Enemies or Frenemies

Chapter 8

Tess's POV
I'm on my way to class after waiting for Booker in the gym for over forty five minutes. We were suppose to have an one on one game of basket ball before class but he never showed. I hope he's okay. He is such an amazing person. I'll have to admit, it's been fun hanging out with him this week. I have actually decided after yesterday that I actually want to be friends with him. I'm not fully over what happened at my own school but I think I'm ready enough to start letting people in and try to make friends. Booker seems to actually like me for me. I'm hoping to be able to talk about it with him today. I walk in to class and see Booker sitting in his seat on his phone. I walk over to him.

"Hey Booker!" I say sitting in the seat next to him.
He doesn't look up at all. I try to talk to him again.

"Hey. I noticed you didn't come to the gym. You left me hanging. What's up with that?"
He looks up but doesn't say anything, then continues to look at his phone. I know something is up now.

"Okay, now I know you're ignoring me on purpose. Seriously what's wrong with you?" I say trying to get him to talk.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me what's wrong with you?" He says finally talking to me.

"What are you talking about?" I say confused

"How about the fact that your bullying my sister!" He said standing up

"WHAT?" I say now starting to get annoyed.
He grabs my arm and pulls me outside the classroom. Once we're alone in the hallway, he starts talking again.

"You heard me, I can't believe you'd seriously be so low. How could you do that?" He says upset.
"I don't know what your on about, but I didn't bully your sister!" I can't believe he's accusing me of bullying her.
"Well that's not what she told me last night."

Flashback
Booker's POV
"What is it?" I ask Nia, not knowing what she's going to say next.

"Well, I know your not going to want to here this, but the reason why I know Tess is a bad person is because she has not only bullied Zeena... but she also has been bullying me." She says looking scared.
I can't believe this. There no way.

"What! Are you sure? That doesn't sound like her." I say not understanding.

"Oh yea, I'm positive. Everyday in class she's either making fun of me or threatening to punch me like she did Zeena. In fact she even told me the only reason why she's friends with you is so that you would never find out about her bullying and if you ever did, you would be on her side and not mine. Nia finishes still shaking.
I can't believe what I'm hearing right now. Not only is my sister being bullied but Tess was just using me this whole time.

"This is crazy. Tess doesn't seem like the person to do that though. Are you sure it's the same Tess we're talking about here?" I say wanting to give the benefit of the doubt.
She shakes her head rapidly.

"I'm positive. Besides don't you believe me?" Nia says waiting for my answer.

" Of course I do Nia! Your my sister. As your brother it's my job to protect you and trust you. I guess I just wanted to believe that Tess wouldn't do that but now that you told me this, I can't believe her. I can't believe I fell for her tricks. Don't worry though, tomorrow she won't be an issue anymore."
Nia smiles but then looks a little scared.

Why, what are you going to do?"

"Don't worry about it. I got this." I say before walking off to my room and slamming my door.

Present
Tess's POV
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?" I scream at Booker. I can't believe he thinks I would seriously bully Nia. I mean I know we don't like each other but I would never go as far to actually bully her.
"No I'm not! I can't believe you would go that far. Your so jealous of her and Zeena." He says going off on me. That's it! I've had enough of him accusing me.
"First off, I'm not a bully. Second, maybe you should get your facts together before trying to accuse someone. I understand she's your sister and that your supposed to be able to trust each other and believe each other but this is ridiculous. Its clear to see that your sister is lying." I say furiously, but I wasn't prepared for what he was going to say next.
"And it's clear to me that your not going to own up to the fact that you did and you were just using me this whole time. You know what? I thought that you were a better person than that considering your past but apparently not. Your exactly the same person you were when I first met you. You're so annoying and stupid and a bully!"
What he said really hurts. I didn't expect him to blow up like that at me.
"So what are you saying Booker?"
He hesitated before looking back at me with a glare on his face.
"I'm saying that I don't want to be friends with a person like you. I can't believe I even thought remotely close to even asking you. Your nothing but a lonely dumb girl." He said.

By this point, everyone was in the hallway because of all the loud noise, including Zeena and Nia. I'm shocked at what Booker said. I did not expect this at all. Not only am I shocked but also embarrassed because everyone saw this whole thing. I turn back to Booker with my eyes now watering.
"I mean it Tess! I don't want to be friends with you. I can't believe I even considered it. I'm done. You can forget about me and everything else. Just stay away from me, Zeena, and especially my sister!" He says sternly.
Tears start coming down my face. He officially broke me down. No words come out my mouth. The only thing I can do is turn around and run away.

Booker's POV
I see Tess turn around and runs around the corner. I finish going off on her before seeing everyone else in the hallway. I see Nia before walking up to her.
"There you go Nia. There's no way she'll ever bother you again. You either Zeena." Nia doesn't say anything. She just shakes her head after awhile.
"Thanks Booker." Zeena says touching my shoulder flirting with me. I remove her hand before giving my sister a hug and walking back into class. Even though I know I did the right thing by blowing up at Tess, I still felt like something was wrong or that I just did a terrible thing. I blow it off. I'm probably just being paranoid.

Nia's POV
I cannot believe that just happened. I didn't know he was going to do all of that. Watching Tess turn the corner and run away crying made my stomach turn.

"Wow, Nia. You did it! You got Booker to ditch that girl." Zeena says super happy with everything that went down.

"Yea! I guess I did." I say still feeling guilty for everything.

"And to think, I thought you weren't going to be able to lie to your own brother but you did. You're amazing Nia. It still sucks we have class with her but oh well, what can you do? See you later in class!" Zeena says with a smirk on her face before walking away.

"See ya!" I say trying to seem happy, but the truth is I feel so guilty. Why did I have to lie? I'm such a terrible person. Tess may be a bully to Zeena but no one deserves what she just got from my brother. And he only did it because of me. Ughhh...what did I just do?