Nikki searched for the off button on her beeping alarm clock. After finally finding it, she turned on the lights and dug through her closet. She pulled out a pair of black, torn jeans, a blue tank top, and a black hoodie. She put on her clothes and headed toward the bathroom. She quickly put on her makeup, including the black eyeliner, while her straightener heated up. She quickly straightened her hair and ran downstairs. The door bell rang as she grabbed her backpack and was about to open the door. She looked through the glass and saw Brian giving her a small wave. She unlocked the door and opened it.
"Mom, I'm leaving!" Nikki called before taking Brian's hand and walking out the door.
Brian drove faster today than he had yesterday. They came to a sudden stop when the light changed quickly to red. A black SUV stopped next to them. The window rolled down and Matt and Jimmy waved. Nikki rolled down her window, too, and waved.
"How are our two lovers doing?" Jimmy said leaning forward so he could see past Matt, who was driving.
"Ah, shut up, Jim!" Brian said, giving Jimmy the same answer he did yesterday.
The light flashed to green and Nikki and Brian sped past them.
"See you at school!" she yelled back to them. She quickly rolled up her window before the wind could mess up her hair.
They beat Matt and Jimmy by a mile due to them getting stopped by a stop light that Brian had just barely made it through in time. Brian took the first parking spot he came to. Nikki jumped out of the car and jumping up and down, laughing at Jimmy.
"Since when are little scene girls so happy?" Brian asked the over-excited Nikki.
Nikki crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm a scene, not an emo. Scene's can be happy. And, for the record, I'm not little, Jimmy's just freakishly tall!"
Jimmy let out a husky laugh, "What was that you said, short shit?"
Nikki took off running, knowing that Jim was going to chase her, but within seconds his long strides had caught up to her. He picked her up and threw her on his shoulder. He walked back to Matt and Brian as she kicked her legs and pleaded, "Ah, come on, Jim, this is embarrassing and uncomfortable! Please put me down!"
Jimmy just laughed, "Nope, you shoulda thought twice before calling me freakishly tall… maybe you're just freakishly short!"
Nikki shot puppy-dog eyes in Brian's direction. Brian got the hint. "Let her down, man," Brian said, "It looks like you're hurting her."
Jimmy gently lowered her to her feet. Jim smirked. "You're lucky Syn's a nice guy, pipsqueak."
Nikki stuck her tongue out at Jim as she hid behind Brian. Matt simply shook his head.
Matt put his hand on Brian's shoulder and said, "It looks like we're dealing with two 5 year olds, Gates."
Nikki and Jimmy turned around and said in unison, "Don't call me a 5 year old! You guys are just aren't any fun!"
Matt and Brian laughed at them.
"Damn, where's Zack? He'd love this!" Matt said looking around.
"I'm right here, Shads!" a guy called from behind Matt.
Matt spun around to see Zack.
"I'm gone for one day and Jimmy's already found someone to mess with. Who the hell is this anyway?" Zack asked after saying hi to Brian.
"I'm Nikki Evans-"
Jimmy cut her off. "She's new here, came yesterday, and she's Brian's girlfriend."
"Holy shit," Zack said slowly, emphasizing each syllable, "I'm freaking gone for one day, and Brian got a girlfriend. God damn, I'm never ditching again!"
"You missed everything, Vengeance!" Matt said.
"Yeah, Nikki even got in a fight!" Jimmy chimed in. "Speaking of which, your lip looks a lot better today, pipsqueak."
"Thanks, Jim," she muttered.
"I swear, it's just because I ditched," Zack mumbled.
"Um, Bri, who is this?" Nikki whispered.
"Introduce yourself, Zack," Brian commanded.
"Hey, I'm Zack Baker, they call me Zacky Vengeance, though. I play rhythm guitar for Avenged Sevenfold," he said, leaning against Matt's SUV, and then added, "Your boyfriend plays lead."
The bell echoed through the parking lot. Nikki grabbed Brian's hand and took off running. She waved goodbye to them knowing that they'd understand because the English classroom was on the opposite side of the campus. They slowed down to walking speed.
Nikki smiled, "We can be late; I just wanted to get you alone."
Brian let out a soft sigh and pulled her closer. "Hmm, there're so many questions I want to ask but I don't know where to start…" Brian whispered.
"Then pick one and you might get an answer," she said softly.
Brian opened his mouth to ask a question but Nikki answered before he could say anything. "Laguna Beach High School, that's where I transferred from... That was you first question, wasn't it?"
"Yeah actually it was, but do you play any sports?" he asked.
"No, but I was the cheerleader captain this year," she said, laughing at his shocked expression.
