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Chapter 12.

You are my favourite bitch to bitch about bitches with.

~~

I stared at Ace and then at Sean and then again at Ace and Sean. Step-brothers? Could it be? I looked for any familiarities but other than their incredibly hot physiques and drool-worthy looks, found none. I didn't even know Ace had some step-parent.

"I have a step-mother." Ace answered, making me wonder how he knew just what I was thinking about it.

"Oh." I said. Does this mean I've been kinda flirting with both step-brothers? Ugh.

There was a silence that surpassed the noises of students playing, eating, having fun faded and my mind revolved around the new information. It was deafening. I needed space to think clearly, to face them again.

When you're told something so shocking, even the act of acting normal fails.

"I uh-need to go to pee, badly." I spoke hastily and not waiting for their replies, I faded into the surrounding swarm of people.

I searched for my two girlfriends, hoping to find them sooner. I opened the box held tightly in my hands and took out a Snickers, munching on the delicious caramel taste. Trust chocolates to keep you sane all the time.

Finally I found Brittany and Janice, not surprisingly flirting with a bunch of guys. One look and I could tell they were twins and not from our school, probably a private school. They looked rich and had an Australian accent. If it wasn't for my messed up head I would have swooned at their hotness and accents. Who doesn't like a guy with an accent?

But unfortunately I had no time for that. Poor me.

"Janice, Brittany." I hissed and then smiled apologetically at the twins. "Sorry, you guys can talk to them later."

I pulled the two into a room and ignoring their constant protests I blurted out everything about Sean and Ace.

"Half-brothers? I didn't even know Ace had a stepmother."

"I know right. It's just so shocking and that this Sean guy is his half-brother."

"Unbelievable. Dylan never told me about it."

"It's not his story to tell Janice." Brittany told her.

"Yeah Ace should have told Joanna." Janice said, shaking her head disapprovingly.

"Right but they aren't even friends. I think Bryan likes you." Britt declared, making me go through a coughing fit.

I shook of Brittany's hand as she patted me. "Bryan doesn't like me." I informed her with finality.

"How do you know?" Brittany challenged.

I pressed my lips in irritation. "I just know okay. He avoids me, tries to kiss me and then acts like it was a game, we aren't even friends, -"

"He doesn't want to become friend zoned!" Brittany exclaimed, throwing her hands upwards in sheer exasperation.

I paused but then shook my head. "What makes you think being friend zoned will stop Bryan from hitting on anyone? In fact that is a challenge for him."

This time Brittany paused, knowing I was right.

"Guys-" I started.

"Girls." They corrected me together. I gave them a flat look.

"Say." Janice said sheepishly.

"What do I do now?" I asked in exasperation.

"About what?" Brittany asked.

"Sean." I replied simply.

"What about him?" Janice inquired in confusion.

"He's nice but now he will probably hate me."

"You are worried about Sean and not Ace?" She asked incredulously.

I shrugged. "Things between Ace and me are-um- weird now."

"And what happened to those almost kisses?"

I sighed, of course Logan had told them about it. "I think it's just physical attraction."

Both looked at me cynically. Finally Brittany scoffed, "She's gone mad alright."

"Agreed." Janice sided with her.

I rolled my eyes at them. Of course it was only physical attraction, nothing else. He was hot and sexy and I had unsatisfied teenage hormones which wanted me to kiss the living daylights out of him. That's it. No feelings whatsoever. Nada. Just lust.

"I think we should go back before they come hunting for us." Janice said, still looking cynically at me.

"Yeah, maybe we can also search for those hot Australian twins." Brittany suggested and Janice instantly agreed.

"You two are not going anywhere until I am home today." I stated with finality.

They scowled at me but didn't argue. I needed them and they knew it. Chicks before dicks.

We walked outside and scanned the area for any sight of the Trio. Since they had never seen Sean, they didn't care to look for him while I searched for him.

