CHAPTER XII

BROOKE'S P.O.V

Holy shit! I just can't believe it. I just kissed Asher Bolton. I don't know how did this happen but it just did. When we pulled back he was smiling cheekily at me.

"That was sexy." He muttered and I hit his hand pushing him away.

"See, I'm not a bad guy. Not yet." He wiggled his eyes and I turned away from him going straight towards food stalls.

"Brooke, come on, you loved it."
A small coat of red spread on my cheek as I tried to hide it with my hair.

"I'm hungry." I changed the topic knowing he was more food lover than I was. In next few minutes we took our food and sat in a corner table.

"So are you going to...." Before he could say anything our phones beeped at the same moment.

Curiously, I took out my phone and was shocked to see it was our picture while kissing sent by the devil himself, Nathan Bolton. Asher's lips twitched upward and he winked at me,
"Isn't that cute?"

I scoffed and looked around for Nathan and Allie only to find them on dance floor snuggling closer.

"Now it's our chance!" Ash laughed and clicked a picture.

"Now we are even." he chuckled.

"Ash, does... does that k... kiss mean anything?" I stuttered.

Actually I was debating with myself whether I should ask him or not but finally I did.

"What do you want?"

"I don't know."

"Cool for me actually. I don't do relationships." He just shrugged, "Let's eat."

My mouth felt dry. See, he was a player and I was having feelings for this god damn bastard.

"Yeah! Let's eat." I mumbled and ignored him after that. Soon, the little party ended and it was time to go home. Finally! I was little annoyed with others as well as myself. Max called me telling me that he was here to pick us up.
I stood up from my seat and told Asher,
"Bye. I'm leaving. It was nice spending time with you."

He stood up too and kissed my cheek, "I am glad. Thank you for being with me."

"Ummm.... I... I need to find Allie." I walked away from him looking for Allie.

They were sitting under a tree talking. She was sitting in front of him, her back pressing to his chest as Nathan had his hands wrapped around her waist. His chin resting on her shoulder.

"Allie...?"

They both turned towards me.

"Brooke!" Allie's eyes went wide as she got up from her seat. Nathan followed her.

"We need to leave." I said eyeing Nathan.

"Umm... Ok!" she turned towards Nathan and mumbled something. He gave her a small smile and leaned forward to put a small kiss on her forehead.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She came to me as he gave me a small nod. Without a word, we walked outside the school.

"Are you angry?" Allie asked as we came out.

"I don't know. I'm confused."

"Why? I saw you and Ash...."

"That was... I don't know what that was. I think I like him but he was behaving like it meant nothing to him."

"It's not like that." She tried to say something but felt like she didn't get the correct words. We reached the car as Max and Allie started talking. I looked out of window,

Yeah! I liked him but he was just another player. Actually I envied Allie when I saw her and Nathan sitting under tree looking like they were happiest with each other. Maybe I was over reacting.
I just pushed the thoughts away and closed my eyes.

Next day came in blur. We walked outside the house only to find a familiar car standing at the end. Allie shrugged not knowing why they were here.

"Should we ask?" I asked her and she shrugged again.

"Forget it. Let's go." I linked our hands and started walking. As we passed their car, Ash's voice came,
"Ignoring, ahh?"

"No." I defended, "And what are you doing here?" I asked with a frown.

"We came to pick you up." Nathan said looking at Allie who was nervously fidgeting with her sleeves.

I sighed and slid inside the car without any argument.

"Why did you decide to suddenly pick us up?" I asked Ash who glanced at me through mirror.

"We just felt like it." he shrugged and it annoyed me. What was with people and them shrugging without any answer?

"People are gonna kill us, you know that? It was too much when we spent time together and now we are riding with you and it's gonna disturb the stability, you see!" I said in exasperation.

"I don't care, Brooke. I just wanted to do it."

Soon, we reached school. As soon as we stepped out of their car, every head turned towards us some with curiosity and some with glares. I sighed loudly and Nathan laughed.

"What happened to you?" I asked him.

"Just chill. You are with us so no one is going to say anything to you." He chuckled and put his arm around Allie's shoulder pulling her closer. Little shocked, she looked at him and he just smiled at her warmly while kissing her temple.

"I wanted to see you so badly." He murmured but I heard as she was just beside me. Asher came and pulled me closer by my waist.

"So why are you so annoyed today?" he asked me. I couldn't say anything. We were to close and it wasn't helping.

"Brooke, what's wrong?" he asked with a little concern.

"Umm... nothing I'm just not feeling good."

"Well, I can make you feel good." He said huskily and I slapped his chest trying to push him away. He just laughed and pulled me closer.
"Don't worry, babe. Let's go. Don't want to be late now, do we?" he smiled and I just ignored the fact that the guy I was having stupid crush on was standing so close to me and acted all caring. But he was also the same asshole who said that he doesn't do relationships. Ugh! Why my life has to be so complicated. Soon, we took books from locker, with Asher and Nathan still tagging along us and girls giving us death glares.
Lectures ended slowly and soon it was lunch time.

