Relying On Ben and Jerry (Waltham #1)

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Everybody's Fool

Monday morning at breakfast before school, something monumental happened.

Felton sat next to me.

The moment he settled into the seat, chewing contently on his Pop Tart, I turned and stared at him with wide eyes, my mouth hanging open. He continued to chew for a while, completely clueless to my stare, until eventually he realized that he was being watched, and he glanced over at me. He swallowed heavily and shot me a look, one eyebrow going up. “What?”

“You’re sitting next to me,” I said, awed. He squinted, confused.

“And?” he demanded, rolling his eyes. “Are you too exclusive now that you’re dating the kid who lives next door?”

“No,” I said hurriedly, afraid to make him leave. My brother and I were definitely not close, but there was rarely a time where he even acknowledged my existence, so I didn’t want to scare him off. “No, it’s okay. So, what’s up?”

“Um,” he said. “Breakfast?”

I nodded slowly, looking away and making a face, going back to eating my cereal. He finished eating and pushed his paper plate away from him, a thoughtful expression on his face. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, curious.

“Okay,” he said suddenly, turning to me. “I know I haven’t been very brotherly to you lately.”

I nearly choked on my own spit. I stared at him, wide eyed, but he wasn’t done speaking yet.

His hands were up as he gesticulated with his monologue, as if it was practiced, but my brother wasn’t the kind of person to do things after really thinking them through first. “I kind of feel bad, you know, since everyone kind of freaks out about what you wear and whatever, even though it’s kind of seriously weird and I still think you belong in the circus, but still. I guess I should have been more friendly toward you, and I feel bad. I was talking to Aubs last night and she told me that you thought that I didn’t even know you existed and I just want you to know that I’m always looking out for you even though you don’t think I am and that I’ve nearly gotten into fights with six football-playing guys to get them to back off from making fun of you. So. Yeah.”

I blinked.

He stared down at his plate, grimacing. I was in shock.

Did that just happen?

I pinched myself.

“You’re awake, dorkface,” he told me, rolling his eyes, and I knew this was real.

“Wow,” I said.

“Yeah, I guess I can be a bit of a nice guy sometimes,” he admitted, rolling his eyes at me. He shot me a grin, his eyes more open than I had seen them in a while, and there was something there that I couldn’t even read. “You know, you’re not the only one in this family that acts like someone they aren’t sometimes.”

I wore strange clothes and did stupid things sometimes, but Felton wore a face that had us all fooled. Even me. Even our parents. I could tell right now that the person I was looking at now was my brother, just not the one I was used to. The one I knew was stupid and hated me and wished that he was anywhere but here. But this one . . . he looked smart. Tired. No; exhausted.

That’s when I realized that I didn’t even know who Felton was. That maybe I was the one that should be apologizing.

“This doesn’t mean that I’m going to start wearing a skirt and painting your nails and asking you about your love life,” he quickly told me once he felt me starting to get sappy, making a distasteful face. “I’m just saying that I care about you, sis. Even if you dress like a circus escapee and are dating the weirdest kid I’ve ever met.”