NEBBISH
chapter 1
fake ID
☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖OctoberClass was over, students were wandering the halls in a hurry; wanting to get back to their dorms or go home. Teachers clean up their desks while discussing stuff with other students before the day ends completely. Miki stands up quickly, bumping her elbow wrong on the arm of her chair, hitting her funny bone. The girl wasn't fazed by the tingles of numbing pain that shot through the nerves of her arm all the way to her fingertips as she grabbed her books, making her speedy and eager way out of the stuffy classroom. A grin spread over her face as her body was filled with excitement. She never really knew what to do with excitement. It seemed her excitement poured out of her through every desk she bumped out of place in her hurry.The spring in her step only quickened as Miki scanned the not crowded but not empty halls, looking for the girl with faded blue hair and dark bold roots. There wasn't sign of her and she had to wonder if the other got held up by her own classes. Or by someone else.... Did she get caught sneaking out? Miki shoved those thoughts away with the shake of her head and looked up again, her eyes refocusing as she walked through the halls, dodging around people and not caring who she bumped shoulder to shoulder with. She brings a hand up to run through her unruly red hair, gripping as she tries to distinguish Brooke’s appearance through the halls.Miki was just going to leave and just go to Brooke's aunts, no use waiting around like a dolt; but when she started down the steps to get to the buildings bottom floor where the fire exit was, she saw the other already coming up them, hips swaying with every step."HEY!" Miki shouted with excitement and a toothy grin spreads on her face. A few people startled and glanced over at her yell, looks of annoyance are shot in Miki’s direction. Her eyes didn't leave the other, though, as she watched Brooke's pretty face light up with a soft smile; those green eyes shining,"Hi Miki! You're out early today.” She’s offering a smile, “Wait, I thought you had detention?" Brooke stopped and let Miki come down the steps to meet in the middle, readjusting her bag on her arm. Students are giving them weird looks, probably because of the bag. Only a few students were allowed to have their backpacks; as of a few months ago there was a huge thieving incident, Miki of course denies having anything to do with it. Truth be told; she had a lot of involvement. Miki always seemed to be involved in any delinquent activities. The point being: you couldn’t have your bags out and you couldn’t have big backpacks. Just a little bag to hold any books. Though, they were most likely staring because they didn’t recognized Brooke. It’s also uncommon to be picked up, even less common for someone to be coming in through the fire exit. Most were adorned with glares of hatred, some of the more snot nosed brats just giving a look of displeasure.They were jealous, stuck like ants in an ant farm. Miki only smiled wider, maybe a little too cocky herself, feeling all too special. How she can feel so high is unknown, the girl is in the same position as them, if not worse. Brooke’s looking up at Miki and giving her a bump against her shoulder to take her out of her thoughts once they fell into a comfortable walking speed together."What?” She blinks and pauses, “Yeah, hmm... wait was that today?" Miki pondered aloud, looking ahead of them with a tilt of her head and leading them out of the fire exit of the school, going to go out through the back way so they didn’t get caught. You can’t bring anyone who is not enrolled in the school on grounds, they can’t come hang out. The two will walk around to another fire escape, less likely to be seen."Yup, probably, oh well!" Miki agreed with a laugh, picking up her speed with a little more pep in her step. Brooke wasn't expecting it and fell behind a little, calling out to the other,"Where are we going today?"Miki stopped and looked back to wait for her, "Nowhere special right now, just up to the dorms..."Brooke caught up with haste and looked at Miki with a flat expression, but the red-head could read the confusion in the furrow of her brows. They stood there for a second, staring at each other. Brooke was waiting for her to finish, her expression painting into one of knowing and Miki just scoffed, bringing her arms up to cross over her own chest as she lifted her chin up in a shameless manner."Okay!” She relents, “Okay. You got me! And then after the sun goes down some more were gonna go somewhere-" The lanky girl couldn’t even finish her sentence, being cut off by the other girl,"Absolutely not." Brooke shakes her head, now bringing her own arms up to cross over her chest and she huffs a sigh."What? C'mon dude, not fair." Miki pouted for a second, her body deflating as her arms dropped down to her side. She tilts her head down and suddenly she looks like a kicked puppy. Brooke rolls her eyes. Miki starts toeing the ground with her shoe. <i>Child. </i> "You went with Lucy though, to that concert last month!""That was more important, and I trust her way more." Brooke scoffs, leaning her weight on to her right foot. Sneak out? With Miki? Not happening! She’ll probably get them arrested, especially after nightfall. It’s bad enough that the girl was sent away to this shit hole, last thing they need is for her to end up in prison. Or land them both there at that.Miki stood up straight with a huff of breath, looking down at Brooke. She raises both her hands out in gesture, "I want to take you somewhere, I want to give you an experience.” When Brooke only quirks a brow at her words Miki turns on theatrics, she slides an arm around Brooke’s shoulders and leans into her ear, “I want to change your life, baby."Over dramatic, like always. Brooke rolled her eyes a little but chuckled none the less at proximity. Staring back at Miki with her head tilted only slightly, Brooke narrows her green eyes. Miki’s eyes were wide in excitement, the hopeful shine in the blue of her iris is like the ocean, a small smile placed onto her face. Brooke bites her lip at the expression, she’s easy to cave in. Miki leans a little bit closer, close enough for the girl to feel her breath on her face."Please."Brooke let out a huff and pushes herself to walk past Miki, they brush against each other and Miki stumbles as she was leaning her weight on the other. Miki didn't turn around to look at her, just stood there for a second before starting to pout. Then with the stomp of her foot she turns herself around, ready to start pleading more; she’d get on her knees if she had to."Are you coming or not? It's already getting late, and I have catch up homework to do!" Brooke called out from over her shoulder, cutting Miki’s speech off and leaving her to gape for a second.The girl gave half a smirk and half a toothy grin on her face; it was a messed-up smile. She ran to catch up to her girlfriend, throwing herself into the other’s space once more- Which only caused Brooke to make a face at her. "Ugh, get out of my face with that. You look like a creep."Miki put a hand over her smile defensively and stood straight, walking with long strides to pass Brooke swiftly. "Leave my smile alone! You’re just jealous of these pearly whites." She then hooks a finger into her cheek, turning around to display her teeth."Haha” Brooke offers the redhead a fake laugh, “Don’t worry Miki, I'm just messing with you! They looked so real on your ID." She said with a fake positive attitude, sarcasm lacing the words. Miki’s mouth closes and a smile is left on her face; Brooke walks up and the two fall into pace and Brooke playfully bumps their shoulders together. Miki turned her head to look at her, the sunlight from the windows casting a nice shadow on the side of her freckled face but her expression was suddenly deadpanned. Brooke chuckled slightly."No, you weren't.""Yeah..." Brooke looked ahead of them, trying to rid herself of the smile on her face, "I wasn't. What would I have to be jealous of anyways?" Her tone was playful. She throws a smile of her own, “Perfect teeth.”Miki’s expression softened and she smiled ahead as they continued. The two walked in silence, their shoes scuffing on the dirty hallway floor. They were just coming up on the floor of Miki's friend’s dorm room, the girl sped up, leaving Brooke in the dust as she ran up to start pounding on the door, each hit echoing down the empty corridor."By the way, what homework did you have to catch up?""Oh," Brooke thought aloud as the door opened roughly, barely getting a greeting from Lucrene, who was already walking away from the opening door with her headphones pulled on over her ears. There was music pouring out from the small speakers, so the two didn't bother to say anything to the tiny girl. Lucrene, who they sometimes call Loom, stood only at about 4'11- an irony to her name, short even to Brooke's height; who was only 5'4."Just English. I have some writing assignments, I think. Missed some classes, nothing too much."Miki nodded and walked over to throw her books on one of the nightstands. One messily slid off and onto the ground, the pages fluttering. Miki just looked down and stared at it. A moment passes and she decides to leave it with a shrug in favor of flopping onto the bed that was pushed to the left side of the room, right under the only window. Brooke shot Miki a specific look at the girl’s antics.She came around and sat at the foot of the bed that Miki was spread out on, propping herself up and pushing back so she could lean her back against the wall. The redhead looked over at her and grinned, she sat up and threw herself forward, planting her head in Brooke’s lap just as she was about to pick up her bag."What?" Brooke looked down at her, a little startled, "Why now? Get off, I need to do my work." Miki groaned; the vocal vibrations could be felt by Brooke on the top of her thigh. She pushed Miki's head a little, gently. "Nooo, pet me..." Miki whined out with her lips curling into a smirk, Brooke rolled her eyes again,"No way! I'm breaking rules for you today.” She’s stern and makes sure to add, “To finish my work, that is. So don't get any wrong ideas."Miki rolled off with no expression on her face at the emphasis on Brooke's order, "Okay, fine, okay." She relented and propped herself up to sit beside Brooke instead. The other picked her bag up and put it between her legs on the bed, getting out her binder and thin stack of papers. Miki offered to hold her backpack and Brooke smiled and handed it to her. She sat it on her lap and watched Brooke do her homework quietly. The mechanical pencil scribbling and scratching at the paper, filling up the quiet in the room. It was very hard to refrain herself from pestering Brooke. It was hard to refrain from being rambunctious in general.Miki felt the itch to do something, so she started shaking her foot. She let the girl do her work and just fiddled with the frayed threads of Brooke's bag. After shifting around a bit, Miki was comfortably curled up into the other's side.Sometime had gone by with Miki having her head on Brooke’s shoulder with her eyes closed, dozing away with the other girl writing. The whole room was filled with silence, pencil scratching, and the low bass emitting from Lucrene's headphones. Miki felt Brooke lean her head on top of hers for a few seconds. It made her smile, she thought of something to say but she couldn't really find the words. Brooke eventually put her head back up and went back to writing. Miki just closed her eyes once again, not really wanting to fall asleep but her body giving in anyways.It feels as if hours pass, yet it was only a few. The moment Miki opens her eyes she immediately looks towards the window before her body and mind were even aware she was awake. There was only a sliver of light left, pouring through the blinds and casting dim lines on the wall. "Ah shit," Her voice was raspy. Miki jumped up, shaking the feeling of sleep from herself. She cleared her throat with a sludgy cough, "What time is it?"Lucrene, who was sitting on her own bed across from the two of them and curled up in a fluffy sea-green blanket with a book in hand, speaks without even looking at the two, "It’s like, 6 o'clock? I don’t know, time for you to get a watch"“So funny.” Miki drawls.Miki grabbed her phone from out of her pencil case which was on the floor with one of her books. She wiped away the pencil shaving dust that was on it, they fell all over her friend’s bed; much to Lucrene's annoyance. It was almost 5pm."We gotta go." Miki said to Brooke, who was putting her books back into her bag."Don't take yours, we will be taking my backpack." Miki said, making Brooke put her bag back down with an irritated face. She doesn’t understand why Miki would have her leave it. In truth, Miki doesn’t want them to look like highschoolers, "Sorry, just put anything you need in mine."Miki trotted over to Lucrene’s desk, grabbing her stuff off it, and stuffing it into her backpack. In the process of grabbing her wallet and earbuds, she knocked a ton of stuff on her friend’s desk over, said friend gave her a look; but her face was stone-cold as ever so you wouldn't be able to make out how the girl was really feeling- but Miki knew she was mad, the knowledge only made the girl snicker internally. Miki swung her backpack on with a coy smile and then gave Brooke a 'let’s go' motion, then turning to give the smirk to Lucrene. Who stares blank face and then rolls her eyes, Miki seems to incite that reaction a lot.“Thanks for having us.” Miki jokes, the smile still on her face. Lucrene brings a hand up and waves loosely, when she speaks it flat toned sarcasm, “It’s always a pleasure... not.”Miki laughs.Brooke is standing there, wondering why some if not most of Miki's belongings were in this room. She swore Miki stayed at home; her parents didn't want her to have a dorm here anymore so that they could keep her under extra surveillance. They had no trust in the girl anymore, which Brooke understood why. Her green eyes landed on the distressed black bag hanging off the other girl's shoulders. It wasn’t her school bag.Brooke raised her eyebrows, about to start thinking about it only to notice something and then laughed out loud. "Yeah okay, turn around genius."Miki cocked her right eyebrow up at Brooke’s tone, smirk falling, throwing Brooke a confused expression, "Your backpack is open.""Oh." Miki turns around with a goofy smile on her face. Brooke zipped up the mysterious bag in a swift motion and patted the other on the shoulder. Brooke left her hand lingering there for a second, the pressure burning an imprint into Miki’s skin."It's okay, young one, you'll get it one day."Miki scoffed out a laugh and shifted to cross her arms, rolling her eyes as she knocked Brooke's hand from her and made her way to the door. For some reason, being the younger one is always a spot Brooke can hit."Thanks mom."☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖The two made it to the courtyard with little to no time to spare, the gates leading to the outside were still open, much to their luck. They made it just in time. The boarding school has opening and closing hours and once it’s after hours you can’t leave, and no one can enter. If you stay in a dorm here, you must be back before eight in the evening.Miki leaps over a short stone bench in excitement, propelling herself off a rock that is behind it. Brooke just goes around it, stumbling slightly from rushing after Miki’s speed. They make it outside and then turn to go to the right of the building. She watched the redhead run up the hill, each step jostling the bag and items in it hanging from her back. The bag was practically bigger than her. Sounds of metal clanking together echoed around them. Miki had great endurance, Brooke didn't- her legs burned from trying to speed herself uphill- like when you’re riding your bike and the petals become rigid like you’re in quicksand.
They finished scaling the hill, which was quite big, and Miki practically threw herself onto the tall stone wall that surrounded the school, it was in the middle of nowhere and had a huge wall around it. Like a prison. Brooke panted, slowing herself down aside Miki to lean her body on the rough bricks. "Jeez."Miki walked over, maybe moving ten feet as she dragged her hand on the wall. Her sharp ragged nails scraping against it, looking for something. Miki found it easily once her nails got caught in it and she started dislodging a rather large brick from the wall, a huge chunk with multiple pieces intact started leaning out. She struggled a bit, her small frame giving into the weight of it. It was as big as a boulder. But you'd never be able to tell it was there. Miki looked over at Brooke,"Little help here?"Brooke scoffed at the tone and walked over, propping her foot up and grabbing onto the only grabbable piece. They both tugged and felt it was a lot easier with both of their forces. They teetered it a little and made a small opening, Miki ushered Brooke out and followed behind her. It wasn’t too hot, but the sunset blazing onto the outside of the wall where they emerged from was bright. All around them was a huge vast desert, tumble weeds and dead bushes. There was nothing out here except for this school. Only about five miles out from a small town. The sun would be setting soon, then briskness from the fall evening would soon be nipping at their skin instead. Neither brought a jacket, Miki wearing shorts and Brooke wearing a tank top.Brooke gave a laugh of exhilaration, her silhouette looking beautiful in golden hour. Miki stood up next to Brooke, a smirk on her face as she planted her hands to her hips. "Damn, talk about prison break!" Her finger twitched while she gave a breathless laugh."Right, though I'm not sure why we had to break out. We could've just walked out the front gates." Brooke smiled up at her with her eyebrow raised, Miki blushed, but she wouldn't admit she feared getting caught skipping detention. Luckily Brooke changed the subject, "You know, since you go home? Anyways, so which way, boss?"Miki saluted and pointed in a random direction, "This way, slave!" She started walking in the same direction. "What?” Brooke blanches for a second, “Slave?” Miki doesn’t reply to her in favor of pulling the girl by her wrist along the wall and out to the front of the school, where they would follow the broken-up asphalt and dirt road into one of the towns over. Even though the school is owned by Steinstill, Thornhill was closer. The two make their way through a desert patch and find the path. It used to be the main road between towns, but it was renovated when they added the school and now the road goes a different way- most people use this road for off-roading now.They walked for a while; it wasn’t too long but the school is quite a ways out there. It probably took them close to two hours, even with short cuts. The walk was worse a few months ago when it was still summer. Now that it’s October, it’s a lot cooler, but the setting sun baked them, Miki’s legs already had color.Miki and Brooke were in town now, somewhere they hadn’t been together for a while. Brooke had to agree with the other when she said it was like they were breaking out of prison, except prison was Miki's parents. Who they were probably about to get a phone call sometime soon about how Miki didn't show up for detention, about how Miki wasn’t there to be picked up to go home, about how Miki hasn’t shown up at home yet… the list can go on."Do you remember where that dollar store was?" Miki asked, no tone of voice other than pure curiosity. Brooke hummed while glancing around at the buildings surrounding them,"No.""Ralph’s?""No.""Baymart?""Nope, didn’t that go out of business?""I wouldn’t know, why am I the only one throwing out ideas here?"Brooke huffed, stopping in her tracks, and throwing her hands up in aspiration, "I don't know, I've barely been to this town, only with you!"Miki stopped too and just stared at her, that didn't really answer her question. But it was true, neither of them came to this town often, they normally hung around the city Brooke's aunt resided in. Which was a walk hours in the opposite direction. This town was closest to Miki’s school, and whenever Miki would ditch, she would come here. Brooke dropped her arms and crossed them with her hips leaning to the left side. She looked sassy, like a librarian, Miki chuckled to herself. Brooke gave her a look of questioning, wondering what was funny."Well, maybe I do remember one... somewhere in town? I don't know, around from the mall?" Brooke muttered, rubbing her arm.Miki fought a grin off, "Well what are we waiting for then?" Brooke looked up at her, giving a look of exhaustion."Let’s go!" Miki took off, marching into town like she owned the place. It was hard to tell if she was being serious, but Brooke decided it didn’t matter. The town was quite bigger than it looked, or at least bigger than they thought it would be. It was a decent sized town. Average. People are on the streets, shops, houses, and apartments. Miki had no idea where the mall was, but what's life without a little adventure?It was easy to find a few convenience stores, but Miki refused them, trying to convey that it needs to be at a grocery-type store for the experience, leaving Brooke to question what exactly they were doing but alas she was not given an answer. Eventually they broke down and asked someone for directions and were luckily given some. They were right around the corner for it, go them."I'm starting to worry about getting in trouble," Brooke mutters as they entered the building through the automated doors. The AC above the doors blowing their hair back. Miki gave her a look, about to say something but Brooke continued."And I don't even know why we’re here! For all I know, it could be a complete waste of time." She looked at Miki, not with a glare but her eyes were still piercing right through her own."I just want to take you somewhere!" Miki reassures, like it’s matter of fact. Maybe a little too loud and proud as she catches the attention of other shoppers. Brooke gives them a certain type of look, wanting to curl into herself. Miki always calls forth unwanted attention. Ignoring them, Miki keeps walking and Brooke follows begrudgingly."Baymart?" She brings a delicate hand up to push a lock of blue hair behind her ear. She’s really hoping the answer isn't yes. She throws big green eyes in the others direction, sarcastically hopeful, Miki just let out a big laugh,"As much as Baymart is a magical place to be, I don't think it’s going to change your life, baby." It's said in a similar fashion to how she said it earlier when she was begging Brooke to go. Just a little lower; It’s always hard to tell if she's joking or being serious.Brooke stays quiet for a minute as they walk. She ponders where they're going, if Miki isn't saying it, then it must be a surprise. If you looked up natural disasters, every single one of Miki's surprises would show up in the list that appears.“I don’t like surprises.” Brooke pouts and goes quiet, bringing her arms to cross over her chest uncomfortably.The time she made them do paint ball, or when she wanted them to cook together as a competition to see who could prepare the best meal- the fastest. What were the disastrous parts of those? Oh, maybe the fact that she got them BEBE guns instead of paint ball guns, or how Miki nearly caught Brooke's aunt’s house on fire!"We haven't done anything since I've been grounded!"Brooke scoffs as ‘grounded’ was the nice way to put it. More like house arrest. Miki could go to school and then was ordered to be home right away. She wasn't even supposed to be seeing Brooke. Miki did it anyways of course. It's no wonder why she's grounded. Her parents are grade A assholes, sure, but Miki NEVER listens, she never tried to fix it while she could. She just kept pouring gasoline into the fire and had the nerve to complain that it was getting bigger.All Brooke heard was "I'm taking us to a party!" whispered as if it was top secret information, but it had so much enthusiasm. Sounded so accomplished."WHAT?" Brooke was appalled as Miki slid her arm around her shoulders, too shocked to push her off, she just looked at her in shock. Maybe she was feeling betrayal. Miki’s face had a sharp grin plastered; her eyes were narrowed like a wolf stalking its prey. It’s clear that Miki was content, and the plans were set in stone."A college party at that!" Miki corrects herself, with her finger pointed up factually.It got worse, of course it would get worse. Brooke snapped out of her shock, shoved Miki off and turned her body to glare at her with her chest high. Brooke was shorter, but she had mastered the skill of looking down on people who are taller than her. "Are you kidding me?" A look of pure confusion sent her way. Why was she confused? In what world is this a good idea? Is Miki insane?Well, the answer to that is yes.Miki’s confusion is answered with a continuing glare, a look of disappointment."C'mon it'll be fun!" She cheers.Despite her refusals- Brooke still followed as the redhead beckoned her further into the store. It wasn't like she had something against parties; in fact, they’d snuck into a couple of college parties together before. That's what had her worried, Miki got drugs from those parties. Miki is supposed to be clean while attending this boarding school. Her parents would murder her, call the cops! Send her to jail… It was a concoction of terrible things and ideas. Brooke was just worried. That was it, worried.Miki was a concoction with terrible ideas."..." Brooke crossed her arms tighter and followed, not saying anything but the look of displeasure painting her features showed her uneasiness. Miki kept glancing at Brooke out of the corner of her eye, holding the shopping basket tightly as she threw various snacks in it."Do you even have money for that?" Miki turned to look at Brooke and nodded. Pulling two twenty-dollar bills from her pocket. Brooke's eyes bugged out of her head; where did Miki get forty dollars? Was she stealing again? Before she could ask, Miki opened her mouth,"I promised I'd help host it." Brooke scoffed at the girl’s words. Yeah, a seventeen-year-old junior helping host a COLLEGE party. To Brooke it sounded more like Miki was their gopher. "They gave me this. And this..." She shoved the basket into the shorter girl’s hands abruptly, causing her to stumble a little with an irritated look plastering her face.Brooke choked out a "Hey!" But before she could start scolding Miki for being rude her eyes widened, Miki smirked at her reaction, waving what she pulled out of her wallet in her face. Brooke's eyes squinted, "What the hell is that?" Not having her reading glasses on she took a step forward and leaned in to read the small plastic that Miki was presenting to her, reaching for a handout to grasp Miki’s wrist to hold it still.Miki Miya
DOB 5/5/1992
SEX: F
ISS: 4/6/2014
EXP: 4/6/2017--She didn't need to keep reading; this ID says Miki is twenty-two. Her attention is brought to Miki's face by the sound of her laughter. Brooke just stares at the girl, once again appalled."You're not...""I am!" Miki says happily."A fake fucking ID!?” Brooke screams through a whisper, “Are you mentally corrupt, Miki?!" Brooke lowered her voice, but her tone was venom. Miki's grin widened more as Brooke looked around to make sure no one was watching them. Miki could practically see every hair on Brooke's body stand up in protest, her shoulders tensed straight yet somehow hunched. Paranoid was Brooke now. She waved her hand and then put the items back into her pocket."You want to go to jail! I swear!"“Quit freaking out,” Miki laughs, "I've used it already!""WHAT?!"Miki just laughed more and sped away from the girl, who threw her hands down in protest but followed behind the other quickly. Although Brooke was a little hesitant to follow Miki to the alcohol section. Her gut was screaming at her in objection, honestly, she feels like she might just throw up. She wanted to leave, especially when Miki wasn't just grabbing a case of shitty beer."By the end of the night, I'll make sure you're bad to the bone, Brookie!" Grabbing a bottle of scotch whiskey off the shelf. Miki’s all play so Brooke's eyes narrowed as illegal items dropped into their basket. Miki winked at her and gave her a thumbs up before picking up the pack of beer with her other hand again.Brooke shook her head in disappointment, blinking her green eyes and looking away from Miki. "I hate you."☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖Checking out had Brooke shaking in her shoes. The cashier was young. Maybe in their twenties to maybe even early thirties. He was quiet, listening to the two bicker as he rang up all the snacks Miki put onto the counter. He raised his eyebrows when she set the whiskey and six pack of Budweiser onto the counter."I'm going to need to see some ID." He said in amused suspicion. Miki and Brooke stopped bickering, Miki nodded, not acting shocked in the slightest. But Brooke went rigid. She pulled out the fake ID and handed it over, the cashier looked over the card and then turned to stare at Brooke. A beat of silence passed between the three of them. Brooke felt her knees turn into jelly, her brows furrowing as she looked to Miki, seeing how she was going to get out of this."Oh! This is my cousin, she's underage." Miki said matter of factly since the cashier seemed to be sizing Brooke up for longer than necessary. Brooke chokes at the new information, holding her coughs in and swallowing as she gives the guy a curt nod- agreeing with whatever Miki says. "We're having a family banquet." Miki paused when the guy raised one of his eyebrows- probably at her use of the word ‘banquet’,"That’s for the uncles and aunties." Miki tipped her head with a nod, and threw her hand out, gesturing to the alcoholic beverages.The guy gave her an incredulous look, amusement still adorning his features, but he turned his attention to his job and scanned the drinks anyways. Brooke stomped on the front of Miki's shoe, causing the taller to grimace in pain as her big toe gets crushed- close to letting out a shriek of pain, but she grits her teeth- not wanting to give away her act. Miki turned to glare at Brooke with a cough to clear her throat, then a haughty smile pulled on her lips as she looked back at the cashier,"Oh, and one pack of the Marlboros, please."The guy nodded at that; no hesitation like he had with the alcohol. If he knew he didn’t care. He turned around with his keys jingling together to unlock the cigarette stand. Miki took her time to smirk at Brooke's irritation. The other scoffed and turned her attention to the magazines to the right of them, forcing herself to find something more interesting. This should have never played out. The guy was clearly just letting them get away with it.☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖By the time they left the store, the sun was gone. Only pinks, oranges, and a violet purple fill the sky as the night starts to set upon them. Brooke shuffled her shoes against the asphalt of Baymart's parking lot. Miki was on the phone getting directions for where the house the party was at. It only turned out to be about a ten-minute walk, which they spent in silence. The only noise being Miki humming the beat to the song that was playing while they were in the store, and the crunching of the snack bags every time Miki's leg brushed against the bag.Neither of them knew for sure if the guy just let them off the hook, or if Miki had convinced him. Miki would say she convinced him, Brooke would argue he just let them get away with it.The sun was completely gone by the time they arrived; they could hear muffled bass from music coming from up ahead and lots of commotion. The sounds of a party: cheering, clapping, yelling, singing, music and bass. Brooke slowed to a stop as Miki kept walking, eventually turning around to shoot her a mischievous smirk, a wolf's smile, in the dark. It sent a chill down Brooke’s spine.
