Chapter One
The Kids
"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Jeanie shrieked."I just mopped the kitchen floor and you lot come stampeding in here making a bloody mess all over the place!" The three children looked up, startled. "Well, duh," said the oldest, rolling her eyes. "That's what you expect from kids who just came in from soccer practice!" "Yeah," said the middle one, a pudgy blond boy who was an avid sports player. The third started to suck her thumb. "Well, you could take your cleats off first! And possibly you could skip just one practice to help me!" Jeanie screamed. Brid rolled her eyes again. Ever since the British housekeeper came to their house, Brid and her siblings had practically been banished from doing typical "American kid" stuff. They couldn't play video games, they couldn't eat Burger King, and they couldn't even ride bikes to the park. Even though their mom had told them to obey Jeanie, Brid had lied several times about doing her homework just to get out of the house. "You must all do your homework!" Jeanie yelled fiercely. "Whatever," Brid replied with a wave of her hand. "C'mon, let's go," she said to Patrick and Emma. "What about homework?" Carson asked. "I did it today in study hall," Brid muttered, "But that object will never believe it." The two younger ones followed their big sister to the big table in the basement. "Patrick, I am going to write your home work assignments on the board. Can you follow them in that order, buddy? Carson, you are going to do your homework and make a big basket of paper flowers for Mommy. OK. I'll be in my room if you need me," Brid said to her siblings. "I need to study for my algebra quiz." But in reality, Brid sat on her bed texting her best friend Emily. Then came a knock on her door. She quickly stuffed her phone under her pillow and grabbed a random textbook from her shoulder bag. She flipped it open and started to read. "Bridget? You need to set the table!" came Jeanie's voice from behind the door. "No thanks, I'm studying!" Brid yelled. She could hear Jeanie stumping up the stairs. Brid returned to texting. "OMG," she texted Emily. "Having that shrew here is the worst thing that could ever happen to this house."
Chapter Three
Brid sat in her mother's bed fuming. The dialogue that went between her and her mother as she brushed Brid's hair went something like this:
Brid: "Iknowsheisinchargebutthatdoesnotmeanshecan tellmetosetthetablewhenIhavehomeworkandshetoldmeto doit!"
Mom: "Calm down, Brid! I thought you told me you did your homework in study hall!"
Brid: "I know, mom I did! But I don't study in study hall!"
Mom: "Why not?"
Brid: "Cuz everyone is talking!"
Mom:"Oh well."
After their conversation, Mom decided it was time for bed. Brid protested that it was only 8:00, but her words fell upon deaf ears. When she got up the next morning, there was the smell of waffles in the air. Quickly getting up, she got in the shower and got dressed. She hurried downstairs and sat at the table. However, Brid realized that it was not her mother behind the griddle, who, apparently, miracle of miracles, had managed to wrangle her mother into telling her recipe to her world-famous waffles. "Good morning, Brid," said Jeanie."Would you like some waffles?" "Sure," replied Brid. "Can I have whipped cream and strawberries on three waffles?" "Absolutely," said Jeanie."Your parents had an emergency meeting call in New York, so they won't be home for a month." "A month? I know we live in San Francisco, but a month?" Brid was surprised. The only vacations she ever took were to her grandparent's farm in Nebraska, and even then, they went for three days. She had never been on a vacation for more than that, so it was very unusual that her parents should be gone for that long. "Yes, but only because their vacation time is happening right now. They decided they would take a vacation since they are in New York anyway. And here are your waffles, "Jeanie told Brid. "I dropped of Patrick and
Emma at the McClaubern's, so you can help me. Here is the list of stuff I want you to do today.". Jeanie had put things that she did not like to do on the list for Brid. As soon as she had finished the waffles, she grabbed a bucket, a sponge, some floor shine, and soap. Brid spent the next 3 hours cleaning the wood and tile floors. She then retreated to her basement bedroom. She had been five when they had moved into their current house, and she had picked a light blue paint that went well with her navy sheet set. Almost everything in her room was blue, including her dresser and the frame of her steel platform bed. Her hamper, nightstand, and shutter doors to closet were also blue. The French doors that led to her bathroom and plain bedroom door were all painted blue. Another thing that was blue was everything in her bathroom. Her toothpaste, toothbrush, washcloth, facial soap bottle, and tile and paint and makeup bag were blue, too. Her favorite color had been blue since she could remember, so the only color for her was blue. Nearly everything she owned was blue, right down to undies and hair elastics and brush.
