Chapter 2 Hot Guy Alert!

"I thought you'd never get here." Brooke shouted across to her best friend, who had drove into the parking lot.

"Honey boo, it's going to be hard to get rid of me that easily." She replied, shouting through the open window, as she pulled into her personal parking spot. Almost as an after thought, Jessica added, "God! I'm so happy my dad decided to pay for a personal parking spot this year. I get to class five minutes earlier these days."

"Doesn't make much of a difference does it?"

"You're right. It doesn't."

"Why are you always late by the way?"

"There's this thing I like to call not giving an eff, which is 99% of the time by the way. But today, I remembered that I was staying at my dad's this week, and I had woken up god knows where-"

"You're just irresponsible." Brooke cut her off before she could continue, as Jessica stepped out of the white Toyota Camry, but her best friend ignored that, and blatantly continued her explanation.

"So I had to drive to my mom's, get my suitcase ready real quick, and then dash to school."

"How tragic." Brooke fake concerned. This was an everyday thing she got used to. Being late to homeroom was so frequent, she had stopped caring a long time ago.

"Let's hurry if we want to get to homeroom on time." Jessica urged.

"Homeroom is already over Jess. It's first period already, which, we're already late for." Brooke informed her best friend, tugging on her uniform sleeve, speed walking towards the gates.

"It's nice to know you get in trouble daily, for my sake." Jessica thanked, pulling her bag over her shoulder.

"Its nice to know you forgot my birthday." Brooke responded sarcastically.

"I didn't forget your special day Honey boo, just took time to wish it to You." Jessica explained, rewarded by an eye rolling Brooke. Her glossy black hair that she took time to brush this morning flipped in her best friend's face, as she spun around quickly. "Look! I even posted a birthday post about you on my story. Didn't You see?" She frowned.

"How dumb am I? Snapchat should be the ones receiving all the love that can be given face to face." Boredom laced the blonde's voice.

"You're always so gloomy and difficult. Happy Birthday Brooke. You happy?" Exasperated, was all Jessica could be.

Brooke responded in a baby voice, "Warms my heart that you remembered!" As they entered the gates. Their school shoes clinged against the marble floor, the only sound in the deserted hallway.

"Anytime, Honey boo. Anytime."

"Seriously when are you going to stop calling me stupid names?"

"B*tch please. That's better than Broken B!"

"Come to think of it, I prefer you calling me Honey Boo."

Unfortunately, Before they could continue, they had arrived in front of their English class. Brooke's favourite subject, as it involved reading and creative writting.

"Time for a detention." Jessica mumbled, and threw open their door, a punishment standing behind it. But Brooke didn't fail to notice the faint glow that outlined her best friend's features. One that was identical to the glow she had experienced in the car earlier that day.

But this was A darker one than she had seen. Black.

Pitch black.

● ● ● ● ●

"Aujourd'hui, nous allons conjuguer le verbe 'Connaître' dans le passé composé. Choisissez des partenaires." Monsieur Jean-Pierre announced. Brooke and Chloe, friends since freshman, were seated opposite each other, Chloe being in front of her. Chloe already had a partner when Brooke decided to transfer, leaving Brooke seated in a seat, with an empty space to her left.

As everyone started discussing the lesson, trying to conjugate the French verb, Brooke looked around for a partner. As if on cue, the door swung open, and a tall looking boy walked straight in.

The class fell into an unheard silence, enough to hear a pin drop. Monsieur Jean-Pierre scrambled out of his desk seat, and dashed quickly towards the teenaged boy.

"Hello! You must be Marcus Ling. Nice to meet you." He said, in his slightly accented voice. Taking a hand out to shake Marcus' hand, Monsieur Jean-Pierre held a bright welcoming smile on his face. Marcus didn't seem to mind the welcome, as he looked at the square hand awkwardly and declined the handshake by placing his own long fingered organs in his jersey pocket.

Brooke' s French teacher let his hands fall down at his sides in embarrassment. His face contorted into an intimidating poker look, losing all the warmth it had held before.

"Very well." He said coldly. "Would you please care, Marcus, to introduce yourself to the class?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really." Mr. Jean-Pierre replied. With a sigh, Marcus took a deep breath and began speaking.

All eyes were on him, including Brooke's. Not only amazed by his external beauty, but also by the deepness of his voice.

"Well my name is Marcus. I just moved here with my brother. I'm eighteen, born on the sixteenth of March. Talking really isn't my thing." He let out, sending a pleading look to the teacher who gave an evil smile, motioning for him to continue.

"Please Marcus. Enlighten us." He grinned, clearly holding an immediate grudge against the New student.