"Ready to have the time of your life, cousin?" Miki asked, jokingly going on about how maybe they could move to Alabama and keep their relationship a secret from their family."Shut up, you're disgusting." Brooke snapped back eventually, just wanting her to quit it, anxiety pooling under her skin- not in the mood for Miki’s stupid jokes. She wasn’t ready- she didn’t want to be here. Brooke had a bad feeling because…This was going to be a disaster.☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖
NEBBISH
chapter 2
nails on a chalk board
☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖⁺Elementary school.AprilIt was the sound of nails on a chalkboard that caught everyone’s attention, stopping them all with a startle. The loud, ear-piercing, mind-numbing noise vibrated around the room. It was the type of screeching that would cause your whole body to shrivel and cringe. You can only imagine how it feels for the person’s nails being sacrificed. Vibrations moving up through the knuckles, nail beds being lifted.The group of girls turned their heads, flinching at the noise while some covered their ears and cried out from the cringe that's sending shivers down their spine, "Stop!" one yelled out,
The noise continues, rapidly intensifying as the person doing it adds two hands, clawing at the board like a cat- she laughs."What do you want, Miki?" Another hissed, "Yeah can’t you see we're busy? Beat it kid." The oldest girl chimed in finally. Miki looks over at the girl and eyes her up and down, her hands are on her hips and her blonde hair swaying behind her as the girl puts up a cocky front. The noise intensified- and then with one last screech, the nails were removed from the dusty green board, four very shallow nail marks embedded in the wall of the blackboard stood stared back. It maybe wasn’t super damaged, but it looked bad since the board was covered in dust. The teacher wasn’t going to be happy. Miki snickers to herself, she’ll have to buff away the evidence with the eraser."Aren't you from the other building… er,” Miki stops to think for a second, “Hana? Or something? What’cha doing all the way in my classroom?" she asks, feigning innocent curiosity while picking the grime from the board out from under her nails- and suddenly seeming bored as she wipes it on her black dress; leaving a trail of dusty white residue to smear all down her torso. She didn't seem to mind though.Looking up to face the group, she stood there proudly, her mid-shoulder length red hair sticking up in every direction, her dress rumpled, one sock black and the other white, eye catching through her slip on mary-jane shoes.'Hana' scoffs, her arms crossed over her chest as she blows her blond hair from her face, "So what? I go to this school too; I can be wherever I want."Miki takes a few steps towards the group of elementary school kids, save for Hana who was in her 6th year, 2 grades up from every kid in the room."Be a shame if I told someone you're bullying and pickin’ on the younger grade." Miki simply shrugged, a flip phone suddenly in her hand that she pulled from her pocket, glimmering in the afternoon sunlight that was coming through the blinds of their classroom window. She lifted the phone, and the sound of a camera was heard, one, two, click and flash.The picture included a girl sitting on the floor, the girls standing all around her. It wasn’t good quality, by any means.Hana clenched her fist and set her teeth after the flash, glaring at Miki and she walked closer, the other girls behind her standing up on their guard; finally backing off of the other kid they had cornered. That same girl took her chance to get up, her back pressed against the classroom shelf as she watched the girls surround Miki, like a pack of wolves- just as they were just doing to her. She recognizes Miki as the two of them shared the same class.The girl’s thoughts spin as she believes Miki will be next now, she bites down on her lip with her green eyes downcast to the floor, only seeing their shoes scuffle on the ground up ahead of her. Her black hair covers her face. She feels her body fill with guilt, wishing she didn’t come to school today. Miki was only being nice by trying to help-"Delete it, Miki, we aren't even doing anything. Just having a little chat, see? Isn't that right, Brooke?" Hana says coolly, her pride over-pouring through the tone of her voice. It’s so fake. Brooke glanced up at her name, seeing Miki tilt her head and poke her eyesight through two of the obnoxious girls, locking eyes with Brooke.“Oh really?” Miki croons.They just stared, green clashing against blue. Brooke didn't utter a single word and Miki just blinked back at her. Brooke brought her hand up to grasp onto her bicep, a shy habit she had, and broke her eye contact with Miki. Those cold blue eyes seemed to look right through her, it made her somewhat uncomfortable. Miki just looked back to the sixth grader and her group of followers, eyes narrowing but her smile widening. Her hand is clenching the flip phone."Got that?" Hana sneers, “Just having a chat.” She makes sure to smile after saying it, as if it’s no problem. And then she walks closer to Miki and puts her hands back on her hips as she leans over the younger girl. She was a good five inches taller than Miki, who hasn't hit her growth spurt yet. Miki just looked up, unphased by the looming shadow above her, not scared of the older girl nor of the difference in size. Hana spat next to the Mary-jane shoes adorning Miki's feet. The wood next to where Miki stood glistened as the spit splattered on the ground, Miki even felt some get on her shin, she grimaced. The other girls laughed. Hana gestures to the spit, looking at it and then back to Miki, threatening; “Delete the photo, or we’re going to have a problem.”It’s said so simply, as if there isn’t already a problem. Miki looks down at the spit on the ground. Talk about gross.The girls started to walk out of the classroom, their heads high on their shoulder as if the world belonged to them. What makes them feel so good? They didn’t even do anything cool or impressive, none the less intimidating. Miki smeared the spit on the floor with the tip of her shoe, looking at the back of the blonde head of the girl, her eyes narrowing in disgust. She can’t help but chuckle a little- she finds some sarcasm to lace her words with- maybe she’s just trying to sound tough, "Oh yeah? Is that so?”Miki was definitely not intimidating back then, she was just a baby. Standing up for someone who she saw in her own classroom every day, someone she possibly copied test answers from occasionally. Maybe even the girl whose homework she stole and changed the name because she knew that this girl would have the right answers. (It’s her secret) The quiet kid, who even the teacher rarely picked to answer a question even though she sits practically in the front row. Miki didn't want to meddle in their drama, she didn't want to be caught up in something as superficial as 'bullying', but it didn't stop her from getting upset, watching those girls grab Brooke’s lunch from her, and taunt it over her head. As if they owned her. Miki scowled, muttering under her breath, “Low life bitches. “Only a fourth grader and she already had such a filthy mouth, Miki was always hanging around the wrong people. She knows the soap bar well enough. A child like her had no rhyme, no reason, to be filled with such distaste for everything. Her frail body shouldn’t be able to handle it, shouldn’t have been able to produce it. At least not yet. Maybe it was just her sense of justice…Miki’s sense of judgment.The girls stopped at the door, peering back inside to see what Miki could possibly have to say to them. It had only been a second, and yet, Miki was now standing in front of them, bent over a little and looking up at them in a funny way,"So why are you guys taking her lunch then?" she asked, a grin adorning her freckled face, it fully reached her eyes, and the snark was biting through Hana's ego. She faltered, giving a look of distaste and then she scoffed. Miki's eyes flickered to the lunch pail in the bully's hands and then back up to lock eyes with her- they narrow in hatred at the middle schooler."We didn’t take anything. She gave it to me, right Brookie?” The warm nickname that had only ever been used with Brooke by her family, was now being sneered at her like an insult."Oh! So, it was a gift?" Miki barely waits for Hana to finish the sentence, not even waiting for Brooke's reply to the fake question- not that the girl would, she’s not even sure if her voice box works. Miki laughs, “That’s so nice of you Brooke, really.”Hana makes a noise, eyebrows furrowing in confusion."Then if it's not yours, I can have it." Miki decides with a big smile, swiping the lunch pail out of Hana's hands and jumping a few steps back before the other girl could get to her.Hana tried to reach forward, to grab it back; but Miki was too quick. She used her foot and locked it under the back leg of the chair that was closest to her. Using all her ten-year-old strength, she swung the chair out and in between the two of them, it smacked Hana in the arm. Not enough to hurt, but enough to prove a point and get in the way.Hana's face was contorted in anger and humiliation as she jumped back from the chair and flinched, she looked constipated. It was funny enough to see, but Miki wasn't done. She laughed, unable to hold it in."You should probably think a little before eating two lunches every day," Another chuckle after it- more like a snort, amusement painting on her face and glimmering in her eyes, it was funny, this was hilarious. Though she was the only one smiling- "You're lookin' kinda chubby lately."Hana made a noise from the back of her throat and reached out. She swatted her hand out to try and hit Miki, but the other was too far- and was too quick as she leaned out of the way. Instantly glaring at the one who’s acting like 'Miss Popular' and kicking the chair forward a bit more.The "back up" girls left before the fight started, tails between their legs as they had nothing to say and not wanting to get into trouble. Cowards, caught in their act. How embarrassing for them. Hana told Miki if she deleted the photo they'd stop, for good. Miki agreed in a nice manner, letting the sound of deleting the photo echo in the small room conclude the event and bid a more than enthusiastically goodbye to Hana, waving as she left. The classroom was quiet after; the only sound being the ticking of the clock above the chalk board. It was dark now; the sun had gone behind the building across from them- blocking the light. Brooke stood there wonderstruck as Miki turned around and walked up to her. She placed her hands out in offering, handing her lunch back in gentle manner. She returns it to its rightful owner."You were just gunna let them walk out of here?” Miki looks back at the door then back to Brooke, raising an eyebrow, “What were you gone do for lunch?" she asks, pursing her lips and scratching the back of her head while looking out of the window, Brooke takes the pail with almost hesitance, Miki pushes it into her hands and let’s go- and Brooke nearly drops it.“Cause like,” Miki continues, “I know you don’t go to the cafeteria-“ Brooke’s expression twists,“How do you know that?” She cuts in and asks, Miki just continues talking over her, “You should have just told them to get a life.” It makes Brooke fold in a little on herself, Miki doesn’t notice yet- or if she has, she continues anyways,“I can teach you a move that’ll keep them away for good, they would deserve to get pummeled to death.” She chuckles suddenly and then does some powerhouse kick into the air and flings her arm, it takes Brooke by surprise and the girl moves away with a noise, furrowing her brows. It makes Miki do it again, but she messes up and tries to start over- only making it worse. She has a goofy smile on her face while doing it too.“What the heck is that?” Brooke asks through a snort, Miki laughs loudly in reply, “It’s the move!” She does it again, Brooke busts out in a full laugh,“What move is that?” She questions through chuckles, Miki stops- only to do it again with more emphasis when Brooke focuses her attention back, only to lose it again at that-“It’s the move that will keep them away!”The redhead starts explaining some combat moves in her video game at home, shoving her fists in the air. Brooke had just hugged the new lunch-pail to her chest with a smile. Her mom just bought this one for her. That group of girls had already stolen her last one. They were limited edition. It had been pink, and sparkly, and Brooke would feel bad if she lost this one too; Her mom would have a frown on her face, and that made Brooke sad. Brooke doesn't really know what Miki's going on about anymore, the other girl seems lost in a world of her own, so she just cuts her off."Thank you... I guess I owe you now." Brooke says with a voice full of Genuity. Her black hair moved from her eyes as she brought her hand up to push it out of the way, tilting her face up to look at the other girl with her big round green eyes. Miki spluttered, not used to the manners and mostly from being cut off. She made some kind of noise as she bounced on the balls of her feet, taking a step away from Brooke and out of their little bubble. It seemed like it was only the two of them in the world, just them, in that classroom. For forever, as if it’s always been them."Hm well," Miki ponders aloud and then laughs through her toothy grin- she was missing one of her bottom teeth. "You can make it up to me by eating lunch with me every day!" A hand was brought up to point in Brooke’s face. Miki’s voice was loud, her eyes wide with joy at the idea. She started waving her hands and telling Brooke about all kinds of foods she’d bring from home, and they could share, she swore Miki started speaking French, but Miki said they can eat right here, every day, in this classroom."And I'll make sure they NEVER pick on you again."And she meant it, she was oh so serious, her eyes glinting as she held her phone out for Brookes eyes to see as she skipped through the gallery of pictures on the device. It’s evidence of the past month, Brooke getting her lunch stolen every day, at least she thought it was just her but there are also pictures of Hana antagonizing other students. Her green eyes widened a bit, and Miki gave a devil’s grin. So many thoughts are going through the young Brooke’s head at seeing all those pictures. The pictures aren't that good though, the quality of the camera and the distance rendering it blurry- pixelated.“I’m always late for lunch.” Miki starts with no clarification as she closes her flip phone. “And every time I come up here to get it, I always see you getting picked on.”
Brooked hands clenched around her lunch pale, embarrassed. Her face burned as she looked away, staring at the ground.“No more.” Miki said, slamming a hand onto Brooke’s quivering shoulder. It caused the raven to jolt in surprise, “No more. I’ll make sure those girls pay.”There was a pause, Miki came closer- connecting their gaze, “I hate Hana.”☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖⁺Miki dragged Brooke all the way to the principal’s office a while later after their conversation in the classroom. It was just before the bell rang. Other kids were going back to class; Miki was on a mission.“Girls, you can’t go back there.” Their front office lady scolds them, not too harsh as it’s the first warning (it gets ignored), “The bell just rang, go on back to class, okay? If you need something I can see you at the end of the day.” Miki gives the lady a scoff, making sure to grab Brooke and pull her along. Miki passes down the hall, ignoring the woman who is now following them, trying to grab them and pull them back. Miki finds the door she’s looking for and throws them inside.“Mr. Hickox!” She whines, the man looks up from his desk where he is finishing his own lunch. His eyes bulge and he looks at the girls and then to the lady, his expression reads ’get them out of here! But Miki plants herself into the chair across from his desk and ushers Brooke to sit in the other, she feels uncomfortable being here especially with the desk lady mad at them now.“Miki, your lunch just ended, if you have something you need to discuss with me again- you know you can come find me after class ends.” He sighs, the ‘again’ and the tone of voice he gives her tells Brooke that this isn’t the first interaction they have had. “Mr. Hickox!” Miki says again, louder while shaking her head, “This is an emergency, it can’t wait until the end of the day.”
