Brenna didn’t have to work the next day and she enjoyed sleeping in until ten before rolling out of bed and taking a long shower. She took the time to blowdry her hair, something she rarely did because it was quicker and easier to pull it into a ponytail before work.

Her mother had already left for work so she had the house to herself. She put in a load of her laundry and made herself breakfast.

By time it was noon, she was tired of being in the house and found herself wandering outside. She walked through the middle of town and stopped by the bakery to get something to drink. Eventually she walked to the pond just away from all the buildings. She had spent many hours by this pond all through her life, always finding it peaceful and she could clear her mind better there than anywhere else.

When she reached the pond, she sat down on the top of a picnic table, putting her feet on the bench. Leaning forward, she rested her elbows on her knees and propped her chin in her hands. Staring out at the water, she let her thoughts drift.

The past few days had been a blur. Justin being back had changed everything. Even though she had only spent a few afternoons with him, it was easy to see he still had the same personality that he had had when they had been best friends. Once she got talking to him, it was just like they were little kids again. She hadn’t realized just how much she had missed having someone her age to talk to. She loved Lynn and she really was her best friend, but it was just different to talk to someone her own age. Especially someone she had shared a good portion of her childhood with.

Having him around had also made her realize how lonely she was without a best friend her age. She really didn’t have someone she could pull stupid pranks with or stay up all night gossiping. She wouldn’t change her relationship with Lynn for anything but at the same time, she couldn’t help wanting more.

Brenna had been so lost in through that she hadn’t noticed approaching footsteps and she jumped when someone spoke, almost directly in front of her.

“Out here all alone. Surprise, surprise.”

She slowly shut her eyes at Jake Murphy’s voice and swallowed. This wasn’t what she needed right now.

“Why are your eyes shut, Bren? Not happy to see us?”

She opened her eyes and raised her head, realizing Jake wasn’t alone. She lifted her eyes and saw Marty Roberts beside Jake. Jake and Marty were best friends and Brenna hated them both. Jake was the worst to her but Marty wasn’t much better. She just had more history with Jake.

“What do you want?” she asked, looking back out at the pond.

“Ooh, so cold, Bren,” Jake said, sitting beside her on the picnic table. Marty followed suite, sitting on the other side of her. “We just came to hang out. Don’t be so suspicious.”

She rested her chin back in her palms and tried to ignore their presence.

“So I hear Justin’s back in town, hey, Brenna?” Marty asked. “I bet you must be pretty happy about that.”

“Why would I be happy about that?”

“Isn’t he like your only friend?”

“I heard they haven’t talked since he left, Marty,” Jake laughed. “She can’t be friends with him so she’s gotta be friends with his mom!”

Marty started laughing and Brenna felt a lump rising in her throat. Why me? Why do they always have to be like this to me? She swallowed as best she could past the lump and began to rise, planning on just leaving. She had barely lifted off the table when Jake’s heavy hand landed on her shoulder, forcing her back down.

“Why do you always try and run away when I’m around you? You’re just so scared of me, is that it?”

“I’m not scared of you,” she bit out.

“Yeah, you are. It’s kinda obvious.”

Brenna refused to look at him and instead stared down at her hands.

“So you’ve been hanging around with Justin then,” Jake said. “I bet that makes you feel pretty special.”

“Probably whoring it up with him,” Marty laughed.

“No, man. Brenna’s not like that.”

Jake’s almost nice voice caused Brenna to look over at him. Any hope that he was actually being nice was crushed when she saw his smirk.

“Brenna’s about as cold as they come. When we were going out I couldn’t get anything from her. It was like dating a nun or something. Totally worthless.”

Brenna felt tears welling up in her eyes and kept staring at her hands.

“I hooked up with a girl last week in the city who looked like you, Bren. She was a good lay too. I guess we’ll never know if she was better than you. I’m guessing she would be though.”

Marty started laughing and Brenna couldn’t take it anymore. She jumped off the table before either could stop her.

“What is wrong with you?!” she cried at them, a couple tears falling down her cheeks. “Just leave me alone!”

Jake smirked and leaned back on his elbows. “Well that would be no fun, Bren. You keep us entertained.”

