"chapter 35- falling into place"

"that hookup is new." sammy said pointing jordan out with his fifth girl of the week.

jordan was taking his breakup with brooke hard, & the news of his father cheating on his mother even harder. so he was drowning it all out the only way he knew how, sex.

"today, it's jasmine. two days ago, it was reagan. last week crystala." olivia stated.

"wow go jordan. looks like he already forgot about you brooke." layla laughed.

"oh shut up." brooke scoffed.

"it's like his way of dealing with our family drama, is by creating his own gross version of the bachelor." olivia cringed.

"liv, he's freshly single and qb one on a championship winning team. he's just taking advantage of his new celeb status. he's fine." brooke assured.

"so you've been a hard person to reach over winter break." olivia pointed out changing the subject.

"um, you were the one who disappeared to lake tahoe with your mom & jordan." brooke rebutted.

"magically, phones still work up there." olivia said sarcastically.

"i mean, i left you messages. i was worried about you." olivia added.

"i'm great. asher & i are in a really good place. my moms moving back in & she's working on things with my dad. things are finally falling into place." brooke assured.

"i'm happy for you & you're sure your okay right ?" olivia asked.

"i'm perfectly fine." brooke smiled.

"bro, when are you gonna tell her?" jj asked asher after catching him glaring at the madden girl.

"tell who what." asher questioned.

"dude, you look at brooke the way my mom looks at her bentley. you're in love with her, tell her." jj encouraged.

"we're trying to take things slow this time you know, i just don't want to scare her off." asher sighed.

"man when you know, you know." jj said walking off.

asher watched as brooke began to gather her stuff and he headed over to her.

"hey, you heading home?" asher asked.

"yeah my parents want me home for dinner." brooke answered.

"do you want me to come with you?" asher asked.

"no, no stay here celebrate with the team." brooke replied.

"you sure?" asher questioned.

"i'm positive ash." brooke said hugging him.

"okay drive safe." asher said with a smile as he planted a kiss on the girls lips.

"have fun." brooke said as asher ran back over to the football game with their friends.

brooke sighed as she put her books into her locker and then olivia approached her.

"hey." olivia said greeting the madden girl.

"hey." brooke said closing her locker.

"nice try, so are you finally ready to tell me the truth ?" olivia inquired.

"what the hell are you talking about?" brooke replied.

"brooke, one minute your getting blackout drunk at a party, & the next your all football barbie trophy girlfriend on crack. what's up?" olivia said confronting the girl.

"look, i love that your thing is saving people but i promise you, i don't need saving. i'm good, i'm just tired from going over designs late last night with my dad." brooke promised.

"what's up?" asher said as he wrapped his arms around brookes waist.

"& my day just got a whole lot better." brooke said as her & asher began to kiss, making olivia feel slightly uncomfortable.

"i'll see you later liv." brooke said walking off hand and hand with asher.

the school day ended & brooke went home to the madden residence. the truth was her dad had been gone for months, only coming home for christmas. her mom stopped in occasionally, but her parents weren't really working on things. nothing had changed, and brooke was still trapped within the mansion. only accompanied with her thoughts. she was happy with asher, she really was, but that didn't solve all her problems. she still didn't have a family, she was still all alone.