"A cheerleader? I just can't see it," he paused, trying to picture her as one, "I doubt you looked like this when you were one…" he added, "But I like you just the way you are!"
Nikki was hesitant about answering, "I was a blond, no piercings or eyeliner. I dyed my hair black after I got expelled."
Brian shifted a little, nervous about asking the next question, "Umm, why… did you get expelled?"
Nikki pulled away from him, "There's a time and place for this question, Brian. And this isn't that time or place, honey."
Brian wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "I'm sorry… I know it wasn't my place to ask…"
"Don't worry about it, I'll tell you when the time is right… But I doubt you'll even want to speak to me ever again after I do," she said, placing her hands on his.
He let a soft smile form across his lips, "I could never not talk to you, no matter what you say."
"Ah, Synnie!" she said softly as she kissed his cheek, "But, it's still a no."
"Time for class?" Brian asked.
Nikki looked thoughtful. "I guess… My parents would kill me if I ditched; I'm already in enough trouble."
"Are you grounded or something?"
"Not quite, my parents sent me to this school as a punishment. They knew I wouldn't fit in and people wouldn't be very friendly. So they figured this would be the perfect place to send me," she said as they started to head in the direction of English class.
Brian fell silent not knowing what to say.
"But… You, Matt, and Jim were very welcoming! Well, you weren't at first but now you are!" she added.
Brian said nothing and just smiled.
Class started and the rest of the day was normal.
"Hey! Brian, Nikki, get over here!" Matt called to the couple.
Nikki and Brian made their way toward Matt, Jimmy, and Zack.
"What's up, Shads?" Brian asked.
"It's Friday, right?" Matt asked, but didn't wait for an answer, "Tonight's the CIF game, remember? Huntington Beach verses Laguna Beach; it's supposed to be a good game. You guys going?"
Brian looked down at Nikki, who was biting her snakebite. He nudged her to get attention.
"Oh, um, yeah, we're going…" Nikki said slowly.
"Yes, pipsqueak's going!" Jimmy yelled as he picked up Nikki and spun her around.
"God damn it, Jimmy, put me down!" she screamed.
"Hey, Gates, catch!" Jim said as he, literally, tossed Nikki at him. Brian was talking to Matt at the time and jumped at the sound of Jimmy's voice. Brian caught her just in time.
"What the hell, Jim! Give me more of a warning next time! You could've hurt her!" Brian scolded, still holding Nikki in his arms.
Jimmy just shrugged and walked away.
"See ya, tonight," Matt said before taking a step in the opposite direction.
"Wait, Matt!" Nikki dug through her pocket and tossed him her phone, "Take a picture for me. My best friend wanted a pic of us."
Brian held her bridal style with his signature smirk on his face, the smirk that practically said 'I am so much better than you!". She smiled and kicked one of her legs up. Matt took the picture and handed her phone back. Brian gently lowered Nikki to the floor.
Matt turned to leave.
"Bye, and thanks!" Nikki said.
Matt simply waved, not bothering to turn back around to face them.
"Time to go," Brian said, taking her hand and leading her toward the car.
Nikki jump in the passenger seat as the engine roared to life.
"Matt wouldn't have been mad if you said no to going tonight," he said and then added, "I mean, since it's your old school and all…"
"Hmm?" she said, not really paying attention. Instead, changing the wallpaper on her phone to her new picture and sending the picture to Dannyy.
"Are you even listening?" he asked.
She looked up from her phone. "Yeah, I heard. But I kinda wanna go because my best friend told me the squad was falling apart so I want to see for myself."
"Oh," was all Brian said.
The drive today seem so much faster than the drive this morning. They were stopped in front of Nikki's house within minutes.
"Pick you up at 6:30?" he asked as she got out and pick up her backpack.
"Yeah," she said and turned toward the door.
The doorbell rang and Nikki raced to answer it but her father beat her to it since she came from upstairs. He slowly opened the door and stared at Brian who stood outside.
"Who are you?" Nikki's father said in a booming deep voice.
Brian hesitated, somewhat intimidated by her father. "Uh, hi, I'm Nikki's boyfriend, Brian Haner… I was going to take her to the CIF game tonight," he said slowly. Brian held out his hand waiting for her father to shake it. He looked up into the father's eyes and, finally, her father gave him a hearty shake.
Nikki stood nervously behind her father and waited for him to say something.
"You passed the test," he said.
Brian looked confused but didn't break the stare. "What test?"
Her father ignored the question, and, instead, looked past Brian at the black Mustang in the driveway. Nikki's father turned around to look at her and forcefully asked, "Why didn't you say you had a new boyfriend?"
