Game of Patience

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A week's worth of detentions passed. She caught up with school work with Mr Gardener's help. She completed homework and was slowly getting into the good books of teachers. Her form tutor was happy with her progress and was starting to believe that she wasn't a bad kid.

The only issue was that with the week passing, Morgan was now allowed back into class. When she walked into form on Tuesday, Brooke didn't know whether to keep eye contact to let her know she wasn't scared, or to not look at her to let her know that she didn't care about her.

"Just relax." Sam nudged her.

Brooke looked away and to the whiteboard where Mr Foster was showing the class a presentation on jobs and careers.

"Who knows what they want to be when leave school?"

Brooke put her hand in the air. She had promised Mr. Gardener that she would engage more in class. It was a way to make teachers know that you're listening.

"Yes Brooke."

"A Police officer."

"Very good. Any reason why?"

"My parents were."

"And your parents died. You'll end up like them."

"Morgan! We don't make comments like that. Come see me at lunch." He turned back to Brooke. "As you were saying, you want to carry on in your parent's footsteps and I think that is great. Anyone else?"

"Ignore Morgan." Sam said to her quietly. "She's just jealous because she won't be able to do anything. She'll get kicked out of every job she does for bullying. You're better than her."

"I know." Brooke smiled. "What do you want to be when you're older?"

"I love drama, but I lack the confidence."

"We can work on that"

The bell rang out and they walked towards P.E. They walked outside and across the playground to the sports and dance building.

"Who are they?" Brooke said, looking towards two men sitting in a dark van.

"No idea, could be someone here to give a talk."

"In a van?"

"Could be for woodwork. There are always visitors at this school."

"But they are just sitting in the van."

"You're very observant. You'll make a great officer. But I doubt anyone would be sitting in the car park that has CCTV on it if they were planning to cause trouble."

Brooke had to admit, Sam was right with that one.

As they walked into the building, the van drove off. But she could have sworn they were watching her.

The morning passed with sweat. P.E was an hour session at the gym, the next lesson was art, which Brooke enjoyed, but the room was too warm. The windows wouldn't open and the heaters couldn't be turned off. Luckily the teacher relaxed the uniform rule.

The bell rang out and the class quickly packed up their paints and left the room. Sam had red paint on his face and Brooke was wondering how long it would take for him to notice. They sat on the wall again and watched as students ran around the playground and others as they stood in groups, gossiping.

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we were in a group?"

"It would be loud and we would get swallowed up."

Brooke laughed. "Yeah, but we'd have more people to protect us."

"I like it just the two of us. We know we can rely on each other."

"You haven't known me that long. How do you know that?"

"You're a good person Brooke, I can tell you that much. I like hanging around you."

"I like hanging around you too. Thank you for being my friend."

"You don't have to thank me."

"Awwww cute. Look girls, isn't it sweet." Morgan sang out. She started walking over towards them. "I had half of my lunch time taken away because of you."

"You made the comment Morgan. I didn't make you say anything."

"You don't get to speak to me anymore. You just listen."

"Get lost Morgan."

She turned to Sam with hate in her eyes. "You don't get to talk either." She spat. She turned back to Brooke. "You should never have joined school. You'll never fit in here. You'll never fit in anywhere."

"Come on Sam. We don't have to deal with this." Brooke packed away her lunch and stood up. She waited for Sam before walking inside the building.

The prefects stopped them from passing through the next set of doors, but she told them she needed to see Mr. Gardener. They let her through. They stopped again and Brooke repeated herself.

"Why are there so many prefects?"

"To stop the troublemakers coming inside."

They knocked on the head of house office and walked in. Mr Gardener turned around in his chair and smiled.

"Come in. Is Morgan causing trouble on her first day out?"

"Yep. She tried telling Brooke she will never fit in."

"Well, I doubt that is true. You two seem to have found friendship in each other. If you don't fit in with others, that's okay. Misfits are some of the best fits. And if anything you two have more than Morgan, the girls following her around aren't her friends. They are scared of her and they like the perks of being around her. No one picks on them, but they don't fit in. If anything, Morgan is the one that doesn't fit in.