He sighs again, dabbing his face with a napkin and wiping his hands, he sets it down and moves his food away. He doesn’t seem completely interested- not even at least concerned, just exhausted. He looks up and dismisses the woman that nagged them coming in and as she leaves asks the girls, “What is so important that you need to interrupt my lunch time?”The young girl rips her phone out, opening it to get the pictures ready- “Miya! You know my policy on phones! Did you bring that in here just to get it taken away-““Mr. HICKOX! Look at all of this!” She puts her other hand up to stop him, ignores him, starts talking over him, Brooke fidgets in her seat, finding it a little amusing but also feeling out of place. Miki is flipping through the photos, pointing out and explaining each one. He had gone silent, listening, and taking in the information since Miki had so much of it. She was nearly in hysterics at certain points.When she got to tell them about Brooke’s story, she could tell that Miki was exaggerating it a bit. It wasn’t fully stretched, but Brooke was uncomfortable with the lies. For example, she said they were also stealing her work and ruining it and also that they were putting gum in her hair.A lot of those things never happened. Well, maybe they did to other kids… Sometimes the girls did rough her up a bit; push her around. Brooke was confused, she didn't know why Miki would make up lies when it’s already as bad as it is... but she had faith, so she kept quiet. There had to be a reason, she herself did want the girls to get in trouble; she wanted it to be over. What gets her the most is how it could add up because it was true, Brooke wasn't turning in all of her assignments- but it didn't have anything to do with the girls that were stealing her lunch at school. She was just-"Well, Brooke, is it true? Have they been bullying you? It's okay, you can tell me. The adults will make sure the situation doesn't escalate further." Their principal asked, cutting Miki off and trying to read Brooke’s expression directly to find out if Miki was lying. Also trying to get the rowdy redhead to just shut up already. Brooke just nodded solemnly, a more saddened look appearing on her face. She thinks of the look her mom gave her when she came home in tears, crying about how they stole her new favorite lunch pail. “Of course, they are!” Miki agrees, crossing her arms.Hickox sighs once more, picking up his pen and asking for the names of the girls. Miki gives a few, but Brooke gives most of the other girl’s names."You know, I heard from other girls they were gonna jump her in the bathroom!" Miki wailed to the principal suddenly. Making him look at her in surprise, "Beat her up! Can you believe this? I'm almost too scared to hang around Brooke in case I get bullied next! I don't want that! Those girls have been picking on everyone…" She slammed her hands on his desk, her eyes wide and frantic, fake frantic, but still frantic none the less... "That Hana from the other grade- Hana Davidson- you know the one with the blonde hair? Don't you know she's dating a high schooler?! She threatened to send him and his friends on us. Like a dog! I'm scared principal, I'm scared at this school. It isn't a safe environment... We are just kids…"Miki continued, not letting the principal get a word in edge wise, but he was too taken back by the information load to do anything. He sits for a second, taking in on all this newly added information, information that goes from zero to one hundred pretty fast- elementary schoolers nowadays…"ENOUGH!” Hickox snaps, “I understand! Thank you for telling me and bringing this issue to my attention, class is almost over now, so for now- just return to your classrooms, I will deal with this problem." He huffed out, flustered with a hand over his face, sending Miki and Brooke out of his office with a final, “And no cell phones during school hours!”It was quiet, neither of the girls had said anything on the way back to their classroom, Miki walked with a kick in her step and a grin on her face, her steps were clunky. She was feeling good, terrific even. Brooke clasped her hands in front of her and kept her head down, glancing at Miki from the corner of her eye ever so often,"Do you always do that?" Brooke spluttered out quietly, almost a mumble. Miki slowed her pace a bit, giving the shorter girl a look, a look that innocently screamed 'I haven't the faintest clue what you mean.' She looked almost puzzled through her accomplished aura. Miki shrugs her shoulders slowly, a lopsided grin still on her face as she blinks slowly."You know," Brooke started, stopping walking all together, and looking up at Miki fully. "Lie."That’s what makes Miki laugh out loud, and then it was quiet again. Miki hadn’t replied right away, she just turned her gaze to the window of the hallway, no one was outside, no kids playing, no teachers, no yard duty. Everyone was in their classrooms, where the two of them should be. Instead, they were together, away from it all."I didn't lie." Miki finally states flat out. It took Brooke off guard, and she jolted from the volume of the girl’s voice. Which was loud, just for a statement. Miki gestured her hands in the air, trying to give as much emphasis as she could manage, "I was simply telling the truth of another world!”Brooke gives her a dumb found look. They were children after all. What does that even mean? Miki’s shoulders deflate a little at Brooke’s expression, she takes in a big gulp of air.“Okay- I twisted the story a little. A LITTLE!” The girl expresses, “But I’m sure they would have started doing that stuff to you anyways.” Miki pauses, pursing her lips, “They were picking on other people too, and bullying just gets bad and bad until someone steps in, we’re close to middle school." Miki pouted and pointed a finger at Brooke, who was confused at the mention of middle school. Which is like... 2 years away,"You went along with it.” She smirks at Brooke, whose eyes widen at that, trying to protest, “You’re just as much as a liar as I am.” Miki giggled a little. Brooklyn frowned hard at that. She reached over and grabbed Brooked hand to start dragging her along to the classroom, she swings them between-"We have-ta stick together now, only we know the truth.” She laughs and gives Brooke another crazy smile and putting her finger over her mouth in the shh motion.Brooke could tell it was a joke but ironically, they ended up staying together for a long, long time after that. Lucky for them, that truth never came out, Hana was transferred out and the other girls were just back up for her, were just scared of saying no to the girl and getting bullied themselves, so they went back to their own lives, never batting an eye at Brooke. Though they got a warning, and a few of them got suspended. There was no more drama in elementary school, not for them at least.Her mind always floated back to Miki, a kid who she’d never met- only shared class with. Someone so random would lie and steal and cheat just to make sure Brooke wasn't being picked on anymore... It made her feel special. They didn't even know each other, but it felt like they did in a sense. Brooke felt safe, she was protected, even if Miki was possibly a compulsive liar. Brooke figured it was okay since the other was lying for her sake. Lying for greater good.Besides, if worse came to worse, she could keep Miki out of trouble.Maybe.Brooke smiled as she twisted her hand in Miki's so they could hold hands, and catching up beside her instead of lagging behind. They walked to the classroom with their hands intertwined between them, swinging delicately.“Oh,” Miki says as they reach their classroom, “But that part about her going out with a highschooler?” They both make a face at the sentence,“Yeah…” She offers a laugh to Brooke, “That was true.”Disgusting.☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖Miki was absent for days—an entire week stretched into an eternity for Brooke. Each day felt impossibly long, filled with worrying anxiety as she spent her time searching for Miki or staring longingly at her empty desk, which seemed to grow more empty with every passing hour. Whispers fluttered through the hallways, and rumors of suspension circulated, but none of it brought clarity. Was Miki in trouble? Did something happen? The uncertainty gnawed at Brooke, planting seeds of guilt deep in her heart.Finally, on a crisp Monday morning, as the sun filtered through the classroom windows, Miki reappeared. She trotted in with an infectious toothy grin, a thumbs-up gesture thrown towards Brooke sending a wave of relief crashing over her. But something was different. Miki had spent the week with her grandparents, and upon closer inspection, Brooke noticed the gap in her smile—another tooth missing from her bottom set, leaving her with a larger space than before. Her smile fitting her even more.“Looks like you’re still losing baby teeth,” Brooke teased gently, trying to mask her wonder with humor.“Yeah, I guess I’m a late bloomer,” Miki replied with a laugh, her eyes sparkling with mischief. Brooke felt a rush of warmth flood through her; the sight of Miki’s smile was a balm for her worried heart. “Not me.” Brooke boasts.That day, they ate lunch together, their laughter echoing off the cafeteria walls as they shared stories about their weekends. Each day after, they continued to sit together, their bond deepening in the sun-dappled grass of the playground. They became a familiar sight, two friends with each other’s backs, getting in trouble for always whispering and giggling during class.As the days turned into weeks, they began to share more than just lunch and laughter. They exchanged home phone numbers, eagerly calling each other on the landline to tackle homework or chat about silly things that made them laugh. “So.. did you see the new episode!?” Miki would ask, voice bubbling with excitement, and Brooke would respond with a flurry of thoughts, their conversations effortlessly flowing into the night.Other times it would be Brooke calling, “Do you know that song-?” And they would fall into rhythm. Sometimes, it would be them planning adventures out together.Eventually, their teacher, exasperated by their constant chatter, moved their desks apart, hoping to quell the distractions. But it didn’t work; they simply found new ways to communicate—notes passed under the table, sly smiles exchanged during lectures, and secretive whispers in the hallways. The connection between them only strengthened, creating a world only they knew.Slowly but surely, the two became inseparable. They spent weekends together, exploring parks, going to movies, and sometimes just lounging in each other’s backyards, their laughter carried away by the wind. With each shared secret and hours spent together, Brooke felt a flutter in her chest that she couldn’t quite explain—a warmth that blossomed into something deeper.As the year rolled on, their friendship evolved, growing into a palpable tension that neither of them fully understood yet.What started as playful teasing and innocent companionship gradually shifted, the lines blurring until each of them could no longer bear to be apart. It was a slow, beautiful build-up, like the way dawn crept into the sky, illuminating everything around it.The feelings they shared began to take root, blossoming into a natural love for one another. Each moment together, no matter how mundane, became a cherished memory, a steppingstone further into the depths of their future.A book of memories.
NEBBISH
chapter 3
broken helmet
⁺ ☽˖ ☆ ⁺˖October.Brooklyn was convinced she had jinxed it. That’s the only explanation that made sense to her, as the night spiraled into the disaster it seemed destined to be. Although the evening had its high points, it ultimately proved unproductive for both, and Brooke regarded it as a mistake. For instance, the arrival of the police was an unnecessary complication to an already chaotic night. But honestly, with the blaring music resounding through the upscale neighborhood, it was inevitable that either someone would call the authorities, or they'd decide to join the party on their own accord.And for some (unknown) reason, Miki Miya was a cop magnet. They were always around when she was. Interesting…Not exactly.7:57pmIt wasn’t long after dragging Brooke through a group of strangers, right through a cloud of marijuana smoke on the porch and into the front door- that Miki vanished. She was gone, just like Brooke had a feeling she would. She was alone now. Just like she thought. Clicking her tongue in toleration she scans the room, opting to make her way in.The smell of hormones, sweat, alcohol and smoke had already started to cling to Brooke's clothes- after barely ten minutes of being there. Just from walking through the house. Maybe two groups of people. The party must have been going on for a while because it was warm and humid here. Kind of gross. Brooke was feeling a little uncomfortable and suddenly regretting skipping a jacket. She crossed her arms over herself.
Just to feel only a bit smaller."I'll be back! Just gonna drop this shit off in the kitchen and let Ko-jiji know we’re here!"Miki had planted a fleeting kiss on her cheek before leaving Brooke stranded with her feelings of unease. The lanky girl slipped through the clusters of people, disappearing. Not a care in the world who she interrupts or bumps into, she doesn’t seem to have any feelings of displacement. Miki looks like the host. Watching her go with indifference, it made Brooke set her teeth and lower her eyes.At least 'Kojiji' was a nickname she recognized; Koje Donnel. A German foreigner from their school days. They were sort of friends; Miki’s friends, as she was more acquainted with the older boys. Brooke honestly never really liked any of them. She tried to make friends with the people already around her. Which… when Miki Miya is your best friend… was kind of hard.The girl gets lost in her thoughts, making sense of the night. She’s still standing right in front of the door… somehow right in way of door swinging open- right into Brooke. Standing just too close to the door, the knob dug into her elbow and knocked her off balance. She hissed in pain, looking down with a grimace as she moved away, taking big steps around the groups of people drinking and chatting amongst themselves. She just sighed, rubbing her arm, deciding to go look for her “other half”.The people around her were rambunctious. The house was filled with many young adults and Brooke felt intimidation creeping up her spine. These strangers had at least a few years on her.Out of place.She kept her eyes peeled for Miki's unruly head of long red hair. The girl said she would be back, but it’s been nearly ten minutes with no sign of her. It really doesn’t take that long to drop off some drinks. Loud cheering caught Brooklyn’s attention, coming from back yard.There’s a big recliner with a group of drunk girls on it taking selfies, and Brooke dashes behind it trying to miss being the photo bomb. Her eyebrows furrowed as she ducked between two people coming inside, both arms get pushed back and she was met with a gust of cool dusk air against her skin. It felt great in comparison. There were way too many people in there, the smell was becoming toxic. She took in a nice gulp of fresh air. It felt nice- even if it smelt like… skunk… out here. Of course.Brooke scanned the back yard. She noticed a group of boys and maybe a few girls standing around a cheap fold-up table, with one leg sporting duct tape around it to mend what she assumed to be a broken leg, over by the pool. Solo cups scattered on the ground around it, as well as set up on top. The blue haired girl fell back a little and moved around everyone else to get there.Beer pong... Really?And suddenly it smelt like shit.Her eyes drifted up and there Miki stood tall with a cigarette dangling from her lips, basking in applause. That was something that Brooke wasn't surprised about. Miki's been smoking cigarettes since middle school. The porch light was the only source of light, it was just barely illuminating the hoard of people, there was also an in-ground pool with lights out far in the backyard’s right corner-The evening had come fast.The other hadn't noticed Brooke’s presence as the girl made her way over to the table, people coming and going constantly- she avoids stepping in sloshes of beer and God knows what else all over the pavement. How long was this party going on for? She internally shook her head. There was another round of cheering as Brooke slid her body through a more condensed part of the group, right behind Miki. Brooke grinned. Her unease seemed to fade if only slightly at the sight of Miki.The taller raised her arms, a cheer coming from her lips as her ping-pong ball landed in a cup on the opposite side of the table. Brooke took this as an opportunity to snake her arms around Miki's stomach, the other girl immediately flinched her arms down and screamed, taken way off-guard. Brooke stood on her tip toes and brushed her nose against the taller one’s ear, letting out a breath and then yelled as loud as she could:"I was looking all over for you!"Miki spun around and out of Brookes’ grasp, bringing her hand up to cover her ear, giving Brooke a startled look that turned into interest. They received a few looks, no one really cared. Some guy came up and shoved a cup in Miki’s bubble, ruining their moment, it was a cup their ball had landed in, she must have missed them making a score when Brooke surprised her- but she took it with grace, looking down at the liquid inside of the red and white cup. A grin appeared onto her face, enlightened as she brought her hand up to offer the cup to Brooke, her shiny black nails glistening, she chucked,"Don't be silly! I didn't leave you, Brookey, I left to get you a drink." Big gesture with said drink. Miki smiles, nodding with her toothy grin.Brooke rolled her eyes in annoyance, but a smile tugged on her lips at the antics regardless, "What are you lying for?" she asked as she grabbed the dented cup from Miki's hand, taking a swig of it under the intensity of the other girl’s blue eyes. To be honest, she didn’t really want this drink, but she took it anyways. Maybe it wasn’t to be a killjoy, maybe it was spite. Everyone paying attention watched her throat bob as she swallowed twice, also watched the disgusted grimace take over Brooke’s face as she turned to the side to spit it out.Miki laughed at Brooke’s reaction, watching the liquid splatter onto the cement below them. So did a few others."This is disgusting!" Brooke spluttered, bringing the back of her other hand up to wipe it off her mouth. "The hell is this? This isn't beer.""Is it not?!" Miki questioned as she snatched it back out of her hand, it splashed over the rim and all over the girl’s arm. Miki took a swig of her own. She sloshed it in her mouth to coat her teeth, some of it dripped out the corner of her mouth and down her chin. Brooke had it in her to wonder how Miki could already be drunk. Miki is humming in consideration; "Hmm..."Brooke stared at her, crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyebrows were furrowed from the disgusting taste in her mouth, and at the behavior displayed in front of her. She would’ve preferred doing anything else."Yeah... Oh... Hm. Maybe..." Miki kept pondering, smacking her lips, and pretending she was trying to taste it. Her tongue was numb from the alcohol; she couldn't taste a thing at this point- but it was putrid. Brooke tapped her foot and gave a tilt of her head, confusion and anticipation oozing from her being. "Well?" she asked Miki impatiently. “What is in it?”The other nodded back as she wiped the sticky residue from her chin, giving Brooke a serious look as she reached over to brace her hand on the girl’s shoulder; "I have no idea what is in this cup."Before Brooke could start ranting about how dangerous that is, Miki threw the cup on the ground; you can hear it make a mess and she grabbed the other’s hand to drag her back inside the house, carelessly bumping into other people who didn't even glance back at the two of them. No care in the world. Brooke spat out some protests and questions about where they were going, what they were doing now, but Miki ignored them in favor of dragging her into the kitchen.“Don’t worry I can get you something better.”8:23 pm"Okay I'm going to actually make you an actual drink now.""Oh, I just can't wait.” Our star of the night sarcastically cheers, her face dropping “I'm vomiting in my mouth already."Miki shot a pointed stare at Brooke that included raised eyebrows, to which the other just jumped up to sit on the countertop with a small smile, the girl’s expression wasn’t quite clear to Brooke. Nevertheless, "That's not very nice!" Miki chimed, as if it were her line. She made sure to laugh, pouring two bottles into the cup at once, Brooke couldn't read the label from where she sat, but whatever it is she knew you probably shouldn't be mixing two hard liquors together. In the same drink. Sickening, and it’ll probably taste just horrible enough to have your stomach rejecting it before you even swallow. Just like that cup outside.“So, miss barista? You made that cup outside too.” Inquisition only, not accusation. Theres a laugh as Miki then moved onto her own cup and poured the same stuff into it. The sink was filled with red solo cups, which was stupid because no one was going to wash out the plastic and keep it as dinnerware. Approaching Brooke with both cups in hand, Miki hands over one of the glasses to Brooke, who grabbed it from her grasp gingerly. It was a real glass cup, not a solo cup.“And what gave that away?”"You could've put some ice in here." Brooke muttered, looking down into the dark liquid with her nose scrunched up. Miki rolled her eyes in response, now standing between Brooke's legs that were draped off the edge, hanging in the air with the balls of her shoes dug into the cupboard underneath. The house was big, not as big as Miki's own home, but a big suburban house none the less. The people who lived here were most definitely rich. Brooke wondered how much trouble the kid who lived here would get into.“There’s no more.”“No more ice?” Brooke questions with a laugh and Miki brings her own cup up to knock the one in the others hand, bringing her away from the ice question. Brooke looks up to meet Miki’s blue eyes. "Cheers?"Clinking her cup back against Miki's they both brought the glasses up to their lips. Brooke took two sips, feeling her mouth and throat cringe at the burning sensation, from scotch and maybe there was some vodka in there. There’s some artificial taste of strawberry, it was putrid. She choked down half the cup in slow yet big gulps, which was torture. Miki didn’t even put that much in, maybe a little over a shot but it felt like way more. Miki downed her own without so much as bobbing her throat. Brooke set her glass down next to her thigh on the countertop, it was just the two of them in the kitchen, even if there were people coming in and out of the room passing, the music blaring from the other room reverberating around them.Miki put her cup next to Brooke's, the glasses hit each other and sloshed the liquid inside of Brooke's. Miki moved her gaze to Brooke’s flushed face, bringing her left hand up to cup around it. Her thumb softly caressed over her cheek and down to swipe over her lips. Brooke's lip twitched into a smile at the tease, and Miki leaned in and pressed her lips against the others. They were soft, they were always soft. Miki's lips were sharp, and jagged; chapped from biting at them and maybe from malnutrition.It wouldn’t hurt her to use some chap-stick.Brooke closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss, bringing her arms to circle around Miki's torso while humming. Miki circled her empty arm around Brooke as well, moving her left hand up to tangle itself in the girl’s blue hair. She gave a slight tug to it and Brooke's arms tightened around her as the girl makes a squawk of protest- Miki laughs against Brooke’s lips and then pets the spot she lightly tugged. Miki deepened the kiss, poking her tongue out to lick the other girl’s lips for a second before she pulled away and pressed a small peck against Brooke’s bottom lip, their mouths were bitter,"Want to go dance?"9:37 pmThe party was going great, it really was, much better than Brooke expected it to go- now that they were together again. The two were having an amazing time getting drunk, dancing, stumbling about, laughing while exploring the expensive suburban house. Brooke doesn't know when she lost Miki, but she's been looking around for her everywhere. There was a dance off in the second living room. The duo got separated by a hoard of girls coming inside to drunkenly squawk at the guys break dancing.Pushing messy strands of her blue hair from her face, Brooke hazily looked around, rounding the corner to the kitchen where they were before they started dancing, the kitchen had a few people in it. They were mixing drinks; there was no sign of Miki. She sighed, walking through the entry to the main living area. Brooke stopped, hearing yelling coming from the backyard and looked to her left out of the open sliding door. Straining her drunk vision, trying to clear the lights from smearing all around her. Green eyes bulged once her vision focused, she hurried to the door and had her hand on the frame to steady herself, gaping at the scene in front of her.They couldn't have been separated for more than half an hour. Miki was standing on a quad, someone else sitting on a different quad behind her, but Brooke wasn't paying attention to them. The girl had both her hands gripped tightly on the throttle and the crutch, she had a crazy smile etched onto her face, looking over her shoulder to yell something at the other person, swerving and making a complete 180 as she sped past the other. The grass in the backyard was getting thrashed- and wait a second;Why was Miki shirtless?!She watched as the other person, who she now recognizes to be Koje, spins his wheels; chunks of grass shooting out behind. Miki pulled up next to him, and they exchanged a few words. Miki let out a hollering laugh. Brooke started walking fully outside at this point, all the way to the edge of the grass next to the small group of drunk idiots that have formed to watch. Some were making bets, and Brooke rolled her eyes- a scoff forming under her breath.Koje picked up one of the biker helmets that were lying on the ground next to his quad and handed the lime green one to Miki. She slid it on eagerly, immediately waving her arms around in a boisterous manner. She took the helmet off, and bashed the plastic window on the quads’ handles until it smashed in. Koje looked like he was trying to stop her, yelling out and waving his hands but his words were muffled from where Brooke stood."Look, much better, right?" Miki laughed after putting it back on, only shards of the window remained in it; giving her a clear view out. Koje just shrugged a little and showed Miki with his own helmet that she could have just slid the eye shield open. She shrugged back in a similar fashion, probably telling him something about how it looks cooler her way. He laughed and Miki joined him. The two cackling together for a hot second.More people were coming out from inside of the house, joining the crowd with drinks in their hands. Some had cups, some had cans and bottles. Brooke was going about to shout to get Miki's attention, but the girl already noticed her and gave a big thumbs up in her direction.“Wish me luck!” Miki slurred loudly in Brooke’s direction, who only stiffened a little in reply.
Someone took that as cue and came to stand between them, holding their red solo cup in the air."Are you ready?!" The guy shouted, Miki and Koje cheered determinedly, giving a challenging stare forward. "Okaaayy!""On your marks,""Get set...."Both quad riders got into position, leaning forward and gripping the handles, ready to take off. The back wheels on Miki's were spinning, dirt kicking up and flying behind her. The grass was going to be ruined, completely ruined. Chunks were already missing, dirt was flying."GO!"Brooke cringed as the two took off, watching the beautiful grass mutilated while everyone cheered around her. Miki was also standing up on her quad, bent over with her face right between both of her shoulders, which were strained. They picked up speed, Koje caught up effortlessly, seemingly educated on how to ride a quad.Miki... on the other hand...