"Oh look there they are!" Janice suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the pool. I followed her finger and saw the three idiots, no sign of Sean. What were they doing there? Food court and pool were on the opposite sides. And where was Sean? Did they already kill him and dispose him into a garbage can? Could they be so fast? Probably.

We sauntered towards them, Janice winking at every hot guy. If she wants a guy, why doesn't she just date Dylan?

Just before we reached them, a figure clad in an indecently short black skirt and black bikini top stopped in front of them. It didn't take long to realize it was none other than Alicia Chandler. Just what I need right now. I thought sarcastically.

"What is she doing?" Brittany hissed, glaring at Alicia.

I scrunched up my eyes to have a better look. Her shoulder-length hair were flying in the air and her hand rested on Bryan's left upper arm as she whispered something in his ear. He turned and grinned towards her, leaning down to meet her awaiting STD lips. He never kissed me and here he's kissing the girl I detest, not to mention he knows I hate her. I felt something twist inside me and a different kind of anger bubble trying to burst. How dare he! All I wanted to do was rip off her head the same way Edward ripped off Victoria's head in Breaking Dawn.

"Green demon." Janice whispered as if knowing what I was going through.

I rolled my eyes at her. "I am not jealous Janice." I gritted.

She grinned merrily. "Of course you are not."

"Wasn't it in your bucket list to push Alicia into the pool?" Brittany reminded with a mischievous glint in her voice.

Janice laughed besides me and I chuckled. "It is and I am going to enjoy doing it."

"Luckily she isn't near the deep end so she won't drown." Brittany noticed and then grinned and clapped joyfully. "I am so going to enjoy this."

We walked with pride strides towards the kissing pair. Max and Dylan noticed us and Max immediately punched Bryan's shoulder, "Dude I think you are going to get punched." Oh wouldn't I love making those words come true!

Just as Bryan broke the kiss I bumped my shoulder with Alicia's and since she was still reeling from the kiss she easily fell into the water with a loud splash.

"Oops! Excuse my clumsiness." I mocked sarcastically, blinking at her innocently.

A few students turned to us inquisitively but most of them didn't even realize what happened.

Alicia flipped me off and then screamed, splashing the water around with her hands. "Save! Save! Oh my Gosh I am dying!"

Brittany clapped my hand proudly as we laughed our butts out. "Save! Ahhhh!" Alicia continued to scream.

"It not that deep, you crazy dumb chick." Some girl shouted from the other side of pool, irritated by her loud screams.

Janice screamed "You go girl!" at her and the others laughed. I looked at the completely embarrassed Alicia and couldn't help but guffaw at her plight with mirth. She struggled to get up and I almost offered my hand to support her. But then thought, to hell with it, she would have never helped me and I have never been friendly and nice to bitches. So why start now?

"What the fuck?" Bryan hissed, looking at me, breaking my loud laughs.

I felt the anger bubble finally burst. "What? So now you care for her? Just after one kiss? I thought you weren't a player but I guess I was wrong. Kissing her even when you know how much I dislike her. And here I was coming to apologize to you and try to be friends again. Stupid of me. Oh and just so you know I didn't push her because I was jealous or anything. I mean why would I even be jealous, I don't even like you that way. Besides we aren't even friends. I just did it because it was in my bucket list." With those words I turned and stormed out. Let him help her out of the water and dry her in his bedroom. Argh!

That guy is a prick. Stupid. Dumb. And all the synonyms.

I heard Alicia still screaming for help. I rolled my eyes at her melodramatic behaviour she could just walk, it wasn't even that deep. Just as I reached the pool end, I felt someone grab my hand and turn me. I saw Ace's face lean closer to mine. His eyes were dark with an unknown emotion and his breathing heavy. He licked his lips and bended his head. Our lips separated by just a few inches. He wanted to kiss me, in front of hundreds of students. I should have been ecstatic but that was the last thing I was.

As soon as his face came another inch closer, I gathered up all my courage and rage and slapped him with my free hand, completely shocking him and myself.