Chapter Four
People Saying
Brid sat on her bed texting Angel. "I am SO confused," she tapped. "Yesterday Jeanie was being a brat, and today she was acting like I was this angel sent from heaven." Knock! Knock! Knock! Ahh... The unmistakable sound of Jelica tapping on her trapdoor. Brid's father had installed a trapdoor from the garden to her room lined with soft zebra print carpet and sky blue satin. The actual door's rich mocha color blended in with the the soil perfectly, so only Brid's Gal Clique knew it was there. Brid pushed the button that made a bell in the tunnel ring. The friend could enter this signal though the other door that was painted-What else?-a blue so dark it was almost black. This door was about two feet off the ground, so Brid had placed her duo-toned wooden stepstool from when she was three under it to make the climb down a bit easier. Jelica climbed out of the door and onto stepstool. She landed with a soft thud on the polka-dotted carpet. "HEY GIRLFRIEND!" Jelica yelped. "HOW YA DOIN'?" The fact that Jelica had moved had moved from Southern Georgia probably had something to do with how her texts always arrived in caps, and her voice sounded like it had been magnified a hundred times. Then came more knocks. Jelica went over and pushed the vibrator button. Out came the heads of Angel, Emily, Sam, Katy, Sophia, and Mackenzie. "What did you do?" Slurred Brid. "I invited over our whole clique," said Jelica matter-of-factly. "WHY?" said Brid. "Get them out of here this instant!" "All I wanted to do was hang out," whispered Jelica. "But if it matters that much to you, I guess we'll go home." "No, Jelica, that's not what I meant!" said Brid, but the girls were already climbing back into the tunnel. "Jelica, WAIT!" screeched Brid. Jelica looked back. "I was surprised, that's all. If you want to stay, you can." Jelica contemplated this for a minute. "Okay," she said. "HEY GIRLS! WE'RE STAYING AFTER ALL!" The girls trailed back to the room. "Hang on. I'm gonna go grab some snacks and drinks." She ran to the garage and grabbed eight cans of Coke, a canister of cheese puffs, and a bag of popcorn. She brought it back to her room. "Guys, my parents are in New York and the housekeeper is the only one home besides us. We need to be quiet, and if you hear anyone coming down the stairs, go into the tunnel fast. Here," she said, propping the trapdoor open with, of all things, a box full of old binders. Blue, of course. "I'll ring the bell when it's safe to come out." For the next hour and a half, the clique chatted about nothing and random stuff and munched on their snacks, occasionally texting a boyfriend. That was when the drama came. "Guys, get in the tunnel! I hear someone coming! "Brid whispered loudly. The quickly climbed into the hole and Brid covered up the door with the same navy blue curtain she always did. Thankfully, Brid's dad had used soundproof materials to make the tunnel and door, so any coughs, sneezes or ring/text tones would not be heard. "Bridget? Are you in there?" came Jeanie's voice from behind the blue French door. "I need you to help me out!" Brid had to make up some excuse for not being able to do whatever it was. "Uhhhh...