"Hey!" it was Hunter and Caleb as they plopped down across us in cafeteria.

"Hi." Allie said and I just gave a nod.

"So Davis sisters, I should thank you because of you our charity amount was triple the numbers than it always was." Caleb grinned at us and I chuckled.

"You played Bolton, right?" I asked grinning back and he laughed.

"What are you talking about?" Allie asked while taking a sip of her coke.

"He paid $6000 for you." Hunter chuckled and Allie blushed understanding everything.

"Well, I would pay million dollars for her if it comes to that." Nathan's voice cut us off. We all stared at him in shock as he left his popular table and sat beside Allie. Well, million dollars? The guy probably owned that much money.

"You didn't have to do that." Allie stated softly as Asher also sat beside me.

"I had to. I wanted to sit with you." Nathan shrugged and kissed her cheek. She turned crimson in seconds.

"Aww... look she is blushing." Hunter cooed and laughed. Allie threw one of her fry on him and he caught it in his mouth.

"So tell us, why are you here?" I asked turning to Asher.

"For you babe! Just for you." He said and as usual put his arm around my shoulder. Soon, their friends and team mates came and joined us. Caleb looked at us with widened eyes and I just shrugged.

"Hii, I'm Roy." A guy with blond hair introduced us smiling widely.

"Dan!" "Grant!" "Martin!" and so on.... I just remembered Roy's name as he was cute and he was Nathan's team mate. Actually everyone around table had looks and you could easily tell why they were popular.

"So Brooke, are you single?" a guy with black hair asked flirting with me. I think his name was Derek.

"Yeah!" I shrugged. Ok! I was hypocrite.

"Cool... then..."

Before he could say anything Asher cut him off,
"Aren't you dating, Cassie? And Brooke is off your limits, Bro."

I furrowed my brows and looked at him. He gave me a cheeky smile and ate my food. Ugh! My food.

"What about you Allie?" his twin Drake asked eyeing Allie. Allie's eyes went wide.

"Don't even think about it." Nathan literally growled as his fists clenched.

Drake put his hands up in surrender and laughed, "Sorry!" he turned to his brother as they started talking about some game. I and Caleb shared a look and looked at Allie and Nathan. Allie opened his fist gently trying to ease his anger as he smiled softly at her. The guy was frigging possessive.

"I'm sorry." He said and she just shook her head and turned to her lunch.

"So are you free on weekend? We are going for a picnic!" Roy said munching on his food happily.

"We have plans!" Caleb answered.

"What plans?" Ash asked and then his eyes filled with understanding.

"Movie! I forgot."

"Yeah! Movie." Hunter said.

"Cool. Can we join?" Roy asked as I looked at Caleb and Hunter. They shrugged and everyone cheered. Suddenly sound of heels filled in cafeteria as we turned to find Lacey and Gina shooting glares at us.

"Hey boys." Suddenly their expressions changed into a sweet smile as they turned to boys. Allie hid a giggle.

"Nate, you were going to take me to meet your grandmother, right?" Gina asked. Nathan raised his brow and shook his head,
"Well, I certainly don't remember anything like that." He answered.

"You forgot." She emphasized on her words as he shook his head again.

"I remember that I haven't said something like that to anyone so just leave me alone." He looked bored. I snickered as Asher threw me an amused glance.

"Ash, let's go, we have a project together. We haven't even started yet." Lacey started and I rolled my eyes knowing her project would start in janitor's closet and will end in bed.

"I can't now. Maybe tonight?" Ash smiled flirting with her and a small knot formed in my stomach.

"Sure Babe!" She twisted her hair in her finger and bit her lip. They left and Allie looked at me with sadness in her eyes.

She gently squeezed my hand. I shook my head showing her it didn't affect me.

"Let's go." I stood up and Allie followed.

"We'll see you later." Allie told everyone and smiled softly at Nathan. He nodded and we left the cafeteria.

"You okay?" She asked and I shrugged.

"Can I talk to him?"

"No! I don't care."

"Sure you don't." Allie rolled her eyes and I decided to ignore her. it affected me.

"Brooke, wait!" Ash's voice came. Increasing my pace, I ran into washroom. He surely wouldn't have come there. I turned around to see Allie didn't come in. I glanced outside to see Asher talking to her. I waited for few minutes. Soon she entered and gave me a cold look.

"Why did you run if you don't care? At least you could have talked to him."

"I don't want to." I mumbled and entered in the cubicle.

'I fucking hate you, Asher Bolton!' I cursed. I waited for few minutes and then came out only to find Miss Dumb and her best friend dumber scowling at Allie.

"What did you do to Nathan?" Gina sneered at her but Allie didn't react. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw me coming out.

"Shut your trap, bimbo." I said coldly to which both of them glared at me.

"You two better stay away from our boys." Lacey said with a bit of attitude and stomped away. Allie and I shared a look and shrugged.