"Brush your teeth and then think about it, I don't want to kiss that bitch indirectly. No, in fact I want nothing to do with her, so keep your lips to yourself or stick them to someone else's lips, not mine." I spat angrily and walked away.

I knew what I did was wrong but right. I insulted him in front of so many people, he was sure to hate me now. But I had a valid reason. I wasn't angry that he kissed a girl, we weren't a couple, and I had no right to be angry. I was enraged that he kissed Alicia the same one he thought wasn't better than me. And now he kisses her and then dares to try to kiss me. The balls.

I sighed to myself and sat on an empty bench, repeating the same sentence each second.

I. Don't. Care.

-

§

-

"Janice, go away!" I exclaimed angrily on the phone.

"I am reaching your place in 10." She said, like she never heard the previous sentence and cut the call.

I glared at my phone and threw it back on the bed. I got up from the bed and went to brush my teeth, thinking about yesterday evening. What I had hoped to be one of my best nights had turned to be one of the worst. After the Alicia pool incident, everything went in fast mode. Ace disappeared and I never found Sean, not that I searched for him later, but I didn't see him as I checked the game and food areas. Janice and Brittany kept me company distracting me by telling the faults in the every zone. Logan was somewhere with Marie and Alan was still begging for forgiveness from Celia. Max and Dylan just sat near the pool eating pizza and then disappeared too. Alicia was just embarrassed and ran away home. Good riddance.

Safe enough to say, the evening was pretty boring after it. Janice still thought I was going through a break up phase and called me every hour after I reached home to make sure I was alright. She even asked if I wanted to eat ice creams. Obviously I said yes, who says no to ice creams? But then she even called at night 3 and I promptly switched off my phone.

In the morning she called my house phone which my mom picked up and ordered me to talk to Janice because she didn't want the house phone ringing. I did talk and now she's coming for God knows what.

"Hey bitch." Janice said, opening my door and inviting herself in.

I washed my mouth and wiped it with a napkin. "Why are you here Janice?" I asked, coming out of the washroom.

She fake pouted, "Why can't I be here, aren't I your best friend anymore?"

I rolled my eyes at her drama. "I am fine, you know."

"Of course I know. But you are my favorite bitch to bitch about bitches with." She stated, snuggling into my blanket.

I raised my eyebrows at her. "Which bitch are we bitching about?"

"Why? Alicia of course." She said, grinning at me.

I grinned back, my mood lifting up comparatively. Bitching about bitches always helps.

We all want to talk about someone who is worse than us, just to lift up our self-esteem.

For the next two hours, we bitched about Alicia, made assumptions about Max and Brittany's story, ate breakfast and revived every past happy memory. Actual gossip girls.

At that moment I once again I realized why she is my best friend.

"Where did your mom go?" Janice asked as she made popcorn.

"Some meeting with Dad." I answered, debating on which to movie to see Frozen or How to train your dragon 2. I sighed as I selected Dragon 2, Toothless is too hard to resist.

For a few minutes I heard her low voice, she was probably talking to her mother on phone.

"Joanna, how much do you love me?" She shouted in a sing song voice, coming with the popcorn.

My eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Enough to throw you off a cliff and then write a suicide letter in your handwriting."

She grinned guiltily. "Liar, I know you love me a lot."

"Janice, what did you do?"

She cleared her throat, settling on the chair farthest from me. Oh this is not good!

"So I may or may not have invited Max and Dylan over who may or may not have forced Ace to come as well."

It took me a few seconds to register her words before I blew up. "What the Fuck Janice? After all what happened yesterday, you still invited them? How am I even going to face him? My God he tried to kiss me and I slapped him. I just hope those rumors about him killing people aren't true. Because if they are, I am sure he has already selected a place to bury me."

"Joanna breath. Deep breaths." Janice ordered, stopping my tirade.

I obeyed her and breathed a few times. Breathe in, breathe out.

"It's going to fine. You two have some misunderstandings and I suggest you sort it out. Also if Sean wanted to talk to you he would have messaged you so just forget about him, okay?"

