stars

fourteen

Phoebe

"I know Oliver, but I'm scared. She probably went somewhere with Noah and you know what he's known for." I said, pacing around my room. I feel like an overprotective mother, although I have no idea what that's like. 

"She'll be fine, she's smart," Oliver spoke over the phone. I was so nervous. Bad thoughts flooded around in my head. What if she got kidnapped? What if Noah did something bad to her? What if-

 "Phoebe? Are you there?" Brooke! I told Oliver I had to go, hanging up and throwing it on my bed. I ran downstairs. She stood there. Her clothes were soaking wet and covered in sand. She had scrapes on her knees and arms. 

"Where have you been?" I asked, about to cry. She's been gone for hours! I walked closer to her, only to see her eyes were red and puffy, like she had been crying. Did Noah do this to her? I swear I'll kill him if he- 

"I just.." She started to speak. "I just went out swimming. I lost track of time and I... I thought if I came home soon enough, you wouldn't notice..." 

"So, you weren't with Noah?" I asked. I knew she'd tell the truth. She hasn't lied to me about anything. She shook her head. 

"I'm tired, so I'm just going to go to bed," She ran up the stairs, into my room. I sighed, grabbing my phone to call back Oliver. 

*

"So she's back now? And she wasn't with Noah?" Oliver asked. "That's good, right? All she was doing was swimming." It seemed like she told the truth, cause her fingers were all wrinkly like fingers do when you're in the water for too long. I tried to shake the thoughts out of my head. I felt too much like a parent. She's just my friend, sadly. I should've just asked her where she'd been and let her go, I feel so clingy. "Anyway, what'd you get on your math test? I got a 65, haha. I'm so bad at math." 

I laughed. "I got an 86. Thankfully I passed that test, cause I'd be failing if I didn't. I have a 75 in there. I swear that the teacher has it out for me," I joked. We kept talking about our crappy grades, but the conversation topic eventually circled around back to Brooke. 

"Oh hey Phoebe, Alex just texted me that he saw Noah walk out of school with Brooke. Also, sorry for telling him about that." Wait, what? Did she lie? I shook my head. 

"I don't care, ask him if he's sure it was Brooke and Noah." A pause. 

"He's sure," I asked him to give me a minute, hung up, and ran upstairs. I knocked on my door, opening it quietly. She was on the bottom bunk, laying down with an arm over her eyes. She took her arm off her face, looked at me for a split second, then turned around so she didn't face me. I was going to ask why she lied, but now I was confused. I walked up to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

 "Hey," I said softly. "What's wrong?" She shook her head in response. I grabbed her and turned her around. "Are you okay, Brooke?" Brooke looked at me, her eyes still red and puffy. Maybe even more than before. She nodded, trying to turn away. I raised an eyebrow. Why was she so upset? Maybe she did leave with Noah, but something bad happened and she doesn't want to speak about it. "Brooke, can you sit up? Please?" She shook her head, shutting her eyes, still trying to turn away. I let her. 

"You can tell me what's wrong. Please do, it hurts to see you like this, Brooke." I was sitting on the bed, looking at her. I wish she would at least speak to me. She was silent. I crawled next to her, then lay down next to her. I smiled at her. She looked at me with tears falling down her face. She had such a sad look in her eyes, it made my smile go away. 

"Talk to me. Please?" Brooke sniffled, rubbing her eyes. She moved closer to me and wrapped her arms around me. She inched closer to me and closed her eyes. I felt my face get hot. I wrap my arms around her and for a moment everything was great. 

"I'm sorry." She finally spoke. "I don't know why I didn't tell you, and I don't know why I went, and I'm so sorry," Brooke spoke so fast I could barely hear what she said. She looked up at me, crying. Her arms tightened around me, and I tried to comfort her. 

"So you went with Noah?" I asked. She nodded. "That's fine, you trust him, right? You said he was nice to you! I don't care that you were gone for so long or that you didn't tell me, you're fine and that's all that matters, right?" She didn't respond. It was silent for a while, so I assumed she was either done crying or asleep. I tapped her back softly, knowing she'd respond if she was awake. She mumbled something, so I assumed she was mostly asleep. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and texted Oliver. 

I waited a long time for his response, so when he didn't answer, I assumed he was doing something important. I didn't text Alex, cause if Oli didn't respond, neither would he. I looked over at Brooke. She was asleep and cuddling with me. My face heated up. I smiled at her. I wanted to move her off of me and get something to eat, but I know this won't happen again, so I didn't move. For three hours. 

Brooke's eyes opened slowly, and she mumbled something. "What?"

"I wanna tell you something."

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(Um... Hi!  I have no idea why it takes me so long to write this. It's only 1000 words per chapter. Maybe a hundred less or more. Anyways!! I'm super excited for the next chapter, so I might upload tomorrow! Bye!! <3)