V

V
Her POV

Homework will always be the death of her.

Don't forget the homework makes her die a little on the inside when the words leave her teacher's mouth.

She frustratedly threw her packet of calculus problems to the floor, along with her pencil and textbook.

She'll pick those up later.

Coming to the conclusion that the temperature was only thirty degrees Fahrenheit, she pulled herself up from the bed and slipped on a jacket.

Walks always helped her clear her mind and relax.

With that, she once again slipped on an old pair of shoes since she would be in the woods and a thick jacket.

"Hey," Her younger sister entered the room, not asking for permission to come in. She held back the urge to roll her eyes at her absence of manners, "Hey."

"Where ya goin'?" Bella asked, sitting down on the messily made bed. She shrugged in reply, not really caring if she gave an answer.

"Out." She plainly stated and stuffed her phone in her pocket, glancing over her room to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything.

"Is it to see that boy?" Brooklyn froze in the position she was in, debating on what to say.
Should she just play it off and say she didn't know what her sister was talking about? Or ask how she even knew?

"What?" She decided to go with, relaxing her muscles a tad.

Her sister chuckled, "Don't act like you don't know." Well, there goes Plan A. "I saw you walk out of the woods with him. He's hot."

Her jaw dropped, turning to the youngest quickly. "You cannot just say that about him," She scoffed, suddenly realizing how defensive she became over the boy.

"Someone's jealous," Bella smirked, teasing the older sister. "And someone's annoyed by their bratty sister." She smugly replied, zipping up her jacket.

Bella just scoffed, mumbling a goodbye before exiting the room.

"Hey dad, I'm gonna take a walk." She called, waiting a moment for a response before leaving the house.

She trailed her way back to the forest, which she had become more familiar with as time went on. It surprisingly wasn't very cold out, peaking at about now about twenty six degrees Fahrenheit.

"You just can't resist, hmm?" She spun around to find Shawn standing there, shrugging his shoulders as he gestured to him. She laughed, shaking her head.

"What are you doing out here?" She decided to ask instead of continuing on the previous topic. "I don't know, I like it?" He lightly laughed, his hands dangling by his side as he walked.

"Aren't you a little cold?" She asked, looking down at his hands. Thirty degrees was pretty warm, but she still had her hands it her pockets. He quickly realized what she was referring to and stuffed them in his coat.

"O-oh. I guess I didn't notice." He shrugged once again, letting the conversation fade out. They walked in an eerie silence, with the exception of twigs snapping and leaves crunching beneath their feet.

"Do you want to hang out sometime? Since you already know where I live," She joked, hoping it would lighten the slight tension she caused. He smiled, letting out a laugh as an exhale.

"Yeah, that sounds cool." He stopped for a moment and it was evident he hesitated on speaking again, "Could we go there now? You know, to get to know each other when we're not frozen." He failed at a joke (in her opinion), but she laughed anyways.

They made a loop back around, Brooklyn removing her phone from her pocket to send her father a fast text that a boy would be over if that was okay.

From: Dad
It's fine, door open at all times

She smiled to herself and put it away, tuning into whatever Shawn was rambling about.

"—and so that's why whenever I just happen to see a welcome mat, I think of my cat from a couple years ago." He laughed and she filled in as well, hopefully he didn't notice she hadn't heard the entire story.

"Thanks for listening," He said sarcastically, hinting a laugh at the end so she knew he wasn't being too serious.

"Hey! I was too," She huffed playfully in reply, looking at as she realized they were close to her house.

"Yeah? What was my cat's name?" God dammit, Shawn.

"You didn't mention his name." She tried, but was quickly shot down. "Yeah, well he's a girl so..."

She just shook her head, knowing she had lost. "Okay, you got me— all because I forgot her name was like Jasper or something."

"Jasmine," he corrected, "but you tried."

"You know what they say, A is for effort." She laughed at herself for sounding so stupid because of the phrase from when she was younger.

"I think you should get an E for effort." He commented as they approached the house, earning a punch in the shoulder from Brooklyn.

"Welcome to my new humble abode." She stated as they walked in, taking off their extra items and shutting the door.

"Where's your father?" He asked after a moment of looking around at the blank (yet to be filled) walls. "Uh, tv area? I think? Why?" She questioned before they moved, watching him run his palms against his jeans.

"Gotta make a good impression, especially if we keep hanging out." He shrugged, a small smile tugging at his lips. She tried to ignore the blush rising to her cheeks as she led him to one of the main rooms.

"Hey dad, this is Shawn." She introduced, gesturing Shawn towards the man who was sitting on the couch.

"Nice to meet you, sir," He shook hands with her father, "I'm Shawn." He showed a small smile as spoke.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you too. I'm Mr. Castillo, but you can call me Jerry if you'd like." He offered, "Also, remember the door stays open." They laughed, Brooklyn mentally groaning.

"Bye bye now," She mumbled, tugging at Shawn's wrist to lead him back out of the room.

Please don't run into my sister. Please don't run into—

"Oo, you already brought him home." Brooklyn's eyes widened, wanting to cry of her misfortune. Shawn stood there awkwardly, looking lost as to what he should do.

"I'm Bella, but that's not important." She smirked, shaking his hand.

"I'm Shawn, nice to meet you?" He let out an odd chuckle, making everything worse.

"You're scaring him, get outta here." Brooklyn shooed her sister away, sighing at how their first interaction had gone.

"Sorry about her, she's a handful sometimes.

"Am not!" Bella called from the hall, making her get up and pull her door halfway shut.

She scoffed, "Oh whatever." They lightly laughed, sitting down on her bed.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing to the floor.

"Oh," She laughed, picking up the packet. "It's my— ow!" She flinched, throwing it down on her beside table.

"What's wrong?" He asked quickly, looking her over.

"I just slit my entire finger with that damn paper." She stared at the blood emerging from her finger, not seeing the panic on Shawn's face.