I woke up from a bright light hitting me in the face. I slowly opened my eyes, and I noticed I was in an all pink room. I really didn't know where I was for about point five seconds, but I figured it out soon enough. I was in Brooke's room. I really couldn't remember what happened last night and all. I just remember a lot of uh, giggling. And why do I have such a terrible headache all of the sudden? God, stupid wine. Can that stuff seriously give you a hangover? Great.
I looked around, and saw Brooke sprawled out on the floor next to her bed. I wonder if she fell out and didn't even realize it. I got up out of her pink and green bed, and noticed I still had my clothes on from last night. Oh well, I'll change later. I looked at the clock; after all, it is 6 in the morning.
I grabbed my toothbrush from my bag, and padded down the hallway to the bathroom. I flipped the switch on, which I had to shield my eyes quickly, due to the fact my eyes hadn't settled to the light, and because of the hangover. I maneuvered my way around the bathroom with my arm still wrapped around my head, and somehow managed to turn the water on. I began brushing my teeth, until I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I dared not to scream, because I probably would have spewed toothpaste or something.
I spun around on my heals quickly, and saw Derek looking disheveled standing there in his boxers (Oh my god) and a t-shirt.
I realized he interrupted me from brushing my teeth to get my attention, because he did clear his throat. But he wasn't saying anything.
I spit my toothpaste into the sink. "What?" I asked somewhat rudely. It wasn't intentional, but I was kind of pissed for some reason. He wasn't saying anything.
He took a hand to his bed headed hair, and grumbled.
"Huh? Sorry, I can't understand," I said stepping closer to him.
He groaned into his hands. "I have to piss. Get out."
I stood there mortified. My feet were glued to the ground, and I couldn't move.
He looked at me curiously. "Uh, please, get out? I really don't think you need to be witnessing me pissing. Unless you know, you're into that sort of thing. Freak," He laughed at what he had just called me, not because he meant it or was being mean or anything, but because he was referring me starting to hyperventalate. And that only made my headache worse.
"Excuse me? I'm trying to be some-what polite here," He said.
"Don't yell at me," I said, trying to move.
"What? I'm not--" "--Stop!"
I threw my toothbrush into the sink, (Going to clean it up later, thanks) and hauled ass out of there. Hopefully he would go back to sleep and not even remember anything that he had just witnessed.
The next thing I knew when I re-awoke, was that my phone was ringing. I looked over at the clock. "Not again," I muttered. It was 8 now, which meant I only had 2 hours of sleep since my encounter with Derek.
"What?" I huffed into the phone. I didn't even look to see who was calling.
"Ivey! Are you mad at me or something?" It was Michelle. I looked around. Oh shit, I was at Brooke's house. If Michelle ever found out that I was here, she would have a kinipshit and never talk to me again.
"N-No, I'm not."
"Okay, good! Well, my mom and I came back from South Carolina early. I told her how it was my duty as your best friend to be here for you, and it turns out she didn't want to go see my dad's mom anyway. Well, we're back. So I'll be over at like 9, okay?" She's back already?
"No!" I practically shouted. "I mean, you can't." I coughed. "I'm sick. I have the flu or something. You wouldn't want to catch that before school started, would you? I mean, picture this: You catch my rare disease, and then go to school on the first day looking terrible, and everyone would secretly make fun of you behind your back. Do you want that to happen? I don't think so. So you shouldn't come over today, or tomorrow for that matter, okay? Tell me you won't come!" That sounded desperate. And it's probably safe to say I ramble a lot when I'm lying. And I make a lot of excuses. "It's my duty as a best friend not to let that happen to you, right?"
"Okay Ivey, whatever. I won't come over if you're that sick. But there's something else going on, missy, I just know it. And I'll figure it out sooner or later!" I could hear the joking-ness in her voice.
"Hah, yeah. So listen, it's still kinda early, so I need to sleep. You know, to get better and everything."
"Bye."
Click.
"Maaan, you lied straight to her fa-... ear." Brooke said, in a sitting position on the ground smiling at me. "Whatever, she deserved it. You're hanging out with me, not her. She needs to know her place in this world Ivey, and I think you're just the person to show it to her."
What?
"Sorry Brooke, she's my best friend. I'm not going to 'show her her place'."
"Whatever, your loss."
So I really never did explain why Brooke and Michelle were practically sworn enemies. Well, Jake had a "thing" for Michelle last year. I would honestly say that they could have been the perfect couple, if it wasn't for Brooke getting in the way. Their stories are completely different, and I know I should take Michelle's side, but I can't. Michelle says that Brooke broke them up, because she didn't want her brother to be seen with her, and Brooke just says that Jake broke up with her when he found out how big of a loser-dork she actually was.
