my weakness {gxg}

chapter three

Once I get back from giving the devil a tour of the school, my friends are in the cafeteria at our usual table, waiting for me to come back.

"Hey Brooke." Devin says. They all look extremely anxious. "How'd it go?"

"Well, It went about as well as expected. She was a bitch and I tried to restrain from punching her."

They all look at me sympathetically. They all know what happened in sophomore year. Actually, probably everyone knows what happened sophomore year.

Greg speaks up first. "If you ever need anyone to kick her ass, you got us B."

Matt laughs. "That's cute babe. Haven't you seen her, her biceps are bigger than your head. And she has a six pack. All of us together couldn't take her down."

"Bet I could do it." Jayden speaks up, a cocky smirk on her face, her arms crossed. I don't know how she does it, but she does this thing where she leans back in her chair, and it doesn't look like she's slouching or being lazy. It's like she's saying I'm so cool that I can effortlessly slouch and look sexy while doing it. Anyway, that's what she's doing as she's smirking her ass off.

The cafeteria gets silent all of a sudden and I don't even have to turn around to know Paisley just walked in. She has that effect everywhere.

"You might want to see this." Morgan whispers to me.

I turn around and see Paisley, with her arm slung around the person I hate almost as much as her. Mila Stevens. We used to be best friends before sophomore year. She helped Paisley ruin my life, and from then on we've been enemies. We compete in everything and for some reason, we're always in the same classes. And now they're walking in together. Together as a couple. I can't take this.

I turn back to Morgan, my eyes blazing. "I need to go."

"Where?"

"Anywhere but here."

We stand up and make our way out of the cafeteria. I can hear Paisley behind me.

"Where are you going babe?"

I don't answer, instead I just flip her off and keep going. We leave the cafeteria and head to the abandoned classroom on the third floor. When Mike dumped me, he brought me up here, and ever since it's been our group's little spot. Anytime any of us just needed space, we would come up here.

Once we reach the classroom, Morgan and I sit down across from each other.

"You okay B?"

I sigh. "I honestly don't know. First, The Devil comes back, and then she and the Ice Queen reunite forces yet again. I have a bad feeling."

Morgan looks me in the eyes. "Look, I don't know what's going to happen, but I do know that this time we'll be prepared. All of us are here for you. Now, do you want to skip class or do you want to get yourself together and head back downstairs? Show her how strong you are."

She stands up and offers me a hand. I close my eyes, count to ten, and take her hand.

"Let's go conquer the world B."

I laugh. "We can do that tomorrow."

***

Morgan and I have the same first period class, advanced chemistry, so we head there together. It goes by pretty fast and the professor, Mr Hakis, seems really nice.

After first period, Morgan has music and I have art. None of my friends have art with me, because they all have musical talents and I don't, so this semester I'm taking art. Trying something new is good, right? I hope so.

I walk into the classroom and I'm greeted by a nice woman with stringy blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a paint splattered T-shirt and jeans. I immediately like her.

She walks up to me and introduces herself. "Hi, I'm Ms. Shea. You must be Brooke. I had your brother first period and he told me to look out for you."

I grin. "Don't worry, I'm much more low maintenance than him."

She laughs, a low floaty laugh that seems to echo around the room. "Well, I'm glad to hear that."

Kids are now starting to file into the room, and she turns away to greet another student with a look of regret in her eyes.

"It was nice to meet you Brooke!" She grins and turns away.

I smile to myself, before turning to a desk in the back of the classroom. I can't remember the last time I was in an art room, much less picked up a paintbrush. I used to paint all the time, but after Sophomore year I was never really inspired to do art. The final bell rings and I sit up straight, excited to start.

Then Mila fucking Stevens walks in and of course she looks perfect as she does it. She sees me and smirks as she makes her way back to the desk next to mine. "Do you mind if I sit here Brookie?" She asks, her voice dripping with irony.

"Fuck off." I grumble, putting my head in my hands.

"Thanks Brookie!" Her voice is so high right now that my eardrums are ringing.

It is right then that my brother comes bursting through the door, and I swear that I have never been more happy to see him. He's grinning as he runs towards me and skids to a stop in front of my desk. I'm groaning as he gets down on one knee and holds up my lunch.

"I think you forgot this, my lady." Jake says, a shit eating grin on his face. I grab the lunch and smack him on the head with it as he pretends to faint. By now, the whole class is laughing and even Ms. Shea is grinning.

"Don't you have someone else to annoy Jakey?" I groan.

"But I wuv my wittle baby sister so much!" He whines while grabbing onto my leg like a toddler, with no intention of letting go.

"Jake you're literally two minutes older. And don't you have another little sister to embarrass?"

Realization dawns on his face. "Oh my god, you're a genius B. I forgot Baby M is in high school now. Wanna come?" He's grinning now.

I smack him. "No dumbass, I'm in class and unlike you I actually care about passing my classes and getting into college."

"Hey don't insult my grades, they have sensitive ears!" He's pouting. "And just because some of us don't live under a rock doesn't mean we don't care about school. I mean, not me obviously, I'm too cool for school." He flips his sunglasses down over his bright blue eyes and smirks.

I snort. "Whatever makes you sleep at night. Now go away."

He ruffles my hair and then bounces happily out of the classroom. Everyone's eyes are still on me, and I slouch down in my seat, though the chair is so small that it's incredibly hard to slouch in.

Ms. Shea stands up and claps her hands together. "Well now that we've had our fun, who's ready to get started?"

No one says anything and she takes that as her cue to get the clay out and start showing us examples of the projects we're going to do this year. Before I know it the bell's ringing and I'm getting swept down the hallway into a sea of people.