Confident

*

"Brandon!" Brooklyn squealed and ran to her cousin. His eyes widened, but he laughed and caught her as she jumped up and hugged him. "I've missed you!"

"How you doing, Brooklyn?" Brandon chuckled and placed Brooklyn safely back on the floor. "You've grown!"

"Surprisingly, people grow over a period of two years," Brooklyn said cheekily and Brandon rolled his eyes. "Joking. I'm going to grab my bags from the car."

"I got it, B," Brandon said, walking out onto the concrete path and over to the taxi that Brooklyn had arrived in. He easily hauled Brooklyn's bags out and nodded to the taxi driver. "Cheers, mate," he said and Brooklyn took one of the bags from Brandon who was starting to struggle from the weight.

"I'm a big girl, I can carry my own bags, Bran," Brooklyn laughed and followed Brandon into his house. "Where's Lisa and David?" She wondered as they walked down the hallway. Brooklyn scanned the pictures and smiled when she spotted a family photo.

It had been taken years before, back when her parents were happy and could be in a room without arguing. Brandon and Brooklyn were seated on the floor in front of the adults who were all grinning and holding glasses of wine. If it were now, her mother throw the wine at her father and smash the glass over his balding head.

Her parents weren't on speaking terms.

It was why she had moved to stay with her aunt and uncle. The divorce had gotten too messy and Brooklyn moving between her mother and father was apparently too 'stressful' for them. So now she was with her aunt and uncle in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

Brooklyn already found it strange. She couldn't hear the loud hum of city traffic and there was no random person yelling that could be heard.

She was used to city life. Business and chaos.

Not... Peace.

"Brooke?" Brandon said loudly, snapping his fingers in front of Brooklyn's face. "You listening?"

"Oh, gosh, sorry," Brooklyn apologised and grinned sheepishly. "I completely zoned, what were you saying?"

"I was just saying that mum and dad are at work, but they'll be home later," he chuckled and shook his head. "What were you thinking about?" He questioned as they headed up the stairs.

"How different this place is to home," Brooklyn mused. "It's going to be weird not being woken up by car horns."

"I can come and yell in your ear if you want," Brandon grinned and Brooklyn rolled her eyes.

"I will beat you with my shoe if you do," she said and Brandon laughed, kicking a door open with his foot.

"Home sweet home!" He announced and dropped Brooklyn's bags to the floor.

"Home," Brooklyn repeated and sighed. "Home."

*

"Auntie Lisa! Uncle David!" Brooklyn exclaimed and jumped up from her bed and hugged her aunt and uncle. "How are you?"

"Oh, Brooke, dear, you've grown into such a beautiful young woman!" Her aunt, Lisa, gushed, admiring her niece with adoration. "I'm wonderful dear, now you're here."

"Thanks, Lisa," Brooklyn said, blushing from the compliment.

"Brooklyn, it's a pleasure to have you staying with us," her uncle, David, said and ruffled Brooklyn's curly blonde hair.

"Thanks for letting me stay," Brooklyn said sincerely. "Mum and dad are driving each other mental."

"Tell us something we don't know," David muttered and shook his head. "I've never seen a more stressful divorce."

"It's been crazy, but I am glad I'm away from them," Brooklyn shrugged.

"I'm glad you're with us," Lisa smiled. "I'm going to start dinner, it should be ready within the hour."

"Okay," Brooklyn nodded and made her way back over to her bed where a magazine was laying.

"Oh, Brooklyn, I almost forgot; school starts tomorrow."

*

"It's... Cute?" Brooklyn desperately searched for a nice word to describe the bricked building in front of her.

"It's a shit hole," Brandon laughed, looking at the school building.

"It's different to the city," she said and grabbed her bag from the backseat of Brandon's car. "Can you show me to the reception?"

"Sure, I'm not going to ditch you and let you get lost, B," Brandon chuckled and climbed out of his car, Brooklyn followed close behind.

"There's a lot of people," Brooklyn observed, her eyes quickly scanning over the masses of students that crowded around cars in the car park. "I thought this town was small."

"It is. Everyone knows each other," Brandon shrugged and started walking towards the school steps.

Brooklyn caught up with him and looked around as she walked. Many eyes were on her, but she wasn't bothered. She was rather good at dealing with confrontation and attention, being the new girl didn't bother her. "The reception isn't hard to get to," Brandon said when they entered the school. "You literally turn left, then right and it's at the end of the corridor."

They turned left and right, and within seconds Brooklyn was standing behind a desk, looking down at a middle aged woman who was typing on a computer.

"Hi," Brooklyn said, gaining the woman's attention. "I'm Brooklyn Fox, a new student."

"Brooklyn," the woman repeated. She frowned for a few seconds before she gasped and nodded. "Brooklyn yes," the woman said and shuffled through a pile of papers. "Welcome to Ridgewood High. Here is your timetable, your locker combination and a map of the school." Brooklyn took the paper she was handed and smiled.