Koje slowly got into the lead, his own dyed blue hair whipping wildly in the wind. He then turned sharply to cut off Miki, riding in front of her. She didn't seem to enjoy that though, slamming on her brakes to avoid impact and then speeding up and ramming into the back end of his, bumping him forward. She swerved to the left and turned to circle around him; her back wheel scraping against the front of his vehicle. The drunk idiots standing around Brooke were yelling, more cheers for whoever they had wanted to win. Don’t they realize how dangerous this is?The whole scene probably lasted less than three minutes, TOPS. As quickly as they took off, three bangs sounded from the inside. Since they were outside and away from the music it was easier to hear the doorbell ringing, the pounding at the door. Not the kind of knock that signals they're here for the party, the kind that says the cops are here to RUIN the party. People around started whining disappointedly, Brooke took a few steps back and bent back a bit to peer her head inside towards the front door.Just as she thought, cops.She could see them explaining to people about the music and probably a noise complaint, everyone must leave. Her heart stopped, feeling frozen as she looked back over to Miki, who was arguing with Koje who was trying to tell her cops were here. He was off his quad, someone from the outside crowd yelled "COPS!!!!!" at the top of their lungs. A few people were hurrying to swipe powder off the fold up table set up behind the beer pong table. How didn't Brooke notice earlier? They were grabbing little baggies and shoving them in their pockets to hide as they walked back inside acting at their best nonchalant.Miki and Brooke were the two teenagers there. It was obvious they were teenagers; midst of all the young adults. Everyone here must be at least 22. Koje seemed frustrated as he stomped off past Brooke and into the house. Brooke finally caught sight of Rune as the two argued in the frame of the sliding door. Brooke looked back to Miki and Miki's hands were left up in a gesture of 'what the fuck?'. Her blue eyes met green, the music was still blasting; Koje probably left her to go turn it off. Miki drove her quad up to the sidewalk, knocking the game table over."Get on!""What the fuck, Miki, no! We got to go!"Brooke stared at her, Miki just shook her head and patted the seat, "We will get out of here, it’s quicker this way. Hurry, before he turns off the music." She was speaking fast, eventually leaning over and off the side of the quad to grab Brooke's arm and pull her closer, trying to pull her onto the quad. Brooke tugged her arm and glared at Miki's erratic behavior."You're drunk! Let me go!"Miki let go of her arm immediately and took the helmet off, handing it to Brooke. She shouted at her to put it on. They could hear the cops ushering people out and arguing to turn off the music, they were getting impatient. Brooke felt the pit in her gut as she slipped on the helmet, Miki clearly wasn't budging. Miki grabbed Brooke's hand once she offered it and heaved her up. She pressed hard on the throttle and made a sharp turn out into the yard.The giant backyard was surrounded by stone walls, but over by the side of the house and around side the garden there was a wooden fence. Brooke yelped and quickly wrapped her arms around the others waist as Miki sped towards the opened chain gate leading into the side garden, it loudly clinked together with the metal of the vehicle and slammed open right into the other side of the fence, bouncing off and slamming shut behind them.Miki didn't slow down, and Brooke went to tighten her arms around Miki and grip her shirt, but then it registered again that Miki didn't have her shirt on. She moved her hands down to grip the fabric of the girl’s shorts instead."Where did your shirt go?!"Wood spluttered as Miki slams against it, the small wood collapsed, she made a sharp left; and the quad balanced onto its right wheels for a second. Brooke squeezed her eyes shut as the quad slammed back down onto the dirt outside of the fence and continued speeding around to the back of the house. Miki made a hard stop and quickly hopped off the four-wheeler, Brooke’s arms were snapped open and left empty. She balanced herself where she sat, then eyed her girlfriend, immediately noticing the jittering that accompanied Miki's entire being.She gave the girl a suspicious look as Miki helped her off. She slid the helmet off and went to leave it on the quad before Miki swiped it out of her hands. Brooke jolted from the speed of Miki’s action. Aren’t drunk people supposed to be sloppy and slow?"This is mine now." was all she said and tucked it under her arm. Brooke shrugged, not exactly caring, and just stared at the girl. Miki's pale torso contrasting in the moonlight. Her eyes grazed over the black bra, giving a look of confusion. Miki was shifting on both of her feet. She moved her hand up to itch and rub at her nose, reaching out to grab Brooke's wrist. With no warning, she took off. Brooke stumbled and tried to catch her footing to run along with the girl. It all clicked in Brooke’s head, the dingy corner table, the little baggies, the white powder dissipating into the air as they dusted off the table.Brooke tried to pull her hand free; a hard look set on her face. Miki wasn't letting go. They hopped over someone's low fence, through their yard and out onto the street. Brooke felt her chest tighten, looking up at the back of her girlfriend's head. She tried to pull her hand back again and that finally got Miki's attention to slow down. Their pace evened out to a slow, stumbling walk. It was silent as they walked, their arms brushing against one another. Skin on skin."Seriously," Brooke huffed, rubbing at her wrist that Miki had been tugging on, "where did your damn shirt and hoodie go?"Miki snapped her head to look at Brooke, eyes wide as she jolts in her own skin at the sound of the others voice. She then looked down to her torso with quirked eyebrows,"Oh shit, I have no clue."Miki laughed loudly, swaying in her steps a bit as she brought her hand up to rub at the back of her head. "That was one of your hoodies too, Brookie."Brooke scowls, pushing Miki jokingly. The girl wasn't expecting it, so she lost her balance and just fell back and off the side of the curb. Miki didn't even look like she tried to brace her fall, She caught herself with her elbows; the right one getting skinned. Brooke frantically started apologizing and went to help her up, slinging the non-injured one behind her neck and around her shoulders, trying her best to hold Miki up. Which was hard because Miki was a good 5 or more inches taller.It seemed, just from that interaction, that Miki's body was dead weight. Luckily Miki weighed as much as a feather."Hey..." Brooke started, swallowing her saliva and clearing her throat. The bad feeling pooling around her stomach once again, swirling around her insides like a predator getting ready to attack its prey. ".. you didn't take anything at that party, did you?"Miki hummed in thought as a response, her shoes scuffing the pavement- mostly dragging. Miki tended to over drink. She also tended to take mysterious drugs and pills that were being passed around at parties. Brooke also knew that she’s talked about buying some from some from “a friend”. Brooke had advised her against it, but she doesn't think Miki has the will to listen. She also wasn’t sure if Miki had just been talking to talk at the time.It was silent, and Brooke started to wonder if she would even get a reply. She sighed. Miki's phone started ringing, and they both ignored it, already knowing who it was. It was probably closer to ten, maybe eleven o'clock at night. Miki was supposed to have been home hours ago, and there was no way she was getting off the hook for staying out past curfew; whether her parents knew it was because of a party or not. Miki could be sitting out in her own front yard, but if it’s past curfew they’ll still rip her a new one.Hell, Brooke could have died; Miki could have died! Her parents still won't care. Get home on time, that's all they cared about. As if Miki couldn’t get herself into trouble before seven at night; Miki’s repercussions start at seven in the morning.The ring eventually stopped, leaving them to walk in silence again. Brooke sighed, listening to their footsteps and to the sound of sparse gravel that was spread out on the ground of the bike-lane skip as it’s kicked or crunched from their shoes. They walked for a little while longer, Miki was mumbling incoherently about random things but once they turned onto the street of the bus stop and Miki sat down onto the bench, she brought her gaze up to Brooke's, grabbing her wrist before she could sit down next to her. Brooke turned her head and locked eyes with her, looking down. The dark circles under Miki's eyes made them look sunken in, she looked sick. It made Brooke’s heart clench in a way, a way that made her feel bad about herself."What?" Brooke muttered, slightly confused. There was a pause where they just started at each other. Brooke could see the bob of Miki's throat, the streetlights around them softly illuminating the two of them, she could tell the other was contemplating her next words."It’s a mystery." Miki finally said, hushed and slurred, breaking her gaze and letting go of Brooke's hand. Brooke gave her a look, a little confused but her question that she asked earlier rang in her head. Her eyes widened a little and then they narrowed as she stood up straight- starting to get irritated, Miki noticed and let out an amused snort. She was about to yell at Miki, about how it isn’t a joke. But Miki opened her mouth and started speaking,"I took stuff, well, snorted. I think it was coke. I don't really know, you can never be too sure. Everyone else was doing it and seemed fine so." Miki's speech was slurred as she trailed off, leaning back and sliding down on the bench, body turned to putty. Brooke's brows furrowed and she moved around to finally sit down next to Miki, their thighs pressing against each other.Both girls were lost in thought for a little while, Brooke was thinking as she tried to google if there was a bus they could catch this late. She didn't really feel like dragging Miki 6 miles to the town over, where her aunt lives. Miki started mumbling again, asking broken-up questions, asking Brooke why she’d ask, and Brooke just ignored her, not understanding most of the words of vomit coming from the others mouth. She puts her phone down in favor of finally asking one thing."So, you did it because everyone else was too?"Miki stopped rambling abruptly, turning half lidded eyes to look in her girlfriend’s direction. Another beat of silence as Miki thinks the question over before she gives a small a nod. Had Brooke not been paying attention or sitting so close, she wouldn't have seen it. Miki’s body is trembling, it could be from being cold, but Brooke thinks it’s from something else. She sighs and Miki shrugs lousily, “Yeah, I like this stuff. Didn't wanna be leff'..t out."Brooke just sighs, slumping back against the seat of the bench. She crosses her arms over her chest, setting her jaw and staring forward at the streetlight across the street from them. "If your friend jumps off a bridge, then, would you too?"It was a motherly question, a question that isn’t a question at all. It comes full of sarcasm, a mock, it’s just another way to call someone stupid. Miki broke her gaze on the other’s face to follow Brooke’s to across the street. She doesn’t give a reply, just a cracked version of a laugh. Brooke just huffs, giving up and looking back down to her phone with the slight roll of her eyes. The sound of Miki's shoe tapping and scraping on the concrete from bouncing her leg was irritating Brooke, she was about to tell her to quit it, but instead Miki spoke up. Her voice was solemn,"I'd jump off a bridge for you."Brooke didn't tell Miki to stop bouncing her leg.. ⁺ ☽˖ . ☆⁺ ˖
NEBBISH
chapter 4
farm animals
. ☆⁺ ˖⁺ ☽˖ .Seventh gradeWarm rays of sunlight reflected through the big open windows of the café, laying themselves softly onto tables and partial floors. The sound of cutlery and plates clanging distantly mixes within the sound of soft chatter that bounces from occupied tables. Miki sat leaning back from one of them, with her chair falling back on its back legs, her foot perched against the middle leg of the square table. She had a slight rock to her motions, waiting a little more than impatiently as she stared outside to the big Willow tree planted outside right outside the window across. The wind was slightly blowing its long leaves, brushing them just slightly; the sunlight settling and fluttering on each little shrub of green. The top of the tree freckled white leaves, almost making it look like dusted snow on top. They were slowly starting to die anyways, as it was fall, closing in close to the coming winter. The cold air is starting to slowly eat away at the warm life of nature.The chimes of the door rang out, and Miki turned her head over immediately. It was a Thursday after school. Miki had already left while Brooke had to stay behind for a bit with a teacher- something about her homework she turned in. Miki didn’t catch the details in their entirety.This café was their special spot.It quickly became their hangout spot after not even a month of the two of them starting middle school, their first week into seventh grade. The girls didn't hang out a lot in their last year of elementary, most at school such as eating lunch together and then parting ways after was as mostly as far as they ever got. Besides birthdays. Their first stop in became their tenth and suddenly the two didn’t find themselves venturing much to other places.A smile stretches on her face as she watches the gush of air from the door blow Brooke's black hair back and out of place. She had recently got a haircut; her hair was falling past her shoulders now. Went in for a trim and the barbers cut off a bit more than Brooke had wanted- even if it was still pretty well long in Miki’s opinion.Getting older gave them more freedom to experiment with new things."Welcome in! Please sit anywhere!" One of the workers happily cooed from somewhere behind the counter, Brooke gave a polite nod and a smile, looking her eyes around to spot a head of unruly red hair.Miki raised a hand in the air, beckoning her over. Brooke's smile only widened as she pulls up the fallen strap of her overalls and her book bag over her soft purple long sleeved shirt. She made her way to the small table with two chairs that’s settled off to the right, a little bit off from the middle floor of the shop. Miki gave her a smile that looked more like a smirk,"Sorry, didn't wait for ya!"Brooke only huffed playfully in reply, slinging her bag over the back of the chair and plopping down. Miki let her foot off the table leg and let her chair fall forward onto the ground, bringing the same foot to nudge Brooke's. "Could have let me know, though, I looked around for you. For like twenty minutes."Keeping her grin wild as Brooke kicked her shoe back against her shin, Miki grabbed the second laminated menu and handed it over to the girl across from her. Brooke let out a harsh scoff as she accepts the menu, “It’s not my fault, the homework you helped me with was all messed up. You put the answers in the wrong places.”With the roll of her eyes Miki took her foot and swung it over Brooke's and locked it down onto the ground. Brooke's other foot swung on top of Miki's and so she repeated the action with her other leg until they were tangled like pretzels and grinning at each other like mad men."I already ordered for ya." Miki remarked casually, just as a waitress approached with a fresh glass of ice water and offered Miki a refill. Miki accepted, tilting her glass for the waitress to pour in more water. Meanwhile, Brooke raised an eyebrow in thoughtful consideration, thanking the waitress without glancing up.Quickly, Miki picks the menu she just gave to Brooke back from the girl’s hands and happily hands it over to the waitress. She takes them swiftly with grace- warmly saying; "We'll be right out with your order!" as she walks away from their table. Brooke lets a puff of air come from her nose,"Why'd you give me the menu then?""For fun!” Miki grin spreads wide on her face, she waves her hand in the air, “Social graces, or something like that."Brooke huffed a laugh with the roll of her eyes, ripping the paper off her straw and crumbling it into a ball to then set it aside. Miki being Miki as usual. She put her straw in her water and started to sip at it. She took her legs out of Miki's then resat them on top of the other, who bounced hers up a few times in reply."You're obnoxious." Brooke huffed, reaching up and over to brush Miki's messy bangs out of her face and then flick her on the forehead. Miki grinned through a flinch, untangling her legs and kicking the tip of her shoe against Brooke's. "Why are you friends with me then, hm?" Miki questions innocently, bringing her hand up to rub at the injured spot.Brooke stomped on the top of her shoe in reply, pinning it down onto the floor. Smashing it much like she would a bug. "Honestly, I'll let you know when I find out."Miki winced at the feeling of her toes being crushed; a laugh echoing around her as she tried to free her foot. "You love me." She shot back, bringing her other foot to knock Brooke's off and finally retreat. Brooke gave a winning smile, leaning over the tabletop, her elbow perched as she rested her chin on her hand."Sure." Brooke's smile turned into a grin, her tone teasing and Miki laughed, taking a chug from her cup. Brooke had started to come out of that shy shell she always had around her as a kid. Of course, spending time with Miki Miya would do that to you, but Miki thinks this is how Brooke was always meant to be, she was just too alone and scared of being picked on. She’s happy now that Brooke can express herself. She’s happy Brooke is that comfortable around her.The waitress returned, interrupting whatever Miki was going to say next. She set a plate of blueberry pancakes in the middle; a parfait topped with fresh cut strawberries in front of Brooke and some chocolate pastries in front of Miki. "I hope you guys enjoy! Please, let me know if you need anything at all!" and with that polite tone, she left the two girls to eat their food.Brooke looked down at the food in front of them, her throat swelling as her heart is rubbed with affection at the simple act of someone remembering her order. Her smile soft as she looks back up to Miki, who wasted no time shoving her desserts past her teeth in a big bite. She reaches for her own cutlery, dipping the spoon in and then bringing it to her mouth. Her taste buds are probably smiling because of how delicious the yogurt is."So, I was thinking, right," Miki starts, interrupting Brooke’s thoughts, giving a pause to swallow and then drink some of her water. "That's never a good thing." Brooke retorts fast, showing all her interest in favor to the yogurt in front of her. Miki kicks Brooke's shin,"Shut up," another bite, Brooke makes a small noise at the contact, "we should join an after school activity."Brooke kicks her foot back, more roughly and looks up at the other, her eyebrow quirking, "You hate being at school though, what gives?"Miki chews, her lips smacking briefly, she waves her hand in the air in disregard. She’s being very expressive today. Brooke swirls her spoon inside of her food, her attention is on Miki with interest."We should do art."It's a statement, not a suggestion. Miki puts her hand down onto the table, picking up a fork and reaching over to break off a bite of the pancakes sitting between them; sticky syrup glistening off the top of them. She brings the stolen food on her fork to her mouth and munches slyly, Brooke doesn’t seem bothered Miki stole from her plate. Miki chuckles through her mouth full of food; “This is really good.”Brooke hums in thought, taking but a second to reply as she watches the other eat her food, "I didn't know you were into that sort of stuff." and finally takes a bite of her food instead of playing with it. Miki chuckles again without replying immediately either,"I'm not, really." and Brooke's confused again; asking her why without speaking and Miki drinks her water, teeth chewing on her straw until she finally speaks with clarification: "You like that stuff, and I think it’ll be a good idea since we'll spend more time together that way too."With this conversation in mind, Brooke agrees. It doesn’t sound too bad and getting more time to hang out with one another always wins the girl over.☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖The ‘after school activity’ Brooke gave into joining; the ‘art class’ was not an "art class" as much as it is a "do whatever the fuck you want till you feel like going home" class. Brooke should have expected it, not exactly the type to believe Miki would do anything that didn't benefit her in the long run. It sorts of hurt Brooke’s feelings, how Miki lured her into the idea- thinking it was for Brooke and that it was for them. That Brooke could do stuff she enjoyed while the two of them spent quality time together. What did she honestly expect though, she has to ask herself that.Miki explained, on their way to the classroom it was in, that the reason she was interested in joining was because of a specific person named Felix."He's worse than me," Miki explained as they rounded a hall corner, Brooke had her arms crossed over her chest. She rolled her eyes, knocking her elbow with Miki's with more force than normal,"There is no one worse than you." Her reply is as dry as her mood is, flat. Miki just knocked hers back with a scoff. Brooke hissed at the impact, bringing her hand to rub at it and narrow her eyes in Miki's direction, who just smirked."Seriously! You should have heard the way he was talking to the teacher! It was crazy, he got kicked out of class. A real rebellious teen. Anyways," Miki pauses her rant as they stand outside of the classroom, just outside the door. "We're gonna race today. Bet him twenty bucks I could beat him." She snickered, mostly to herself.Brooke just sighed at the girl’s antics, "You never change. For the record, I don’t know anyone named ‘Felix’, but he's totally going to beat your ass."It’s a sneer when she says the boy’s name. Seriously, who is that? She doesn’t have any classes with that guy.Miki swung her head to stare at Brooke, offense dripping through her knitted eyebrows and squinted eyes. She huffs overdramatically, "That's rude, you should always be on my side." She brought her hand up to push at Brooke, who toppled a little before catching her balance. The raven glared at Miki, not enjoying being pushed one bit, so Brooke used both her hands to push Miki into the wall next to the door. She gave a lopsided grin as she watched Miki fail to catch her balance."Don't come crying to me when you're out twenty dollars." Brooke opted for a tease, walking past Miki to open and enter the classroom. "Hey! Don’t leave me out here!" Miki shouted and pushed herself off the wall to catch up to Brooke, quickly trotting to catch up behind her.There were a few kids in here, two kids playing on their phones with headphones in; completely checked out. The rest, which were just two boys, were having a lively conversation. There was no teacher, Brooke turned around giving Miki a questionable look and the girl just returned it with a smug grin and a shrug. It turned out this wasn't a class, it was basically just delinquent kids who didn't want to go home yet. They were sure to be in big trouble if they're ever caught, that's a given. Brooke wonders if there’s an actual after school activity involving art. She might just ditch these dweebs and go join that one.Brooklyn sighs."Hey Felix." Miki sneered his name like an insult, still grinning as she weaved her way through desks. One girl took an earbud out and looked at them through the corner of her eyes; clearly bothered by their presence and noise- The boys stopped chatting, the one leaning his hip onto the side of a desk that the other boy was sitting in, pushed himself up and took his hands out of the pockets of his jeans. Brooke came up behind Miki, poking her head around the girl’s lanky body to look Felix up and down.He was probably a little bit older than them, his inky black hair hanging over rustic brown eyes; which were narrowed down at Miki. He looked like a douche bag, overall. Brooke stood up straight and moved to stand next to Miki; arm to arm. She fought the urge to weave them together. "Here she is!" He boasts condescendingly, looking over his shoulder at the guy who was sitting down at the desk he was resting against."This is Mickey." He speaks. His tone makes him sound full of himself. He gives jut of his chin towards Miki to gesture her, who just immediately scoffs and crosses her arms."It's Mee-kee, actually." She soundly corrects, her tone falsely polite and sharp on her tongue, she turns away from Felix to offer her hand to the other boy who was sitting in the desk next Felix had been leaning on, sporting unruly orange hair; almost appearing to have a mo-hawk sticking straight up through the messy locks. A book was held open between his hands. "Miki Miya." She introduces herself."Rune." Is all he says, letting go of the pages of his book as he grabs her hand and gives it a stern shake. Miki snorts through her nose as she looks down at him and he gives her a weird look, pulling his hand back. She flicks her hand up to gesture at his hair, "You look like a rooster." Miki huffs another amused laugh that turns into a small cackle, the redhead turns to Brooke; “He totally looks like a rooster, right?” with another laugh.Rune scowls at her but she was already done with their conversation in favor of turning to look back at Felix, missing his look of dislike that’s thrown in her direction."Fitting that your friends are made up of farm animals." She laughs again. Rune makes a noise in protest, or maybe in offense. Brooke looks away as she feels the corner of her lips jumping in slight amusement. Felix smirks, looking down at Miki and putting a hand on her shoulder while leaning over her. He flashes his teeth in her face, and she shows her own in return, craning her neck up slightly to keep eye contact."You'll fit right in then!" His spit splatters in her face at the words as he gives her two rough pats and shoves her back on the second one. He brings his hands back to himself as Miki brings her own up to wipe the spit that got on her cheek. “Say it don’t spray it, disgusting.” Miki’s grin doesn’t fall, but it seems strained. Brooke’s amusement has dropped, and she looked between the two of them with a scowl. She brought her arms up to cross around herself, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the manic banter."Who's that?" Rune asks, leaning back in his chair. Everyone looks at him and his eyes are on Brooke, causing everyone’s eyes to shift over in her direction. "Oh!" Miki claps,"Brooke! This is Brookie." Miki grabs at her arm, all eyes on her, she blushes as self-consciousness skips a beat in her heart. Miki then locks her arm through Brooke's, who uncrosses them for the other’s ease. She feels more comfortable with Miki bringing her in. "Hello." Brooke says politely.Felix looks her up and down, bringing his fist out; she flinches back into Miki's hold. "Bring it in." He says with a look of devilish expectance, it causes Miki to laugh through her nose, Brooke scrunches her face in disgust but brings her fist out to bump his anyways."Yo." That is all Rune says to her, and she throws him a quick nod. "This is great." Miki utters breathlessly and then her body stiffens in anticipation as she un-links from Brooke, reaching out one of her hands to shove at Felix, who glares at and reaches to push back at her but she dodges. Brooke deflates a little from Miki’s absence."We're still on today yeah?"