I sighed. "Okay." Okay my foot.

After exactly 10 minutes we heard the bell ring. Janice went to open the door while I tried to calm myself in the kitchen.

"Joey baby!" Max's shout made me chuckle.

"Maxie!" I welcomed back.

He came in the kitchen with a disgusted face. "That's the worst pet name ever."

"Suits you." I teased.

"You know Ace didn't mean to kiss her." Max said, tapping on the table uncomfortably.

"I don't want to know Max." I lied. I wanted to know why he kissed her, but I would rather watch a sad movie ending than admit it.

"You can lie to others but not to yourself Joanna." He scolded, making me scowl. "He was beyond furious when he saw you with Sean and then he saw him holding your hand that added fuel to already raging fire. When you ran off, he punched Sean and walked off to the pool to calm himself. And then Alicia came. You have to understand he wasn't in his right mind when he kissed her. He was angry -."

"Oh he was angry? Damn how did I not figure that out?" I snorted sarcastically.

Max rolled his eyes, ignoring my sarcasm. "Yeah he was enraged, he isn't that stupid to kiss her without a reason." He paused and then added sincerely. "He wouldn't hurt you intentionally."

"Could have fooled me. That piece of burnt marshmallow. I am going to kill him. And I don't care he kissed her and I am not forgetting it for a long long time." I growled, pushing Max away and stormed into the living room. If he was angry he could have told me, not shared saliva's with someone. I don't kiss other people when I'm pissed.

I scanned the room, they were all busy watching the movie I was supposed to see, Logan, Alan and Brittany were there too. When did they come?

"Bryan." I called tersely.

All eyes fell on me expect Bryan's. Oh joy!

"Bryan." I tried again.

This time Dylan punched his arm and whispered something. Slowly Bryan turned to me with an annoyed look. "What?"

"Come out." I ordered, turning to go.

"No." His clipped answer stopped me. I gritted my teeth, resisting the urge to punch him. How many years in jail for murder?

"Shut up and come. Now." I hissed bitterly.

He glowered but got up.

"Horny." Logan snickered. I threw the nearby plastic bottle at him. I basked in his yelp of pain at the bottle hit his head.

"What is it?" Ace asked once we were out and walking towards the park.

I licked my lip wondering what to say. Finally I asked the question that had been troubling me since last evening. "Why were you angry when you saw me with Sean?"

He face turned bitter. "I don't like him."

"But isn't he your step brother?"

He shrugged, "So what? I didn't ask my dad to marry that bitch." His tone turned to distaste at the end, making me wince. Why did he hate his stepmother so much?

"Look how about this, next time you are angry come and tell me that not kiss some girl and prove you are a certified jerk."

His response was a simple grunt. I fisted my hands almost punching him. I instantly regretted calling him to talk. He clearly wasn't interested.

No one spoke anything until we reached the park, mostly because we didn't know what to say. I was way too pissed and he seemed to be in his own arrogant thoughts. The silence just hanged around us as we disappeared in our own thoughts. We walked to the end and sat on a bench.

I cleared my throat, getting his attention. "Why do you hate the female race?" I reluctantly asked, not sure if I would get an answer.

He didn't reply, just when I thought of changing the topic he spoke up. "Don't get too close, I have demons."

I blinked at his somber face, fascinated that he just quoted from a famous song. "We all have."

He sighed. "All the women in my life left me or treated me badly. I grew up hating them. Every time I thought a girl would be different, she would prove me wrong. To protect myself I started to stay away from them."

"Oh."

He chuckled with no emotion. "Oh indeed."

I played with my fingers nervously, staring at the green grass. "Who left you?"

I heard his hesitant sigh. "My real mother." A pause. "When I was six years old she cheated on my father, when he came to know he asked for a divorce. My mother was never the perfect mother, she drank, gambled, did kinky sex with every good-looking guy but she always treated me like a prince. So I always loved her but after the divorce, she cut off all ties form me and dad. I waited, hoping she would come to meet or at least call me on my seventh birthday but she didn't. Every time the bell would ring, I would go to open the door hoping it was my mother or something from her; instead it would be some bills or something for dad. Finally when I was nine, I realized that she would never come back, she was gone for good. That was the first day I cried after she went."

