Before You Go (Book 1, the Before series)

Chapter 7 | Parties and Periods

"THIS IS PURE TORTURE," I panted as the gym teacher made us run another lap.

Isaac jogged beside me. Most likely to torture me even more. My blasted brother wasn't even out of breath. "We haven't even crossed 400 metres yet."

"Shut up." I felt a stitch at the side of my abdomen and doubled over, a groan escaping my mouth. My hair was in an incredibly tight bun, but I didn't dare let it loose since the cool air on my neck was the only thing that prevented me from passing out.

Isaac started laughing. I was seriously considering the perks of going to jail for first-degree murder when Mr Hadam screamed, "Miss Grayson!"

That was when Isaac stopped laughing and tried to act like he was helping me. The gym teacher ran over and eyed me assessingly like he was trying to figure out if I was faking or not.

"Get back to running, Miss Grayson."

I guess desperate times called for desperate measures and I really didn't want to run anymore. "Uh sir, I'm having really bad cramps and I—"

Giving me a nod, he said, flushing a shade of red I didn't know existed, "You may sit out the rest of running until you feel better."

I moved to go sit on the bleachers, and heard Isaac whine, "Sir, Annabel's my sister I should take care of her."

Oh wow. My athletic, perfect brother hated running. I tried not to smirk when Mr Hadam said calmly, "Mr Grayson, you didn't care as much about your sister when you were busy laughing at her. Get back to running or it will be extra laps for you."

I didn't need to be close to Isaac to know he swore under his breath.

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"Are you going to tell me why you invented your period to get out of running?" Isaac was still grumpy about it.

Mendoza grinned. "Smart. I'm gonna do that next time."

Leaning against my locker, I glanced at Isaac. "To get out of running, duh."

He muttered something under his breath about scheming females that made me hit him on the head with my incredibly heavy textbook that had him wincing the entire time we walked to our next class.

"Doesn't Henry go here?" Mendoza whispered during the boring film we were watching for English.

I shook my head and murmured, "No. He goes to a private school."

"Oh." There was a pause as we both pretended to watch the movie as the substitute teacher's gaze fell to us. "What was up with you two day before yesterday?"

"What do you mean?"

She looked at me like really. "The thing with Isaac. First the seating, the teasing and then the McFlurry."

"Oh that. Well, ya know, my brother may or may not have a crush on you."

Throwing him under the bus was so satisfying.

Mendoza made a sound that sounded like a cat choking on a hairball. "He what?!"

I picked my nails casually and doodled random swirly lines on the edge of my notebook with a ballpoint pen. "I mean I don't see why people consider him handsome, just play hard to get, since Isaac is...well annoying. And extremely ugly. But at least I'll get a decent sister."

Her groan was so loud as she hit her head on the desk that one girl in the front row turned around and glared at the two of us for interrupting the scene where Romeo was killing himself.