Nikki stared at the ground, not meeting her father's dagger stare. "You never asked and I thought you saw us yesterday," she whispered.
"Nicole Marie Evans, look at me when I talk to you!" he said in his big booming voice.
"Yes, daddy," she said on the verge of tears. She looked up at him.
"So, why didn't you tell us you had a new boy friend?" he almost shouted.
"You never asked," she said, backing up and clutching the wall for support.
Brian stood awkwardly, staring at the ground and trying to pretend that he wasn't there.
"You're not supposed to have a boyfriend; it's part of you punishment."
"B-but yesterday you said that going to this school was the punishment!" Nikki screamed, "Isn't that enough? I only have 4 friends! People hate me so much they hit me! Isn't that enough? You knew this would happen, didn't you?"
"You better not be talking back to me, young lady!" Nikki's father yelled back.
Nikki's mother came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder and calmly said, "Don't, honey, Nikki's right. Going to this school is enough of a punishment. And, besides, you did say that Brian passed the test." And then she said to Nikki, "Go ahead and go to the game. I'll handle this. Have fun!"
Nikki grabbed her purse off the stairs and ran outside, slamming the door behind her.
She let out a sigh of relief as she jumped into Brian black Mustang.
"Sorry, you had to see that," she said, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes.
"Is it always like that?" Brian asked nervously.
Nikki glanced at him before answering. "They never used to do this before, but after I got expelled my dad starting acting weird and doing this kind of thing pretty often."
"Oh…" He went silent, focusing on the road. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel waiting for the light to change. She nervously shifted in her seat and picked at her black finger nail polish.
After a few minutes of silence, Nikki pulled out her phone to text Dannyy, and tell her she was coming to the game, but she stopped and stared at her background, the picture of her and Brian that Matt had taken earlier. They both looked so happy in that picture and that was only a few hours ago; but look at them now, both silent and pissed off, not at each other, though. It seemed like the drive took ten times longer than it had the past two days, maybe it was because of the silence, but it was felt like an hour had gone by.
They finally pulled into the school parking lot and Brian took the first parking spot he could since the place was packed. They both got out of the car and walked toward the stadium. Nikki came to a sudden stop at the gate. She stared at the field, the game had already started, and the cheerleaders were lined up on opposite sides of the field.
Brian put an arm around her. "We can leave right now if you want."
Nikki shrugged his arm off her, and, instead, hugged him and buried her face in his chest. "I want to but I can't… I wanna see Dannyy and my old squad, and my ex-boyfriend, Cameron, the quarterback. I wanna see what's happened to them; I know I haven't been gone for very long but still…"
"Just tell me when you want to leave and we'll leave," he whispered in her ear.
She stood on her toes and kissed Brian's cheek. "Thank you, Synnie!"
Brian took her hand and led her through the gates. Matt and Jimmy waved to them and they headed up to them at the top of the bleachers. Nikki sat down next to Matt and Brian sat down next to her.
"Yo, pipsqueak! We got some people for you to meet," Jimmy said as he pointed to the two girls next to them.
"This is Val, Matt's girlfriend," he said, and the thin blond girl next to Matt waved to Nikki.
"And this is my girlfriend, Leana." The small brunette waved.
Matt spoke up, "And this is Brian's girlfriend, Nikki." She smiled nervously at them and they smiled back.
Nikki practically fell out of her seat when the announcer said, "Look at that perfect pass by Cameron Taylor!"
"What's wrong?" Brian asked softly.
Nikki leaned against Brian and whispered, so that everyone else wouldn't hear, "That's my ex; hearing his name just surprised me."
She stared across the field at her old squad. She could spot Dannyy from that distance since she was the only brunette on the all-blond squad. Dannyy look really upset she was yelling orders at her squad but no one listened. It was exactly as she had said, the squad was a mess.
The announcer went on again, "And yet another beautiful pass by Cameron Taylor!"
Nikki let out a small groan at the sound of his name and buried her face in Brian's arm.
"You wanna go?" Brian asked as he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Yeah, I've seen enough," she sighed.
"Hey, Shads, we're gonna head out," Brian said and then added a convincing lie, "Nikki's not feeling too good."
"'Kay, Gates. See ya Monday," Matt said as Jimmy, Val, and Leana waved goodbye.
Brian helped Nikki to her feet. She took one last look at the field and the waved good bye to the group. They slowly made their way back to Brian's car. Nikki jumped into the passenger seat, eager to leave.
"So, do you want me to take you home or you can come over to my house and watch a movie with me?" he asked as he turned the key in the ignition and put his arm around her.
She let out a loud sigh as her answer.