She stared at him, her chin trembling. His smirk at her tears was too much to take. “I hate you,” she managed to choke out before turning on her heel and running away from the pond, towards the only place she could go.

* * *

“What’s been happening, man?” Justin asked Trace over the phone as he lay sprawled out on the couch.

“Same shit. Just LA life. You miss it?”

“Not as much as I thought I would. It’s a lot less stressful down here.”

“Plus your mom is totally taking care of you, right?”

Justin rubbed his eyes. “Right. I’m just bored. I want something to do but I have no energy to do anything. It sucks.”

“How long till you’ll have energy?”

“Who knows. Could be a few weeks, could be more. I’m bored though.”

“What do you do all day?”

“Sleep, watch TV. Brenna Michaels has been over a few times.”

“Yeah, didn’t you guys used to be best friends?”

“Yep. She’s different than when we knew her.”

“J, she’s been different for awhile. When I’ve gone back, I’ve met up with her a couple times and she wasn’t the same as when we were kids.”

“Her dad died, hey.”

“Yeah. Awhile ago.”

“Yeah. But she hangs out with my mom so she’s over here a lot, I guess. It’s just different talking to her.”

“Yeah. I think I’ll fly down in like two or three weeks. My mom wanted me back there at some point. Hopefully you’ll be back to normal by then and we can just fly back to LA together.”

“Yeah.” Justin yawned and ran a hand over his face. “I’m tired as shit. I’m gonna sleep.”

“Sure. Call me later.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Justin ended the call and set the cordless phone on the coffee table in front of him. He slouched down further in the couch and closed his eyes. He was just beginning to fall into a light sleep when he heard the front door fly open and slam shut. He opened his eyes just in time to see Brenna walking past the room towards the kitchen, clearly upset. He sat up and listened. He could hear his mom say something and then the sound of Brenna crying and speaking. He couldn’t make out the words and strained harder to hear but all he could really distinguish was Brenna crying.

Frowning, he pushed back the blanket over him and got up. He made his way to the kitchen and found Brenna, with her back to him, hugging Lynn as she cried. He was about to say something when Lynn caught his eye and shook her head. He frowned again when she mouthed, “Go” at him and lifted a hand from around Brenna to wave him off.

With an annoyed sigh, he left the doorway but when he went back to the living room, stayed near the entrance so he could hear. He hated being left out of things and if he could figure out what was going on be eavesdropping, he would.

His plan didn’t work well though. When Brenna did speak, it was all jumbled together and he couldn’t make sense of it. After a few minutes he heard their voices fading before being shut out completely by the patio door closing behind them. He looked back into the kitchen and through the glass door he would see them sitting at the patio table, Brenna with her head in her arms and Lynn beside her, rubbing her back.

What the hell is going on?

He stood there watching them for a few more minutes before slowly headed back to the living room and laying on the couch. He planned to wait there until they came back into the house but he had underestimated how tired he was and when he fell asleep, he didn’t wake up until seven o’clock that night when he heard the front door open. He groaned as he lifted his head to see his mother coming into the house.

“Where’d you go?”

She came into the room and moved his legs over so she could sit on the edge of the couch. “I was walking Brenna home.”

“What was wrong with her?”

Lynn sighed and shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Oh, whatever. Why can’t you just tell me? I won’t say anything to her about it.”

“There’s just some people around here who aren’t nice to her, Justin. They just upset her today.”

“Who?”

“Jake Murphy mostly.”

“What does he do?”

“Jake and his friends just torment her, Justin. They get some sick pleasure out of seeing her hurt and today she got hurt again.”

“Why her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because she’s quiet so she’s an easy target. Jake has been horrible to her ever since he and Brenna broke up.”

“They went out?”

“A couple years ago for a few months.”

“What’d he say to her today?”

“That doesn’t matter. I don’t want you bringing this up while you’re with her, Justin. She doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“I won’t.”

“Good.” She patted his leg and stood up. “I saved some dinner for you. It’s in the fridge if you want it.”

“Maybe later. What time is it?”

“A bit after seven.”

“I was asleep for a while.”

“You were. Feel rested at all?”

“No, not really. But I’m starting to get used to that.”