Something Different

Chapter 8

Braelin's POV

Never in my 18 years of life had I ever been late to school. Never. It just didn't happen. So why I was swinging my Jansport bag over my shoulder as I sprinted down the hallway, looking for my classroom was beyond me. I shouldn't of went to that party, I mentally scolded myself but I wasn't regretting it. Cameron and I had gotten a lot closer despite the warning bells in my brain and it was as if I was possibly falling for... No Braelin, he has a girlfriend! I stopped in front of my classroom door for math panting before knocking and opening the door. Mr. Morgan was in the middle of giving instructions when he stopped, glaring at me for interrupting his lesson.

"Glad you decided to show up Ms. Washington, hope it wasn't an inconvenience," he said and the whole class started to laugh. Rolling my eyes I headed to my seat and plopped down waiting for him to continue. 

"Now as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted..." he began to speak and I immediately tuned him out right as Selena handed me a note. I gave her a curious expression but she just gestured for me to open it before pretending to be interested in what Mr. Morgan had been saying. I opened the letter quickly and read what it said:

Stacey has been spreading rumors about you all morning 

"What!" I said louder than anticipated and Mr. Morgan's glare returned.

"Ms. Washington, if you do not understand something you put your hand up and say pardon, we do not yell 'What' as it is impolite and rude." I opened my mouth to apologize but Stacey beat me to it.

"Mr. Morgan, you can't possibly blame her for it, It's in her blood line to be loud and ghetto," the class immediately started laughing and I even saw Mr. Morgan stifle a laugh before grabbing the tests we had done the week before and handing them out. One by one he gave back the tests to the students and I watched as some cheered while the others didn't bother to say anything. 

"Hey Stacey, what did you get?" Karen whisper-yelled from behind me.

"An 85% as usual. Black girl, what did you get?" Stacey said and I shook my head before pulling out my phone. "Hello! I'm talking to you."

"When you call me by my name I will respond."

"Whatever. She's probably just mad that she failed after all black people are the dumbest in the academic chain."

"Braelin what did you get?" Selena asked and I handed her my test with a shrug. "Braelin you got a perfect 100."

"What! Mr. Morgan doesn't give out 100's."

"So if black people are the dumbest in the academic chain and I got 100, what does that say about you, Stacey?" I asked faking sincerity and she glared at me until the bell ring freeing me. I slipped out of the classroom and headed to my locker needing to ditch my math textbook before lunch and as it swung open, a pile of food stamps dropped at my feet with a note attached to the inside of the locker. 

Didn't want you going hungry, don't use them all one time-- Stacey

It took several deep breaths to calm me down and even then I was still livid. How fucking dare she. 

"Hey Braelin-- What happened here?" Cameron asked confused and taking a deep breath I handed him the note before slamming my locker shut.

"I'll handle this, just give me a minute," he said and I looked away for a moment but my face was brought back to look at his gorgeous eyes when he placed his hand over mine. "I'm going to handle this."

"Okay," I watched as he walked away from me heading into her direction until finally he disappeared from my view. Needing a breath of fresh air, I headed towards the doors that lead to the outside courtyard and took a deep breath.

"Yo Braelin!" A familiar voice yelled from across the courtyard and when I opened my eyes I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Involuntarily, my body made steps closer and closer until I was face to face, standing right in front of my past.

"Darnell?"

"Damn right it's me, baby, damn you look good," he said pulling me into a hug and I stood pressed against him unable to move. Darnell? "You alright?" He asked and as if ice-cold water had been thrown on me I was back and immediately knew what I had to do.

Smack!

"Fuck Braelin!" He yelled in anger and I had to admit I did feel a bit better.

"Why are you here?"

"I missed my girl."

"I bet you missed me a whole lot when you were messing around with other bitches, huh?"

"It was one time B, you know your my one and only."

"No Darnell, I was your one and only now I'm your ex."

"Just like that B, after everything we've been through," he asked and I shrugged not able to give him an answer. 4 years of my life down the drain. 

"Can I at least get some gas money?" He joked to ease the tension and I couldn't help but laugh. Although Darnell could be a serious jackass at times, he and I were friends long before we ever got together. "You should come back with me though Braelin."

"You know I can't do that."

"Well, this ain't turning it how I expected it. How about you ditch and spend the rest of the day with me?" I opened my mouth to object but he continued. "I'm only here for the rest of the day Braelin then I'm going back to Atlanta."

"Fine, let's go," I told him before heading to his car. It was the same beat down civic that he had for the last four years but it sure as hell had a lot of memories.

"Ready to go?"

"Yup."

***

After 20 minutes of driving around laughing and talking about the old days, Darnell had parked his car in a McDonald's parking lot and turned on the radio. Our song 'Love Faces' by Trey Songz was the first to play and I couldn't help but blush at the memories we had to this song.

"B you remember the first time we did it to this song?" He asked and I rolled my eyes but nodded none the less. "Those were the good old days. Just me and you." He moved in closer and gave me a small peck on the cheek before slowly making his descend down my chin with kisses.

"Mmm... Stop."

"Come on B, I know you like this," he said as he continued to kiss me, his hands wrapping around my waist.

"Darnell chill."

"Come on B, you broke up with me the least you can do is put out one last time," he said, his hand reaching for my chest but not before I grabbed it and twisted it sharply causing him to hiss in pain. "Shit!"

"Don't fucking touch me again," I growled out before letting go of his hand and storming out of his car.

"Braelin!" He yelled and I ignored him as I made my way up the street. "Fine but don't come calling me when your ass gets lost!" He pulled out of the parking lot and took off down the road leaving me stranded with absolutely no idea where I was but at that point, anything was better than being in that car with him. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket I realized I had over 30 missed calls and 45 missed text messages and most of them were from Cameron himself. I called him back and he answered on the first ring.

"Braelin where the hell are you?"

"I don't know," I admitted softly. After giving a brief explanation of how I got trapped, leaving out the parts with Darnell acting like an asshole, Cameron eventually figured out where I was and picked me up.

"Next time you leave school can you please tell somebody?" He asked taking a quick glance at me before returning his attention to the road.

"Awe Cammy did you miss me?" I teased and he shook his head at my silliness. 

"To be honest I thought you had decided to go back to Atlanta," he admitted nervously and I couldn't help but admire how cute he looked when he was blushing.

"Don't worry, it'll take a lot more than a blonde barbie to get rid of me."

"Good," he said with a grin and although I was sure it was nothing I had a strange feeling that this boy was going to be the death of me...