My Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Fourteen

The dismissal bell buzzed. Sabrina and I made a quick get away for the door, past a angry looking John. It had been three days. He still looked angry and still hadn't spoken to us. This didn't exactly come off as extremely concerning though. We didn't avoid him because we were scared, we did so to avoid the drama he would probably try to cause.

On a normal day, we would have went down the L shaped hallway and out the double doors to the buses. But today wasn't a normal day. Today was art club day. Art club was every other Wednesday and this was my third or fourth meeting. Unlike most of the other members, I signed up late.

The two of us slipped into the art room. As soon as you stepped into the room, you were greeted with the smell of paint, clay and crayons. Enjoying the arts, this was a comforting smell to me that I looked forward to every time I came here.

Only a few people had shown up today. Michael, Thomas, Alex, Aura, Sabrina, Taya, Brandon and I. A friend of Michael's, Andy, I believe and then three other girls. Included one of the cute foreign exchange students who it seemed Michael liked to flirt with. At the thought, I let out a sigh, hoping no one had heard.

We were working on our Halloween posters today. It was the last day to finish it and I was pretty sure ours would remain incomplete. The project was supposed to be a group effort. Aura and I were supposed to be working on it together, but she got distracted easily. Especially with friends around. But she was trying to at least work on it a little bit more today. I watched as she moved blew at her brown bangs and moved a strand of short hair from her cheek. How I envied her. She was funny, independent, pretty, brave. Her art skills exceeded mine by a landslide though she denied it. And she had easily captivated the boy whose attention I'd been trying capture for years. To make matters worse, she did so without even trying. Even more so, she didn't return his feelings.

Aura managed to pull herself away from her work after a while so I continued on it. The art teacher Mrs. Chandler came around after a while to see how everyone was doing. Even though she wasn't technically one of my teachers, since freshman weren't allowed to take art, she was still my favorite. She was the youngest teacher in the building and she was funny even when she didn't mean to be. Mrs. Chandler was pretty lenient and just fun to be around in general. I'm sure there were some students who considered her a close friend. There was no doubt in my mind.

After a few minutes she stopped at our table and looked over my shoulder. "Wow." I looked back and saw her smile. "Did you draw this?" She gestured to the witch I had just drawn so I nodded in response. "I wish I had you in my class. Most students just take art because they think it will be an easy class. Are you going to sign up for art next year?" Another nod. "Awesome." Mrs. Chandler smiled. "I'll remember your name." Then she walked back to over view some other art. Though I knew I wouldn't finish our poster, her comment really brightened my spirits.

"Hey, Bella." Taya suddenly appeared at my side. "Do you want to go down to the play ground with us?" I took out my phone and checked the time. It was almost time for Mrs. Chandler to leave anyway, so I agreed. After putting the unfinished poster in the poster stack, I hoisted my blue and black backpack over my shoulder and hurried to catch up with my friends who had already started for the elementary school play ground. When we got there, everyone races for a swing. It ended up being Alex, Aura, Brandon and I who got one. I was on the far left with Alex on my right, then there was the separation beam, then Aura then Brandon. For about a half an hour, we swung together, Sabrina pushed me. When Brandon had to leave to meet his mother, who was a teacher at the elementary, Taya took his swing then complained about it being warm. Just because we were high schoolers, didn't mean we couldn't still ACT like children.

Soon, I saw someone in a gray shirt enter through the fence on the far side of the playground. My vision was very bad so I couldn't tell exactly who it was. But I remembered Michael had worn a gray shirt that day. "Hey!" I shouted as I reached the height of my swing. "Michael! Is that you?" No response. Though as the figure drew closer, I was able to confirm that it was indeed him.

"Come on, Alex. We need to go." He said sternly to his brother. The two boys road the late, or, elementary bus most evenings due to after school events. Or just for the simple fact that they didn't want to go home.

The younger brother sighed at his older brother's demands. "Fine..." Alex jumped from the swing and landed swiftly on his feet, then walked over to join his brother. Not before he took my purse though.

"Hey!" I whined at the thief. So I too jumped from the swing's seat and hurried after him. Making it to his side, I snatched the strap of the purse from his hand, but he kept a firm grip. He let out a happy laugh just before letting go. Not expecting him to give up so easily, I stumbled and tripped over my own feet, bumping into Michael's chest.

I turned around, almost tripping again, flustered. "S-sorry." My voice cracked and didn't come out as clearly and strongly as I had previously hoped. Michael smiled at me.

"That's okay." Michael and Alex walked out through the chain linked fence.

"Bye, guys!" Alex made sure to turn and wave before joining his brother in the sprint to catch the bus. Even after they were long out of sight, I still couldn't shake the feeling that my heart had decided to make a nest in my throat.

"Hey~" Sabrina said from beside me. She elbowed me in the ribs and smirked.

"It's never going to happen." I laughed.

"You never know, man."