With gritted teeth, Marcus mumbled out a few other facts such as his love for sports, particularly boxing, and his hate for people in general. With clear annoyance on his face, Marcus sent a sarcastic half smile to the teacher and plopped down in the seat next to Brooke.

Satisfied, the teacher reminded the class of the work they had to do. "Marcus, Brooke could help you out with the questions if you need. She's one of the smartest in class." He complimented, as Brooke inwardly smiled, keeping a modest face on the outside.

Immediately turning to Marcus as the class fell into a low murmur of partners working on their conjugations, Brooke held out her hand and whispered a 'hey' to the boy.

"Unless you're blind," he mumbled in response, "and didn't catch my little act with Mr_I_Think_I'm_Too_Good_Of_A_Teacher, I don't do handshakes."

"Okay..." the birthday girl trailed off. "Uniforms didn't come in on time?" She guessed, asking him as she looked at his denim jersey, and white shirt.

"No. I just like attention." He replied sarcastically. "But you guessed right. Something about my size being unfoundable, and having to handmake them." He added.

With a nod, she asked, "Would you like to tell me a little bit about yourself? So this partner thing could go smoothly?" Trying her best to be friendly.

"We don't have to know each other, to do conjugations. So please stop the act and work." He said rather loudly, earning a few pair of eyes on him.

Taken aback from his comment, she lost all signs of friendliness. "Sorry for trying to be kind Mr. I'm_A_Random_Jackass. You say you're new. I have good friends, and a pretty cool personality, and thought it would be a good act if I tried to make you feel welcome before you mixed in with a bad entourage." She spat in annoyance.

"I am bad entourage." He said smugly, as she rolled her eyes. One of those guys? She thought. Another stupid playboy who didn't give a damn about life and their surroundings. She felt like an odd character in a cliche teen fiction.

Instead, rather than waste her time with a useless kid, she decided to get over her work. "Need any help?" She still offered.

"Non merci. Je parle couramment le français." He said, with a perfect French accent.

"What does 'curriment' mean?" She asked, a slight feeling of confusion overwhelming her.

"I said I speak fluent French. So much for being the smartest student." He mocked, as she rolled her eyes.

"Can't know everything can you?"She mumbled.

"Unless you're me, I'm pretty sure you can't." He said with a cocky attitude, taking a thin piece of paper from his book bag. As he turned away to do his work, Brooke tried to take a look at him. Not jut brush her eyes over his figure, but actually look at him.

She noticed that he had pale skin. It wasn't tanned or olive or filled with any bit of color really. It wasn't too pale either. You could use fair to overall sum up his complexion. His lips blended perfectly with his skin tone lacking any bit of pink or red. His hair was pale blonde, so close to white it seemed to reflect the lights of the classroom. But what captivated her, were his eyes.

"Marcus underscore Ling."

Blinking repetitively to understand, Brooke sputtered; "What?"

"My instagram. The pictures lasts longer." He said in such an emotion free voice, Brooke wondered if he was human. The he chuckled lightly.

"I'm just joking!" He said, seemingly amused by the situation. Then his face immediately turned stoic, hard as stone as it was before. His lips in a line straight enough, she could've used them to draw a margin.

"I don't have Instagram." Was all he said. Brooke was left frowning, really unsure of what had just happened. She had finished her work, unconsciously. Marcus had been right. Those conjugations were incredibly easy.

With nothing else to do, Brooke had no choice but to turn back to Marcus, who seemingly had been staring at her.

"Your eyes." She managed a whisper. "They're blue."

"Well atleast now we know you're not blind." He replied sarcastically.

"Not that!" she brushed him off. "They're incredibly dark. Indigo practically. Sort of almost black, but with a small tinge of blue in them." She noted. "Is that even natural? Are they contacts?"

"Didn't you learn that curiosity killed the cat?" He mumbled, a small edge to his voice. Brooke opened her mouth to respond, before he beat her to it. "And please, don't even dare say 'but satisfaction got it back' it's too cliche." He interrupted, with a mimicking voice.

She immediately closed her mouth, at a loss for words. "Well I just hope that you realise that they're beautiful. Never seen such a colour. If they're contacts, then they're pretty sick." She complimented, and gathered her shoulder bag, as well as her notebook, dashing out of the class when she heard the bell ring and the teacher dismiss the class. Before leaving, she turned back to him. "My offer still stands, if you want to join me at lunch." With that, she marched down the hallway, with only one last glance at the classroom.