"So, Ivey, I know you're all B-F-F with Michelle and all, but seriously, you're friends with me now. If you want Derek to fall for you, you need to be hanging out with me and my crowd, the popular crowd, not with people like Michelle. So, try to avoid her as much as possible, okay?"
I was dumbfounded. Is she being completely serious? Michelle's been my best friend since middle school, am I just going to dump her for a guy who probably doesn't even like me?
"Hey Brooke, Ivey, breakfast is gonna be ready soon, okay? Come down in like 5 minutes," Derek said poking his head through the door.
Yes. Yes I am.
"Um… yeah… okay Brooke, whatever you say," I have a really bad feeling about this.
It was finally here; the first day of school. I haven't talked much to Michelle since that night at Brooke's house.
"Sorry Michelle, I've just been really busy and stuff lately. I really have no time to do anything, with anyone. My mom's been on my case lately about school starting up again, and I really need to concentrate on passing junior year. You understand, right?"
Now it was the morning of the first day of school, and I rushed over to Brooke's house so we could get ready together. I'll admit, she's been rubbing off on me a little, much to my animosity.
"Oh my god Ivey, your outfit!" Brooke practically shrieked upon opening her door. Oh no, tell me she hates it. I tried to look as slutty-preppy as I possibly could.
"It's like, so cute!"
I let out the breath I was holding in. That was a good sign.
"I love the skirt, it's so cute," She said again as I walked through the door. I guess if I'm going to be at all like her, then I have to say 'like' and 'cute' a lot. I took a mental note.
"Did you get it from Abercrombie?"
"Yeah, I did," I said. We walked into her brightly colored room, and I sat down on the edge of the bed in front of her mirror. Brooke already had all her make-up put on, and she insisted on doing mine also.
"Ivey, you're like, so pretty. No one ever gets to see that because you're always hanging out with Michelle."
Ouch. That was an unnecessary shot at her. Michelle wasn't by any means ugly. Why was I going along with this again?
...
...
Oh yeah. Derek. Mm-mm. But was one boy really worth giving up my best friend over?
I didn't get to answer myself, because the next thing I heard was, "Oh my god, like, look in the mirror!"
I realized that I hadn't even been paying any attention to what she has been doing to me. I glanced at the clock. I've already been here for a half an hour?
What I saw when I finally got my attention on myself, was beyond belief. I hardly even recognized myself. She actually didn't cake any make up on like I assumed she would. It was very subtle, and it almost looked like it wasn't there, even though it was. And she half straightened, half scrunched my hair, and she made my bangs look more amazing then Michelle could ever dream of doing to it.
"Derek will be all yours in no time," She said giving me a side-ways hug. "Now, let's get to school so I can test out my new creation!" I laughed. Brooke was actually a pretty okay person.
Brooke and I pulled up into the junior parking lot in her new Mustang. I could tell that there was a lot of confused people as they saw me get out of the car with her. I'll say right now, that I was not a loser or anything. If this was Hollywood or something, Brooke would be on the A list, and I on the A-, or B list. Which, I can't really complain about.
"Hey Brooke, nice wheels," A boy said in passing. Brooke flipped her hair, and giggled.
"Maybe I can give you a ride sometime," She said winking. The boy flushed slightly, but soon composed himself.
"Lookin' forward to it, babe."
"So, here's some things you need to know about Derek," She said, pulling out a notepad, completely ignoring the boy, who got the hint and walked away.
I must have been looking at her like she was an idiot, becase when she saw me eye it questionably, she said, "Oh, well if you're going to get him, you need to at least know the basics. I took some notes last night."
I nodded, still confused. "I figure that if you're going to help me get Matt, then I need to give you my full attention in this situation."
Oh shit. I forgot all about Matt. I haven't talked to him since that day when I was at the mall with Michelle.
Speaking of Michelle...
"IVEY!" I heard someone shriek, and a body come flying at me. After I heard a, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" From Brooke, I looked into Michelle's questioned eyes.
"Why are you with her Ive?" She asked sadly. "How do you even know her? You said you couldn't hang out with anyone this summer."
"Uhh... HOLY CRAP!" I screamed, pointing to the sky. "What the hell is that?!" Brooke and Michelle looked into the sky quickly, searching for what caused my sudden outburst. I took the opportunity to run. Well, if you could call practically hopping in a skirt running away. When I was a safe distance away, I looked back to see them both still gazing into the sky.