Chapter Two
The day went by as normal and boring as every other day at Mesa High, including lunch.
Ray walked into the lunchroom that was already crowded with Juniors and Seniors and spotted the Lemon Heads at their usual table on the far side of the room.
He continued through the lunch line and finally headed toward the table at the center of the cafeteria where Scott and majority of the school jocks were sitting, along with a few cheerleaders.
As he was about to reach the table, another body crashed into his, sending his tray of food falling to the dirty cafeteria floor.
"Walk much Yamada?" he nearly shouted at the lead guitarist of the Lemon Heads, Stella Yamada.
"Just one of the many things I can do better than you Beech, if you haven't notice already." Stella's dark eyes narrowed at the soccer star.
Before more insults could be thrown, Brooklyn's boyfriend Tony jumped inbetween them.
"Neutral corners Rockstars."
He had his arm against Ray's chest as Stella's bandmate and Scott's exgirlfriend Mo Banjaree pulled her back to their table.
As the girls got back to their seats, Mo gave Scott a weak look. Scott just shook his head at Ray and Stella's latest shouting match.
Mo and Scott dated off and on a few years before, but broke it off a final time because Mo's father forbade her to date while she was in school. Though broken up, the two were still close and hated that their best friends hated each other but they had gotten used to their daily blowouts.
Ray looked at Tony who lowered his arm when Stella was safely back in her chair on the other side of the cafeteria.
"Thanks Man. Bitch just makes my blood boil sometimes." He grunted.
"Just remember to return the favor. Deal?" Tony requested.
"Deal Man." Ray agreed and shook Tony's outstretched hand and walked back into line to retrieve another food tray.
At the end of the day, Ray called Brooklyn to find out what she was going to do, regarding her ride home.
"I'll just wait for you and do my homework. I'll see you down at the field in a bit." She told her big brother.
"Alright. I'll see you down there." Ray responded and both hung up.
He rushed to the locker room to change for practice.
Scott met Ray at their gym lockers and both began to change into their practice clothes.
"So we are goin to the warehouse after the game?" Scott asked as both guys pulled their jerseys over their heads.
"Absolutely. Gonna need to celebrate the victory!" Ray practically shouted.
The rest of the guys on the team roared with approval over the prediction.
"Get your butts onto that field in 10 seconds or youre all doing 10 laps before warm-ups!" their Coach yelled into the locker room.
All at once, the players rushed out the door and headed out to the field.
Ray kept an eye out for Brooklyn during their warm-ups.
"You haven't seen Brooks yet have you?" he asked Scott when the team took their seats and got ready to listen to Coach tell them about their final game the next day.
His best friend shook his head. "Maybe she's up in the library. It is pretty hot out here." He suggested.
"Yeah. Just keep an eye on for her will ya?"
Scott nodded and both guys turned to listen to their Coach.
Three hours later, practice ended and there was still no sign of Brooklyn.
Ray Beech practically shoved all of his teammates, including Scott, out of the way to get to his locker.
As everyone else began to collect their stuff and leave for the night, Ray checked his phone. He had a missed call and voicemail from Brooklyn. He quickly dialed in to listen to it.
"Hey. Umm… Tone… Tony is giving me a ride… ride home. See- see you there." Brooklyn's voice came through his earpiece.
The big brother breathed a sigh of relief at the knowledge of his little sister's whereabouts, collected his stuff and went to head home.
When Ray arrived home, he found his mom finishing making dinner and his dad was at a meeting.
"Go get cleaned up and tell your sister to come down for dinner. It will be ready in about 10 minutes." Mrs Beech instructed her son.
"K Mom." Ray answered and tossed his gym bag in the laundry room before walking up the east staircase of the house.
As he passed Brooklyn's closed door, he knocked a couple times.
"Brooks! Mom wants you downstairs. Dinner is almost ready!" he shouted as he walked into the bathroom for a quick shower.
Having rushed through the shower and cleaning his body free from the dirt and sweat he accumulated during practice, he left the bathroom with a towel around his waist and ran into Brooklyn, who had just left her room.
She had already changed into her Tinkerbell pj pants and had on one of Ray's old sweatshirts that was too tight on him but devoured his little sister. She was pulling her blonde hair into a messy over-under style for the rest of the night.
"Isnt it a little hot for that?" he questioned.
Brooklyn looked over at him. "I'm cold. Problem?" she replied with a slight attitude that, ordinarily Ray Beech would be proud to hear come from his little sister, but that just wasn't her.
He narrowed his ice blue eyes at the 16 year old. "No. But that attitude is."
"Sorry. I'm… just tired is all." She apologized.
"Its fine. Tell Mom I'll be down in a few minutes." He told her as he walked into his room.
"K."
After dinner was finished, both teens trudged up the stairs to their rooms.
Before they disappeared behind their doors, Ray caught his baby sister by her oversized sleeve.
"So what happened with you this afternoon?"
"What do you mean?" Brooklyn had a puzzled look on her face.
"You said you were gonna wait for me to get done with practice." Ray reminded her.
"Oh. Tony wanted to hang out instead. So we went to the park for a while." His little sister explained nonchalantly.
Ok. Well, just stop by next time and let me know so I don't worry." He explained.
"Why would you worry? If I'm not with you, I'm with Tony."
Ray thought about that statement for a few seconds.
"Yeah… Seems you have been spending a lot of time with him. Havent seen the girls around for a while. Remember, your best friends? Where have they been?"
"Of course I remember them Ray. They've just… been busy is all." Brooklyn turned her face away.
"Brooks?" Ray took his sister's chin in his hand and turned her to face him. "If something was goin on, you would tell me. Right?"
Brooklyn laughed softly. "Of course I would Ray. Youre my big brother." She smiled.
Satisfied with that answer, Ray poked at her cheek playfully. "Ok."
And with that, the two teenagers went their separate ways for the night.
First off, thanks to my two reviewers so far! Love you both to death! Also a huge thanks to hayleyfan11 for giving me the new title of this little peice of mine, Always There. I think it sounds better than Protection, am I right? Haha
Quick thing I wanna explain to you guys since I've gotten a few notes on it already.
Just to clear it up, this isnt really a pairing story. This is mainly about Ray's relationship with his little sister and dealing with the issues that come with being a big brother. BUTif the story works out like I am hoping it will (can never tell with me, my stories write themselves, I cant help what happens sometimes. LOL), there will be a small pairing by the end. It is not gonna be huge, but as the characters do what I am hoping they will, there will be at least one pairing by the end. So hopefully you will all stick around til the end. I promise I will try and make it worth it.
Also REVIEWS! I am generally not the type of author that begs for them, but every author likes to know that people like their work, so dont be afraid to leave me one! I promise I wont bite! I understand that this isnt the typical LM story, but thats what I'm going for. I generally dont write the normal lovey dovey stories. Mine always have some real meaning behind them.
Next chapter will be in a couple days probably. I wanna get more written out before I post because I tend to want to be at least a couple chapters ahead of my postings, just incase I get that evil writers block, I wont leave you all hanging for a month for a new chapter. LOL