It seemed to glow golden. A little like the one she had seen in the car, but slightly darker. Actually a lot darker. She had been bright gold. But here this one was, dark in twisting fumes. The colour of a bar of gold. Dark but mesmerising.

She turned back, to continue her way back down the hallway to the canteen, but noticed she was already there. As if she had been transported, while enchanted by the glow.

She pushed the expensive wooden double doors to reach the canteen filled with kids of her generation, in the same dull uniform they all wore.

She dashed to the waiting line, ready to buy a plate of fries and tacos. When suddenly, her vision blurred, and she found herself in an all too familiar dimly lit room.

She looked down at her hands, handcuffed, and her waist tied to the chair. She tried to move her legs, realising that they were attached at the ankles. She was trapped.

The air had completely left her lungs out of fear, and her hands - still in handcuffs - had gone moist and clammy. Her heartbeat inreasing every second, and her eyes adjusting to the dim room. Her head was aching and spinning, as if she had been hit in the head, completely knocked out.

Then footsteps. Steady and slow, the clinging resonating into her ears like drums. Then a body. The face unseen, due to the dimness of the light. As she tried to scream, she realised her mouth had been muffled, and no sound came out. Apart from a small hum, a desperate sound of plea.

The deep voice was like poison to her ears. A venom seeping through her veins. "And we meet again, Brooke."

With a gasp, and eyes wide with fear, Brooke found herself crumpled on the ground with kids scolding her for blocking the line.

She was back in the canteen.

But her heart was thumping so hard against her chest, it hurt when she breathed.

"Move!" A high pitched voice screamed at her. She didn't bother looking at whoever it was, as she dashed to her usual seat. Unlike most books and movies, Brooke suddenly thought, the seats didn't belong to anyone in particular. Everyone somewhat seemed used to a certain place, with certain people, in certain arrangements.

As she sat down on the round canteen table, her thoughts filled her entire soul. He's back. She thought worriedly. The torture, and pain. The hours of tears flooded back to her, as she trembled on her seat. Maybe that's why all of these weird stuff happened today. She thought. She wondered if maybe he was sending more of them to torture her. If maybe all these events had been planned out so she could be captured again. Or maybe her mothe-

Her thought broke off midway, as she saw Justin walk up to her. She let out a quick shaky breath, trying to straighten herself. Her whole body was tensed, but she forced a smile on her face. "Hey Broken B!" He chirped.

"Hey douchebag." She greeted in response.

"I already told you I hated that name."

"Sounds familiar doesn't it? I recall telling you the same thing this morning, yet you still call me Broken B. Sounds like douchebag isn't letting you go for a while."

"But for me it's different." Justin protested. "You're name, Broken B, has an emotional value to it. You're calling me douchebag, out of revenge."

"If you simply told me why that goshdamn name was so important, I could think of rephrasing douchebag." She offered.

"As long as I hear your voice everyday, I don't really care what you call me." He concluded the topic, and sat down across her smiling. As he smiled at her, a whitish glow outlined him, with such brightness Brooke squinted her eyes. "Why you squinting your eyes?" Justin demanded.

"Have you been seeing weird glows around people lately?" She answered his question by asking another.

"I always knew she was crazy." He muttered under his breath.

"Hey! I heard that!"

"You were meant to." He chuckled, and Brooke suddenly forgot the moment of distress she had just a few minutes ago.

"So how are you?" She asked.

"Did Broken B just care about someone other than herself?!" He gasped.

"I care about everyone other than myself douchebag!"

"That's how you just proved yourself wrong." He smirked. "Either ways, being the team captain of the soccer team, I got to help coach with tryouts today. We had to kick off some great players off, but now we have even better ones. This one guy; Mike or Mark, I don't even remember, is just fantastic! He could take my spot in days, with his talent. But hey! You gotta do what's best for everyone don't you?" He told her excitedly, his passion for the sport evident in his brown eyes.

Typical Justin. Brooke couldn't help but think. Always sacrificing himself, for the benefit of everyone else. "Well, he wouldn't have to take your spot, if you tried staying in attack, and bringing your defense up." She started giving him a couple of advice on his team's position. Had to admit, that she was a fan of soccer herself.

Justin stared at her with so much love and admiration, his eyes gleaming as she talked. This was Brooke. The Brooke he grew up with. The Brooke who supported him through everything. The Brooke who decided to be a dragon instead of a princess, so that Kevin and him wouldn't have to fight each other in order to find out who was going to be the knight in shining armour. "You're amazing you know."

"I do." She responded, and smiled. A smile that reached her eyes. Her smiles always reached her eyes when she was with her best friend. Her childhood best friend. When she was with Justin.