Felix scoffs, "Like I'd pass up on kicking your ass." and Rune reaches to close his book and put it in his backpack that was slung across the back of the chair he was sitting in. He stands up, stretching slightly and putting his backpack on. The two boys walk off and Miki re-links her arm with Brooke to pull her along.The hallways are quiet, the absence of students and teachers making their footsteps echo around them. Felix’s shoe kept squeaking every time he would sharply stop and turn around; asking for Miki’s opinion on something he was saying. He was beginning to irritate Brooke, he was haughty, every word he uttered needed validation; at the same time every word he said in some way came off to make himself look better. Felix was worse than her, Miki was right. It didn’t help every single one of their personalities clashed.“What’s even the point of this?” Brooke wants to know, she grabs a hold of Miki’s wrist, slowing just the two of them down so she could keep the girl’s attention. “What if we get in trouble?”Miki choked a laugh and gave a look of consideration as her eyes fitted down to where Brooke’s hand was wrapped around her wrist. She didn’t make a move to pull out of the other’s hold, bringing her gaze back up to Brooke’s eyes, “Can you get in trouble for being at school?”“Nah, they can’t do jack shit about it.” Rune agreed, calling from ahead, Brooke scowled at their ‘private’ or ‘one to one’ conversation being listened in on and interrupted,Felix brought his hand up, nodding as he made a noise of agreement, “Exactly, at least not till the front gates close, and teachers go home from the teacher’s office. There are other students still here too.”Brooke tightened her hold on Miki’s wrist, the girl in holding gave a pained noise as she shot Brooke a look of questioning, and then Brooke just let go- drawing her arms up to cross over her body. She huffed, a pout adorning her features; “Whatever! I wish you guys would get in trouble.”The boys ignored her with a laugh, in favor of returning to their own conversation and play-fighting. They only walked for barely a minute longer and the track and field area was right up ahead of the group, so the two took off out of the doors in a dash. Miki was about to join in to catch up but stopped herself and spared a look at Brooke. They stood right in the door frame, the door had closed, keeping the two of them isolated together.“Mad?” She questioned, and Brooke tightened her grip on herself, biting into her bottom lip. “No,” She replied shortly before adding,“They’re annoying. It feels like they’re just using us for a joke.”Miki gave a pointed look and hummed, turning to look at the boys who were now far outside in the distance through the windowed doors and then she nodded.“Probably.” She breathes quickly, somehow reassuringly, “But its fine.”Brooke dropped her arms to her side, fist clenched, her mouth parted slightly as she looked at Miki incredulously, “You’re kidding? You’re fine with being a laughingstock?” Miki shook her head in reply, “We won’t be, I mean have you even been paying attention? They’re such dolts.”Theres a beat of silence as Brooke thinks on what Miki said, then the redhead adds through a laugh; “Besides! We’re the cool ones, hanging with people from a higher grade. They’re hanging around kids a grade below them! How pitiful! Guess they have no friends their age.”Brooke was skeptical as she always was, but Miki sounded certain, and she couldn’t help but let out a laugh and so she didn’t push on it anymore. If Miki saw benefit out of it in some way, she’d have to let the other do what she wanted. Miki bounced in her step, swinging her arms over to stretch as she pushed open the doors with the side of her body, yelling out to Felix and Rune to catch up. Brooke picked up her pace as well, not wanting to be left behind. She figured Miki knew what she was doing, so she followed her blindly. The tense set of the shoulders running in front of her acting as some sort of guide. Something to believe in, something to follow in.Brooke stood at the outskirts of the track field, standing awkwardly next to Rune as Miki and Felix stood on the colored asphalt. Miki stretched her body dramatically, jumping in place to keep her blood flowing. You could tell Felix was annoyed with her.“Okay Rune, you count down for us.” Felix snapped out as he turned to face Miki, specifically sticking his nose up to make it obvious he was looking down at her. She grinned up in reply, “One lap, whoever makes it back at this spot first; wins.”Miki stands up straight, letting her arms loose by her side and rolled her eyes; “I know that!” She snaps, “It was my challenge. I got it, let’s do this thing!”Brooke rolled her eyes at Miki’s choice of words, only feeling more irritated as she points up to Felix’s face with her finger, chanting; “Prepare to face your worst nightmare.” In a ghost story voice.Felix all but scoffs, brushing hair from his face, “I’ve seen how you run, Mickey, you run like a grandma.”“It’s Mee-kee!” Miki growls, “Jesus, I run like a cheetah.” She spits with venom, and he rolls his eyes while nodding, pretending to agree with sarcasm, “Yeah, right, Sure.”Rune’s voice cuts through them, disinterest coating his tongue; “Are you two ready? It’s hot out here.” Brooke gives him a weird look, shifting her weight as the sun beats down on her. It wasn’t that hot. Early November has it a little bit chilly, but the guy is dressed in a heavy hoodie, and pants. Miki and Felix get in to line, and Run stands ahead of them to the side with his arm out.“On your marks.”Miki looks to catch eyes with Felix, the two of them glare.“Get set,”Miki sticks her tongue out, tensing her body in preparation and brings her hand up to pull at her bottom eye lid. He scoffs and rolls his eyes, taking his attention off of her and to the track laid ahead of them. Rune brings is hand up,“GO!” He shouts, taking steps back so he doesn’t get bumped into.“Eat shit, barf brains!” Miki screams, and Felix chokes a noise, started from her screech. Miki takes the opportunity and moves to start running in front of him, cutting in and blocking him from taking efficient steps. “Hey!” He growls in irritation, and Miki laughs manically as she pushes her legs so smoothly it almost looked as if she was on wheels. Brooke watched in surprise, never before has she seen Miki in action like this. Her movements were smooth and guided, almost calculated but still clumsy around the edges. Miki’s legs pulled and pushed herself almost as if she was leaping forward, her body moving all over the place though, not in a straight path. Felix catches up, his running much straighter and more composed. He’s taller, his legs move him further, he pushes past her and Brooke watches in worry as Miki reaches out to grab at the sleeve of his shirt.“Let go!” Felix shouts at her, moving his legs to race himself away from her. Miki’s hair is flipping everywhere in the wind of her movements, she jumps in the air behind him, an animalistic noise ripping from her throat. She lets go to push at his back, forcing him to bend forward. It was almost as if it was some performance level game of leapfrog. Miki kept her hand planted on his back as he yelled and slowed to a halt to stop himself from falling. The girl soared over him and quickly made her landing, bending her knees to the right angle and used it to thrust her body forward, and back into speed.“Sucker!” She gloated as she took off, not even glancing back to spare him a glance of concern. Brooke stared in shock, watching the others red mane of hair flow behind her in the distance. “That was cheating!” She calls out to her, flabbergasted, and Rune only chuckled beside her.Felix recovered quickly, a glare masking his face as his strides came a little messier than before as he pushed his body up and into motion. Shoes stomping loudly, he caught up to her in no time, anger fueling his movements, using his shoulder to slam into her. Miki’s arms flailed out as she made a noise of shock. She glared up at him once she was able to keep her footing. Miki straightened her running out and turned to fling her own body into his. Miki snarled as he laughed; his own body meeting her halfway. Felix was taller and had quite a bit more meat on his body than Miki herself did. She made a noise of surprise as her body bounced off, also still moving in the other direction from the momentum of her running. Her elbow slammed into the ground as Felix laughed out. Rune gasped in a wince and Brooke started running over as soon as Miki touched the floor.“Karma’s a bitch!” He clicks his tongue and continue running, only having a few steps before they made it all the way around. “Looks like I win.” He says, in mock surprise with his arms stretched out beside him. Miki groans in pain, bringing her hand up to cradle her elbow to her torso as she rolls onto her back. Brooke makes it over, losing balance as she stalls right beside Miki, falling forward onto her knees.“Are you okay?! Is it broken?!”Miki blinks her eyes, blearily looking up at Brooke; who’s shadow was blocking the sun. The girls face was knit in worry, the gesture of it makes Miki laugh. Brooke gives a look of surprise, and Miki realizes her laughs sounds like chocked cries of pain, but they aren’t. She grins up at Brooke who just huffs, her face relaxing slightly.“You worry about me too much.” Is what Miki says around her teeth, and Brooke stares down at her. It’s not broken, but it’s scrapped and blood is starting to flow freely. Felix approaches, his hand out and ready to receive. He doesn’t offer any support or care. “Pay up.” He speaks in clarification down to them, Brooke glares up at him and Miki reaches down into her pockets, pulling out a ten and two fives. Brooke reaches to grab it out of her hand, making a noise of protest. Miki just moves her hand around Brooke’s and Felix snatches it greedily.“Pleasure doing business.” Miki all but purrs, and he laughs down at her disheveled appearance laying on the asphalt.“You know what animal you’d be?” He asks her, his grin unwavering. Miki blinks up at him shocked from the random question but curiosity starts playing on her features, “Ooh, do tell.”“You’d be a fucking monkey.” Felix spats, the words said in disgust, Miki starts chuckling, and then soon cackles as Felix walks away; Rune bids them a ‘see you tomorrow.’ And takes off after Felix. She squeals through her laughs with her eyes squeezed shut, “A monkey!”Brooke looks down at Miki in shock, maybe concern, but then shakes her head and wonders how anything Miki does could shock her at this point. Brooke still offers a hand to help the girl up, who takes it gracefully, complaints falling out under her breath.“That’s what you get for cheating, actually.” Brooke utters, and Miki gives a look out of the corner of her eye. She tilts her chin up and flashes a smirk. Brooke gives her a look of disappointment, clicking her tongue.Miki stands up and brushes off her clothes, the blood that got on her hand from her elbow ends up smearing onto the fabric. Miki ignores it, “Hey, it’s not like there were any rules set.”Brooke scoffs, “That may be true.” She gives a disgusted look to the blood smear, “But look where it got you.” Miki shrugs and the two of them start walking off, heading back inside to grab their belongings left in the classroom.
The walk isn’t that long, Brooke says they should stop by the nurse to get her arm bandaged, Miki all but politely disagrees, saying she’ll deal with it when she gets home. Brooke just shakes her head, what an idiot. The sun’s starting to fully set, the halls and classrooms are tinted orange, its odd to be at school at this time. It’s a weird feeling, it’s like being in a store after it closes, or being at a park in the middle of the night. Empty and void yet calming all at once.
“You’re gonna pay for my lunch tomorrow, right?” Miki asks teasingly once they get into the classroom, and Brooke laughs loud in return. Ignoring the question in favor of saying;“I guess I get to say ‘I told you so’, huh?” Brooke’s tone is lighthearted and Miki grins back, bending over to pick up both of their backpacks, she extends her arm to hand Brooke her own bag, there’s blood sliding down her thin arm. The raven reaches over to snag her backpack before it gets on it. Miki gives a toothy grin, adjusting her bag over her shoulders,“I have a feeling you’ll be saying those words a lot.”☽ ˖⁺ ☆ ˖
NEBBISH
chapter 5
bambi
☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖
OctoberHer hand is clenched roughly by her side as she stands in the entry way of her own home, her own living room open vastly in front of her; if only slightly to the right. The girl’s mother cranes her neck back over the couch and scrunches her nose the way she does when she's pissed off, but doesn't want to show it. The sixteen-year-old girl’s father, who stood up the moment she walked in, didn't make any movements or noises, just stood up and stared at her with piercing blue eyes.Right, so this is what happened.Miki and Brooke got the last bus last night, which came as a shock to the both of them. They got on the bus and then thought they made it back to town of Morris- where Brooke aunt lives. They arrive in the city Downersgrove instead. Miki doesn't fully remember the entire ride, but she knows that's what must have happened- as they some how made it to Brooke's mom’s house."Why are we here?" Miki questioned through a haze as she stumbled back to look up at the trailer in front of them. Brooke turned her head to look up at Miki in confusion then turned to look back at the front door of her home."So that's why the bus ride was longer." Brooke mumbled, mainly to herself, and then laughed sheepishly with her cheeks gone rosy, home knows where the heart is she supposes... and she's still a little intoxicated. Miki had gave a wide smile, and they went and knocked. Brooke's mother was never anything but loving and kind, as per usual. Brooke herself wasn't even staying at home at this point, as she was meant to be staying at her aunt’s house in Morris. It was a decision she made to be closer to Miki ever since she was transferred to Steinstill’s school for troubled teens. Despite that fact, her mother didn't question why Brooke, or even Brooke accompanied by Miki, was at her door nearly twelve o'clock in the morning. Didn't question why Miki had no shirt on, although she did give the girl a very concerned, maybe confused, look.A sweet woman with the name of Karen Kelly, who Miki Miya loves with her entire being; so dearly, not only for the acts of graciousness she's shown to Miki, but just for who she is as a person. Also maybe for giving the world Brooke, because if Miki had to say, she made one fine looking girl. Brooke would definitely smack her for saying that, but it was only the truth.Miki had ended up staying the night, kind of. They immediately went up to Brooke's stuffy unused room and collapsed on the small bed together. It smelt only a little stale from lack of use. Miki started giggling into the pillow right next to where Brooke's head was, and Brooke was huffing to push the rest of Miki's body off of herself and onto the bed so the girl could lay down next to her instead of on top of her.That's how it always was, Miki would sleep by the wall and Brooke on the open edge of the bed. It was very opposite to their personalities if you thought about it. Miki was a girl to always be ready to flee, and Brooke was always ready to find a box to hide in. She wasn’t a complete coward, only somewhat of one. It just showed how much trust Miki held in Brooke. She was fine being trapped by Brooke. She was fine if she had no where to go, had no way out, as long as Brooke was there.Miki kicked off her shoes in the process of sliding her away across Brooke like a snake. The footwear clattered on the floor as the girl flopped over onto her side to face her girlfriend, brushing messy blue hair out of her way and laying her head in the crook of Brookes neck; she for sure smelled like party sweat and alcohol, but Miki threw her arm over the girl’s torso and nuzzled closer, giving a noise of content. Brooke hummed in softly in reply, shifting closer into her hold and closing her eyes."Do you want a shirt?" She mumbles to her ceiling, which is plastered in the glow in the dark stars Miki got for her years ago. Miki breathes out, leaving a puff of warm air to cover the entire top of Brooke's chest just as she was reaching with a lanky arm down for the folded throw blanket at the end of her always made bed. Miki grunted as their position switched momentarily, Brooke's shoulder was jabbing into the under of her chin and into her throat."No," She says irritably; the words mumbled through grit teeth- sounding only slightly choked out, "I'll just steal one from you before I go." Brooke smiled at that while Miki layed them back into their original position, Miki's leg was still tremoring against Brooke’s own as she laid the fluffy white blanket over them."Are you cold?" Brooke asks quietly as Miki cuddles closer against her body. "No." The other grunts again and Brooke can't help but smile fondly at her grumpy attitude. She shoved her arm up and under Miki’s head so the other could lay on her bicep and then brought her hand down to tangle it through Miki's long locks. Brooke closed her eyes again and she was content.Miki did in fact steal a shirt, but it was one of the many shirts of her own that she's left on accident, forgotten clothes that have found a drawer of their own at the bottom of Brooke’s dresser. They fell asleep together at the same time, but Miki jolted awake three; nearly four hours later. Before the sun even started to ride. She untangled herself sadly from the loving hold of Brooke, just wishing she could stay there forever. Miki knew she couldn't though. She slid the random black shirt she pulled out from the dresser- which was labeled as hers now from how many times she'd left her clothes here. The girl ran a hand through her messy red hair and looked for her phone. She slipped her shoes on and grabbed her new, albeit busted, helmet and her phone that was conveniently sitting inside of it; waiting for her with a lot of missed called and angry messages. She sighs quietly.Picking it out and sliding it into her pocket, she turned around and walked over to Brooke's sleeping form. Miki fixed the part of the blanket she nudged off of Brooke when getting out of bed and then leaned down to give the other a fat smooch against her cheek. Brooke's face scrunched in discomfort as she rolled over onto her side and clutched her blanket. Miki chuckled, bringing her free hand up to pet Brooke's hair.“Love you.” Miki whispers knowing that the sleeping beauty can’t hear her.
