Why did I let her leave? I ran through the house, ignoring my mother's voice, yelling my name out. I flung the front door open and looked all over my street. She was gone. Brooke was gone. I just her go, easy as that.

You idiot! You shouldn't have brought her here! You know that your mom is a tyrant who thinks she can say whatever she wants about people and judges them without even talking to them! Idiot!

I punched the wall as I came back into the house, slamming the door. My mother came rushing out of the kitchen and said, "Cason? Honey, why are you slamming the door? Did that wretched thing leave?"

I balled up my fists in anger and slammed them down on the table my the door. "Fu^k off, Mom! You had no right to say those things! She is not how think she is! Maybe if you didn't always have your face stuck up other people's arses all the time, you'd actually find that not everyone is like your dead beat husband!"

With that, I turned on my hell and stomped up the steps to my room. When I reached my room, I slammed the door, locked it, and fell to my knees, running a hand through my hair.

"Gah!" Why the hell did I let Brooke meet Jason and Dylan? I jumped up and punched my pillow over and over. "Why did I bring her here? She's never going to forgive me for this! It was all my fault!" I yelled, face stuffed into the now beat up pillow.

I shut up, remembering that I had Brooke's number.

She won't answer, my brain said.

So what? I have to at least let her know that I care! I yelled back.

I grabbed my phone off my nightstand and scrolled through my contacts, my finger hovering over Brooke's name, The Mysterious Drawer. I sat there for a while, just staring at the contact. I knew what I could do. I could somehow get one of her drawings and enter it into a drawing competition. I nodded and smiled at my plan. Yep, that was what I'd do to make it up to her. I looked down at my phone again and sent Brooke a text.

Me- Hey Brooke. It's Cason. I'm so sorry about my mom. I really shouldn't have brought you home. She's like that to everyone. Please forgive me. I'm really, really sorry.

I sat on my bed, waiting for a response. When I didn't receive one, I sighed and got up to take a shower. After my shower, I walked into my bedroom wearing boxers and drying out my hair with a towel. I heard a faint ringtone playing; Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe. I smiled because that was the ringtone I saved for Brooke. I threw the towel onto my desk chair and ran over to my bed, answering the call.

"Hey," I said with a small smile. I heard muffled noises in the background, then Brooke's voice.

"Hi."

I frowned. She was being really quiet and it sounded like she was in a confined space of some sort. I needed to know. If anything was happening to her, I wanted to be there for her. "Hey, Brooke, are you alright?"

I heard her take a deep breath, followed by silence.

"Brooke?"

No response.

"Brooke, are you alright?"

I heard a snort on her side of the line. "Jeez, Cas, give me a break, bro! I'm fine."

I narrowed my eyes and gave her an un-amused snicker. I shook my head, then realizing she couldn't see me, said, "Seriously, Brooke, are you alright?"

I heard her murmur something under her breath. "Why can't he just let it go already? I obviously don't want to talk about it..."

I sighed, "Fine, Brooke. I'll let it go."

She gave a relieved sigh. "Good, because I want us to be friends. And if you're just going to be asking me questions that I don't want to answer then this friendship will definitely not work."

I smiled. She wanted to be my friend. "Okay, Brooke. I'm sorry by the way. I really shouldn't have brought you here."

She gave a dry chuckle. "Cas, your mom is right and you know it. Just drop it."

I wanted to argue, but I didn't want to start another argument, so I just let it go. We stayed silent for a while, and after a while, I couldn't even hear Brooke's soft breathing anymore. "Brooke? Are you still there?"

I heard faint shuffling, and Brooke's voice sounding far away. A second later, her voice was clearer. "I've got to go, Cas, but I just wanted to let you know that I thought it was really sweet of you to be so concerned about me. Talk to you later."

With that, she hung up the phone, leaving me to wonder. Why did she have to go so suddenly? Who was that man in the background? Her dad? I shook my head, ridding of those thoughts. I put on some sweatpants and slid under my covers, drifting into a deep sleep.

Mom was gone before I left for school this morning, but she still left me my favorite pancakes. I rolled my eyes and yelled, "Bye!" to Aiden, who gave me a muffled, "See you later!"

I smiled, I love the little monster. I still couldn't believe he'd be in the fifth grade next year. I text Bryce, making sure that he'd be at the house to get Aiden to school. He text back a second later, saying he was a block away.

I was grateful for Bryce. He always made time for Aiden and I. He was like the uncle in every family that everyone loved. I put my phone away and hopped on my bike, riding to school.

I walked into school and headed straight to my locker. Dylan and Jason were already there, Dylan talking animatedly to Jason. I smiled and started to sneak up on them. I was about to pounce on them, when Dylan said something about Brooke. I stopped in my tracks and hid behind the other lockers.

"...I didn't know someone as small as Brooke could do all that! She was totally into it! We did it for an hour band it was complete bliss. Maybe I can hit it again soon," Dylan said, sending Jason a wink.

Jason's face lit up and he said, "So what did she look like without any clothes on?"

That was when I jumped out and tackled Dylan from behind the back.

We fell to the ground and I rolled over, hopping on my feet. Dylan was dumbfounded. It would've been funny, if he hadn't been talking about banging Brooke. Dylan's face lit up when he saw it was me who tackled him.

"Good one, man!" Jason said, clamping a hand on my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes and helped Dylan up. Dylan took my hand and I pulled him up. He shot me a sly smirk, and turned to Jason. "Jas, he's only mad because I slept with the girl he likes."

I clenched my hands into fists at my sides.

Jason's eyes flickered to my clenched fists and he smiled. I crossed my arms to hide them. "I do not!" I said defiantly, unwilling to let them figure it out. In all honesty, I wasn't sure what I felt towards Brooke yet.

Dylan and Jason turned to each other and grinned. They seemed to be speaking with their eyes, leaving me dying to know what they were thinking. Suddenly, Dylan turned to me and said, "Then I guess you wouldn't mind me going to ask her to do it all again tonight, would you?"

Before I could even process what he said, he turned and ran. His words registered in my brain a second too late and by then he was already gone. Stupid track runner.

"Oh shiz!" I just remembered what he said he was going to do. I looked at Jason, who was just looking at me with an arched eyebrow, then ran off in the direction Dylan just went.
*****
So sorry I couldn't bold or italics anything! My phone won't let me! I hope y'all are enjoying this book as much as FriendlyDragon478 and I are!
WritingMelody🙏🏻❤️✌🏻️