What We Keep Hidden (Jai Brooks- Ariana Grande)

Memories

"I know what we can do! Let's play Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy," the enthusiastic boy explained excitedly in an Australian accent. He had chocolate colored shaggy curly hair and appeared to be about nine years old. He was barefoot, wearing old shorts and a worn Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers t-shirt with Tommy, the original Red Ranger, on it. It was his favorite shirt.

"Not power rangers again." moaned a small girl, dressed in dirty blue jean shorts and a t-shirt which had seen better days. She wore her hair in two long dark braids, the same color of brown as her rich chocolate-colored eyes.

"Why not? It's a great show! Plus we already have the morphers." He held his arm high in the air to show off his newest toy, The Red Galaxy Morpher. He even pushed a few buttons to demonstrate what cool sound effects it made.

"You have a morpher," corrected a third child, who was almost an exact replica of the first. Except he had a freckle on his nose instead of under his left eye like his twin. "Mum didn't get me one, remember? She doesn't trust me with.. weapons." When he said the word weapons, he drew air quotes with his fingers to illustrate that this was the actual word his mother used.

The three children were sitting on the wooden floor of what, at first, appeared to be a small room inside a rustic house. The first boy, the leader, stood and paced back and forth across the small room, stopping occasionally to look out a rudimentary window, which was actually just a square hole cut into one of the walls. He gazed out at the limbs of the tree and then it became clear that he was actually standing in an elaborate tree house built high into the branches of a large oak tree.

"Okay, then you don't have to be one of the rangers, Luke. You can be one of the scientists."

"I didn't say I don't want to play with power morphers; I just said I wasn't allowed to." Luke explained, his eyes twinkling.

"I'm sick and tired of being Pink Ranger. I'm always Pink Ranger. I don't even like the color pink." complained the girl.

"Well Ariana.." The leader said in a condescending voice, as if he were explaining something to a small child. "you could always be Yellow Ranger. That ones a girl too."

"Ewwwww," she whined in response. "Yellow Ranger is always the wimpy one. And I am not a wimp."

"She's right Jai. Ariana Grande is definitely not a wimp. Remember? She was the first one to jump off the roof on a dare. And she still has the record for jumping out the farest from the tire swing."

"Farest? Is that even a real word, Luke?" Jai asked, trying to distract his twin brother.

"Sure it is. Far, farer, and farest. I'm sure it's in the dictionary."

"This isn't settling anything, Jai. Don't you see what he's doing, Luke? He's just trying to distract you." The girl was feisty and she knew it.

"Distract me from what?"

"I rest my case." she smirked at her curly headed friend.

The summer of their ninth year passed with much fun, much play, and much arguing. The three of them; Jai Brooks, Luke Brooks, and Ariana Grande had been best friends since Kindergarten. Jai and Luke were twins. A fact that Luke often brought up when he became jealous of Jai's friendship with Ariana. Even in the best of cases, a threesome often led to hurt feelings and someone being left out and feeling like a third wheel. And the third wheel was always Luke or Ariana. The group seemed to revolve around Jai. Even at this young age he had a natural magnetism that drew others to him.

Ariana stared up at the house she basically grew up in as the memories she had in it came crashing back. She could even see the treehouse that was still there from where she was parked. She was sitting in the front seat of her car, willing herself to get down and get this stupid study session over with. Why she agreed to tutor her ex, (was he even considered an ex?), she had no idea. She hadn't spoken to the guy in three years. Not since a little after her son was born.

She sighed to herself softly and pushed her car door open, which suddenly seemed so much heavier then it was usually, and grabbed her backpack as she stepped out of the car and shut it, locking it and slowly making her way up the Brooks tiled pathway leading to the front door. She went up the porch steps and took a deep breath, ringing the doorbell.

The door swung open almost instantly and she was met with her ex best friend. She cracked a small smile at him, feeling slightly awkward being there after not setting foot in there in almost four years. "Uhm.. Hi Luke."

Luke Brooks stared at her in complete and utter surprise. He was definitely not expecting her to be at his door. "Ariana.. hey.. What are you.." Before he could finish his sentence, his twin came pounding down the stairs and pushed him out of the way, smiling at the girl on the other side.

Ariana just stared back at him, emotionless. She was not going to let him get to her.

"Hey Ari." Jai said, grinning childishly. "I thought we were meeting at your house?"

"No. I made it clear that we would do the tutoring sessions either here or at school. Not at my house." the girl replied, clutching her backpack tighter in her hand.

Jai glanced at said hand and noticed a colorful beaded bracelet resting delicately on her wrist. He cocked his head to the side to read what it spelled in white.

💛Mommy💜

Noticing where his eyes were, Ariana dropped her hand from the strap and shoved it into her back pocket, hiding the bracelet from his view.

"Oh, uh, right." He cleared his throat and invited her in. "We can work in the back." He looked at his brother, who was staring at him in confusion. Jai just smiled slightly and gave him a look that promised an explanation later.

Luke just shrugged and went back to playing video games in the living room.

Jai led Ariana to the backyard, the yard they once spent every single day in together. "So, how've you been?" He tried to make conversation as they sat across from each other at the picnic table they owned.

Ariana kept her eyes in her bag as she pulled out her history text book and notes. "Fine." She replied curtly. "Now let's get started because I have to be out of here in an hour."

Jai sighed softly and nodded as he pulled his own notes and textbook out.

xxxxxxx

"What did you do today?"

"Drawed."

"Really? What?"

"This."

With an excited twinkle in his eye, Brandon let go of his mothers hand and took his little Batman backpack off only to pull out a sheet of construction paper with three stick figures on it. One, a grown male, which Ariana assumed to be Frankie, then a little boy, obviously her little boy, and the third a grown female, which was obviously her.

Ariana smiled brightly at the piece of art. "Aw, I love it so much baby. Is that Uncle Frankie?"

"No, that's my daddy." Brandon replied with a huge grin as his eyes twinkled happily. He didn't realize that those three words caused his moms heart to clench.

Ariana smiled softly at him as he put the drawing back and put his bag on. "It's beautiful." She began walking again as he reached up and took her hand, holding it tightly in his small one. She smiled and started to playfully swing their hands back and forth.

"I missed you today, Mommy."

"I missed you too baby."

xxxxxxx

I'm going to be adding a lot of flashbacks, probably in the beginning of each chapter. Sometimes not though. But there's a lot more coming so please vote and comment telling me what you'd like to see!😊