Okay so I would've had this chapter up a few days ago...unfortunately I managed to delete it without saving it. Awesome. Anyway, here's an attempt at a determinably *better* rewrite :) Also, thanks to the fans that reviewed, can't believe you guys still have faith in me! It's totally appreciated and definitely means a lot :)
Chapter 7: Turn Off The Lights
Pitbull's "Move, Shake, Drop" stirs me from my very peaceful sleep, and I keep my eyes closed, wishing it away. Go figure, that doesn't work. I roll over and look at my alarm clock, it's 4:37 in the morning. "What the fuck?" I grumble and drop my head back down on my pillow. The music stops.
No more than ten seconds later, the song is once again blaring. I recognize it finally as Nathan's ringtone. "Nateee" I whine, pushing his shoulder gently. It doesn't work; that boy is out like a light. His phone is still going off, so I elbow him in the ribs.
"Ow, what the fu-" he mumbles until he registers the music. "Fuck!" He jumps up to find his phone, in order to do so he has to find his shorts. Oops. Finally, he's successful.
"Hello? At Tim's, we were up late practicing his jump shot...'cause he needs the practice...now?...now?...fine, yeah...alright." He hangs up the phone and slowly starts retrieving his clothes from around the room. Wide awake now, I begrudgingly get up to help him.
I hand him his shirt, wallet, and car keys and he sleepily tries to put on his shoes while standing up. He stumbles and I try to steady him. He's definitely not a morning person, not that that matters to Dan and his early-morning workouts.
Dressed in a matter of thirty seconds, he gives me a half-second hug before quietly exiting my room. I wait until I hear his car start up down the street before I lazily crawl back into my comfortable bed, feeling sorry for Nathan that he can't do the same.
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"Blahhhh." I grumble into my mirror before shutting my locker and resting up against it.
"You're looking particularly zombie-tastic today." Haley teases and wraps her arm around my waist as we walk towards our classes.
It's true. Thanks to Nate's early morning wake up call, I feel like the walking dead. And it shows: a pair of gray oversized, rolled up sweats combined with a white tank top and a five-second ponytail. Plus the weather sucks today, so that just matches my mood.
"Nice push up bra though, it's a nice touch." She winks as I look down. Hey, I still have to look hot.
"It's more for their benefit than mine." I giggle as I wink at a couple of freshman boys staring at my chest as we make our way down the hall. Haley rolls her eyes and laughs. "B. Davis: single handedly giving the undead sex appeal. Try not to convert too many people!" She chides.
"Oh please Haley, I'm just the female, zombie-rific version of Edward Cullen. The boys can't resist." I wink as she turns into her classroom, and I continue on my way. I haven't seen Nathan yet this morning, yet I know he's around because he can't miss classes on game days. Poor kid is probably exhauste-
"Oomph!" I'm pulled away from my thoughts as I'm pulled into an empty classroom. Speak of the sexy devil, Nathan is smirking at me and pulling me further into the room, away from the door. He's pushes me up against the wall and kisses me hungrily.
After a couple of seconds he pulls away, and I open my eyes to meet his gaze.
"Sorry for cutting out early this morning. I felt like an ass, but Dan seemed pretty serious about the run." He shrugs.
I smile and wipe some of my lipgloss from his lips. "How serious was he?"
"Two miles, fifty jump shots, and weights for an hour." I take in his attire of a light blue button up, a dark blue tie, khaki pants and nice shoes. His hair is spiky and perfect, and his eyes look refreshed and awake.
He takes in my appearance. "Haha, get much sleep last night, Junior?" He changes the subject. I pull on his shirt, bringing him in for a kiss. Locking our eyes, I jokingly mutter "asshole" and try to pull him closer. The brick wall that he is, can only be pulled so far, and he stops himself a few inches away from my face.
His cobalt eyes move around my face, from my excited eyes, to my parted lips, and down to my chest since this little move sped up my breathing rate. He licks his lips and I can feel his breath on my neck. We lock eyes again and he knows he's driving me crazy. I try pulling him closer but he doesn't move, he just lifts an eyebrow and lets out a quiver of a smirk.
I rest my hands on his torso, sliding them down his front. Even through the shirt I can feel his abs. I try the reversal, to push him away, but he doesn't budge. "You know I'm going to be seriously late for class." He dips his head lower, and thoughts of my history class eradicate from my mind.
He still doesn't break eye contact and he's trying to make me squirm. I look down and meet his gaze again. We're an inch away from each other and finally he kisses me, gentler and deeper. Our fingers lace together and after a few seconds I pull away.
"Class." I raise my eyebrow. "You should probably go too. Can't you get kicked out of the game tonight?"
"Study hall." He grins. "I'll see you next period." He smirks.
I eye him suspiciously. "What're you gonna do?" Nathan shrugs in response, jokingly blows me a kiss, and walks out the door laughing. Fuck.
