Becoming Brett

15. Not Friends

"Cora!" I call down the hallway, picking my speed up as I slip through students.

"Hey Brett." Cora has a stunning smile full of white teeth and utter happiness.

"Hey, how's it going?" I slide up alongside her as she walks.

"Good, you?" She reaches out and pulls one of my curls straight. I can't see it but I'm sure it springs right back to how it was when she lets go.

I don't particularly like the gesture but Cora has been doing it since kindergarten. At this point if I were to ask her to stop I'd look like a jerk, having hated it for so long and never telling her.

"Yeah, good." I shove the pleasantries out there quick to get to my main point, the reason I'm seeking her out in the hallway.

Cora and I aren't necessarily friends in the sense that we hang out. But we're friendly, though maybe that happens when you've gone to school together your entire life. Whatever it is, Cora and Laurel are friendly, and now Laurel has taken direct interest in Wes.

I'm not a meddler. But I can already foresee the car ride home with someone new that doesn't know all of Wes' idiosyncrasies. There's a lot of them. Knowing Wes he hasn't been overly forth coming with them either.

"Did you see Laurel talking to Wes in music today?" I ask.

Cora waves to someone, our shoulders hitting one another as we bump through the sea of peers.

"Yeah, I told her to ask him for help on music theory." She says simply. "Weren't you there?"

"Bathroom." It comes out loud and panicky and I cringe.

Cora heads for the stairs and even though I don't need to go up, I follow her, breezing past my less than cool cover up.

"Who's idea was it for him to ride home with her?" I ask, shouting my question over the roar of footsteps that stampede up and down the steps.

She glances over her shoulder at me as we reach the end of the stairs. "What does it matter?"

I know it's not Cora's fault. And really I'm not sure if Cora knows there's anything else besides Wes' Tourettes. You'd be surprised at how many people miss the routine he completes every day, the fact that he's always in the same places at the same time, that he does things in even numbers. People aren't always as aware as they think they are. But I still feel frustration building.

"Because Cora!" I say exasperatedly. "Have you been in a car with Wes?"

"No." She says hesitantly, her steps slowing until we've completely stopped, creating a barricade in the flow of traffic.

Everyone parts around us, some giving us annoyed looks but most don't even seem to see us.

"Do you have Laurel's number?" I'm already fishing my phone out of my pocket when Cora says "no".

I blow out a breath, scanning the faces around me in hopes I get lucky and she strolls by.

"What happens in a car?" Cora asks and my eyes snap to hers.

She has beautiful eyes, golden brown and they stare at me with genuine concern.

"Nothing." Sometimes. "I'll talk to you later."

I leave Cora standing alone in the middle of the hall, my phone clutched in my hand as I text Ellie. I don't know for sure if she has Laurel's number but out of any of us, she's my best bet. She texts me back instantly and a breath of air rushes from my lungs until I collide with someone causing myself to stumble awkwardly to regain my balance.

"Sorry." I blurt, fumbling for my phone as it falls from my fingers.

It smacks against the tile floor and devastation hits me because there's no way it didn't just break the screen. My mind already starts pulling up how to explain it to my parents so I can minimize how much trouble I'll get in.

But before I reach it, someone else grabs it. I lift my head to see Darren, bent low while he picks up a few other things.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." He smiles at me.

I can't muster one back. He holds my phone out toward me and I grab it, inspecting the screen and to my relief it's still intact.

"Can I ask you something Brett?" His voice shakes, his gaze flitting to anywhere but at me.

Darren and I have never been friends, in the fifth grade when all the schools combined we had already begun to separate ourselves into different friend groups. Darren was always trailing in the wake of Peter, hanging out with the jocks and "cool" kids. And then there was Wes and I, Wes was already deemed weird at that point. And as we all know, cool and weird don't usually mesh in high school.

"I actually gotta run."

"Oh, well..." for the first time, I'm actually looking at Darren and the way his Adam's Apple bobs in his neck uneasily and how he can't even look me in the eyes when I'm definitely not on the list of intimidating people in this school. "I was just wondering why you guys didn't come to my party? James told you, yeah?"

"Wes and I don't do parties." I state, mentioning his name again sends me back to my phone to where Ellie has delivered me Laurel's phone number with no fuss.

"What about Savannah and Ellie?" His voice drops lower, quieter, more unsure.

Savannah or Ellie huh? The revelation makes me dislike Darren a little less. I'm not sure I necessarily want Darren in our group. Sawyer would probably follow or at least have more of a reason to pester us and I'm not for that.

"No idea, ask them." I mutter, switching all my focus back to my phone where I start to construct a lengthy message to Laurel.

I already know I sound over dramatic and controlling. But I know Wes. And I know that try as he might at some point his OCD is going to get him.

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I think I need to sleep for four more days. Moving is exhausting.