Satisfied, the girl stood up and made her way out of Brooke's trailer. It was a gorgeous home, truly one you'd see in movies. A cottage home with a white picket fence; one of those. Though it doesn't have a white picket fence; and its not on a hilltop or set in a flower field. Just a regular one story house with a pretty porch and great interior design located in a small neighborhood trailer park. It wasn't anything special. Especially in comparison to the gated, coequal, high-end suburbs Miki comes from. The ones for extremely well off people. Brooke’s home was probably low-end compared to Miki’s own, but Miki preferred it to hers. One could argue it's because Brooke was there; but Miki's house had quart flooring that echoed every step you took. It's opened four flooring entry stairway also echoed, echoed every word as if you were standing in the middle of nowhere. It made her paranoid on top of it feeling empty, and lonely. Brooke's house was filled with life; and memories... and Brooke. Also Karen.She loves the Kelly family.In the dark of morning, Miki scowls on the side of the road as the dirt crumbles under her shoes. She crosses her arms over herself in irritation, broken helmet between her chest and arms. It then dawns on the girl that she doesn't even have a way to get inside her house. Great. She'd have to wait until around seven in the morning when her Dad is up for business calls. Miki pulls her phone out, it was 4:52am. She huffs. The walk is a lengthy one, it will take her maybe an hour, give or take some. That leaves her with two to maybe three hours of nothing.... Miki shoves her phone into her pocket with frustration and clenches the helmet that she’s holding. Well, now what?Miki looks around the dark, dimly lit streets. She figures by the time she gets to the area she lives in, some coffee shops and fast food businesses will be open. So, with that knowledge, she continues forward. The girl was exhausted, but also felt like she didn't even need to rest her eyes.She stayed at a random coffee shop, a twenty-four hour one. Arrived around six, and sat on her phone for a while; texting Brooke funny photos and pictures of stuff outside. Miki ordered a water, and sipped at it till she realized it was now almost eight in the morning. She grinned, not even noticing the pass of time and left a dollar tip sitting under sweating wet cup that she didn’t finish. She should have finished the water. Miki grabbed her items and left the building with no time to spare. Miki was really nervous about getting home, she knew what was coming and didn't want to deal with it.Everyone must deal with the consequences to their actions though, no matter how big, no matter how small.--There were guests over, in her living room. Everyone was dressed nicely; while Miki on the other hand was lucky enough she even found the courage to put a shirt on- instead of just walking home in her bra. The look on her parents faces were no good sign, but Miki is grateful for the save of the company. They can’t yell at her when they have an image to uphold."Miki." Her mother greets with piercing eyes, her face quickly contorting into something fake, yet stone. A fake smile appearing as she reaches her arm up to tuck empty orange hair behind her ear, said arm is heavy appareled with sparkly bracelets and a thick costly watch. An earring catches light and shines. "Welcome home, you must be tired from working all night."The woman's voice is clipped, but she turns away and reaches for her cup on the glass coffee table in front of her. Miki tenses at the lie and she wants to roll her eyes. Working, for sure. Working to have more fun of a life. Her dad hasn't said anything, the man is just staring at her, silent, his lips are pulled in a grimace. He's not wearing a readable expression, so she doesn't even focus on him."Yeah..." Miki's voice is raw, she swallows. "So I'm going to go wash up and rest. I have homework I need to catch up on as well." She nods her head a little and starts to make her way to the left side of the entry way so she can climb the spacious staircase. Miki doesn't wait to listen to what her mom says, she doesn't even look back to see. She's halfway up the steps when she hears their chatter resume, and her shoulders relax as does her pace. Miki tilts her head over the banister and sees that both her parents have sat back down- Her father, Bentley, pouring himself a drink and laughing at something one of their wealthy guests have said.Scowling, Miki rushes up to her bedroom. She doesn't waste time as she shuts the door and locks it behind her. She's lucky and spoiled to have a bathroom conjoined inside her room. Perks of being the kid of a rich family she presumes- maybe also being the oldest child. She tosses her helmet on top of her dresser then kicks her shoes of, she doesn't even bother changing as she flops herself on her double bed and curls into her blanket. Miki quickly falls asleep, nearly passing out, feeling a headache start to pulse her head.-The nap wasn't all that peaceful, eventually being interrupted by rapid bangs on her door. She frowns as she pulls herself awake. The suns shining differently, showing hours have went by but yet it only felt like a few minutes. Said headache from a while ago only worsened with rest, her vision blurry with pain. Miki groans in irritation, running a hand through her hair and scratching her head with her sharp nails."Miki, unlock this door. We need to have a talk." Is what she hears from her mother, the woman's voice muffled by the door, accompanied by the doorknob jangling. Miki grunts."Okay. I’ll be out." is all she says, slowly and slurred from sleep yet loud enough for the other to hear her. Miki sits on the edge of her bed and waits until she hears the familiar clicking of her mothers shoes echoing away. She moves her hand to rub at her eyes as she pulls herself out of bed and drags herself to her bathroom; in search of pain pills mostly. She achieves her goal and looks at herself in the mirror. She looks a mess. Personally, she doesn't care. However, she figures it'd be better if she goes down there looking somewhat presentable. Miki splashes her face with water, and combs her hair out- the two locks of shorter hair poking out of the side of her head accompanied by her usual cowlick propped up right on top, it makes her hair still look messy. She strips her shorts from last night off and throws them onto the floor, leaving them there and walking out of her bathroom in search for some new clean clothes.Eventually, Miki settles on ripped blacked jeans (her usual), her Mary jane's, and a hoodie that belongs to none other than Brooke. She figures since she will be seeing her later today again; she'll give it back. It's Brooke's favorite sweater, dark gray in the middle plus the hood with the sleeves blocked into tan. She was still wearing the black shirt from Brooke’s.Her mom knocked at her door again, startling her. "Miki!" she spins around in irritation and practically stomps over to unlock and open her door. Her mother barges in before Miki even has the door fully open, knocking her back a bit. "What is taking you so long?!" She demands.Camilla Miya is probably a good woman at heart, at least at one point in her life she was. To Miki, she simply isn’t. She's selfish, materialistic, loves her wealth and presents herself as if that’s all she is. Like it makes her actually worth anything though. Miki sneers at her mother’s snobbish tone. Most would say its teenage angst, Miki argues she was born into the wrong household. That's fine, sometimes you're born into a family that doesn't feel as if it's your own and you have to go find your real family yourself. Sometimes you have to go and find the people that love you and nurture you and grow with you. Family is a word; it isn't a set term. It isn't branded onto certain people just because they are given to you and banded by blood."I was getting dressed." Miki says with a sniff, standing straight and clenching her fingers onto the door frame hard. Camilla crosses her arms, shoulders set straight, and sticks her nose up at the mess that is Miki's room as she walks in."Where were you last night?" Her mother demands as she spins around on the spot where she stands after surveying the room, her tiger green eyes piercing through Miki as she stalks up slowly to stand in front of her daughter once more. Camilla is a lengthy girl, very slender and sharp at every corner. Much like Miki, but the elder holds more elegance. She's like a mosaic art piece while Miki is but a shattered church window."You have a curfew for a reason, do you know that? You break every single rule that we give you."Miki tenses her body, letting go of the door and staring down slightly at her mother since she stands slightly over the woman, her mary-jane shoes giving her an additional boost in height. Miki swallows, "I missed the bus." is all she says as she moves around her mother to walk over to her bedside, picking up her phone that is laid abandoned on it. Her mother follows every movement Miki makes by gaze, not uncrossing her arm; nor untensing her shoulders.While her mother starts to tell her to put the phone down and explain what she means, Miki opens text chat messages with her friend Felix;-------
-yesterday 4:37pm-
-Felix -If you make a right after that turn and keep walking, you'll find it eventually.
-------- today 12:14pm -
- Miya -come pikc me up @ my house
--------Sighing as she looked up at her mother, she threw her phone back onto the bed- ignoring the typos in her message. "I stayed late-"Camilla cuts her off, "Not for detention, clearly. They gave me a call." Miki grits her teeth.
"Yes, I skipped detention." She doesn't lie on that, "I stayed late to help someone finish their project that's due, you know Lucrene? From the dorms, the girl I was going to room with?” Miki says the words lowly, her brows furrowed as she tries to hold off her attitude.Her mother looks suspicious, "I don't care what you were doing, or who you were with." She says with finality, and Miki lets out a breath of air. The redhead turns around to pick up her backpack, then realizes she left it at Brooke's and mentally curses herself. She turns around to face her mother again, and looks around for any spare bags she might have laying around. She sees the checkered one she uses when she used to sneak out, through her window, to meet up with Brooke at the park in the middle of town at night."You're grounded." Camilla says, her tone sharp. She steps forward to grab for Miki's phone but Miki notices her movements and dives at the bed so she can snatch it faster, sliding it into her pocket quickly and sneering at her mother."Hand it over, Miki.""No."Camilla brings a hand up to rub at her face in stress, Miki plucks her charger out of the wall and then childishly crawls over her bed to get around her mother. She walks over and picks up the bag she spotted earlier,"Do you always, always have to be this difficult!" The tone is tired, and exhausted. "We set you a curfew, you skip it. That was all we asked of you!"Miki scowls, "That's such a lie! You moved me away from all my friends, for no good reason!"Her mother finally drops her arms, clenching her fists at her side and clenching her teeth, "You got expelled! You were also running all around town, getting involved in criminal stuff, Miki!” There’s a pause, an intake of breath, “You deserved it." Camilla practically sneers the words under her breath, Miki can feel the frustration coming from her mother as the woman stands up straight, cooling herself off."Phone now."Miki grips the bag in her hands and walks over to her dresser, opening the drawer roughly and grabs random items of clothing and shoves them inside the bag. Camilla throws her hands up in the air. "What?" Her mother asks, mostly scoffs, "You're going to run away again?"Miki throws her charger into the bag, and then struggles with the old broken zipper to get it shut. "Maybe I am." She says haughty, and her mother clicks her tongue in reply and then huffs a laugh. Miki narrows her eyes and slings the bag over her shoulders, it didn’t close fully but she decided that she doesn’t give a shit. She shifts her blue eyes to look at her mother, who looks back through green."Okay." Camilla says in what is blatant disgust. "Go ahead, leave and when you get back, because you will be back, your consequences will be over ten times worse, girl."All but shrugging in reply, Miki shakes her head. She bites her tongue, taking the out her mother gives her before her father comes to join the commotion. She takes steps to get around the wall that is her mother,"If only you we're more like Ena, or even just a little like Flynn." Camilla sneers, and Miki stops in place. Her mother turns to walk past her. "You'd be so much more treasured."A pause in the woman’s movements, She sneers at her daughter, “And easier to deal with.”Watching her walk down the hallway, Miki clenches her fists and grits her teeth at being compared to her younger twin siblings. As if they are so great. Flynn’s a little kiss ass suck up and Ena-Susie is a quiet, shy, naive girl. Her jaw is set tightly as she pulls her phone out of her pocket, throwing an arm behind her to close her bedroom door without looking.------
today 12:16pm -
- Felix -Why?- today 12:22pm -
- miya -i need a ride
-------She holds her phone tightly in her hand, clenching her grip to the point where it’s painful in her grip as she makes her way down to the front of her house as quickly as possible. If this were a cartoon, there'd be smoke or steam trailing behind her. But this isn't so she's left to deal with it seething inside of her. Her phone buzzes;-------
- today 12:21pm -
- felix -Okay, but it's not free. I’m no taxi. I'll be there shortly.
-------Locking her phone screen to black, she steps outside into her vast front yard. Their gardener mowing their lawn catches her attention as she watches him push the machinery. Miki scoffs at the scene, stepping down the porch steps and walks down the pathway, its quite a length just to get out of the yard itself, it’s absurd. She opens and closes the big metal gate behind her, turning around to face the road in front of her while she leans against the gray brick wall as she waits.He was there shortly, she checked the time and it took him precisely seventeen minutes. Miki knows where Felix lives and it isn't no twenty minute drive. Wonder what he was doing in the area. She huffs as she watches the truck he drives pull up, the truck she hasn't seen or ridden in since she got sent away. Her mothers words weigh heavy on her chest as he makes a u-turn to pull over on the side of the road in front of her, he down the passenger window down and gives her an expected look. She stares at him through the hazy sun- it’s only fall but during mid-day its still warm."In!" Is all he shouts, impatient. Miki pushes herself off the brick wall and makes her way to the passenger door. The truck is big, so she uses the handle to pull herself up and into the car. The cool air from the AC blows her hair and he rolls the window up as she closes her door. She turns over to glare at him, her face flushed red under her freckles. Felix gives her an amused look."You took fucking forever, jeez!" She complains, jokingly. Seventeen minutes isn’t that long. He steps on the gas and she falls back against the seat, not even fully sitting down yet. Miki grunts as she shifts her body to sit on both legs instead of the side of one and reaches around to grab her seat belt."Yeah well, you're never my priority." Felix checks his mirrors, he drives efficiently and smoothly. Just another thing he can rant about being good at. She sighs, and leans back. "Asshole." she just mutters and can see him smirk out of the corner of her eye."Going to Brooke's or her aunt’s?" He asks the question he already knows the answer to. "Yup, Brooke’s." Miki states backhandedly, "Got any cigs in here?" She questions,Felix looks over and eyes her bag, then glares at her and smacks her hand as she starts opening the glove department to shift through the belongings that aren’t hers. "No way, you know this is my dads truck.""Though, this is for you." He takes the same hand he smacked her with and shoved it into his pocket. He kept his other hand tight on the wheel and his eyes on the empty road as he pulled out two baggies. He chucks them at her. The girl flails, only managing to catch one. She leans down to pick up the other that fell down onto the floor board."You're kidding." Miki deadpans. She held the two baggies in her hands; staring at them. One was full of clumpy green and the other full of white dust. She scowls over at the boy, "Oh, so you don't have cigarettes in here but you have illegal drugs.""Weed's legal now." He pointedly shoots back with a nod and a smirk."Yeah, medically. And I didn’t know it came in a white powder form.” Rolling her eyes through sarcasm, “Why'd you give this to me?" She asks, and he looks over and gives a blank stare from rusty eyes. It clicks in Miki's head, "Look you know I don't do that anymore.""Yeah well the ride wasn't free." Chuckling as he reminds her, "So, do the job. I'll text you the details." Felix finishes with no room for arguing and Miki grunts. She takes the bags of drugs and shoves them in her bag; making sure to bury them below her clothes."Whatever." She clicks her tongue, and sets her back down beside her shins and sinks low into the seat, staring out the window. "That's right." Is all he says- which irks the fiery headed girl."So do I at least get some of the cut?" She asks after a moment, flicking her gaze to look at him. Felix hums, taking a hand to fix his hair while looking in the mirror. "I'll think about it."It wasn't a no, so she bites her tongue and she doesn't press on it."So sorry I couldn't make it to your guys graduation." She mentions, slightly condescendingly and he grunts, giving her a quick look and then looks back at the road. By ‘your guys’ she means Felix, Rune’s, and Koje’s. They all took summer classes to gather all the credits they needed, and graduated early. One month after their senior year started they graduated, it was an odd time. Miki wasn’t there for it, since she’s at the other school."Yeah, heard you're sort of on house arrest. You aren't graceful with anything.” He clicks his tongue and shakes his head, “When I said you were the monkey I had no idea I was so right."Miki snorts at his words, "It's your fault I ended up like this." She accuses, but he scoffs and gives a noise of objection as they pull to a stop light. "You'd of ended up here on your own, maybe even somewhere worse."She doesn't argue with that, just narrows her eyes at him and then turns her head to look ahead. "Do you have any plans?" Miki asks nonchalantly, reaching over to picks at the rubber on the wheel that adjusts the volume of the radio, he reaches over to smack her hand off."Stop messing with everything, you ruin everything you touch." He seethes, checking to make sure she didn't do any damage to his dads precious truck. She scoffs in return to him, then he continues with less bite; "And College soon.""I'm surprised you didn't go when Rune went." Miki chimes, turning her head to look out the side window rather than through the windshield. He sighs, "Rune had bigger opportunities than me."Miki nods and snickers at that, "True."-The two arrive at the trailer park Brooke’s mom lives in rather quickly, and Miki thanks Felix for the ride. He reminds her about the job he has for her and she closes the car door in his face mid sentence. Felix takes off, the sound of dirt crunching under the car tires sounds out. Miki turns to face the trailer park, and walks through and past the buildings till she arrives at one she knows like the back of her hand. Miki makes her way up the little porch steps with a bounce and knocks lightly on the door. It takes only a minute, but Karen opens the door with a smile on her face, adorned in an apron."Oh, Hello Miki!" She greets warmly, unlocking and opening the wooden screen door to let in Miki, "Back so soon?"Miki gives her a smile, "You know I can't stay away from you guys." She grins a big toothy smile, and Karen laughs. Miki walks in, passing Karen- who is already speedily walking back into the small open kitchen. She calls out behind her to Miki,"I was just finishing up lunch, would you like me to make you anything?"It truly was a mercurial feeling to be fed such warm tenderness when she just came from being told she would be better off if she was more like her ten, eleven in about a week, year old brother. She gives the woman a smile, even if she can’t see it, "Yeah sure, I'll take some of whatever you're making, is Brooke in her room?"Karen looks over her shoulder, "Huh? She’s somewhere around here!" Her voice is cheery and welcoming, it squeezes Miki’s heart- a wave of emotions flooding her senses. The girl makes her way down the small hallway to Brooke's room and opens the door without knocking."Mom! I said I'd be out in-" Brooke cuts herself off as she turns around in her chair, sitting in front of her desk and views Miki with wide eyes. Her expression is shock as she fully turns around, but a loving smile is already pulling on her lips."I've been looking for that hoodie." Brooke points out as she stands up and Miki walks over- reaching out and grabbing Brooke by the shoulders to pull her into a hug. Brooke’s hands nudge the bag hanging from the others shoulders and pulls back slightly, looking up at Miki with questioning eyes through dark eyelashes."Can I stay the night?" Miki questions after a second. She brings her thin and spindly hands to move her girlfriend’s messy blue hair from her face with affection."The answer to that is always yes." Brooke lets her know, voice light, "Did something happen?"Miki's phone buzzes in her pocket but she doesn't budge to look at it. "Nothing out of the ordinary." She gives Brooke a grin and pulls fully out of the other's arms to throw her bag down onto the floor at the foot of Brooke’s bed. She's pulling out her phone charger when an idea hits her. Miki turns to look at the blue haired girl who has sat back down at her desk and is moving to pick back up her pencil to resume what Miki thinks is homework;"We should go camping!"Blue hair slides off Brooke's shoulder and down her back when she turns her head with a questioning look towards the taller of the two’s excitement, "Where are we gonna go do that? There’s no campsites nearby." Brooke voices her thoughts, voice traveling across the room to Miki.The girl makes a noise, it sounds like a whine, "That hardly matters, you have a tent, yeah?" Brooke turns back around to start working on her school work again. "I think so." She mutters under her breath. Miki moves to find an outlet to plug in her phone."Then we can go camping." Miki decides, "I'll go ask your mom if she knows where it is." Brooke just barely nods, her attention already taken back to calculus jail as Miki rushes out of the bedroom and down the hall; footsteps thumping as she’s yelling out for Karen’s attention. A small smile finds it’s way on Brooke’s lips.-The tent Miki was looking for was acquired and set up with ease. Though apparently it was still way too early in the day to go sit out inside of it. At least that's what Miki complained about. Brooke was confused, and"Didn't you say you wanted to go camping? Why don't you want to now?""Yeah, not in the boiling hot sun. We'll go at night."It wasn’t that hot, Brooke had mentioned, but Miki waved her off. So they abandoned the tent filled with pillows and blankets in the backyard for a few hours in favor of gathering things for them to do when they did go outside. Miki packed a bag of snacks plus drinks, and Brooke mentioned something about needing light. When the other mentioned a candle Brooke immediately ruled that out; saying Miki will catch the neighborhood on fire and Miki pouted like a sad dog. She went and asked her mom if they had a lantern anywhere, and now the two were out checking the tiny shed on the side of the house looking for it."Hey, what are these?" A small pair of dirty and dusty wheels catch Miki's attention as she reaches above Brooke to yank it out- trapping the shorter of the two between herself and the boxes. The pair of four bladed roller skates pull down something with them on their way out; Brooke yelps out in a startled manner, pushing back at Miki’s shoulders to move the two of them out of the falling item’s way."My bad." Miki says unapologetically with a snicker. Brooke just glares up at her, using the grasp she had on the lanky girl to shove her away. She looks like she’s pouting and Miki thinks she looks so so cute!Miki sets down the pair of skates in favor to pick up what she dropped. If she we were at home, she would've left the mess. This was Brooke's house though, and this place was worth her respect. She gather’s the roller skates as Brooke finds the lantern- closing the shed doors behind the two of them and both girls made their way back to the back porch."Were these yours?" Miki asks enthusiastically as Brooke sets the lantern on an old dirty fold up table; testing to see if it still lit up and worked."Yeah, when I was a kid. Maybe when I was... ten?.""Cool." Miki breathes out with sparkles in her eyes as she dusts them off. She sits on the equally dirty metal fold up chair propped up next to the table and kicks her shoes off to the side. "There could be spiders in there." Brooke points out, still fiddling with the lantern."Nah, I'll crush 'em." Miki mutters, trying to shove her foot in, and Brooke chuckles. "No way those are going to fit on your giant feet." She watches out of the corner of her eye as Miki struggles, it doesn't stop a smirk from pulling on her face as she replies;
