Game Changer

𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲 - 𝟐𝟓 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟏

Brooke Kingsley is a perfectionist. Nothing can ever be out of place. Her short dark, auburn hair is curled perfectly every morning and she has a face full of flawless makeup, hiding her adorable freckles. Her beautiful olive skin shines as she walks in the sun on her way to school every morning, always in clothes just scraping the edge of the dress code. Brooke's mum is a nurse and works long hours leaving Brooke to cook dinner and clean her clothes herself, making her a very independent person. Her dad left her when she was two, and she hasn't heard from him in the 15 years since.

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping. Brooke rolls over and reaches for her phone as it blows up with notifications. She groggily rubs her eyes, propping herself up so she can check what all the commotion is about. Brooke's honey eyes go wide as she scrolls through the hundreds of texts, emails, snaps, tweets, Instagram, and Facebook notifications, all saying roughly the same thing. Oliver Bishop is in a coma. Oliver is Brooke's boyfriend: they have been dating for two years and 18 days. As Brooke stares at her phone in disbelief, a call from Angie, Brooke's best friend since Grade 3, pops up on her screen. Brooke accepts the Facetime and Angie's wild-eyed face pops up on the screen.

"Have you heard? Oh my life, I'm so so sorry, babe. I can't believe we lost our quarterback! There is no way we can win the game this week. Oh, sorry. I'm so insensitive. This must be so hard for you. Okay, you, me, and the girls, out for a girls' night. Tonight." Before Brooke can even get a word in, Angie is rambling on about how they are going to have so much fun and what they are gonna do, and all the trouble they are going to get themselves into. Brooke's mind starts to wander. Tonight there is a supermoon. Brooke and Oliver were going to go out and see it from Mount Lee with a picnic and everything. Who knows when the next time they'll be able to do that is? Brooke feels it tingle just a little but manages to push it back down again. Not in front of Angie; she can't know.

8.16 am. Angie has been talking about tonight, trying to get Brooke's mind off Oliver, and completely failing, for over an hour. Brooke got up about half an hour ago to get ready for school. As she flips a small, crispy piece of bacon, Brooke starts to feel dizzy as her head starts to spin, and her vision blurs before she collapses onto the marble floor of her kitchen.