I have some stuff that I need to e-mail to mom and I want to get it done now so tomorrow I can go out with my friends," Brid explained. "OK," said Jeanie. "But can you do it ASAP? Your parents left a list of chores and one of your chores is to empty the dishwasher." "Jeanie, can you do it? I'll scrub the bathroom later if you do the dishwasher for me right now" was Brid's bribe. Bribing was one of her strong points, so it was absolutely no surprise at all that Jeanie obliged to emptying the dishwasher. She scuttled up the stairs. Brid went over to the ringer and pushed it, hard. Out came the heads and bodies of her very best friends. Only the head of Angel was streaked with tears and her phone was all wet. "Oh, Angel, what happened?" said Brid sympathetically. "It's...its Cody. His mom called and said he's been in a car accident." Just then, Brid's phone started to play "U Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift. "Yes? Yes, this is Brid." Brid listened contentedly for a few minutes. Then the tears started to fall. "Thanks...Thanks for telling me," she said to the person on the other line. She hung up. "First Angel, now Brid. What happened?" said Mackenzie. "That was Brad's brother David. Apparently, Brad has been in the same car accident as Cody. He was in the back seat, so he did not get as much of the force as Cody did, but he is in critical condition. His left ankle broke pretty much in half, and the doctors think he has some pretty serious...other problems." She started to giggle as she said this, and soon the entirety of the girls was laughing. They laughed so hard they started to cry. Through all the laughing and crying, Angel managed to say, "Let's go over to my house and make cards for the boys. Maybe we can stop and get some flowers for them too." "Flowers? Flowers? Really, Angel, these are our BOY friends we are talking about here, not us! Let's grab a couple of sports magazines and maybe a fruit basket. After all, the whole school doesn't know about it yet. We can be the first!" said Brid excitedly, half laughing. "I don't know," said Angel. "Cody's mom said he was in surgery to remove some little bits if glass from his chest." "We can go anyway. We can meet them in recovery. I just can't stand the thought of not being by Brad for one more second." "I'm sure my sister will drive us. She has a new car. And I have $50 to buy stuff." "WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? LET'S GO!" screamed Jelica. Brid grabbed her purse and wallet. Angel called her sister and by the time the Clique got outside, seventeen-year-old Annamarie was waiting in her brand-new SUV. It was white with tan leather seats and four individual movie screens for the outside seats. The girls got in the car and told Annamarie,"Stop at the food store!" Brid ran in and picked up two small fruit baskets and two sports magazines. She paid with the money Angel had given her. She ran back to the car faster than she had ever run before. She was desperate to see Brad. "Gun it, Annamarie!" Brid said breathlessly. Annamarie obliged and went as fast as the 50 mph speed limit would allow. They arrived at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center in about ten minutes. They rushed in to the emergency room reception desk. "We're here to see Cody Chapels and Bradley Darnzell," Brid told the receptionist. "You can see Bradley, but I'm afraid Cody just got out of surgery. you'll have to wait ten minutes," said a nurse who popped into the room. "But only two at a time," she added quickly. "Too many visitors at once can worsen a patient's condition." "What room is he in?" asked Sophia. "33. I believe Cody will be moving into the room shortly," answered the nurse. "I happen to be their nurse, and I have to check on Bradley. Oh, by the way, my name is Gina," she continued. Gina was dressed in pink scrubs with green peace signs. She wore a dark blue undershirt also. "I like your shirt," Brid said. "Thanks, dear," replied Gina modestly. Brid could tell she liked the praise. She led them to the room. What Angel saw made her gasp.
Chapter Five
Why Now?
It was Cody. In a full body cast. Only his head showed. Tears started running down Angel's cheeks all over again. Brad, on the other hand, was awake and telling his nurse, he wanted a drink. Brid rushed over to him. "Brad! How are you doing? Here, I brought you a present!" Brid chirped. She was glad to see him sitting up. There was a cast going from just above his left foot encircling his left thigh and to his hip. From there he had a brace that went around his waist with a strap they went around his shoulder. He had no shirt on, so his tan six-pack was clearly visible above the white of his cast. He was, on the other hand, wearing a pair of flannel boxers with The Grinch on them. "Hey, babe. I'm OK. Thanks!" Brad used his favorite trick of answering or replying to Brid's questions or sentences in the order that they came out of her mouth. "The doctor says that in two days, this thing will heal up enough for me to get a plain cast on just my leg. But since there's some pretty bad stuff, I'll have to get a brace over the cast." "Oh, baby, that stinks," said Brid sympatheticaly. She would know. Brid had broken her arm the summer before, and she had to get a cast and a brace, then an air cast and a brace, the an ace bandage and a brace. It had taken four months to heal, and now she had promised her mom she wouldn't skateboard for a long time. "When do you go home?" Brid asked her favorite BF. "When I get my body cast off. I won't be going back to school, though," said Brad. There was only three days left of school before summer vacation, and Brad and Brid had planned to go to the beach a lot together. But Brid had realized that since Brad needed a brace and a cast, he most definately would not be up to surfing. It appeared he would be up to kissing, though. Brid smiled at this thought.