I gain my composure at the very random last five minutes of my life, and decide that since I'm already late to history, I can afford a few more minutes touching up my probably now-smudged make-up in the bathroom.
I walk in and pull my lip gloss out of my pocket, and try to fix my bed-headed hair, somehow. Much to my lovely annoyance, the stall behind me opens, and from the mirror I can see my bestest friend in the world, Rachel, walk towards the sink.
Choosing the simple "I'mma ignore you bitch" route, I run my fingers through my hair, trying to tame my wild mane.
"Brookie, dearest. Our mascot is the raven, not the hippo. I wouldn't want our fans to get the wrong idea, so skip lunch today sweetie?" She asks in a sugary sweet tone.
Oh shit. Not only did Rachel nix my route, she crashed the fucking car. I turn to her.
"Funny, I don't think they'll notice me when half the crowd will be trying not to scratch at whatever disease you passed around this week." I roll my eyes.
She just smiles. "It's so funny that you're calling me a whore. Last time I checked, I wasn't fucking my best friend's brother." My head snaps to look at her, my ears ringing, hoping she didn't just say that.
"Oh, you think it's not obvious? You're like a cat in heat whenever he's within a mile of you. Stop fawning over the fact that you're his little bed slut for the time being." I glare at her, as she continues. "That is until Haley finds out, right? Oh, of course. You wouldn't be sneaking secret rendezvous in empty classrooms if people were allowed to know you're doing the dirty with Nathan. " She starts to walk away, and turns around again.
"It'd be such a shame for wittle Haley to find out about you two, wouldn't it? And of course, I'd be a bad friend if I didn't tell her what I knew...so what does that make you, Brooke? See you next period, slut." With that, she cackles and walks out the door.
I'm frozen for a few minutes, in complete shock. I have no idea what to do. Text Haley and tell her to meet me in between classes, and spill everything? Break it off with Nathan? Since that's clearly Rachel's main goal. Kill Rachel? Incredibly tempting.
I have no clue what to do. No fucking idea. Eventually the bell rings, signaling the end of class, though I'm still in the bathroom. I pace back and forth, at a loss for the right solution here. I gather my things and head off to chemistry. A forty minute class with both Rachel and Nathan? Doomsday.
My hands are shaking as I walk into class. Neither one of them is here yet, though I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Rachel could be telling Haley, hell, she may have already told her, and Haley is chewing out Nathan right now." I feel like my entire body is trembling, but no one else seems to notice.
Eventually Rachel walks in. She expertly ignores eye contact but has the biggest smile on her face. I have no idea how to interpret that other than I'm reverting back to my plan to kill her. If only I could think of a place to hide the body. Ugh.
Class begins and Nathan is still MIA. I'm not sure what to make of that either. I keep checking my phone under my desk, half-expecting an incensed text from Haley, or and "oh shit" text from Nathan, nada.
Finally he walks in, and from the look on his face I know immediately that Rachel hasn't said anything, yet anyway. Part of me feels so relieved, while part of me tenses up at the fact that she still has the power over me and it's torturous.
Nathan slides into his chair next to me and I can feel her eyes on us, though I will myself to stare straight ahead, emotionless. After about ten minutes of this, I feel a piece of paper hit the side of my arm as Nathan slides it across our table.
"What's going on?"
I subtly push the paper back to him, staring intently at the formulas on the board and trying to figure out how to make them fix my situation. Unfortunately these formulas don't compute. Girl plus boy, divide by bitch girl, and add best friend. Or subtract best friend. I'm not entirely sure what the answer is.
As soon as class is over I dart out of my seat and for the door, practically crashing into some random sophomore as I make my hurried exit. I speed through the halls until I get to my locker, and I wish I could just hide in there the rest of the day.
An arm wraps around my waist and I jump, letting out a mild 'yelp' in the process.
"Zom-Brooke, you look like you've just seen a ghost." Haley teases and I try to calm down. "What gives?"
"Rough day." I shrug and she offers an empathetic smile.
"Perfect!" I eye her questioningly, and she explains. "I was sitting in class, bored as hell while we watched this lame video, anyway, and I was thinking about how I've been so wrapped up in Jake lately," she pauses and looks at me, expecting some kind of innuendo and I force a smile out at her, "and so we haven't hung out in what feels like forever, so we should have a girls day this weekend? I'll kick Nathan out of the house, we'll go shopping, get trashy movies, eat plenty of calories. Sound go-"
"Sounds excellent Hales!" I smile and hug her tightly.
"Great!" She smiles. "I've gotta go tutor, but I'll see you at the game tonight, and after of course. Oh, but do you think Nate could give you a ride? Jake's parents are gonna be out of the house for a few hours tonight, so we're gonna make a pit stop on the way to the beach house." She grins. I totally forgot about the after party.
"Yeah, sure." Normally I'd be ecstatic at the opportunity, now I'm dreading the alone time with Nathan. Telling him that Rachel knows about us is going to make it all the more real.