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𓆩♡𓆪
THE MIRROR IN FRONT of Brooke is reflecting someone she doesn't recognize. Deep purple eye bags hang under her eyes making the brown iris' even darker. Steve's brown sweater is wrapped around her body from last night. Steve had fallen asleep at one point, an arm lazily placed over Brooke's stomach but Brooke was up all night watching Max at the desk.
The low voices of her friends can be heard from behind the door. They've all been looking at articles about the Creels again. Brooke can faintly hear Steve explain that he's confused and then Dustin and Stella basically call him stupid for it. Her body is tired as she fights another headache, hands gripping the porcelain sink. "God, I look like shit," Brooke pulls her eye bags down with her fingers, rolling her eyes back. The sound of the basement door opening makes Brooke finally leave the bathroom.
Steve eyes latch onto Brooke immediately, noticing how she's pulling the sleeves of the sweater past her fingers and biting at her lip. Footsteps descend down the stairs and then the four girls appear. "There you are," Brooke says in the best cheery tone she can muster up. Paisley eyes her up and down, her heart dropping at her best friend looking so mentally drained, but she smiles, "We have a plan."
"What's your plan?" Stella asks, spotting the folders in their hands. "Let us show you," Nancy excitedly says, sitting down on a chair and opening her folder. "Thanks to Nancy's newspaper friends, we are now rockstar psychology students at the University of Notre Dame. I'm now Ruth!" Robin explains. "I'm Rose," Nancy adds on. "And I'm Anne," Paisley shows off her fake identity. Brooke raises an eyebrow, "Old ass names."
"That is the point, Brooke," Nancy softly smiles at Brooke. Dustin reads Nancy's sheet, spotting the 3.9 GPA, "Nice GPA."
"Thanks," Nancy responds. "I called Pennhurst Asylum and tried to convince them we're going to talk to Victor Creel about paranoid schizophrenics," Paisley begins to explain. Penelope leans on the wall, "They said no but they just have to charm him and get to Creel. I offered to do more but was denied."
"Because, Penelope, you can't just pop a belt your way through life," Robin tells her with a chuckle. "Maybe you can't," Penelope says and teasingly ruffles Robin's hair. Paisley looks towards the younger blonde and her cheeks are burning red. A pit in her stomach forms as she tries to identify it. An accidental glare towards Penelope lets it click—jealousy. Penelope is hot, very hot and though Paisley and Robin are not officially together, Paisley feels as though she might curse out Penelope for making her Robin blush so violently.
"And then we're free?" Brooke asks, trying to hide the hope in her tone. Having hope in things always means it'll go to shit. Happiness is always a small celebration for Brooke because she knows it'll be followed by doom.
Her and Steve glance at each other for a second before Brooke forces herself to look away. She still can't believe the shit she said last night. It was a major moment of weakness but she's somewhat thankful it was just Steve who witnessed it.