"I don't have big feet," A scoff and a pause, "Hey, you know what they say about fellas with big feet?"Brooke blinks, "That they don't have big brains to match?" she suggests and looks Miki up and down when the other snaps her head up and pauses struggling with the skates to give her a pointed stare. Brooke goes back to looking at the lantern."Did you just call me dumb?" Miki asks after it processes, blinking to herself as Brooke ignores her in return; but Miki can see the smirk playing on the girls lips from where she sits. "That's rude, I get better grades than you.""Sadly." Brooke sighs through her smile- eyebrows creasing as she looks back to Miki with a chuckle. Miki gives her a wolf's grin and giggles back. They laugh together for a second and then pause to steady their breath, Miki blinks;"Okay baby, come help me put these on."Brooke laughs more, "They seriously just aren't going to fit."Eventually Brooke is found kneeling on the concrete in front of Miki, holding the girl’s leg at her ankle, trying to shove it into a shoe that is several sizes too small. They already got one on, so they know its possible. It was a struggle, and Miki isn't sure if her toes will ever work properly again, none the less, if she will ever be able to stand again. Her foot is crushed, it hurt a lot at first but now they just feel numb. It’s a worry for another day. Both of sigh in relief the same time as Miki's other foot finally slides into the roller blade, and Brooke takes the time to tie the laces for her; bunny-ears method just like with the other one."Okay, how do you feel?" Brooke asks under a giggle as she stands up and looks down at the small children skates on Miki’s feet, offering hands to the girl who takes them graciously. Miki huffs,"I don't have feet anymore."Brook belly laughs at that, tugging Miki up. "Yeah, you have wheels." She steps back to give the girl room. Miki lets out a sharp gasp as she stumbles from being yanked up by the standing girl. Brooke laughs again, "Miki on wheels!" She declares, cackling and Miki snorts. She brings her hands up to Brooke's shoulders, holding on and feeling the giggles shake through the other girl as she steadies her stance. Her body relaxes.The laughing subsides and Brooke turns Miki around, "Okay so you just... walk, but not walk." Brooke explains, hunching Miki over to talk into her ear like a football coach. The other nods, amusement pulling on her features."Okay, yeah sure." Miki agrees, one of her eyebrows move up, "Let me just move without moving." Brooke scowls and shoves her lightly. Miki stumbles and grabs onto Brooke harder. Who finds it funny."No, like," The shorter girl pauses to think, "slide?" Miki takes her free hand and brings it to scratch the side of her head, then moves her messy hair from her face. There's a pause of silence."Huh?" Miki questions dumbly."When you have socks on wood floor." Brooke says seriously, "OH!" Miki exclaims, "I get it now."The two stand up straight and Miki sways, Brooke tightens her hold on the others arm. "Do you want me to hold you?" Brooke offers, and Miki shakes her head."No, Mom, it's okay, I don’t need training wheels anymore." Miki says in the mock of a childs voice and Brooke immediately recoils with a scowl plastered on her face. She makes a noise of annoyance and pushed Miki away some. "Ugh, go ahead and eat shit."Miki laughs, this time not swaying when Brooke isn't there holding to steady her. She goes to move, her arms out, and she waddles like a penguin which only makes Brooke bust out in laughter. The girl doesn’t move an inch, her legs going forward and backwards in place as her body is tense. The fact that the shoes are way too small make it a bit more difficult. Brooke brings a hand to cover her mouth. "You look like you got a stick up your ass."Miki swerves around to face the other gracefully, making a smooth turn. "Shut up." She tells her, “I’ll put my stick up your ass.”There’s a scoff as Brooke rolls her eyes at Miki’s crude comment, “I bet you would.” The girl on wheels grins. Miki does another circle- there isn't much room on the small square of cement, so she can only go so far."Oh that was a good one." Brooke tells her, nodding proudly. "Amazing, ten-out-of-ten."Miki huffs a laugh through her lips as she glides forward in concentration, moving to make a circle around Brooke. "Ridiculous." She states, completing her turn and speeding up; blading away from Brooke, who crosses her arms with raised eyebrows. She wondered where Miki expected to go, really. The girl keeps going straight, right off the square of pavement that makes up the back porch and onto the small side patch of grass. They catch immediately on the greenery and throw Miki forward, she slams into the metal chain-link fence.Brooke bursts out laughing as Miki stumbles to link her fingers quickly into the mesh holes of the metal before the wheel lets go of the terrain and rolls forward- she loses her grip; falling down flat on her ass. Miki yelped loudly, and then groaned."Why are you laughing at my misery?" She questions from the ground, craning her neck back to view Brooke in an upside down manner. Her elbows dig into the cement, but she doesn't care. Miki watches as Brooke approaches with a wide, amused smile. Her girlfriend stops at her side and reaches out a hand out for Miki to grab. "Because you're an idiot."“I just broke my ass and you’re insulting me.”She accepts the offered hand and lets herself be pulled up. Brooke reaches up to brush the dirt and stray leaves from Miki's hair, standing on her tip toes for a better view of course. Miki smiles as the gesture, and tips her head down slightly. The sun was basically gone by now, the purple, blues, and dark magenta's of the evening sky getting ready to blur into endless darkness. The stars were starting to become visible- same for the moon, if only very lightly."We need to get that lantern working or we're camping in the dark." Brooke tells her, and pecks a kiss to Miki's lips. She then aids her back to the table and chair. Miki has a fight with the skates to get them off, and Brooke eventually finds a working battery to get the lantern actually working. Miki goes inside to get the bag of snacks, and Brooke's mom's iPad which they left to charge. She gets everything ready by the door and Brooke comes in after setting up the lantern out in the tent that they assembled together earlier. The girls change into comfortable pajamas and swiftly pick up their pile of items as they throw open the back door and march to the tent.The grass is soft through the fabric floor of the tent as they press their knees onto it and crawl inside. "Imagine if a crazy storm happened tonight." Miki jokes and Brooke clicks her tongue in distaste. Furrowing her eyebrows and hoping Miki doesn’t jinx it."I'd take my stuff and run, leaving you to stay asleep out here and maybe even drown." Brooke states plainly, placing the bag of snacks between the pillows they brought out from earlier."You’re so caring!” Miki beams back as she sets the tablet to lean against the bag, facing them as a screen. A tiny movie theater. She grabs their pillows from the sides of the bag and places them flat in front of it. "Get me a bag of candy." Miki demands.Brooke obliges with no objection, handing a box of gummies over to Miki and grabbing bag of cookies for herself. She grabs two sodas and place them to sit next to the iPad, carefully so they don’t fall over. "We should have made s’mores." Miki whines."That would have been nice." Brooke agrees, moving back to plop down on her stomach, propping herself up on her elbows as Miki follows to do the same, already ripping open her candy box with her teeth."We're gonna watch Bambi." Miki says proudly, moving her hand on the screen to find the app they use to stream movies. They were far away from Brooke's Wi-Fi so the connection would be a little slow; neither of them minded. Brooke blushes, a wobbly smile fitting to her face; Miki see’s it from the corner of her eye and softly smiles to herself. Brooke hugged the pillow in her arms tighter, she keeps staring at Miki, leaning her head a little bit down so some of her blue hair falls into her face. Miki gets the movie on, but the two have to wait for buffering so Miki pulls back, propping her elbow up on top of her pillow and leaning her head on the palm of her hand, looking Brooke over with her blue eyes.The two stare in silence, Brooke chuckling a little with her eyebrows raised; still happy from Miki's decision. Bambi was her favorite movie, the fact that Miki took it into consideration makes her heart swell in affection. Continuing to stare, Miki reached up to fix Brooke's hair and then fit her whole palm against the back of the other’s head. A smirk came across Miki's lips and her eyes squinted daringly, she wiggled her eyebrows and Brooke snorted because it wasn’t a smooth guesture,"Is this the part where we kiss?" She asks, and Brooke rolls her eyes as a reply, moving her head up to press her lips against Miki's and bringing a hand up to cup her face. Miki blew air out of her nose against Brooke's cheek and kissed back. Brooke hums out in delight. It feels like she’s purring and Miki smirks at the vibration. The movie starts playing and Miki pulls back, pressing a wet kiss to the tip of Brooke's nose. Brooke wipes her nose with the back of her hand and moves to pull Miki in for another kiss but the other pulled away, fake offense on her face. Brooke blinked, opening her mouth to ask if she did something wrong."Ma'am. The movie has started. Please refrain from talking during it." Miki cuts her off with a huff, raising her eyebrows at Brooke who leans her chin on both of her hands that are propped up by her elbows. Miki continues, "You're bothering the audience.""Oh, I'm bothering you?" Brooke questions with the roll of her eyes, the intro ads playing on the screen; the light from it illuminating them."Oh very much so." Miki narrows her eyes looking down at Brooke, who breathes. "How?" Brooke questions again, and the screen goes dark in loading, leaving them in no light; having turned the lantern off for ambiance when they turned the movie on. "'Cause you get me all hot and bothered, sweets." Miki admits breathlessly, leaning in to press a quick kiss to Brooke’s cheek.She couldn't see through the darkness, so she missed- her own nose pressing into Brooke's lips as her own lips smooched against Brooke's chin. Miki laughed, and Brooke grunted as she pushed her off. "Sucks to be you," Brooke says, but the screen lights up the tent again and Miki see's the blush is evident on the other's face. "Bambi is more enticing." Brooke speaks through a chuckle. She pops one of her cookies into her mouth.Miki laughs in return, "Wow, okay, I see how it is." She says as she moves her pillow closer to Brooke’s and shuffles her body so their thighs and arms press against each other's. Brooke smiled through her chews and Miki grabbed her own candy box; picking the one that fell onto the floor and eating it. Brooke shot her a look with her nose scrunched. What? The tent was clean, sort of.The two watch the movie for a bit, eventually Miki leans her head down onto Brooke’s shoulder. Blue hair brushes against Miki’s cheek. "Your hair is soft, do you use Neutrogena?" Miki breathes out with a funny voice, chewing around a gummy and Brooke laughs, one of Miki's favorite sounds. "No, actually its Pantene.""Wow." Miki says, she already knew the answer, smacking her lips as she chews with a certain level of obnoxiousness, "That's so emotional." Brooke quirks her eyebrows snorts while rolling her eyes, reaching between them to shove at Miki's shoulder."Shut up, that doesn't even make sense."Miki grins, leaning her head down onto the pillow that's halfway under her, and looks up to see little Bambi on the screen. Brooke also settles down, resting her chin on her arms which are folded on her own pillow. Miki hears a cricket at some point which really starts to irritate her, but it's easy to ignore it with her girlfriend lying next to her and her girlfriend's favorite movie playing on a small screen inside of an old small tent in her girlfriend's backyard. It was good.The two spent the rest of the movie making jokes back and forth, and pointing out characters and calling them each other. Miki threw most of her candy at Brooke who got mad and snatched the box away from Miki who whined in protest. There was only one piece left anyways, the rest scattered around the tent. She spent the rest of the time picking and eating the ones off the ground. Brooke called her disgusting and Miki shrugged in reply, 'you love me anyways'. Which was undeniably true.They got into a fit of play wresting near the end of the movie, which ended up with them laying horizontal over their makeshift bed. Brooke was laid half on top of Miki with her lower belly between Miki's long legs; which were wrapped up with her ankles hooked behind Brooke's knees. Brooke's head was on Miki's chest under her chin, both of their heads turned to watch the end of the movie as Miki's head was resting on a pillow she dragged over. Brooke reached for the folded blanket and had covered them at some point. Miki took her hand from Brooke's hair and moved it to wrap around the girl in a firm hold."You really are Bambi though." Miki mumbles sleepily. Brooke smiles gently. They fall asleep together like that.They do wake up to mosquitoes in the early morning. Which Miki throws a fit about because how the fuck did they get inside the tent, and isn’t it supposed to be fall?˖ ☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖
NEBBISH
chapter 6
cupcake
˖ ☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖MayHighschoolIt's their freshman year when Miki finally formally invites Brooke over to her house for a sleepover. It’s going to be for her birthday.They've spent the past three years together so far, and Miki has never once asked Brooke to spend it with her. The girl was about to start taking it personally.
They have spent the occasion together, sort of- Brooke's gone through the trouble every year on Miki's birthday to bring in a small convenience store cupcake for her and give it to her at lunch, to which Miki has accepted graciously every time; loving the attention being on her; but, lunch was as far as it ever went with them for that. Until now, Miki had never even asked Brooke to come over to her house- Miki always went over to Brooke’s. The fact that it was on Miki’s birthday made it even more special.Miki was fourteen, she turned fifteen on that very Sunday."How time flies." Brooke swooned only two days before, on Friday, May third, standing next to Miki in front of their new high school lockers, hugging her bag filled with books close to her chest. Well, not exactly new anymore, it is May now. meaning it’s been around ten months since they've had them."I know right! Soon we'll have gray hair and be using walking canes." Miki jokes sarcastically, shoving her books roughly inside of the metal box to switch them out for her next class. The chatter and movement of other kids bounced around them in the busy hall, Brooke gave a weak laugh. Miki continues, switching back to the topic at hand, "So you'll come?"Brooke scoffs at the question as if it has personally offended her and shakes her black bangs from her eyes, "Of course." she reached over to push Miki at the girl's shoulder, her hand hits collarbone. "How could I ever turn down such an offer?"Miki grinned, teeth shining, "Great!" she closed her locker and slings her bag over her shoulder. Brooke fixes her skirt, pushing herself off the lockers to stand straight and start walking with Miki. The high school had set uniforms, unlike middle and elementary school where you could dress as you please, although- the middle school is now requiring uniforms too. Miki was fonder of the boys uniform; not all that comfortable strolling around the teachers in a skirt. Brooke on the other hand loved it, she thought they were cute, they accentuated her curves. On the other hand, she made extra emphasis to let Miki know that the male uniform did in fact look good on her. Miki had thanked her but said she wasn't really excited about losing her creative expression when it came to wearing what she wanted, Brooke had rolled her eyes."I'll meet up with you after class." Miki tells her, looking down into Brooke's green eyes; pausing for a second before bringing her hand up to pat Brooke's shoulder and giving her a soft smile. The shorter girl gave one back. Just as Miki darted into her history classroom the bell had rung- and Brooke swiftly made her way to P.E.˖ ☽ ˖⁺ ☆ ˖Sharing her last class with Miki AND Felix was honestly a power decision on their principles side. Even though Felix was two years ahead of them, he failed this class every year and instead of being held back- he was given the option to take it as an extra course. He also gets extra credit for doing it, which is unfair since he failed it so many times. Brooke finds herself wanting to switch classes; but it’s one of the only ones she shares with Miki, they also share homeroom and math. She often gets exhausted listening to the two argue and bicker, constantly finding a way to make jabs at each other, even getting into brawls in the middle of class. Their teacher for this class, Science, is a very laid back dude. Amazing, it would be, if he didn’t egg Felix and Miki on. If they were not in the middle of anything important, he’ll tell them to duke it out right here. ‘Hey, why don't we move the desks and chairs for a battle arena.’Essentially…Miki had left her second to last class early (she just asked to use the bathroom) to make it to Brooke's own before she came out. The bell rings as Miki is halfway there, so she picks up the pace- some eager kids already leaving their rooms before their teacher has even given them permission to do so. She goes through a door leading to outside and makes a right, then finds the gym and waits outside the door. It did not take long; the door swings open- she’s lucky it opens internally or she would have gotten squished. A flood of kids swarm out. Miki grunts as she moves over, but keeps her eyes peeled wide for black hair."Oh Miki, hey." Brooke says in greeting, finding her first as she grabs Miki's arm gently, ushering them to start walking amongst the stampedes of other kids. Miki stares at the side of Brooke's head as they walk, a tug twitching at the corner of her lips."Howdy." Miki accentuates her words in a southern greeting as she locks their arms and clomps her feet unnaturally against the ground. Brooke laughs as she tries to keep their pace steady as they weave through students to get inside the building so they can go to science room. “I got more homework just now.” Miki grumbles, and Brooke laughs;“Me too.” She replies, “We can do it together, later, after school.” Miki nods to her as they walk into class. They disconnect their arms and go to their seats. Brooke sits in front of Felix, and Miki sits to the left of Felix. Brooke was supposed to be next to Miki on her left, but they got in trouble for goofing off; and so, Miki switched with Felix who was in front of her- but he started messing with Brooke and she then had to switch with Miki. They don’t know why the teacher didn’t just move them across the room from each other, because now its worse with Miki and Felix next to each other. Brooke’s a little bitter that they don’t get in trouble for messing around as much as her and Miki did.Miki flops down onto her seat and lays the top of her body across her desk, her items being crushed between her torso and her thighs as she buries her head into her arms. Brooke sets her own books down on to her desk and lowers herself onto the seat while pressing her skirt against the back of her legs as she rests onto the chair. Other kids flood in and take their respected seats; chattering amongst themselves. Miki grunts as she quickly sits up, taking her homework from the night before out and putting it on the desk."This class is so boring." She whines out, mainly to Brooke, who turns around at the sound of her voice. The look on her face is confused but it almost looks as if she's asking if Miki is crazy, so Miki shoots her own questioning look back. Before they could get a clarification, Felix butted into their conversation;"I don't make it interesting enough for you?" Felix asks, walking though the two of them and snatching Miki's paper as he sits down into his own seat and throws his bag onto the floor next to his shoes. "Hey!" Miki yells,"Five bucks!" She demands and slaps her desk, "And no, you don't, you’re the reason it’s sooo boring."Felix scoffed at that with an eye roll. He fished some dollars bills out of his pocket, eyes glued on copying down the answers he's reading in front of him. He chucks the dollars bills at her, "Yeah, probably cause you're used to the environment of a zoo."Brooke sighs and sinks low into her seat."And I bet you're used to the environment of a dog pound." Miki huffs, taking no time to snatch the bills, picking up the ones that floated down to the ground. "You know, since no one actually wants you." Felix gives her the side eye, irritation flashing on his features with a dull frown, but quickly goes back down to scribbling as fast as he can before the teacher walks in."You should know all about that."Miki turns back around in her seat to face inside her desk. She did know all about that. "But this isn't about me, this is about you." is all she says with a condescending tone, and he laughs low in reply, he pauses his writing to look at the side of the girl's head. Her hair was covering her face from his view as she was putting the money he had just thrown at her into her bag."It's always about you though, Miki, isn't it?" He sneers and she turns to him quickly to shoot a glare. Miki grunts, turning back to the front of the room and sits still in her seat, picking at the skin around her thumb. She can see Brooke throw a size gaze back to her. It's silent, the noise of students murmuring around them, he had gone back to copying before Miki hummed and leaned back in her seat, once again getting him to look at her for a second."Your mother didn't seem to think so when I was giving it to her last night. " She cackles just as he finishes his delinquency, throwing her homework back into her face as the teacher walks in. Felix just rolls his eyes, glaring at her slightly in annoyance, then opens his mouth widely, about to say something loud, but shuts his mouth. He ends up sneering at her while muttering:"You're a shit heel." Felix reaches over and takes her pen right off the side of her desk, she protests loudly in irritation; swiping her hands to try and grab it while demanding he gives it back to her. Felix doesn't. Brooke grunts as she keeps her eyes forward."Give it back." Miki says through her teeth, "Brooke got me that!" She exaggerates as if it’s the end of the world, picking the person who sat in front of the two’s water bottle right out of the side of their bag, which was hanging on the back of their seat, and then proceeds to hurl it at Felix. It bounces off, landing on the floor and the teacher interrupts them and asks what is going on- he of course gets ignored. The rest of the class starts getting ready to learn, putting their bags and phones away. They were used to this. Everyone was used to this. Brooke sighed."What the fuck?" Felix rubs his arm, glaring at her, "It's a fucking pen, you psycho! I was borrowing it anyway. Jesus fuck." He swears as he flings the pen at her roughly, and it jabs into her hand as she catches it with quick movements. She narrows her eyes in a sharp glare at him, and he glares back. Miki clicks her tongue in anger, turning to face forward."Are you done being children now?" The teacher questions with an amused expression from the front of the room as he pushes himself up to walk into the middle front of the class. He was leaning against the blackboard, watching the two of them, everyone turned their attention back to the two. Miki slides down in her seat and flops her hands on top her desk to play with the pen. Felix sits straight and neatens his papers like the jackass he is.Class flows ever so gracefully after that.☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖Miki and Brooke are exchanging ideas about what they could do later in the day while standing outside of their lockers. Teenagers are exiting the school around them, pushing around each other like a swarm. Miki's back gets nudged with shoulders and backpacks sometimes, but she barely notices, Brooke fully absorbs her attention."So do your parents know I'll be coming?" Her green eyes flit to look at Miki in question, and Miki laughs shortly. "No, they don't need to know."Brooke whines, "What? So I'm an uninvited guest? What if you get in trouble?"Miki closes her locker, swinging her backpack over her shoulder and onto her back where it belongs. "You aren't uninvited, I invited you." She reminds her, and Brooke adjusts her own bag as they make their way to the front exit together."That doesn't count.""Well, I live there." Miki says to her with a sullen face. Brooke catches up fully so she can look at Miki’s face, "So?" She asks. Miki looks over at her and clenches her teeth, turning her head back to view in front of the two of them as they exit the school through the doors. "So," She starts roughly,"It does count."With the emphasis behind her words, Brooke just drops it if she seems to be so sure, but something doesn't feel right, and it makes her skin prickle and stomach drop low. "Yeah, okay but what if they just send me packing?"Miki sighs and sharply turns right once they are outside of the building. "You're too polite." It is her only bite and Brooke makes a startled noise when she stumbles to follow. The two end up at some outside benches under a tree. It was like a little courtyard space; but not really. The trees stand tall above them, bushy and in the prime of their bloom for spring.May third, that is the date. May fifth, that's Saturday’s date; which is Miki's birthday. It's kind of fitting that the girl is born in the middle of spring. She's basically constantly blossoming, at least in Brooke's eyes. Miki always has energy and (sometimes) bright ideas. She's quick witted and has good reflexes. And if you asked Brooke's nerdy side, she totally fits the picture of a Taurus! Stubborn as a bull."Miki." Brooke prompts, trying to get the girl’s attention as she sits down in front of the other girl on the other side of the bench, hands on the table top as she sighs. "How am I 'too polite?' I just don't want to barge in without permission. " She pauses;"If anything, you're too weird."Miki scoffs at that, "Am not." and leans her head in the palm of her hand, the other hand resting right across from Brooke's hand- who’s nails are panted pink, the work done by Miki herself, and she stares out far across into the distance of the soccer field, clenching her teeth.Brooke doesn't pressure her, just sighs with an "Are too." She looks off in the direction Miki is looking. Miki seems mad, or on edge, or just irritated in general. Brooke hopes she didn’t do anything to upset the taller of the two.Wind blows around them as the two sit like that for a while. Brooke aimlessly watches groups of humans leave the school, Miki scuffs her shoe a few times against the rough pavement. She sighs, her whole-body slumping with the action which catches Brooke's attention. Miki looks on the verge of saying something till she sits up straight, her eyes not looking at Brooke anymore but behind her."'Sup." Echoes from behind the girl as she turns around in her seat to view Felix and his friend standing not far behind her as they start approaching, Miki easily recognizing him as Max from her math class. They're standing not far behind Brooke as they start making their way over. "Hey." Miki gives her greeting as she stands up, Brooke looks between them, feeling irritation prick her skin immediately."What do you want?" Miki grunts to Felix, giving a jerk of her head in greeting to Max; who does the same. He glares at her attitude, reaching to nudge her roughly before he gestures his head over to Max, who then grins and starts fishing into his pocket and pulls out money. Max brings his hand out, stepping forward to hand the thick bills to Miki. Brooke stands up and puts her bag back on, ignoring the exchange as Miki picks the money from his fingers and shoves it into the pocket of her uniform pants, a smirk adorning her features now as well."You know, for the other day."Miki laughs, "Yeah I know, I didn't know this was who was getting it though."Felix laughs as well, patting her on the shoulder when they start to move around her to leave. Miki spins on her heel to watch them with Brooke stepping over to stand by her side. Max waves back to the two of them, and Miki gives a peace sign. They've gotten ways away when Miki shouts out;"I'm expecting gifts on Monday!"Felix turns around and sticks his middle finger in the air to her; which makes her burst out into laughter. The manic tone puffs through her gasps of breath as she turns and grabs Brooke's hand. "Let's go! Sun's going down."Brooke huffs. "I still want an answer." she stares at the crazy grin on the other face, focusing on how it makes her eyes crinkle slightly; shine brightly. Her attitude seems to have done a complete one eighty.Miki continues trying to tug on her to pull her along, barely getting anywhere but relentlessly yanking. Brooke pushes at her in irritation, huffing as she tries to get Miki to let go. Miki whines, "You're hurting me." and Brooke rolls her eyes."Someone's gotta do it.""That's rude!"
