DELICATE / Brandon Darrow

twenty one

twenty one
fishy the frog
FIRST PERSON

I WOKE UP EARLIER than I usually do to head over to Brandon's. I don't know why but I felt like lying yesterday was going to bite me in the ass later so I thought meeting him before school might give me something. Some sort of evidence that could help us in any way.

When I arrived, I saw him just leaving. I gave him a smile and he looked at me confused. Most likely because my smile was forced and he didn't want to see me.

But then his dad followed him out.

I didn't know too much about his personal life but I knew enough of what Sean had told me. Him and his dad didn't get along because he was abusive.

They spoke quietly until his dad caught sight of me and smiled mischievously. "Are you and Brandon in class together?"

I froze in confusion. I gave him a look but he didn't make eye contact with me. I had no idea how to respond.

"Yeah?" His dad continued. "Does his class know about Fishy?"

"Dad," Brandon warned in a whisper.

"Huh?" His dad asked. I watched as the older man fought Brandon and pulled a stuffed animal out from his backpack. "This here is Fishy," he rose the stuffed frog up like it was a trophy. "Now, it's a frog but dummy here called it Fishy."

"When I was three years old, I called him Fishy," Brandon decided to defend himself.

"Three years old— exactly and he still carries it with him every where he goes," his dad hummed. "Probably still pisses his panties too, huh?"

Brandon and I made direct eye contact.

"Here you go," his dad chucked the frog to me and I caught it effortlessly. "Take that to class. Show your friends."

I didn't get much time to ask, or respond as Brandon made it his mission to rush out of there. His dad watched with a smirk before walking back inside of the house.

I stared at the frog in contemplation before I walked away from his house the opposite direction of him and made my way to school.

This was not the right evidence I needed.

♡

I was leaving school with Rowan by my side. She interrogated me just like I knew she would and I just told her I didn't end up going to his house.

She liked that response better, actually.

"Hey, guys, how's it going?" Trevor's voice shot through the air and interrupted our conversation.

"What now?" Rowan voiced in annoyance, rolling her eyes in frustration. "Honestly, you spend so much of your time trying to make us miserable. Why don't you just print out a flyer, give it to the whole school, tell them what you think of us."

"Are you prehistoric? We call that Twitter," Trevor wore a smirk on his face. "We already all know you two are ratchet ass losers without my PR team cutting down a bunch of trees."

I narrowed my eyes in anger at this. And the fact that Brandon wasn't saying anything in order to defend either one of us.

Oh, two can play at that game.

I reached in my bag and pulled out the stuffed frog. At first, he didn't see it, but when he noticed— his face got serious.

"Hey, Brandon," I played with the frog as I held it against my chest.

Trevor laughed. "What is that?"

I ignored him naturally. "I had a good idea for our project," giving Brandon an innocent glare. "We could interview each other about our parents."

Brandon was at a loss for words. He knew I had the upper hand so he had no choice but to surrender. "Yeah, I definitely have some thoughts about that topic."

We continued to have an intense stare down, causing Trevor to eye us both weirdly. "Yeah, alright, let's bounce. Later Carrie and her prom date; you two look good without the blood— not really."

We both watched the two head toward the blue truck and that's when it hit us. Hailey told us yesterday about how she was taunted by someone in a pig and monkey mask while driving that same vehicle.

Rowan and I glanced worriedly at each other before I took a couple of pictures. We left after that.

i didn't include sean in this
scene just bc he's the reason
why trevor doesn't make fun
of the oc and trevor hates the
oc for what her mom did
to his parents 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ so
i had to include smth