My British Bear

Chapter 4

"ARG!" I growled in frustration, dropping the pencil I was using. It was Saturday morning and Brooks was trying to show me how to draw humans so I could draw the main character from my favorite book.

I was having much less success than him.

"Don't get upset," he said calmly. "Just relax and concentrate."

"Easy for you to say!" I huffed, crossing my arms and pouting.

He wrinkled his nose as he smiled. "How about a break? Do you feel like a cookie?"

I glanced up at him, trying to make my face very serious. "Why? Do I look like one?" I asked in a suspicious tone.

Brooks giggled. It was an adorable little giggle. "No, but I can buy you one!"

I smiled back. "That'd be great, Brooks." I'd already learned not to protest and to just let him buy cookies for me. I didn't really have money to spend in the first place.

He went to the counter and bought me another sugar cookie, getting a snickerdoodle for himself. "So," he started, sitting down and handing me my cookie, "will you tell me about yourself?"

"Like what?" I raised an eyebrow, nibbling on the sugary goodness. I hated talking about myself. The questions always made me wary and proved to be difficult to answer. But Brooks was so warm and open it was easy for it to just spill all out. It took a lot of self-control not to confess everything.

"Simple stuff." He shrugged. "You're new to the town, aren't ya? How long have you been here?"

"Two months," I mumbled.

His eyes widened. "Oh. Well, where do you go to school?"

"Wildigg High School." His face squeezed up as he tried to hold back laughter. "What?" I demanded.

"Sorry," he chortled. "My friend, Zachary, always says 'Wildigg High School; has shovel, will dig."

I couldn't help but laugh. "I suppose you two don't go to Wildigg?"

"Actually, we do!" he chirped. I tilted my head, confused. "Me, Zach, Molly, Angel, Jess, Seth, and Chloe all go to Wildigg," he continued. "I am kinda surprised that Chloe hasn't dragged you to our table yet. We... what did Jess say? 'Lint roll all of the outcasts'? We make friends with new people."

"Oh." Maybe I should try to find Chloe... That's a lot of girls... one of them has to be his girlfriend.

"Um... what's your favorite holiday?" he asked suddenly, breaking through my internal investigating.

"I used to love Christmas," I said, wishfully thinking of the lights and the music and the food.

"'Used to'?"

I brought myself back to earth. "Yeah, not so much anymore. We don't really celebrate it."

He frowned softly. "That's sad." He sounded like he actually pitied me.

I shrugged. "It is what it is. Nobody can change it.The whole thing is overrated anyways."

"You can always change it," he insisted. "Why you should always have to listen to what everyone tells you?"

I paused for a moment, digesting the words. He wasn't talking about rebelling, but actually changing something because I knew it was right, no matter what everyone else said. It was poetic. "Wise words..." I murmured. He was right.

He shrugged. "Just the truth."

I glanced down at my watch. "Crud... Uh, Brooks, I gotta get home."