stars

twenty

Phoebe

I was still worried about Brooke. My mind kept going to the time I saw her in the bathroom. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. When I returned I noticed that when Noah did something affectionate, she just looked zoned out or void of emotion. Was she okay? Did I do that to her? God, I knew I should've tried to talk to her instead of listening to the note. I sat on my bed. My mind filled with thoughts that it was my fault until my phone buzzed repeatedly. I looked at it. Alex wanted to facetime. I smiled, picking up. 

"Hey!" He smiled. His brown hair was messy, and I guessed he probably had just woken up. "How are you?" 

"I'm good, you?" 

"Good." 

"So," I looked in the background. "Is Oliver there?" He laughed, shaking his head. "Did he just leave?" He didn't respond. "Yeah, okay. He literally just lives at your house. Every time I call you he's there and vice versa." He shrugged, setting his phone down. 

"True, and one second, I have to do something." I heard Alex walk away. After a couple loud noises, I heard him walk back. "Okay, I'm back, sorry." He picked up his phone and instead of the ceiling, I saw him. 

"So, anyway, why'd you call me?" I asked. 

"I heard about what happened at the skating rink. Well, not everything, but Angel told me you were crying and yelling at Brooke. What happened?" Why did Angel even tell him? He didn't need to know. 

"We were just fighting. It's an upgrade from not talking to her, I guess." 

"Oh, oof." 

"Yeah," I laughed. We kept talking about things after I changed the subject from Brooke to literally anything at all. Then my alarm went off. "Well, I gotta get ready for school. See ya there." 

*

I walked through the hallways, going to my locker. The school day was just another boring day of dumb learning and Brooke ignoring me for Noah. I opened my locker, not seeing Lily. I smiled and placed my textbooks into my locker. The hallways had cleared more, everyone else leaving because it was after school. There were a few groups of kids crowded around lockers, some groups just passing. The hallways were fairly quiet after school besides the slamming of lockers. I quietly shut my locker, walking home. On my way out, I saw someone get shoved against a locker. I turned around. It was at the end of the hallway, so I couldn't see who it was. The person standing up, the one who probably pushed them into the locker, was saying something at them. The person was left on the ground. I ran over there. 

"Hey, stop!" The people looked at me. I recognized them. It was Noah and Brooke. Did Noah push her to the ground? I walked over to Brooke, reaching my hand out. "Are you okay?" She hesitated to grab my hand, but she did. I lifted her up, glaring at Noah. "Did you push her?" He didn't answer, just stared at Brooke. I looked at Brooke. "C'mon, you're going home with me. I'm not leaving you with someone who pushed you until he apologizes." Noah tapped on something in his pocket, glaring at Brooke. 

"He didn't push me," She shoved me away from her. "I fell. Now, just go away." She walked over to Noah and looked to the ground. "I don't want you near me, didn't you read the note? I hate you." I turned around and walked out. Why would she take my hand if she didn't like me? As much as I'd like to just drop the subject, none of this adds up. If Lily offered me her hand, I wouldn't take it. So why would Brooke? 

On the walk home, I kept thinking about what would cause Brooke to do this. I know, it's more likely that she hates me, but I want to refuse to believe that. I texted Oliver. 

call me asap when you see this i need to talk 

why? what happened??

it's about brooke.

*

"Why did you need to talk? Did Brooke hurt you more? I swear I'll-" 

"She didn't technically hurt me, but I noticed something weird about her today."

"Wait, technically?"

"Shh, anyways, " I said, explaining to him everything. He was quiet for a second.

"It's probably from being around Noah. He is a bad guy, right?" I shrugged even though he couldn't see. 

"I don't know, I'm just worried about her."

"Don't. She's mad at you. Let her be. She'll come back to you sooner or later, and if she doesn't, then it's her loss." 

"But she told me a huge secret a day before the note. Don't  you think that would be weird?" It made me confused even during that moment. Why would anyone do that? It's like telling someone you love them and then stabbing them afterward. 

"I mean, I guess?" Oliver said it like a question. "But, as I said, Noah probably made her do it." 

"Okay. Can you just watch her in whatever classes you have with her? Or like get Alex to." Oliver sighed. "Just for like one day. I swear. Then I won't bother you about it anymore, I swear."

"Fine. I'll do it 'cause you forced me to." He said jokingly. 

"Thanks, Oli. I owe you one. See you at school tomorrow?" 

"Yup." And we hung up. 

I lay on my bed, thinking about how I'm basically making Oli and/or Alex stalk Brooke, but I'm worried. I'm like a worried mother watching their kid so they can make sure they don't do anything bad or anything that may hurt them. 

It just doesn't make sense. In hours, she goes from being my best friend and trusting me to hating me completely and never wanting to see me. Then she acts like she doesn't know what she did, but the next day she shoves me and says the same thing as the note? Knowing Noah, he might do this, but her going along with it isn't like her at all. 

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(Okay well I wrote this in like five hours. My grammar editor kept saying like 5 things were wrong that definitely was right. Anyway, I'm going to be posting a new story in a couple days so yeah go check that out if you are interested in spy stories. Don't google owo and have a nice day. Bye <3)