Miki eventually lets go, and Brooke takes a step back in precaution. "No one will see you, so it doesn't matter." Is the only answer Brooke gets as Miki starts walking off, leaving Brooke to once again stumble as she catches up. Brooke doesn't exactly know what she means by that, in retrospect it makes it sounds worse. It makes it sound like she got told no so she'll be sneaking Brooke in, and that's a very Miki thing to do... but she saw the tension in Miki's jaw and shoulders, so she knows not to push any further. She still sighs though. She tries to think back, but draws blank straws on what Miki's told her about her home life.The two walk in silence for a long while. Brooke just lets Miki cool off, or at least move on from the subject. Miki grabs her bicep right above her elbow roughly and pulls her into the forest to the side of them. Brooke squeals at the sudden motion. "I know a short-cut." Miki blurts out, stringing Brooke along despite her questioning protests."I go this way all the time." Miki reassures her once they slow down and she slows to walk side by side with Brooke rather than a few steps ahead of her. Their arms and knuckles brush together with each pace of their legs but neither notice; or mind. Brooke's nerves are calmed a bit by Miki's words, and the beauty of all the nature around her. She loves plants, and there were tons here. There's a forest outback her aunt's house, and she sits in the outskirts of it when she just wants peace. She knows not to delve deep in though, because bears and deer and who knows lurks in the woods. Wouldn’t want to get mauled."What did you do for Felix?" Brooke questions carefully, flexing her hand open and reaching out to brush against tall grass. Miki shrugs, "Just a little task, got something his friend couldn't find and I happened to come across." She says it like it’s no big deal, “It was just a coincidence, worked out in the end for me, since I got money for it.”Brooke hums, tilting her head up to look at the sunset shining through the little open cracks of leaves that are speckled around them, she smiles. There's outside buzzing around them in a silent manner, as sticks, dirt, and leaves crunch under the both of their shoes. Birds jump through branches on trees around them, the wind is calm inside the forest rather than how it was in the open."That's cool." Brooke breathes, clueless as she brings her head back down to look forward. She adds, "That was nice of you."Miki smirks."Hey," Brooke asks suddenly, nudging Miki's arm for her attention as she watches a bunny startle off by the girl’s presence, "what animal do you think I'd be?"Miki gives a contemplative face and then she snorts a laugh, "A pig." she says teasingly, reaching up to push at Brooke forehead with her two first fingers. Brooke scowls and knocks her hand away,"So Rude!" The raven huffs, glaring as she feels slightly offended by the other’s words. Miki is just joking though.Miki stalls, "Probably a horse." She says nonchalantly, as if she didn't just insult Brooke two seconds ago."You know," She continues, coughing into her fist as she looks off ahead, "because you're loving, and fierce. Gentle too, violent when you need to be.""Aw... Miki that's sweet of you to say." Brooke swoons, grinning happily as she clutches her hands together.Miki snorts, messing the girls hair up; "And cause of that time you kicked me off of the top bunk on our camp trip last year; that was definitely the buck of a horse."Brooke flusters with a laugh, "I apologized for that!" Miki laughs with her, elbowing Brooke's elbow."Hey, do you really think monkey fits me?" Miki asks honestly, thinking back to the conversation in middle school, bringing her hand up to point at herself but ends up poking herself in the cheek. Brooke gives a smile at the clumsy behavior;"Oh definitely, or a hyena."Miki scoffs, huffing loudly and Brooke laughs again at her behavior. "Fine!" Miki shouts at her, shoving Brooke's shoulder as the girl continues to laugh, "You're an aye-aye then!"Brooke stops laughing abruptly, confusion taking over her face; "What the hell is an 'aye-aye'?" She mocks, as she pulls her new smartphone, which she got for her birthday this year, out of the side of her bag to search it up; with the only bar she had. The pictures took a while to load with the slow data connection; but once they did Brooke chuckled."They're kinda cute though."Miki groans, stomping while turning to walk away from her, "Of course you'd think so!"☽ ˖⁺ ☆ ˖"What's that?" Brooke yipped, wrapping her arm tighter around Miki's and grabbing it in a frightened grip.Miki flinches from the hold and looks down at Brooke and then looks over at where she's looking. "What?" She asks annoyed, looking around and seeing nothing. "I don't see noth-""No, shut up, listen." Brooke grips tighter, "Do you hear that?" Miki clicks her tongue and scrunches her nose for a second, being still and silent to listen.They had been walking for a while, Miki's pretty sure they took a wrong turn somewhere but she wasn't sure; all the tree's looked the same and she was so attention consumed with Brooke that she was kind of relying on instincts and reflexes, maybe some muscle memory, to get her home. It was getting dark, the sun no longer shone through the leaves. It wasn't completely dark, it was dusk, you could see; but you couldn't see fine detail of the distance anymore.Miki doesn't hear anything at first, just distant road and city sounds; maybe some crickets already chirping in the distance. She raises her eyebrow at Brooke who just gives her a finger up in signal to wait a bit longer; the moment her finger went up was the moment she heard the noise. It was quiet, and weak. It sounded like a crying baby. Miki furrowed her eyebrows as she turned around from Brooke, hearing the noise in the opposite direction they were standing. Brooke's grip doesn't ease as Miki starts making her way, of course Brooke is in tow."What the fuck is that?" Miki asks, hearing a sharp hiss and a loud whine. Brooke shakes her head. "Let go and stay here, I’ll go find out." Miki lets the other know, reaching her hand up to yank at the girl’s tight fingers."Hey-""No, I'm going with you." Brooke says, her gaze is sharp and stern. The determination of not letting Miki go alone almost makes her heart swell, Miki just sighs, "Fine... stay close though."Brooke walks close; nervous as her grip is tight around Miki's arm. Miki breathes in anticipation as they make their way quietly, listening for the best direction to go from the noise. Pushing past two big bushy weeds and plants, they see the culprit of the noise.Brooke makes a sad, urgent noise and tugs Miki's arm. "Oh no." it comes out brokenly, her throat tight. "What do we do?" The sound of cars catch Miki's attention as she looks up the small hill ahead of them. Through all the bushery and overgrown weeds she sees a road with cars driving. A part of her is relieved, they will be able to see where they are. But the other part of her feels awful. This deer was most likely hit by a car and either flew off the side of the road from the impact or someone moved it and threw it over it.It whines again, its body moving in an unnatural way; Brooke flinches back and looks away. "What do we do?" Brooke presses again, quietly and watery. Miki watches the animal writhe in the dirt a few feet ahead of them; the iron tang of blood hanging in the air. It was almost twisted; the way the flowers lay around the deer. It looked purposely set there, but it wasn't. This isn’t natural. The flowers around it were splattered in blood from the deer's wounds, roses smashed and saturated. If you stared close enough, you could see a broken rib piercing through it's side, the skin around it torn and a blood trail dripping down off the sides of it, dirt matted in it's brown fur. It’s leg was twisted, jutting the opposite way than it should be."I don't know." Miki admits with a shrug and licks her slightly parted lips.All in all, Miki convinced Brooke it was best to leave it there. Brooke had protested, saying they couldn't just leave the poor thing to suffer; but Miki asked if Brooke wanted to put it out of its misery and the girl went quiet, so Miki took to getting back to the trail they were on before they walked off. For the first half of the walk Brooke kept her grip wound so tight Miki had to coax her out of it. Miki had brought her hand up to Brooke's and slowly rubbed the top of the others knuckles with her thumb. Miki kept her gaze forward and had felt Brooke shake against her for a while.Brooke has too good of a heart, Miki suggests. Surely it was a graphic sight to see an animal like that, but come on. You see deer on the side of the road when driving all the time- one just like the one they saw, one that must have been hit by a car or truck and discarded to the side like trash."I'll never look at roses the same way again." Is what utters from Brooke's lips, when she finally loosens her grip; not letting go, but dropping her grasp to just have their arms lightly entangled. Their hips bump together as they walk. The sun might as well be completely gone, the light around them barely anything anymore. You can still make out the shapes of trees or bushes, and Miki has been staying on this one dirt road the entire time."Are we lost?" Brooke questions eventually as she looks around them, "I thought you said this was a short-cut. Just how far do you live?" She puts emphasis on the word 'short'. Sure, Brooke had never been over to the girls house, but Miki walks to and from school. She doesn’t know the exact distance, but she knows it isn’t this far. Miki scoffs in return,"Shut up. We aren’t lost." They were, she didn't want to worry Brooke though. "We were earlier, but we aren't now." Its quite the opposite, actually. Brooke hums in suspicion, pretending to believe Miki; but it was obvious the two were lost, they'd of been at Miki's house by now, she is sure of it.After a few more minutes of walking, there's an open area that is off of the side of a park. It's a small barbecue area with a bench, grill, and lamp post. Miki can see more of the park off in the distance, it also lets her know where they are. It's a relief on her shoulders as she convinces Brooke to stop and take a break. She protests, but does anyways. The two set their bags on the old frayed wooden picnic table, then set themselves on the bench seat. Brooke sat forward on it, facing the table; while Miki sat backwards, leaning her back against it."My feet hurt." Brooke complains, then turns to nudge Miki and scowl at her. Miki laughs, reaching out to push back at her."I didn't force you to come."Brooke huffs at that, "Actually, you kind of did when you grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the woods."Miki laughs more, "That sounds terrifying, who knows, maybe this is where I finally kill you?" It's asked with a crazy smirk and the wiggle of fingers in the air and Brooke smacks her hands down and away, "Don't be weird."Miki leans back against the table, looking out into the distance while Brooke looks up above the two of them, "The sky is so pretty." She breathes next to her, a smile on her face showing her dimples. Miki could see them perfectly with the contrast of the lamp post light, it makes her smile too as she looks up."Yeah... you know what's more beautiful though?" Miki asks dreamily, she moves her gaze back to the girl sitting by her side and Brooke's too distracted by the sky to notice the question, "What is?" She asks spacey, not even looking over at Miki. Miki laughs through a puff of air as she looks down at the dirt in front of her, moving it with the toe of her shoe."You are." She says it quietly, sighing loudly right after to cover it up, Brooke's attention is grabbed by that as she looks over to Miki;"I'm what?"The girl didn’t even hear her or comprehend their conversation. Miki laughs at that as she looks away from Brooke's innocently confused face and stands up, Brooke's gaze follows. She smiles down at the sitting girl, who's looking up at her and gives her the biggest buck tooth grin she can manage;"I think I could hang out with you for the rest of my life." Brooke's mouth parts and her eyes widen a little as her brows shoot up and pink dusts her cheeks, she's going to reply but Miki offers her hand instead- cutting off any words."Let's go now!" Miki says excited, her own face is flushed with her toothy smile. Brooke grabs her hand and stands up to join her, stepping over the bench seat to the outside of it. They grab their belonging and Miki takes off with a spring in her step with a sudden burst of energy. Brooke rolls her eyes and tell her to slow down.Miki says 'never!' but does slow down if only for Brooke’s sake.☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖"This is your house?" Brooke asks, staring up at the big building with gaping eyes. She doesn't know what she's feeling. Excitement? Shock? Impressed? Intimidated...?"Yep." Miki says, not understanding Brooke's reaction."It's huge."Miki looks at Brooke, and then to her house. She hums a little, moving to start walking towards the front of the house. "Right?"She leaves Brooke to splutter and is already pushing open her big front door before Brooke yells a 'wait for me!' and runs over, not wanting to be left behind. The house is two stories from what Brooke can see, maybe three. It's gray, with white trimming. It's even in a gated suburban community, which already shocked Brooke. This was rich people level neighborhood. This was close to maybe even famous people level neighborhood!The two enter into a big open entry hall, Miki shuts the door behind them as Brooke goes to take her shoes off along side all the other shoes she notices on the floor by the entrance. There are noises coming from the room up ahead of them with its yellow golden light on that's flitting down the hall between rooms, illuminating the entry they are in now."What are you doing? Don't do that."Brooke halts her action of taking her shoes off and gives the other a weird look, "Why? Are these for decoration?" She asks sarcastically to all the readily apparent worn and used shoes on the floor in front of her."No." Miki says, "They aren't, come on." Brooke furrows her eyebrows as the two start heading up the stairs. The stairs are white stone with a dark blue and gold runner rug on it. The rug muffles the echo they would leave behind which each moving act. They make it upstairs and into another open living room area, but Miki pulls her along, before she can even so much as gawk, down one of the hallways to the left. Last door on the right; It’s Miki's bedroom.It's messy just like Brooke anticipated. There's the side of a tall and long dresser facing you the moment you open the door, so they walk into the room only a step to the right. She has a double-sized bed pushed up against the wall across from the door, a window hanging above near end of the bed. There's a shelf tiered L- shaped desk with few decorations and figures on it; many cups and cans though. And papers; lots of papers. An electric guitar lays abandoned under one of the desk sides with an amp next to it. The other side of the desk has a chair pushed in with a PC that's covered by a pile of clothes on top- a jacket hanging off the chair as well. To the right there's an open door with sunlight flooding through to mix into the bedroom light. Brooke can see straight in and finds it's a bathroom.Miki grabs Brooke's bag and lets the other take inventory while putting their belongings onto the floor next to her bed, taking a seat at the foot of the bed. She watches with a slight grin as Brooke looks at all her belongings."I can't believe you have your own bathroom! I mean, I do too, but it’s also the guest bathroom, and it’s not attached to my room, but you get what I mean!" Brooke moves her arms around excitedly in the air surrounding her, speaking fast enough to where she needs to take a gasp after she finishes her sentence. Miki snorts at her behavior."This place is so fancy. I haven’t even seen all of it yet. You much be rich." Brooke presumes, flopping down next to Miki with a content sigh, "Honestly, I never would have guessed."
"My dad owns a company and is a lawyer." Miki says like it’s nothing, laying her head back so she is be staring up at her ceiling of glow stars.Brooke gapes at her, “You never told me that." She says, copying Miki's actions and lying beside her on the bed."What!" Brooke yells, startling Miki a little, "I've always wanted those!" she points to the plastic pieces that are glued to Miki's ceiling. Miki laughs with fond amusement,"I'll get you some."Miki does eventually get Brooke the glow decals she wants, as a gift.Brooke calls her mom and lets her know she’ll be staying at Miki’s house for the weekend, and her mother’s reply comes back only a tiny bit hesitant- but tells the girls to have fun and wishes Miki an early happy birthday. Which Miki smiles at and gives an obnoxious thank you. After the phone call they fall asleep, laying together on Miki’s bed, chatting away for some time before conking out. They had kicked their shoes off and the items fell messily to the floor, sleeping in their school clothes.The next day, May fourth, they wake up and Miki scavenges around to find Brooke a spare, still unopened, toothbrush they have in one of the guest bathrooms. They play video games downstairs for most of the day, Miki’s parents nowhere to be seen yet- which Brooke finds oddly suspicious but doesn’t think much of it since they came home late last night and woke up a little bit closer to the afternoon. They could be out shopping or at work or something.Breakfast had already been made in the kitchen, packed away from earlier and sitting on the counter in containers. Miki had opened it and reheated it for them; bacon, eggs, and potatoes. Miki had poured a ton of sugary syrup on her food then offered some to her friend, which Brooke denied because there wasn’t any pancakes and gave Miki a weird look.The girls played a dance game on the Wii, which Brooke was so excited to play on because she never has before. After, they played Super Mario for a couple hours. Then Miki pulled out Monopoly from the closet under the stairs, which Brooke wiped the floor with her at.Even though they were downstairs for most of the day, Brooke hasn’t seen anyone else. The house had been oddly empty. Someone had to have made the breakfast though, and she supposes the house is big enough to just keep missing each other. When Brooke asks where Miki’s parents have been, the girl just replies with the word,“Work.”☆ ˖⁺ ☽˖The nights well beyond expired when Brooke wakes up in the morning, before Miki, mind you.The two had a lot of fun, they did each others nails, which when Miki went to go get the nail polish she treated it like some kind of criminal activity, so Brooke wonders if she stole it from her mom's room. Miki lets Brooke wear some of her clothes to bed since she asked Brooke to come the same day; the last second so Brooke was unprepared. It was just a pair of Miki's middle school pajamas, and Brooke insisted on wearing one of Miki's band tee's. The girls stayed up until sunrise, they played some web games on Miki’s computer, after Brooke cleaned off all the clothes from it and put them in a pile for her, and then they watched horror movies till they both passed out together sharing Miki's bed again. Neither thought anything of it.Brooke stares down at Miki's sleeping face, who was drooling against the pillow that she had cuddled against her face. She smiles, suddenly wondering why no one came to check to see if Miki even came home on Friday. No one came to check on her yesterday, it doesn’t even feel like anyone else is here. They didn’t go back downstairs during the evening time, so Brooke assumes her parent’s have really long shifts. Strange they work on weekends though. Last night Miki just brought up a bag of chips and two sodas. Which was enough for the two girls, yes, but it was still a little strange.Forgetting that Miki has her own bathroom that is conjoined in with her bedroom, Brooke leaves Miki's room in search for a bathroom. She enters the hallway outside of Miki’s room and starts opening doors. There’s a room filled with boxes, and then one of them is a closet filled with towels and linens. Brooke crosses the pajama lounge as she goes to the hallway that's right across from the one she was in. Once she gets ready to open the first door, it swings open itself; startling her into jumping back. Her heart nearly jumps out from her chest. The kid that opened the door yells, so loud, and Brooke can see inside that it's the bathroom she's been looking for."Who are you?!" The child screams, and Brooke's eyes bug wide. He can't be older than ten and Miki's never said anything about having siblings. Her heart starts racing as she starts fumbling her words."No-, Um." Brooke's eyes are wide as her tongue trips over itself, she stutters a few words and settles on yelling, "I LIVE here." The kid’s own eyes go even wider, giving her a look as if she's the crazy one."You live here?!" The kid asks accusingly, "I've lived here my whole life! I've never seen you."He says 'you' like it’s a slur, his eyes are calculating and his dirty orange hair is perfectly styled on his head. He's wearing a uniform, probably a school uniform. Isn’t it Sunday? Brooke’s mind is racing with too many thoughts. The way he stares her down makes her take a few steps back, he walks out of the bathroom, giving Brooke a scrutinizing look."Are you a burglar?! Or are you just a freak?"Brooke chokes on her own air, oh god what if he calls the police? She moves to start running back down the hallway, back into Miki's room. The kid yells after her, but she ignores him and slams Miki's door behind her, making eye contact with Miki who was standing in the middle of her room with her shirt off, in the middle of changing clothes. Miki yelps a little at the intrusion. She hears the kid boy, who started to call out for his mother, fade away as the kid ran down the stairs."I was wondering where you went! Why'd you go out there?" Miki questions, giving Brooke a weird look at how discombobulated she is. Brooke chokes on the air again at Miki’s shirtless form, who doesn’t seem to care. The redhead continues sliding the shirt she had in her hands on, pulling her crazy red hair from out of the neck hole. Her confused look turns into that of concern, “What happened? Why are you so out of breath?”“I…” Brooke trails off, pushing herself off from the door and then notices the open bathroom door to her right. She mentally face palms and cringes as she realizes she didn’t have to go through all of that. “There was this kid, and he called me a burglar…” Brooke speaks quickly, pausing at the end of her sentence only to add on quietly, “and a freak.”“Oh.” Miki puffs out air, “Was it Flynn? That’s my brother.”“You could have told me that!” Brooke whines, “That was the most terrifying experience of my life.”Miki just laughs at her, which makes Brooke pout.It turns out Miki has twin siblings; Flynn and Ena-Susie. Brooke laughs to herself internally, that would have been nice to know before she made herself look stupid… not to mention suspicious!Eventually Miki’s mom knocks on the bedroom door after they're done getting dressed and are busying themselves with taking pictures together on their phones. She doesn’t wait for an answer as she opens the door right after her knock,“I told you Flynn,” Camilla sighs as she looks down to the boy who is standing next to her and holding her hand, showing him the inside of the room, specifically the two girls sitting on Miki’s bed. “It’s just Miki’s friend. No one is robbing us.” She looks at the two girls with an unreadable expression. It makes Brooke’s mouth dry when her green eyes land on her. This is it, this is when she gets in trouble for coming over.“Especially not some teenage girl.” The woman scoffs, and Brooke can’t tell if that’s a joke or not so she laughs uncomfortably. “Now say happy birthday to your sister!”Flynn glares at the two girls, looking mad for no good reason, “Happy birthday, Miki.” He mumbles quietly.“Thanks kid.” Miki gives him a thumbs up and then Camilla ushers him down the hallway with nothing said to the two girls, closing the door but not fully shutting it behind her. The two teenagers can hear her telling him not to overreact and scare her like that again. Miki bursts out laughing, which makes Brooke start laughing.“That was priceless.” Miki says eventually, pulling her head up from where it fell onto Brooke’s shoulder during their laugh attack. She wipes the water away from her eyes, snorting one last time. “Did you see his face? Did you see mom’s face? She looked so done.”After a moment of silence of the two of them composing themselves, Brooke puts her hand on top of Miki’s, getting her full attention. She turns to Brooke and hums in question.“Happy birthday.” Brooke says sincerely, Miki’s face breaks out into a grin, “Later we can go to the store, and I’ll get you a cupcake like I do every year.”The birthday girl cheers, “Fuck yeah! A cupcake.” and Brooke just shakes her head at the theatrics. Miki says a “best birthday ever” to herself in an excited manner as she starts to dance in place, voice over dramatic and slightly pitched, to which Brooke laughs at and pushes her shoulder, then Miki pushes back, and the girls start play wrestling on Miki’s bed.It was, in fact, one of her best birthdays ever.☆ ˖⁺