Two days later, Brad had come home. Brid walked to his house, and a soon as she got there Brad swept her up into a hug and kissed her like he never had before. Brad would be turning sixteen in seven days, and despite the nearly three-year age difference between him and Brid, they had kept their status on Twitter to "In a Relationship" for the past eight months. "Ow! Okay, you can stop now!" said Brid forcefully. Brad looked shocked. "What's this about? Here I go kissing you all romantically, and you pull away and say 'ow'? I thought it was every girl's dream to get kissed by her boyfriend the way I just kissed you." Brid thought about this. "You know I love you, but your brace was kind of cutting into my leg." Brid showed him the streak of blood running down her leg. He conjured a Band-Aid and gave it to Brid. as she was applying the bandage, she asked Brad, "How is Cody doing?" Brad answered, "Better. He got his full body cast taken off last night. He has bandaging from his armpits down to his bellybutton. He's fully functioning. When I left, Angel was talking to him about the best way to make lemonade." He chuckled as he said this. Soon Brid giggling too, and the two of them started to dance as well as Brad's cast would allow, and they laughed and kissed again .Brid whispered to Brad,"I was really worried about you. It was running through my head that you were going to die. I just don't know." Brad had never thought about the way Brid had thought about his accident. All he was concentrating on in that car was getting himself and Cody out of it and calling 911. " But I didn't," he whispered into her hair "I'm here now, and that's all that matters. Brid was shaking with silent sobs, Brad's T-shirt absorbing the tears "I love you," they both said at the same time. Brad kissed Brid the top of the head and offered her a tissue. The day ended as Brad drove Brid home. "I," he said dramatically," am going to pick you up at seven-thirty. Go through the trapdoor, OK? And bring everything nessasary for the beach." Brid gave him a good, long stare before climbing out of the car. "See you!" yelled Brad as he drove away.
Chapter Six
The Bikini That Looked Like an Eyepatch
Brad showed up as promised. He said to Brid,"Hey. You look nice." That was because Brid was wearing a tiny bikini. The top part looked like an eyepatch. It had blue and purple and yellow stripes. Brad was wearing an old T-shirt that said "Live 2 Surf" and a pair of blue stripey bathing trunks. "You don't look so bad yourself." Before she got in the car, Brid put a on cover-up that matched her bikini perfectly. She got in and buckled her seatbelt. But she felt something snap, and she realized her bathing suit had come undone. "Brad, my bikini top just came undone! Can you re-tie it?" She pulled off her cover-up, pulled the top around her as best she could, and turned so that Brad could tie the string. She felt his clumsy fingers fumbling to make a knot. He eventually got it, and when he did Brid put her cover-up back on and they were off. They arrived at the beach that Brid had gone to ever since she was three. Brid gathered up her stuff and hopped out of the car. Brad went t the bed of his dark blue pickup(another reason Brid loved her precious boyfriend) and got out an umbrella, a miniature cooler, and a ENORMOUS sheet to sit on. Brid had also brought a cooler, and it just so happened that while she had brought endless drinks (OK, maybe not endless), Brad had brought several sandwiches to eat. He had also brought three giant bags of chips. As soon as they hit the sand, Brid ran to the water. But she remembered that Brad couldn't swim, so she splashed her face with the cold, refreshing water and walked across the sand (since it was only eight, the sand had not had a chance to heat up and therefore Brid could walk across it without scorching her feet.).She said to Brad,"Sorry. do you want to make sandcastles? I brought some of Carson's toys with me."Brad bit his lip and tried not to smile. He had to work very hard to keep a straight face as he said,"Yes. I'll build a sand creation for you, and you go sit in the water until I call you out."Brid splashed in the water for nearly half an hour before Brad called to tell her,"Hey babe! I'm fin-ished!" Brid ran out of the water and wrapped herself in her towel, the one with the Disney princesses. She walked over to the area where Brad had been building. "WOW," exclaimed Brid. The castle that Brad had built was nearly six feet tall. It was not particulary detailed, but