Game of Patience

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Lunch was becoming a chore. Every day Morgan came to Brooke and Sam with a new sharp remark, trying to get under her skin, picking at old wounds.

They continued to eat their lunch, ignoring her and her friends. Brooke turned to Sam and continued talking, eventually Morgan huffed and walked off.

"Do you think she got the idea?"

"I doubt it." Sam said as he chewed his food. "She'll be back in a bit once she's given her brain a chance to think up new ideas."

"Let's move." She said as she packed her things away. "We'll go sit with Mr Gardener for a bit. Least she can't pester us there."

Mr Gardener was happy to see them, at least it meant they were staying out of trouble.

"What are the new things she's trying today?"

"Same stuff. Spitefulness."

"Well, you can sit out back or out here with me, wherever you want."

They moved to the back room and spoke until lunch ended. The bell rang and they moved to their next lesson.

The crowds started to build in the corridors and they attempted to push through, but they often got swept with the currant. The waves of students flooded the small space. Brooke got an elbow to the face, something that she was pretty used to at this point.

They entered the English classroom and sat in their seats. The class started to slowly fill, but the seat next to Brooke stayed empty. She turned to face Sam.

"I don't think Callum is in this afternoon. Didn't he have doctors?"

"I think so."

"Come sit next to me today." She smiled as he grabbed his bag and moved.

"Okay class. Your English teacher had to leave early today, so I will be covering her. My name is Miss Paulson." She wrote her name on the board in large rounded red letters. "I see from my lesson plan that you are reading a book. I was told that you need to make notes. So for the first half of the lesson I want you to work with the person next to you. Then for the last half we will share with the class and hopefully you can get some more points from others."

Brooke took out her books and turned to her notes.

"Shall we share what we have?"

Sam looked at her book and started reading her notes. "You have so many more notes than me. Look, I have about ten. You have, how many pages?"

"Three."

"Okay, let me copy down your notes and then we'll discuss them."

Brooke sat back and watched as Sam wrote in his book. His handwriting was small and neat, he took great care in writing each letter.

"Psssst."

Someone tapped Brooke on the shoulder. She turned around to a girl in her class. She tried to think of her name but it didn't come to her.

"Is it true you two are dating?" The confused look on Brooke's face must have shown. "Oh, sorry. I thought you were. You'd make a cute couple if you were."

Emma. That was the girl's name. Her voice was very high, and her eyes were beautiful. They were more amber than brown and Brooke couldn't stop staring. The way the sunlight hit them, illuminating them, made Brooke feel like she could get lost in them.

"You have beautiful eyes."

"Thank you." Emma smiled "I like your eyes too." She turned back to her work, still smiling to herself.

Brooke turned back to Sam who was still writing.

"Did you hear what Emma said?"

"Yeah. Rumours happen, trust me. It's not a bad one. I've had a lot worse."

"It's not bad. You're my best friend. I'd rather people think I'm going out with you, than someone else."

"I'm your only friend."

"Well, you're my only friend in school. But you're still my best."

A piece of folded paper landed on the desk in front of Sam. Brooke took it and unfolded it. A word was scrawled in huge black letters across the page. The letters were bold and scratchy and Brooke could feel the hate through them.

'SLAG.'

"Ignore it Brooke. Trust me, it's just people being spiteful."

"But it's not just people!"

"Quieten down over there, get back to your work." Miss Paulson said as she looked up from her laptop.

"Sorry miss." She lent closer to Sam. "What if this is Morgan?"

"It probably is, which gives us more of a reason to ignore it."

Sam was right, of course he was right. There was no point getting annoyed, that's how Morgan would win. She had to ignore it.