My New Stepbrother

16

Angel

"I can't believe it's already almost winter break." Candace said, while we walked through the hallways trying to get to our lockers.

"I know right; I'm kind of glad though. I'm ready for Christmas, plus it's getting cold outside and I'm sick of walking around in the cold."

"Me too! I feel like I could grow icicles on my vagina..."

"Candace!"

"It's true..." She said once we finally reached her locker.

I giggled at her bluntness. This was exactly the reason why I grew so fond of her, she was a hilarious breath of fresh air and had proven to be a very valuable friend to me since the day I met her. Whatever happened with Jayce hopefully wouldn't affect the relationship between the two of us.

Once she grabbed her belongings, we went to class where Jayce was already there waiting for us at our table. He was staring out the large windows, probably lost in deep thought. He didn't look as presentable as he normally did. He had on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. His sneakers looked muddied over and his hair wasn't combed, it fell in his face near his eyes in long wet curly strands.

"Sup idiot." Candace said once we sat down.

He glanced at her quickly. "Hey."

"Hey Jayce." I said.

He didn't even look at me, just nodded his head. I shot Candace a look, hoping she wouldn't catch on to his particularly subdued mood. But, I should've known that she would notice—he was her twin brother after all.

"What's wrong with you...?" Candace asked.

Finally he turned away from the window, then faced his body towards us. He didn't look at either of us though, he was staring at his hands that were clasped together on top of his desk.

"Nothing." He said simply.

"Oh come on, we shared a womb. I know when you're lying!" She rolled her eyes. "Tell me."

He looked at her quickly, with a light frown on his face. "Just...drop it Candace."

"Fine." She sighed then opened her notebook. "Whatever you say."

Class went by painfully slow. We had a group project, so of course we all chose to work together. That however, didn't stop Jayce from being in a bad mood. He barely helped the whole time, he was too busy sulking and ignoring me and Candace. When the bell finally rang, I breathed a sigh of relief. I gathered my things then hurriedly raced towards the door.

Normally I waited for Candace so we could walk to second block together, but she opted to stay behind to talk to her brother. Which was understandable, but I couldn't help but fear he would reveal things that happened between us that he shouldn't. What happened was a mistake—a temporary slip up in a moment of desperation and pain.

If he told people about it, it would become more important then it actually was. Especially if he told his sister, it would be completely blown out of proportion after that.

I entered my second block, my head hanging low and my mood hanging even lower. I felt bad for what I did—truly. Never before had I used a guy to try and distract my feelings from another guy. It was barbaric to use people and their feelings in that sort of way. And I'd known for a while how Jayce felt about me, so to let myself succumb to him was just...wrong. I should've been stronger.

Candace came into class not too long after me. We didn't get to sit next to each other like we did in our first block because our teacher changed seats around every time he felt like people were getting too comfortable with the people sitting next to them. It was annoying, but also pretty effective. This was one of my particularly more quiet classes, and most of us did better on grades and tests.