"And I agree." Kevin said, sliding into the seat next to Brooke, holding a plate. "Hey babe." He greeted Brooke, with a kiss on her cheek. "Yo Justin!" He glanced at the dark skinned boy, giving him a fist bump.

As the two started chattering about random topics they loved to talk about, Brooke remembered her hunger, and cursed herself for not taking food when she had the chance to.

Interrupting the conversation, she asked Kevin for some fries, who brushed her off by shaking his head. She crossed her arms stubbornly, and sat with a frown, ready to take a book out to pass the time. Justin chuckled, sending her a quick wink that she wanted to wipe of his face with a punch. She immediately regretted that thought, as he slid to her his plate of fries and tacos, shifting his eyes back to Kevin.

With a grateful smile, she scarfed down her food. The bed in breakfast hadn't been enough to calm her appetite.

"Happy freaking Birthday Brooke!" Chloe's excited voice shouted in Brooke's ear.

"Thanks Chloe. Can't wait for next year when you are a legal adult."

Chloe' s smile vanished, but she tried hiding it with a chuckle. She sat down, taking out her homemade lunch from a brown bag. "Haven't seen you since morning, and I tried catching up with you after French, but you literally drifted away. Ignoring me much?"

"Why would I ignore a bundle of sunshine like you?" Brooke asked.

"I could give you a list, but unfortunately, it's already filled with that new boy's name." She snickered, making the two boys snap their heads in her direction, Justin in the middle of piling Kevin's fries in a tower, and Kevin with his phone in his hand, looking at a stopwatch. "Well that is, if you can call him boy. More like angel in disguise." She added, hyperventilating for effect.

"If he's an angel, what am I?" Justin asked smugly, starting to flex non existent biceps. Chloe stared for a second or two, before growing a smirk on her face.

"A no life wannabe star player who thinks he is attractive, but actually just full of cr-"

"I think we get it." Justin cut her off abruptly, as she sat with a victorious smile.

"So who's this angel looking guy who filled your 'How-to-ignore-Chloe' list?"
Kevin demanded, his face full of curiosity.

"Just some new dude who showed up in the middle of the class." Brooke responded absent mindely.

"Did you get his number?" Jessica asked, joining the round table, sitting on Kevin's left.

"Does his non-existent Instagram count?"

"Depends. Can he count my-"

"We're eating, not trying to have a puking competition. Thank you." Justin mumbled, his face contorting in disgust.

"I know. Otherwise I would've showed them all a picture of you." She smiled sweetly, taking a slurp from a cold lemonade can, fetched from a vending machine.

"No need for that. You would win if you just took a quick look in the mirror." Justin backed himself up. Making her roll her gray eyes.

Brooke knew this was just a game they played, even if Justin's comment was way out of line.

Even as a joke, it was impossible to call Jessica ugly. She had ravishing straight hair as black as ink, which she would curl up at the ends. Small clouds of storm invaded her dark gray eyes, contrast to her toned skin. Her face was a hard set of defined features, with plummed natural pink lips, people suspected had had a surgery job. The pink masked by a blood red lipstick she applied every hour, set her narrow pointed nose to glory.

Her skin was practically flawless, with no acne or pimples, or sweat pasted to her forehead like most of the teens seated in the room. She was tall, and had long legs that set her molars to a perfect height. She wasn't curvy, nor flat, but skinny, and model like, reminding Brooke a little of Kendall Jenner.

"I was a gift from God himself to this world. Appreciate the art before you get kicked out of the museum for ogling."

Chloe' s face lit up, as she visibly remembered something. "Talking about gifts, I got this for you." She said. "My dad called it sacred, saying something about it being incredibly important. And if it's important, I want you to have it." Handing Brooke a small box with inscriptions on it. She didn't know what they meant or what it might have been used for, but she didn't mind.

Brooke grinned, dashed forward to hug Chloe. "Talking about talking about gifts," Justin interrupted their moment, "I got Brooke the best gift she could possibly want."

"That's impossible. I got her a diamond studded necklace." Kevin bragged.

"Which cost you What? Two weeks allowance? I've been saving up since last year..." he paused, and brought out two pieces of paper out of his backpack, "for tickets to the Vamps' concert today, at the olympium!"

Brooke's heart leaped out of love and shock, as she jumped out of her seat to squeeze Justin with such tremendous force, they rocked backwards in an awkward position. She immediately stood up, with her smile only widening.

"Jesus Justin! How?! When? Why?"

"I think the words you're looking for is thank you."

"I love you douchebag. Thank you. Really. How can I repay You?"