Brian smiled. "Then it's decided, you're coming over to my house."
"Sorry, I made you leave early," she said softly.
"It's fine, I've never been a big fan of going to the games," he said as he glanced from the road to her.
There was a few seconds of awkward silence until Nikki spoke. "I never broke up with Cameron…"
Brian looked at her, confused because of her random statement.
She continued, "I got caught up in all the drama I never got a chance break up with him. I thought he would get the point that we were threw but he still thinks we're together…"
Brian stayed silent, not wanting to make the wrong move by saying something that he would regret.
"Dannyy passed a message to me from him. He says he misses me and he still loves me…"
Brian finally spoke, "And what did you say to that?"
Nikki shot a smile in his direction and said sweetly, "I told her to tell him to: Fuck off!"
Brian let out a soft laugh, "That's my girl!" He tousled her hair gently and she giggled.
He pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine. They both got out of the car and headed for the front door. Brian unlocked the door and called through the house to see if anyone was home.
He found a handwritten note on the kitchen counter that read:
We went to the movies, and should be back around 11. ~Dad
Brian threw the paper back down on the counter and headed into a different room. Nikki followed him. He plopped down on the couch and she sat down next to him. As he reached for the remote, she snuggled into his chest. Brian turned down the TV volume and stroked her head. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before she had fallen asleep next to Brian.
It was past eleven and Nikki was still asleep next to Brian. Brian took hold of her shoulders and shook her gently. She stirred for a second mumbling, "But I didn't mean to, Chloe…"
He shook her again saying, "Wake up, Nikki, its late and I gotta take you home."
She mumbled again, "But it wasn't my fault…"
Brian gave up on trying to wake her up and, instead, picked her up, bridal style. He didn't realize it until now but she was almost as light as his little sister. He made his way through the house, and attempted to open the door with Nikki in his arms. He struggled for a minute until the door was opened from the other side. Mr. Haner looked at Brian and Nikki, while Brian explained, "This is Nikki, we got bored with the game so we came here and she fell asleep while we were watching TV. I'm gonna take her home right now."
Mr. Haner simply nodded, no questions asked, but Kenna giggled.
"Shush, Kenna," Mr. Haner whispered.
Brian moved pass his family and they entered the house. Nikki started talking in her sleep again, "Chloe, don't, I didn't mean to… You dropped me, what did you expect me to do… Chloe, don't, please don't… It was an accident, I didn't know you'd do that to yourself… You knew I had a bad temper, and you always ignore what I say. Why not then? Why'd you listen to me for once? I'm sorry… Please, Chloe… Don't do this to me…"
Nikki started shaking and hit her head against Brian's chest, but she was still asleep.
"Nikki," Brian whispered, "Nikki, wake up, it's just a nightmare."
She looked up at him and then closed her eyes again. Brian knocked on the front door of her house. He must've been lucky because it was Nikki's mother that answered and not her father.
"She fell asleep at my house while we were watching TV," he explained, yet again.
Mrs. Evans smiled and said, "If you don't mind, can you take her up to her room for me?"
Brian nodded, and Mrs. Evans added, "Go up the stairs and it's the room at the end of the hallway."
Brian did as she said going up the stairs, down the hallway, and into the last room he came to. Her room was practically empty, just an unmade bed, a dresser, and a few pairs of shoes and clothes lying on the white carpet. He gently lowered her on to her bed and tucked her in.
"G'night, baby," he whispered as he kissed her forehead.
She caught hold of his hand, and, still sleep-talking, said, "Tell Chloe I'm sorry…"
Brian laid in bed wondering what Nikki was dreaming about. Who was that 'Chloe' person she kept talking about? He never knew she had a bad temper, and what was the 'accident'? What was she so sorry about and when was she 'dropped'? It sounded like Nikki was talking nonsense but it all had to have meant something. Maybe that had something to do with the murder rumors… But he wanted to believe that those rumors were just lies. Nikki couldn't have killed someone.
Chloe… Chloe… Chloe… The first person that came to mind was Matt's younger sister, Chloe. No one had spoken of her for a month because they didn't want Matt to flip out on them. Chloe had been 'gone' for a month and her name was taboo around Matt. Brian had learned his lesson a few weeks ago and his black eye had finally faded out. But that Chloe couldn't be the Chloe in Nikki's dreams. Chloe was a year younger than Matt, and, for some reason that was never explained to Brian, she didn't go to Huntington Beach High School, she went to… he suddenly couldn't remember what school Chloe went to. He was almost sure she didn't go to Laguna, but where ever she went, she was a cheerleader there.
Chloe Sanders… It can't be her…