stars

seven

Brooke

It has been three months since my mother said I wasn't allowed back in the kingdom. Phoebe was at her human school, and I was lying in her bed listening to the rain. I was bored out of my mind, but I didn't feel like swimming. Maybe I should try to learn about humans?

Bad idea, I don't even know where to begin learning. I knew her mother was at her work, so I went downstairs. I saw pictures of Phoebe and what I guessed was her family. Her mother was smiling, holding a tiny Phoebe with short brown hair. A man with brown hair stood to the left of Phoebe's mother. I looked at Phoebe. She had a blue shirt with stars on it and blue jean shorts. She had scratches on her knees and mud all over her.

I turned away from the photo.

I walked back into Phoebe's room, humming a song she let me listen to. I lie down on the ground, bored. Closing my eyes, I tried to think of what to do. I could go to the beach, although I might go too far and get caught. Or I might never leave, and that would worry Phoebe.

After all, she did just recently decide to fully trust me.

I could wait for Phoebe at her school. I looked at the clock. I knew she gets back when the long hand reaches the four, so I knew I had enough time to go over there and wait in front of her school.

Hopefully, she'll be happy I did this.

*

The bell rang and I watched kids run out of the doors, pushing each other out of the way, eager to get out. I looked around for Phoebe, seeing her after a minute. I saw people shoving her.

Not so they could get home faster, but on purpose. I walked closer, hearing them say something that I couldn't make out. Phoebe had tears in her eyes and she kept trying to get past them. They pushed her down, yelling at her.

I was furious. I went over towards them, pushing them away, helping Phoebe up. She looked surprised to see me but had a hint of another emotion on her face.

"Who are you?" One of the girls said. I ignored them, grabbing Phoebe's hand and walking away. "Hey loser, she's talking to you!" A boy yelled out. I looked over at them, then turned around, pulling Phoebe away from the horrible people.

Once we were away from that, I stopped. "Sorry for pulling you, are you okay?" She nodded, tears still in her eyes. "They pushed you. Why?"

"T-they hate me, " Phoebe said quietly. "I don't know what I did." Tears started rolling down her face. I pulled her into a hug. She hugged me back immediately, crying. She had her arms wrapped around me tightly. I didn't care.

We walked to her house in silence. She had her hoodie over her head. I knew she was still crying. I grabbed her hand, trying to make her happy.

When they stepped through the door, they immediately went to Phoebe's room. They sat on her bed. Phoebe started sobbing, pulling the strings on her hoodie to cover her face.

I looked at her, unsure of how to help. "Phoebe, hey," I said softly. "Would it help to talk about it?" She shrugged.

"You don't have to," I said. She took deep breaths. She put her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her. "Are you better now?"

"I'm sorry for crying, Brooke. And sorry for bothering you. I didn't expect you to be there." She said, sniffling.

"Hey, you don't have to be sorry for either of those. You aren't bothering me at all. And it's okay to cry." She looked up at me, her eyes red.

She lifted her head off of my shoulder, moving my arm away from her. Her face was red. "Sorry."

I frowned slightly. "Hey, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. You don't need to apologize." She wiped her face with her hoodie sleeve, getting up. "Um, are you hungry?" She avoided looking at me, and instead looked at the ground in front of me.

I shrugged, even though I knew she wasn't looking at me. "Yeah. A little bit."

"You want a sandwich or something? I can make one. Or we can go somewhere for food. Like McDonald's or Subway." She rubbed her arm.

"Whatever you wanna do," I said, smiling.

"Subway it is."

*

I finished eating earlier, while Phoebe was eating slowly. She was looking at her phone, and I was looking at her. She looks different than the picture of younger her. She looks sadder now. Maybe because of her school and mother?

She caught me staring at her and blushed. "Ah, sorry! I zoned out, " I stated, feeling my face heat up too. I looked at my shoes, drinking the water I got.

She finished eating her sandwich, and we went back. We stopped in front of the door. She raised her hand to open the door, opening it slowly. Phoebe looked inside.

She opened it wider, walked in and motioned for me to come in quietly. I assumed her mom was home.

We walked in, careful to not make much noise. Once we got into her room, she sat on her bed and looked at me. "Are you tired?" Phoebe whispered. I shook my head, lying. It was early, but I was actually kind of tired.

"Sit next to me if you want, we can play a game." She moved to one side of the bed so I could sit on the other, which I did.

We were asking questions about each other, even though most of them we knew. She yawned. "Are you tired?" I asked.

She denied it. I shrugged. "Okay, " And we continued talking. We would take turns asking each other about each other. At some point, we changed the subject and went to sharing childhood stories.

Phoebe talked about her friends or some cool place she visited. I smiled and listened. She had a sparkle in her eyes talking about how cool Oliver and Alex were.

We were both laying on her bed, staring at her ceiling and talking about random things. The last thing I remember was her rolling closer to me, asleep.

*

(Happy Pride Month, I put some kinda gay stuff here so yay? I basically made this up as I went so I'll go back and rewrite it. Next chapter will probably be dumber than this oops. Bye <3)