Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw One-Shots

Buddies Pt. 1

You'd known Bradley for years. You two were in nappies together, you met in playgroup and when the two of you shared the same toy planes to play with, you were pretty much inseparable from then on. Think of any iconic duo, Bert and Ernie, Calvin and Hobbs, SpongeBob and Patrick, you and Brad were like that. 

You shared everything, toys, food, friends, and even had sleepovers until you were ten. Bradley told you the girls who he found cute, and you'd tell him the boys who made your heart flutter. In every birthday photo he sat next to you, wearing a party hat made right with either glitter or pompoms. 

Yet, something so fragile as an age can change a boy's perspective. When Bradley turned thirteen, he slowly started cutting you out of his life. It was slow and unnoticeable until you looked back. It started with him ending play-date sessions early because he had to 'do stuff', then it graduated to him refusing every fifth offer, then every forth, then every second one. Soon you two only saw each other at school. And even then he would hang out with his friends over you. 

It wasn't like he'd had one of those movie glow-ups-and-becomes-popular moments, he just... stopped being your friend. It didn't take long before your only interaction became seeing each other either in class or passing in the halls. 

Soon middle school became high school, and you graduated from freshman to sophmore to junior, then finally became a senior. You went into year 12 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. You'd traded your Chemistry class for physics, something during your other years you'd studied on the side.  

The class was nice, the teacher wore a wacky dinosaur-print boho shirt dress with a weird bun in her hair, and the students were regular people. What threw you off was the fact that, ironically, the only available seat in the class was right next to a person who you'd hyped yourself up to pass in the halls, Bradley. You put on your best don't-care face on as you sat next to him.

You pulled out your laptop and notebook and set it up. You could see Bradley looking at you from your peripheral. He was wearing a grey jumper with a flannel over the top, dark wash jeans and a black cap adorned with the school's baseball teams logo. You awkwardly glanced at him and offered a tight-lipped smile.

'Hey.' He smiled.

'Hi.' You said, pulling pens from your pencil case. 

Before Bradley had another chance to speak to you, the teacher clapped her hands and started the lesson in a calm yoga-teacher voice. 'Hello, students. My name is Maria and welcome to your physics class. I'm expecting great things from you lot. You're not lazy, you're flowing with potential energy.' She laughed nasally at her own pun. 'Just a fun pun to start the day.'

As she started to speak about the overview of the year, you could see Bradley glance at you every now and then. When Maria offered some people take a picture of information that was up on the board, you took the opportunity to do so. After snapping the pic, you placed the phone down on the table.

'Cute dog.' Bradley commented on your phone background, a photo of you and your doberman Xerxes.

'Thanks.' You mumbled.

'What's his name?' Bradley asked as he looked at you, his eyes wide.

'Xerxes.' You replied bluntly, hoping that Brad took the hint that you didn't want to speak to him right now. Or ever.

'He's handsome.' Bradley smiled at you. You just hummed a reply and paid even closer attention to Maria, you had a lot to catch up on.

Half-way through the double period, Maria gave a huge sigh before picking up her green juice. 'It's the start of the school year and we're doing a double of physics. You guys, we need a break. Be back here in ten minutes.' She smiled sweetly.