Chapter 7 7| Texts Between Us

I sat at our now crowded lunch table with Claire. Brian, Jake and Sam were sitting with us, as expected. Beside them were Darren, Tyler and Josh, Claire and I. And unfortunately, Brian again sat beside me. I was beginning to think that it was going to continue like this till the end of school year.

Claire was there chatting with Jake who couldn't keep his eyes off of her. And I didn't know when but suddenly Josh, Darren and Sam were best friends!

Brian didn't join in their conversation and neither did I. Which left us both to face each other.

I didn't know why but he irritated the hell out of me. Also I didn't miss the glares the girls at our school gave us when the trio sat at our table.

"Hey, what about our beach trip?" Darren asked.

"Oh, yeah. When are we going?" I asked.

"What beach trip?" Brian butted in.

"We had planned to go to the beach on a weekend, like a few weeks ago. But it never happened," Claire said, sipping on her soft drink.

"We can do it now," Brian said excitedly.

"Of course we will. But I don't think that 'we' also include you," I said.

"Brooke, come on. Of course, they can come," Claire said, obviously wanting Jake on the trip.

"No they can't."

"Please," She pleaded.

"That's it! I am out of the trip." I said stubbornly. No way was I going on a trip where the three were present. I didn't have a problem with the two. I have a problem with?one?of them.

Brian smirked at me.

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head and looked at everyone, "That saves us a seat. It's good that she's not coming."

"What?" I asked again. "Um...who said I was not coming? You are not coming! Claire, he will not come with us!" I stated, shifting my gaze to Claire.

Claire gave me a

I-can't-help-you-you-have-no-choice look.

I sighed, "I guess what I want won't happen."

"You are coming, right?" Claire asked as if I would really ditch the beach just because Brian was there.

"Of course," I said.

"Good. So when are we going?"

"How about this weekend? On Saturday?" Darren asked.

"That's right. We should go this weekend," Claire said.

"So everybody's coming?"

"Yes!" Everyone said in unison, except me. I just sulked about my beach trip getting ruined by the three. Particularly by one of the three.

We discussed the things we would be needing on the trip until the bell rang signalling the end of lunch break.

I went to my locker to get the books of the next lecture and walked to my class.

"Hey! You are Brooke, right?" A voice said from behind me and I turned around to see who it was.

I saw Gemma smiling at me as she made her way towards me. She had a big smile on her face which looked more of a creepy grin.

"Uh, yeah. That's me."

"I'm Gemma," She said, extending her right hand for me to shake. I shook her hand. I already knew who she was.

"I'm Brooke," I said, knowing she already knew it but I didn't know what else to say to her.

"I am in your English class. So I thought why not walk to class together," She said, looking past me and focusing her brown eyes on something behind me. I followed her eyes and soon enough my eyes landed on Brian who was walking toward his class with Sam.

As soon as she saw me looking at him, she quickly spoke up. "Um, let's go to class?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

I walked towards my English class with Gemma and she chattered about classes and homework. I had a feeling that she wanted to talk about something else unrelated to school stuff.

I went and sat at my table, fourth last in the second row. Surprisingly, Gemma decided to sit with me. It was odd. She had never talked to me at all before. It was as if she was oblivious to my existence. But I didn't know why she had suddenly changed. She was all friendly to me today. Nonetheless, I decided to ignore the real motive of her demeanour.

The rest of the day went by quickly and soon enough I was in my car, driving to Claire's house.

"Do you know Gemma?" I asked Claire. She nodded, her head still bent over her phone so I decided to continue.

"She's in my English class. She never talked to me before but I don't know what came upon her and today she was so friendly to me," I told Claire.

Claire looked up from her phone. "She was talking to you? I didn't know that you knew her."

"No. I don't know her that well."

"So why did she talk to you?"

"I have no idea."

Claire shrugged, "Maybe she wanted to be friends with you."

"But she has so many friends. And she is so popular in our school! Why would she want to talk to me?"

"I don't know. What did you two talk about."

"Nothing. It was actually just about academics and school."

"Oh," Claire said nothing after that.

I shook my head and decided to drop the topic. The rest of the ride was silent and once I pulled into the driveway in front of Claire's house, I said a quick goodbye to her before driving away.

I pulled into the driveway of my own house and took out the house keys, quickly unlocking and shutting the door behind me. Mom was obviously at her office and Ryan was probably practising for a school football match.

I went into my bedroom and sprawled on the bed. I was so tired, I didn't want to get up at all the second my head hit the soft pillow.

After about an hour my phone buzzed. I was half awake. I tapped the table a few times till I got a hold on my phone.

There was a message. I opened it. Somebody had texted me.