it had four walls and an opening so that they could sit inside. Brad had moved all their stuff over there and put the umbrella in the top so they would be shaded. He had put a plastic bag over his cast so he would not get sand inside of it. It was waterproof, but because of his brace he could not swim. There were wheels on his brace so he didn't need crutches but he knew he was going to be walking on sand, so he had switched out the smooth skateboard wheels for studded wheels that looked like those of a Jeep. He had folded up the sheet so that it could fit in the 6x6 area,and because of this it was very cushion-y. He had made a seperate little area for the bags of food, AND he made little pillows out of sand underneath the blanket. "WOW," said Brid again. She went inside the little castle. She sat down, and Brid sat down on the blanket. Brad scrambled after her, and as soon as he got in he grabbed her by the hand and kissed her, just like that. Brid repeated one of the lines from her favorite song, Quitter by Carrie Underwood. "Oh but the way you're kissing me/ makes it hard to breathe/ but I still like it,"she recited happily. And just to prove how much she liked it, she popped up and kissed him back.
Chapter Seven
Gratitude
Jeanie was not phased by Brid going out. When she was asleep, Jeanie had done a spell that recounted the events of the past three hours. Jeanie had seen that Brad had told Brid that he was taking her to the beach. Jeanie had slept in as to give the oldest Wilson time to get ready and leave. She had left a note, but Jeanie didn't bother going down to Brid's room. Brid had gotten home close to ten due to traffic and a short stop at Target to replace the food that Brid had taken a ton of (She knew how much Brad could eat!). Brid arrived home exhausted from the beach. She thought that part of her total exhaustion was sun exhaustion. While having an amazing time playing in the sand fort with Brad, she had neglected to put on sunscreen while sitting outside of the fort for lunch. She ran by her Mom's bathroom to grab Aloe Vera gel she saved especially for times when skin was sore. She hopped in the shower, and afterwards she slathered half the bottle over her body. She threw on an old pair of gym shorts and one of her sports bras. She climbed into bed, then scrambled out and pulled all the blankets off. She climbed back into bed, this time with only the sheet over herself. She drifted off into a light sleep. When she woke up, she ached all over. Brid rolled out of bed and crawled down to her mom's room. She walked into the bathroom and started to run lukewarm water into the tub. She grabbed the special oatmeal shower gel, the Aloe Vera gel, and the special Soothe-Da-Skin loofah that her mom saved especially for sunburns. It was made of a special kind of microfiber material that was so soft that even skin purple from the sun would not hurt. She took off the bra and the shorts and hopped into the tub. The cool water soothed her sunburn, and the oatmeal and loofah helped even more. Brid hopped out and drained the tub. She dried herself with the towel that matched the loofah, the Soothe-Da-Skin microfiber towel made for sore skin. She walked back to her room feeling much, much better. She picked out a loose strapless summer dress and a pair of highlighter orange flip-flops. The dress itself was a shimmery cream orange, so the outfit was not too matchy-matchy but you could still tell it was supposed to go together. Brid grabbed a pair of earrings that looked like little oranges and a string necklace with a sun charm on the end given to her by Carson. The string was orange and yellow tye-dye. Giving herself a nod in the mirror, she put on a few drops of aloe vera gel on her exposed skin. Her alarm clock read 7:30. She knew that Brad would be up by then, so she grabbed her purse and hopped n her bike. She headed in the direction of Waver street. She chained her bike to the wrought iron fence and limped up to the polished oak front door of 447 Waver Street, San Francisco. She was limping because she had cut her leg badly on the same fence she had chained her bike to , and she was limping as not to put pressure on the leg so it would not bleed as much. She rang the doorbell. Mrs. Darnzell answered the door. "Hello, dear," she said. Glancing down at Brid's bleeding leg, she gasped. "Oh, dear, come on in! I'll patch you up and get you settled. Brad just ran out to get some eggs for me." Brid getting dizzy. She knew that if this bleeding didn't stop, she