Hi everyone,
This chapter longer in the end. I hope you'll like it. Don't be afraid to say what you think about it. 😜
J'ai pensé à le poster en français. Dites-moi si vous aimeriez. 😊
In the evening at the dinner table, Cindy Walsh asks how their day went. Brandon answers with a slight smile that it was normal and Brenda says it was disappointing.
What happened?" asks his mother.
"There is a girl who is in the same history class as me and today after school I was supposed to help her with history lessons. She didn't even come to the library. And like an idiot, I waited for her for two hours." she recounts, a little annoyed.
"Maybe she had something come up and couldn't tell you."
"Brenda raises her eyebrows, not believing it at all.
"You bet!"
"Who is this girl?" questions her father, curious to know more.
"I don't know. This morning she was late for class and it was the first time I'd seen her.
"But you offered to help her?" he adds.
"No. She asked me after she told me that our teacher basically saw me as a good student. I assumed he suggested she ask me."
"Who is this girl?" his brother now asks.
"I don't think you've ever seen her. Her name is Nicholle Stanner."
Brandon frowns, thinking, but that name does not indeed ring a bell.
"Never heard of her."
"You're the only one." she says after raising her eyebrows.
"What do you mean?" his mother asks.
"Oh, nothing."
Brenda finally dares not reveal to them what Kelly has told her. Yet, it's a major piece of information that would have given her family some closure on this girl's personality. Her parents, especially her father, would have forbidden her to speak to him again. He would have been right.
Later, before going to bed, Brenda enters into the room of her brother after knocking on the bathroom door that connects to his room.
"Do you mind if I talk to you for a minute or two?" she asks, a little embarrassed.
"No."
She sits down on the bed and admits to him that she hasn't told him everything about Nicholle.
"During the lunch break, Kelly told me about Nicholle and Steve dating."
"So?"
"In short, she stalked him and Steve's mother almost filed a complaint." she confesses, her expression a little serious.
Brandon straightens up against the headboard and looks at his sister with a perplexed expression.
"And that's not all."
"You're starting to worry me now."
Brenda then tells him that Nicholle had followed Kelly home twice.
"What?!" he exclaims, immediately thinking that this girl might be dangerous.
"Don't yell so loud. I don't want the parents to hear."
"But come on, Brenda. Can you believe it? There's something not quite right about this girl. You should have told Mom and Dad." he says to her in a low voice, displeased.
"I know, you're right. When Kelly told me that, I believed it of course, but I wanted to try to give Nicholle a chance and make up my own mind about her." she explained sincerely.
Brandon looks at her indulgently, adding that they can't help but be good Samaritans.
"Or a pushover in my case."
"What do you intend to do?" he asks, looking concerned.
"Try to avoid her." she replies determined.
"Good." he says reassured.
"Thank you for listening to me."
"You know you can count on me."
"I know." she replies, stretching a small smile.
"Good night."
"Good night."
The next morning at school, Nicholle calls out to Brenda in the hallway, who ignores her.
"Brenda! ...Brenda!" she shouts.
She then starts to run a little but Brenda enters the history classroom and goes to sit in her seat. Nicholle then enters the room and goes to sit in her seat as well and turns around.
"Didn't you hear me calling you in the hallway?"
"Excuse me? Do we know each other?" she replies in an uncaring tone on purpose.
"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday."
Despite her apparent sincerity, Brenda ignores her as best she can while Nicholle continues to apologize to her. The class begins a few seconds later, causing the girl to give up. When the bell rings an hour later, Brenda rushes out of the classroom before being caught by Nicholle.
"Brenda! Please wait."
"What?!" she asks after stopping, annoyed.
"I swear, I really wanted to come to the library, but when I heard there was a chance to win tickets to The Wind In The Bones concert, I couldn't resist taking a chance." she explains honestly.
"Oh, I get it. This is more important."
"I can see you're upset."
"And I have a good you know how long I've waited for you?" she says, raising her voice.
"I'm really, really sorry."
Despite Nicholle's renewed sincerity, Brenda began to press on again, followed by her.
"It was very important to me. I love this band and this is the first time I'll be seeing them live."
"I'm very happy for you." she replies in a dry tone.
"Wait."
Nicholle grabs her by the arm and continues to explain.
"I didn't have time to tell you. I had to leave right away. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten the tickets. There was a deadline to get them."
Brenda is a little more understanding as she relates that when she and Kelly had won that skydive, they had also gone to the radio station and before 6:30 p.m.
"See. I didn't lie to you. I admit it was stronger than me."
Nicholle looks at her with a glint of regret in her eyes and offers to make it up to her which makes Brenda smile slightly, intrigued.
"And how?"
"I won two seats. Would you like to come with me to the concert?"
"Are you serious?"
"Of course!"
"What kind of music is it?" she asks out of curiosity.
"Grunge metal."
Brenda grimaces, adding that it's not really her cup of tea.
"I assure you they're great."
"From the passionate way you talk about it, I believe you. " she says with a smile.
"Come on! We'll have a good time. Say yes." she begs with a little pout.
"I have to go to the library after school to study for the history test tomorrow. If you meet me there and we can study together, we'll see."
"That's very smart of you." said Nicholle, smiling.
"I know."
Brenda then feels quite proud of herself. And this time, her word is kept. A few hours later, the two teens are actively studying together, Nicholle apparently determined to get a good grade. She's been given a second chance.
Over the next two days, they meet again at the library so that Brenda can help her as planned. And it pays off because thanks to her, Nicholle gets two good grades. The first one for the history quiz, getting a B+ and the second one for a history assignment. A.
Being both very happy with this result, Brenda accepts the invitation to go to the concert with her.
"Oh, great!" exclaims Nicholle as she hugs her.
"Now I have to ask my parents," she says a little apprehensively.
"Tell them my mom will bring us and pick us up."
"Okay. That will make them feel better."
"It sure will."
"I'll tell you that tomorrow."
"Okay."
Nicholle looks at her walk away, rolling her eyes as she looks forward to going to the concert together.