"With love and praise. 'Oh Justin my dream maker! You really do save damsels in distress.'" Justin replied, adding hand gestures for effect, his face only happiness. Brooke laughed, and hugged him tightly.

"Seems like I'll be in an eternal debt agaisnt you then."

● ● ● ● ●

With thunderous steps towards Trigonometry, Brooke escivated the angry glares of the remaining students in the hall. Late. Late. Late. It kept ringing in her head. She already had to help clean the hallways on saturday, due to her triple late slips from English. With the tardy bell already ringing, she quickened her pace around a curve, and was abruptly pushed back towards the floor.

Her hand immediately flew to her aching back, shifting it up and down in an attempt to ease the pain. "To think I was the clumsy one." She heard a rusty voice say, and saw a hand move towards her, but she swatted it away.

"I was happily moving to my class until you came in the way." She argued, without looking at the person in front of her.

"If by moving you mean happily running, then you are completely right." The rusty voice responded, to which she associated with a boy's voice immediately. Slowly openening the slits to let in sunlight, she saw a brown haired boy looking down at her, his face full of life, with a goofy smile played on his lips.

He extended his hand again, and she took it out of laziness, too tired to stand up herself.

"Sorry for bumping into you." She calmly said.

"No it was me. I wasn't looking where I was going."

"But just a few seconds ago, you were calling me clumsy. Why bother, if you were going to end up taking the blame?" Her voice spoke annoyed.

"Can you think of a better way to start conversation?" He wondered, and his smile widened. "If i had just apologised, you would say it's okay, move on, and we would probably not give each other a glance ever again. But here you are, talking to me while you're about five minutes late to class. I'm guessing you had forgotten that right?"

Brooke chuckled, and agreed, starting to see this boy's point of view. "Have you ever thought of mind reading?"

"It crossed my mind, but then again, if I was paid for it, the magic of the talent would wear off."

"Well thank you for this exotic and un prepared conversation..." She trailed off, not knowing what to call him by.

"Brandon. And you never know, it might not have been unprepared. I could've seen you running, hid around this curve so you would bump into me, and I would have a reason to add some spice into your life." He smiled again. It wasn't a smirk she associated with most boys, especially those who only cared about their lewd desires, but a beautiful toothy grin that lit up his face.

"If that's the case, then your life is the one that needs spice in it. I'm Brooke by the way." She introduced. "Not sure I've seen you around."

"Wait. Brooke? Meyers?" He asked, and she was surprised to say the least.

"Um..yeah. Why?"

"Are you the annoying prick who annoyed my brother?" He laughed, admiration in his eyes.

"Your brother? You mean Marcus? You guys are related?!"

"Yup. We don't look much alike do we?" At that moment, Brooke fully looked at Brandon, and noticed that he wasn't in uniform, but in a denim dress shirt, with a white top inside. He wore black pants, and vans, with a long neclace that had a ring at the end. It ended below his chest, above his stomach.

"Not at all! He's so big and full of muscle, quite an ass, and you're so fragile and sweet. Add that touch of humour, and you guys are completely different. You're new too right? That's why you guys don't have the uniform yet."

"You ramble. And talk. Alot." He noted.

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

"But yes, we moved here from Turkey. About a week Ago. But the transactions and all administrative complications only enabled us to come here today."

"Maybe it's not such a bad thing. A pretty surprising birthday gift to receive you know."

"Eighteen today. Happy birthday Cher."

"How did you know I was eighteen? And why call me Cher?" Brooke wondered, quite unsure about what he said.

"You're going to Trig right? Well that class is for seniors only, and I assumed that if it was your birthday, then you must be eighteen. Common sense." Brandon calmly explained, seemingly oblivious to his tardiness.

"And Cher?"

"You say it like it's a bad thing. You sounded pretty Clueless to me." He smiled, and stalked away. Brooke was left staring with a smile of her own, and flipped around in horror as she remembered just how late she was.

But as a force pulled her backwards to look behind her shoulder again, her eyes averted to Brandon who was disappearing down the hall way, glowing.

A bright, golden glow.

_______________________________________

A/N

Finally!

I was also really excited for this to be published.

Just a couple of important things you guys should know: Justin and Chloe weren't supposed to exist. I added them as I was writing, and I'm quite happy that happened.

Now, for the chapter discussion: How did you like this chapter, your thoughts and theories? Whose your favourite charachter so far?

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to seeing your comments and votes. This story might seem slightly cliche, but just hold on. There are so many twists yet to come, and so many surprises. Bear with me, and enjoy the ride.

Thank you for taking your time to read this story out of millions of others.

Love: Annelyse❤