I hid the body...Now what?!

I stared at the screen in horror. What the hell! What body?! What is happening?! Murder?! Of who?! Holy crap! I should call the cops.

My phone beeped. It was still in my hand. The vibrations startled me and the phone slipped from my hand. Luckily it landed on the bed.

I picked it up and the same person had now sent me laughing emoticon.

Maybe this was a prank.

So I texted the person back.

Who is this?

Guess

I don't have time to play stupid guessing games with you.

Oh! Is the little princess angry. So?schweet!

Schweet? Seriously? You better tell me who you are.?Whose body were you talking about?!

Kim?Kardashian

-_- Tell me! Who are you?!

What will you do if I won't tell you who I am?

I'll call the cops.

So the princess is afraid?

Am not. You are just irritating me.?And who the hell are you?

Can't you guess? A hint; I'm in your school?and you know me!

You better not be Claire! I'll kill you if you are Claire.

I'm not Claire

Darren?

No

Tyler?

Nope

Josh?

Na?Na?Na

Sam? Jake?

I can't believe you are taking this long! You hurt me

Now I was seriously running out of guesses and I had only one name left, which I typed with dread.

Brian?

Yeah! You got it right!

That's it. It was Brian texting me. I withheld the urge to puke.

Brian.?Tell me whose body were you talking about?! Have you murdered someone?

At this, he again sent me a laughing emoticon.

It was nothing, princess. It is just something that I do to random people when I'm bored. It's fun!

Oh God! Was he a psycho or something? The text scared the crap out of me and he finds it funny.

Then something clicked in my mind. How did he...?

How did you get my number?

I have my ways, princess ;)

Don't call me that? And don't text me again. Cause I won't reply to?it!!!

I threw my phone on my bed. After a couple of seconds it buzzed. I told myself to not to go and check it. But I knew I wouldn't listen, even to myself. So I finally did reach out to my phone.

You wish. Good night, princess ;-)

Without my permission, I cracked a smile, reading the text. Quickly making the smile disappear, I put on a neutral expression.

I put the phone on my bed side table and went downstairs. Mom was still not home and Ryan was sprawled on the sofa, covered in sweat.

"How was practice?" I asked him whilst walking towards the kitchen.

"Exhausting." He said, taking a deep breath. "What about you? How was your day?"

"It was okay," I said and he nodded. "Do you know when is mom coming?"

"An hour or two later," He said.

"Okay. I'll start cooking."

~

I was making lasagna when mom entered the kitchen.

"Hey mom. When did you come home?"

"Just a few minutes ago. Oh! Thank you so much for cooking, Brooke. God, I tell you this job is really tiring."

"You should go and relax. I'll call you both when the dinner's ready," I said, giving her a smile.

She smiled back and nodded her head before leaving the kitchen.

~

After dinner, I was in my room doing Brian's homework. Thankfully it would be the last time I'd be doing it. Halfway through his homework, my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered without checking the caller ID, my phone pressed between my ear and shoulder blade as my hands were busy doing the homework.

"Hello!" Somebody shouted enthusiastically on the other line. His voice was so loud as he shouted his greeting that it caused my phone to slip from my shoulders and land on the floor where it fell with a loud thud.

"Crap!" I muttered as I nearly got a heart attack. As I inspected the damage, I exhaled a sigh of relief as I learnt that there was not much damage. Just a crack in the protective outer covering. I would have to get it changed though.

I picked my phone up and held it to my ears with my hands properly.

"Who is this?" I shouted back, eager to know who the culprit was who caused my phone's cover to break.

"Guess," He said and chuckled.

I sighed. "What do you want, Brian?"

"Have you completed my homework?"

"Almost."

"Complete it and I want you to drop it off at my place, first thing in the morning before school. Got it?"

"What? No way. I'm not your delivery man!"

"You have to. And then you'll be free of all my homework."

"But why?"

"Because I won't be there at school tomorrow."

"But why?" I asked again.

"So eager to see me, princess?"

"Don't call me that! And I won't do delivery duties for you while you go party your ass somewhere! And that too in the freaking morning."

"Please, princess. Don't do this. I'm not going to party. I have to...go somewhere. It's important. So you have to do it." He said quickly but I heard a moment of hesitation in his husky voice.

Before I could reply, that jerk cut the call and I was left to fume with anger. How could he do this to me? Why did he have to be such an ass to me? I angrily threw my phone on the bed and continued with his work.

I completed his as well as my work in? about an hour and watched TV for a bit as I had nothing to do and I didn't want to study or sleep.

Finally, at around eleven at night, I was so tired that I decided to sleep before pulling the covers over me and snuggling into my soft, comfy bed.