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NED CAME AFTER SCHOOL BEFORE HE WENT OVER TO PETER'S AND BROOKE WAS HAVING WAY TOO MUCH FUN. He would show her new TV shows while they worked on homework, talking and chatting as they discarded their homework in favor of their side activities, Brooke working on the confession portraits while he worked on the audio transmitter. He never looked at her paintings and never asked to look, but she knew he was curious, so she would sometimes ask for his opinion, which always made him smile.
"Is this a little excessive?" she asked on Wednesday, as he was nearly finished with the audio transmitter, "I mean, I want to know if my dad is doing something, but I don't know if this is really excessive."
"I mean, you could always ask him if he's cheating on your mom, and you could follow him, but you can't drive," Ned said, and she sighed, nodding in understanding as she watched him work.
She had been thinking about her father a lot during the week, feeling a creeping sense of dread as Ned drew closer and closer to finishing the gadget for her. It was almost surreal, having a friend of hers making a secret microphone for her to listen in on her father and what he did at his job; a job she didn't even know about. It was something out of a movie, but it was the only thing either of them could think of; talking didn't work, and Ned was right, she couldn't follow him.
"Why do I care?" she asked herself, and Ned paused the show they were watching, turning his head up to look at her.
"I mean," she continued, running her hand through her hair, "It's not as if I paid much attention before, you know? My parents never really noticed me much unless it was to compare me to Liz—that was more my mom than my dad, but still—and I only started noticing when I started working on these paintings, because I'm super aware of things."
"But isn't it a good thing that you're noticing?" he asked, "Because, you know...even if it's hard to keep the secret, now you can try to do stuff to try and help. Even if they don't want you to..."
Brooke paused, looking down at Ned who was staring at his work with a faraway look. "Ned, what has Peter been up to?"
"I can't tell you," the boy sighed, looking at her sadly, and she nodded carefully, worrying on her bottom lip, the boy continuing, "I promised him I wouldn't tell, because it's a really, really big secret, and he didn't even want me to know."
"But you're his best friend," she pointed out, and he shrugged.
"He's my best friend, but he's too busy for me now," he said, and it was the first time Brooke saw Ned as anything but smiling, "It kinda sucks, you know? It's like he's having so much fun he forgot what it was like to, you know, be a regular kid. And he forgot me. Didn't even remember to call me after the party."
Brooke's heart twisted at that and she set aside her work to move down onto the floor next to him, wrapping her arms around him as best she could, resting her head against his shoulder. He raised a hand up to hold onto her arm, slumping forward slightly, as if too tired to even sit up.
