In Or Out

Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

When I woke up, my alarm clock said 8:00. I jumped up to get an outfit from my closet. I was supposed to be at school right now! As I got up, I was hit with a sudden wave of dizziness. I sat back down on my bed, trying to rid myself of the feeling. I stood up slowly, and convince myself that I was just hungry. When I got down the stairs into the kitchen, I saw my mom with her head in her hands and Jake pacing.

"Mom, what's-" Oh. I remember what happened now. I suddenly start to freak out, knowing that he got into our house. Jake comes rushing towards me. I almost flinched, but it's Jake. He em looped me in a hug.

"I'm so sorry Brenlee. I just wanted to talk to you. I realized that I needed to protect you, you know like I said that first day. But what did I end up doing, scared you to death. I'm sorry." He buried his head in my shoulder. The first day. I smiled thinking about it.

*flashback*

I ran out of the house, my dirty blonde ponytail swinging behind me. I had tears streaming down my face. I rounded the corner of my street so that I couldn't see my house anymore. I collapsed in the road in tears. I couldn't believe that the man I trusted the most, the man I looked up to, would do this.

I heard footsteps coming towards me. I knew it was my father. I started crying harder at the thought of him. I knew that I should have run away, but I couldn't get up in the state I was in. I felt arms cradling me. I didn't know who was hugging me, but I needed the comfort. After about 10 minutes, I found the strength to look up.

It was the boy who lived next door. I think his name was Jake. He must have been playing outside when I ran away. He looked at me and I could see a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Are you ok?" I shook my head. I'm crying my eyes out and he asks if I'm ok.

"Don't worry," he stated confidently. "I'll fight off all of the monsters that try to hurt you." I almost started crying again, but I think my tear ducts were empty by that point.

"Thanks. I whispered as I hugged him tighter.

*end of flashback*

From that day, we were inseparable. I had a crush on him for almost all of our friendship. He only thought of me as a little sister though.

I felt myself being pulled away from Jake. I was wrapped in another bone crushing hug, this one from my mom.

"He will never, and I mean never get in here. I won't let him hurt you." I nodded. After my mom found out what had been happening, she immediately kicked him out if the house. Most women wouldn't have the courage to do that, and I'm proud of her for it.

"Where's Ryan?" I wondered. Oh no, we're supposed to be at school! My mom must have already taken my brother to his middle school when she went in my room to wake me up.

"What about school?" My mom shook her head and explained that I had already been excused for the day. I sighed in relief. The last thing I needed today was to see the stares of everyone in the hallways.

"But you mister, you're technically ditching." He looked down and nodded. He eventually said goodbye to both of us, apologizing yet again, and drove to school. I decided that I would sleep for the rest of the day, which is exactly what I did.
~~~

"I can't believe that you two are already back to being friends again. If it were me, it would take at least another month to forgive him." I nodded at Hailey's comment. She certainly does hold a grudge over someone for a long time. I think that she still holds one over me for stealing her shoes about a month back...

"Well he apologized, and it's Jake! So how could I not?" Hailey shook her head. She always told me that I gave in too easily.

Thankfully, no one stared at me in the hallway today. I guess the rumor mill came up with a better story to tell. When it was finally time for lunch, I silently cheered.

As I sat down at my usual table, a cute boy with nerdy glasses popped into my head. Wait, cute?!? I wondered why, but I found myself wanting to see him again. I walked out of the cafeteria, passing Jake along the way. I smiled at him, in a hurry to get to the library.

I opened the door and stepped in, careful to not disturb anyone. I saw Charlie sitting in the same spot as yesterday, immersed in a book. Before I said hi, I decided that i might as well get a new book to try out.

A mint green cover caught my eye. When I pulled it off of the shelf, I realized that my cousin had been raving about this book for months, nagging me to read it. I hadn't been able to find it until now, so needless to say, I was pretty excited.

When I heard the bell ring, my head snapped up, just in time for my eyes to meet a pair of beautiful brown ones, just a few feet from where I was sitting. In the haze of excitement, I must have moved to a chair. Funny how you can get so lost in a book and not even realize it.

I waved at Charlie. Now that I look back on it, that was what started it all.

The next few lunches were spent in the library, just reading. The only interactions I had made with Charlie were a few waves here and there. But by the third day of staying in the library, some of my friends started to get curious.

"Bren! Wait up!" When I looked up, I saw Jake pacing towards me with a look of concern on his cute face. Wait I didn't mean-

"What's up? You haven't sat with us the entire week! Is it because of what happened on Monday? I told you I'm so-"

"No," I shook my head. "It's not about that I just found a good book in the library, and you know me, I was just really into it."

"Fine. But will you sit wit me tomorrow? Please? I miss you." Once I agreed, he ran to his class, and I walked to mine. It would definitely be a change to sit at Jakes table, with all of the popular kids. I really wasn't that popular, but Jake was, and we kind of came as a palace deal. I wish that I could just sit in the library for days, but Jake was almost begging. I had to.

When I walked into my next class, History, I noticed that everyone was sitting in pairs. On the board was the list of partners for the upcoming project. I scanned the list until I got to my name.

Brenlee Larson- Charlie McMillan

My first thought? Oh this is cliche. I didn't even know I had History with him. Wow... That makes me sound shallow. I looked around for the blue eyes boy who I'd seen just minutes before. He was sitting alone in the middle of the room with his head down.

I sat down and said hi to him, but I guess he didn't have it in him to respond. I frowned, just as our teacher, Mr. Katcher, walked in to the room.

"Alright class! Settle down! I hope you like your partners because you'll be sitting like this for two more weeks." I heard at least half of the room groan. He explained the project to us and set us to work.

Charlie groaned. "Alright let's just get this over with." I looked over. This wasn't the nerdy guy I found in the library a few days ago, and I didn't like the guy he was turning out to be.

By the end of the class, Charlie had spoken about 3 sentences to me. That made a great first(well, second) impression.

At lunch, I started walking over to my spot at Jake's table, only to find that it was taken. By who you ask? By Serena of course. She was the 'queen bee', so why wouldn't she be there? I just really didn't feel like dealing with her, so I walked back outside. I couldn't go to the library, to face Charlie, when I was already dreading History.

I decided to wander off. I looked around to see a huge willow tree. Even though most of the school was gray and boring, there was a small corner filled with beautiful flowers and this gorgeous willow tree. I decided to sit down and thing for a while.

I thought that this week couldn't get any more cliche, what with the betrayal of my best friend(with my arch enemy no less), meeting a cute guy who was not who I thought he was, getting paired up for a project with said boy. I was wrong.

Charlie just had to be sitting in the other side of the tree. He noticed me sitting down and said hi softly. I turned around, startled. He send me an apologetic smile.

"So about that project..."

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Dedicated to @Kampanion for helping me with part of this chapter! Thanks for reading guys!