would faint Even when she was little, Brid couldn't even take the sigt of her own blood.. She limped inside and sat down in the kitchen. She winced as Mrs. Darnzell cleaned her wound with a vinegar solution. She saw that her boyfriend's mother was holding a do-your-own butterfly stitch package. She felt Mrs. Darnzell squeezing the wound. "There. All done," Mrs. Darzell said simply. "I think you'll be fine. Here are the instructions for removing the stitches. Brid tucked them into the purse as Mrs. Darnzell slipped a band aid over the stitching. Just as she stood up and walked into the den, she heard Brad walk in. She also heard Brad running to the bathroom and puking when he saw the bloody towel in his mother's hand. Brid smiled. Although she and her boyfriend had many differences, their one of many likenesses was the fact that neither of them could take blood. Brad always joked that if they got married one day and had kids,he would faint while Brid was giving birth and they would do rock-paper-scissors if their child had a cut. Just then, Brad walked in still breathing heavily from his vomiting episode. But he broke into a big grin when he saw Brid. "Hey. Mom told me what happened to your leg. Does it hurt?" Brid smiled again. This was a polar opposite from what Brid would go. If Brad had just gotten stitches from her mother, she would be first to tell him how much her stomach still hurt from puking. "I'm okay. Still a little sore, though." "Good. Well, I gotta run. Sorry, but I gotta work today to make up for that day when we went to the beach. Lucky you, you don't have a job. And it's kinda hard because I have to drive right." Brad was a lefty and only lefty. Really. Once, he almost poked his own eye out trying to eat pasta with his right hand. Brid knew that Brad was a delivery boy for Stop 'n' Shop
and he had to drive the big van righty. "Well, I'll see you later. Oh. Wish me luck for my driving test today." Brad gave a start. "What? That's today? I thought your parents were in New York!" Brid bit her lip. "They are. But my mom is coming home for two days to help re-organize Jeanie and help me through my driving test. i came over here to see if you could go pick her up with me." "Sure. Where is she coming in?" Brid thought for a moment. "She told me SFO," she said. "Let's go."
Chapter 8
Pass it On
They got stuck in traffic. For three hours they sat moving about an inch per hour. Brid knew that her mom's flight had landed nearly an hour ago, so she pulled out her phone and dialed her mom's number. She answered the phone. "Hello? Oh, hi Brid. Where are you? Is Jeanie driving? Can I talk to her?" Brid bit her lip. "Um, actually, Brad's driving. I rode my bike over to his house to see if he could drive me and we got stuck in traffic," she said. "We're in the parking lot. Where are you?"
Nearly Half an hour later, Brad was turning onto the highway again, this time with Mom and her luggage on board. "So, what happened to your leg?" Brid bit her lip, this time so hard there was blood. At least she couldn't see it. She grabbed a tissue from her purse. "Uhhh... Well, I kind of cut my leg on the fence at Brad's house," she said. "Mrs. Darnzell did a do-your-own stitches kit to avoid calling you and going to the hospital." This time, it was Brid's mother's turn to bite her lip. Brad was bug-eyed."You cut your leg on the fence? I need tell mom so she can clean it before dad gets home. You know how he is about germs." Brid suppressed a smile. She knew. Brad's dad, Harold Darnzell, was a realtor in downtown San Fransisco. He made all his clients put on hand sanitizer before entering his office. As a result, he wasn't very popular in personality, but since he sold houses extremely fast he was popular in that manner. He was constantly bugging his wife Cheryl about washing what he called "Bird excrement and urine" off of their fence, as well as the entire outside of their home. Mrs. Darnzell was a strong woman, and didn't mind an extra little chore on Saturday. Brid had always thought of her as the perfect housewife. She didn't have a job, so she cooked, cleaned and organized all day long. What with all she had going on, Brid was confused about how full of energy she was. Brid was also surprised to learn that Cheryl didn't go to bed until around 1:30 in the morning. She stayed up organizing for the next day, whereas her husband was in bed by eight-thirty exactly. Brid decided that he went to bed so early because he did so much work all day, but was not sure if that was correct.
