Breaking Brielle

T H R E E

Breaking Brielle

Chapter Three

Not Edited

~ Brielle Clark's POV ~

I never liked extracurriculars. I never joined the cheerleading squad. I never joined the band or any sports. I never even spent any extra time at school.

It wasn't because I didn't like school or sports or any of the clubs. It was just because school was school. I grew up in a place where nobody wanted to spend extra time at school. Nobody cared much for high school sports and my old school barely had enough funding to keep running let alone have clubs.

Faye was in band and they had meetings/practice every Tuesday and Fridays. Since she was my ride too and from school I had to wait for her, which of course, I didn't mind. I just didn't know what to do. There was all sorts of clubs that I could join. Art club, poetry club, anime club, LGBTQ+ club etc. But none of them fit with my schedule. The only days I had off from work were Tuesdays and Fridays and none of the clubs met on both of those days. The only ones that did were sports and I really didn't do well with sports.

On Tuesday I spent the entire time wondering the school. Checking out classrooms, courtyards etc. I also checked out the alumni pictures. All over the school they had collages of the senior classes. I found my parents, Aunt Miriam and a few of my uncles, some of my cousins. I also found Margaret's brother, Harper's brother and Matthew's brother and sister. I recognised them from some pictures Harper showed me a few days ago. Apparently Harper's brother is dating Matthew's sister and is best friends with his brother.

Apparently at some point Matthew, Eric (his brother), Summer (his sister), Anthony (Harper's brother), a guy named Tanner and 2 girls named Marilyn and Kali were once a tight knit group of friends. They did everything together up until the accident.

Harper showed me her brothers yearbook and it was true. Even though the yearbook was only for seniors, Matthew was in most of the pictures that included his friends.

He looked like an entirely different person. His eyes were bright and full of life. In all of the pictures, he was smiling and happy. I've become so accustomed to his dull, lifeless eyes and frown that it was surprising. He was happy at some point. I just wanted to help him.

When Faye told Aunt Miriam that I was trying to help Matthew Preston, she laughed and said I was just like my mother. She was always trying to help people. That's why she was diagnosed so late. She kept putting off her doctors appointments until it was too late.

Back to the point, I would of had nothing to do on Tuesday and Fridays while Faye was in band but lucky for me Mr. James assigned us our English term projects.

We had to do a project on our partner. Their life, aspirations, beliefs etc.

To be honest, it sounded really awesome and fun but it's going to be hard to do with my partner.

Guess who my partner is... yes you're correct. It's none other than Matthew Preston.

I am excited to get to know him and maybe become friends but he seems to be a hard shell to crack.

"I don't like group work" Matthew mumbled quietly next to me. He was probably talking to himself but I decided to respond.

"It's not going to be that hard. We just need to ask each other questions and compile them into something... Do you want to meet up later?" I asked.

"What?" His head snapped up in my direction.

"To work on the project. We need to figure everything out and I'm stuck here until 5 today so we can go to the library" I continued and he kept staring at me.

"Can't we just give each other questionairres or something?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"I don't enjoy writing that much to be honest. I was thinking about maybe recording an interview? If that's okay with you" I explained.

"I guess that's cool" He nodded.

"So you want to meet in the library after school?" I grinned and he nodded.

We agreed to meet at three but it was nearing four and he still wasn't here. It was kind of annoying but I couldn't blame him. He seemed to dislike it here and didn't like social interaction. Why would he stay after school for something as small as a project that we didn't even have to meet up for.

"Sorry I'm late" He pulled out a chair.

"It's okay!" I grinned.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"Have you decided what kind of project you're going to do?" I asked and he nodded.

"I'll just write a biography"

"You like writing?" I smiled and he nodded. "That's really cool. I always wanted to be a writer but I get bored of it too easily"

"Alright" He mumbled. "You wanted to record me?"

"Oh yeah! We could do some sort of interview thing or a documentary" I said.

I spent the next hour discussing ideas for the project and times we could work on it together and all that stuff. He spent the entire time just listening and I thought that was interesting. I would never be able to just sit there and listen to someone talk and talk and talk as much as I do.

"Brielle are you ready to go?" Faye asked.

"Yeah! I think we talked about everything right Matthew?" I asked and he nodded.

"Do you need a ride home?" I asked when I saw that it was raining hard outside.

"I..." He furrowed his eyebrows while staring outside.

"Brielle..." Faye whispered.

"Don't worry about it. We can drive you home. You can't drive home on your bike in this weather" I insisted.

"I don't really-"

"Its fine come on" I grabbed his arm and lead him to the car with Faye running behind us.

"Can I sit in the front?" Matthew whispered lowly.

"Of course" Faye cut in and motioned for him to get in.

Matthew gave us his address and it took us 30 minutes to get there. He lived in the upperclass area of Eastview. That makes sense since apparently the Preston family was well off. His father was a doctor and his mother owned a store. I guess you need money when you have a family of 11.

"You shouldn't have offered him a ride" Faye hissed as we drove away from his house.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why do you think he rides a motorcycle?" Faye rolled her eyes.

"Because he likes bikes?"

"Because he doesn't like being in cars" She glared over at me. "Not since the accident anyway"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I smacked her arm.

"Because I didn't expect you to offer him a ride!"