The image of a small hurt crying sex year old Bryan was enough to hurt my heart.

"Unfortunately my dad saw this and came to the conclusion that I needed a mother figure, he married his assistant, Claudia, a gold digger. She was divorced too and had a son of my age. I thought she would be good but I was terribly wrong. After about five months, she started showing her true colors to me. She left her job, saying she had to handle a house and two sons now. All she would do is paint her nails and watch porn while her son playing games on his iPhone while I had to do all the work, one mistake and I would be slapped hard. She broke my dad's favorite vase while attempting to do Harlem shake and blamed me for it. Every bad thing she or Sean did, I would be blamed. It was gruesome. I was slapped, tortured and accused for things I never did. But my dad thought his second wife was some Disney princess, never wrong. Eventually my dad got caught up in his wife's false accusations and threw me out. I was just 14 then. Are you crying?"

I blinked and realized there were a lone tear rolling down my cheek. I coughed abashed at myself. "No! Something went inside my eyes." I answered lamely.

He grinned. "Oh yeah? Should I continue or something more would go in your eye?"

I nodded immediately. "Nah nah continue." This would be the only chance to know him, and he wasn't the one to say life stories everyday.

"After that I started living in the cottage and got involved in drugs and guns. There I met Max and Dylan, there were a part of it too, for their own reasons. After seven months my dad apologized and wanted me to come back with him, I agreed because to be honest I missed him and my home too. But things didn't get well, Sean somehow came to know about my job and told his mother who blackmailed me. I was fed up so I myself went and told dad, it led to another long argument and once again I was on the streets."

I bit my lip, feeling incredibly woeful at the fact that he had no family when he really needed it. At a tender age he was on the streets, facing things no 14 year old should be facing. Verbal accusing at times hurts more than physical. Words are sharper than a sword.

Life has weird ways to testing us.

He continued, "Women are devious, deceitful and fiendish, I grew up thinking it. At sophomore year end, I went back home to concentrate on studies." He gave a dramatic pause. "Remaining later."

"What?" I shouted in dismay. "No no, tell now."

He grinned at me. "Are you enjoying my sob story?"

"No! It's sad but at least I am getting to know you."

His smiled shyly. "You already know quite a lot muffin."

I blinked, momentarily smitten by his rare smile. "I would like to know you better."

"Back at you." He whispered.

Suddenly I noticed the proximity, out thighs were touching and my head was almost on his shoulder, his hand held mine. When did he do that? Or was it me?

"Tell me about your life." His voice distracted me.

I gulped nervously; I couldn't talk about my life. It was melancholic.

"Some other time."

"I am intrigued now." He said in a low voice, staring at me, analyzing me. Trying to read me.

I smiled weakly, "I am not comfortable talking about it."

"Alicia knows it?"

I nodded, "We were good friends in middle school."

His eyebrows rose in shock. "What happened?"

"People change." I shrugged.

7 billion people, 14 billon faces.

I felt my throat clogging at the emotions buried inside me. They wanted to come out but once again I refused. I couldn't allow my wall to break, it would never be made again. I swallowed my tears and the emptiness, forced the rejuvenating memories into a corner. I didn't want to think about old memories and wish that I could change the past. It was over, I had to move on, no matter how difficult it is.

Behind every locked door lies a forbidden secret.

"Hey are you okay?"

I smiled at Bryan ruefully, "I will be." I promise.

I glanced at him. "Bryan not all girls are like that. It's just that bad experience leads to negative thinking."

He smiled back at me. "I don't know about other girls but I know you aren't like that."

I smiled back and rested my head back on his shoulder as we saw the green trees and blooming beautiful flowers as children ran about them, laughing merrily.

And in that moment everything seemed perfect.

~~

Woah! The longest chapter! Phew!

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