The aroma of homemade pizza filled the house. It even reached the far reaches of Brid's bedroom. She looked up from her magazine. Her Gal Clique got a discount for needing eight copies a month. She put it away in her blue magazine rack. She went to the kitchen and discovered Brad, of all people, in the kitchen cleaning up from the pizza dough.
"What the heck are you doing here?" said Brid, rubbing her neck. "I thought you had to work."
Brad scooped her up and twirled her around. "I got a new job. At the pizzeria. I'm a waiter. And I only have to work Monday, Thursday, and Friday nights! How great is that?"
Brid's heart leaped. Only three days a week! Which definetly meant more time to hang out at the beach with Brad.
ch. 9
"What do you mean you have a new boyfriend?" Brandon asked. "Wasn't there somthing still between us?" Brid kept walking. "Leave me alone!" Brid said. "There never was anything beween us, you idiot!" Brandon was the schools biggest jock and maybe the stupidest, too. He had stalked Brid until she had told the eacher after he kissed her by the lockers. "Just because you kissed me against my will does not mean we had a relationship!" Brid huffed off towards Brad's house. His best friend Carter answered the door. "Oh. Hi Brid!" he said cheerily. He was the friendliest person on the planet. Brid returned his smile. "Is Brad here?" she sked. "I wanted to know if he wanted to go out for ice cream." Carter closed the door. Brid sat on the couch. "Actually, he went to get his cast off. He should be back soon. How about we all go out for ice cream? I'll call Cali to see if she can come too." Cali Marshall was maybe the sweetest girl ever. Being the captain of the cheerleading squad, you'd think she would be stuck up. But she wasn't. "Are you serious? He went to get his cast off? Are my ears decieving me?" Brid questioned Carter. He laughed. "Yeah, but he still has to have an air cast. But no more brace!" Brid was filled with glee. "EEEKKKKKKKK!" she screamed. Carter covered his ears, still laughing. "Shut up! You'll pop our eardrums. Look, here's Brad." Indeed, he was. No clunky brace. Brid carefully stepped over to him and he wrapped his arms around her in maybe the sweetest gesture that he had ever given her. He buried his head in her hair. "I thought you had to keep it all summer! Not 6 weeks." Brad smiled. "Well, yay for me. Is that Cali's car? What is she doing here?" Carter went to get the door. "We are all going out for ice cream. Didn't you hear?" They all piled into Carter's SUV and drove down to Kiki's Ice Cream and Sweet Treats. They sat down with their ice cream. Brid got a triple fudge marshmallow cream with fudge sauce in a cake cone, Brad got a strawberry-chocolate swirl with strawberry and fudge sauce in a waffle cone, Cali got a mango-papaya-passion fruit sorbet in a cup, and Carter got a peanut butter pretzel in a waffle cone. They sat, laughing in the parlor until there were no remains of their ice cream anywhere. They piled back in the car and headed back to Brid's house. The all piled in front of the TV in the basement and started a movie. Knock! Knock! The door was wobbling with each knock. Brid stood up to get the door. "I'll go with you," said Brad. "Who knows who -or what- that is?" When they opened it, there was Brandon, of all people, standing there. "Is this your new boyfriend, Wilson?" he sneered. "Not even remotely hot. Why no join me again?" Brid shuddered. "Ew. Get away from my house, creep. And yes, Brad is my boyfriend." She slammed the door in his face and locked it. Brad looked hurt. "You dated him?" he asked unbelievingly. "No, Brad. I did not date the most idiotic guy in the history of the world. He kissed me last year after stalking me for about five months. We never dated. Only, he was too idiotic to see that we never had anything between us." Brad looked happier. He swooped down and kissed Brid in the most romantic way possible. He pulled away slowly. "You're mine now, right?" he whispered. Brid buried her face in his chest. "Always."
END OF BOOK ONE