"Thank you," she said and looked down at her timetable, briefly scanning it.

"What lesson do you have first?" Brandon wondered, peering over Brooklyn's shoulder. "History," he said and nodded. "You're with me."

"Great, at least I'll know someone," Brooklyn smiled. "Can you show me how to get to my locker before class?"

"Sure," Brandon nodded and Brooklyn thanked the receptionist once more before walking out of the reception and back into the slowly filling school hallways. "What's your locker number?"

"Um..." Brooklyn looked at the paper and looked for the number. "A23."

"That's right by the entrance," Brandon said, taking Brooklyn towards the entrance of the school. He stopped by a locker and Brooklyn grinned.

"Thanks, Bran. I don't know what I'd do without you, you know how bad I am at directions. I would be so confused right now," Brooklyn said and Brandon laughed.

"The school usually supply books, you should check inside your locker," Brandon said and Brooklyn nodded, entering the combination that was on her piece of paper.

Brooklyn looked at the neat stack of books that were waiting for her and put them in her bag just as a girl opened the locker next to her. The brown haired girl looked Brooklyn up and down and frowned. "Are you new?"

"Yeah, I'm Brooklyn," Brooklyn said, smiling at the girl.

"I didn't think I recognised you," the girl said and smiled back. "I'm Sasha." Sasha looked and Brandon and back to Brooklyn. "You make friends easily."

"Oh, Brandon's my cousin," Brooklyn said. "I'm staying with my aunt and uncle."

"Cousin? At least you know someone, this school is extremely clique-y," Sasha said and rolled her eyes. "It's so stereotypical it really pees me off. You don't want to get in with the wrong crowd."

"What do you mean?"

Sasha nodded to a group of girls crowded round a locker and scrunched her nose up in disgust. "If it was any hotter their makeup would be pouring down their faces. I want to puke at the sight of them."

Brooklyn laughed. "I'm sure they're not that bad," she said optimistically, but her face dropped when she noticed the slutty cheerleader uniforms and bad bleach jobs.

"B, I'm need to check on something, I'll see you in class," Brandon said and walked off before Brooklyn could ask how to get to her class.

"What a great cousin, he ditches you with the first stranger you meet," Sasha said sarcastically. "What if I was an evil barbie?" She said dramatically.

"I don't want to know what would happen if they got their claws into me," Brooklyn admitted and grinned sheepishly. "Am I mean for judging them so quickly?"

"Not at all," Sasha laughed. "They are bitches, trust me. You don't want to be in that 'clique'."

"I'll take your word for it," Brooklyn nodded and looked down at her timetable. "Hey, can you help me find my lesson, since Brandon ditched me?"

"Course, what have you got?" Sasha wondered and looked at Brooklyn's timetable. "History, I have the same lesson, let's go!" She said happily and turned on her heel and started walking down the busy corridor with Brooklyn.

Brooklyn studied Sasha as they walked. She was pretty, with short brown hair and a doll like face. She seemed rather confident and didn't look like she would take shit from anyone. She was nice enough to help the random new girl, that earned her a tick in Brooklyn's books.

"What's up, bitch?" Sasha said casually as they walked into a half filled classroom. Sasha grinned at a girl with ginger hair who waved.

"Hey, slut," the ginger said and looked at Brooklyn curiously.

"Alice, this is Brooklyn; she's new," Sasha said and Alice smiled.

"Hi, I'm Alice," Alice said and gestured to a seat next to her. Brooklyn smiled at sat down next to Sasha and Alice.

"Oh wait, what about your cousin?" Sasha said and frowned.

"He ditched me first," Brooklyn said and Sasha laughed.

"Cousin?" Alice questioned.

"Brandon, he's in this class," Sasha said.

"Brandon? You two are cousins?" Alice said.

"Yeah, I'm living with him," Brooklyn nodded.

"Cool," Alice nodded. "So why did you come to this little old town?"

"My parents are getting divorced and it's getting ugly, so they sent me to stay with my aunt and uncle," Brooklyn explained.

"Oh, sorry," Alice frowned.

"It's alright, it's been going on for ages. It doesn't bother me anymore," Brooklyn shrugged.

"My parents split up a few years ago, I know how horrible it can get," Sasha said and sighed. "I nearly moved continents, but I decided to stay with my dad here."

"And I am extremely thankful for that," Alice grinned. "I need you to keep me sane. If you had left me to deal with my brother alone, I might've killed myself."

"She's being dramatic," Sasha said to Brooklyn and laughed. "She has a twin and they argue all the time. It's rather amusing to watch."

"Amusing?" Alice gasped. "He put hair dye in my shampoo and made my hair go green! I had to walk around school with green hair for a week!" Brooklyn bit her lip and pictured Alice with green hair. She couldn't help but laugh and Alice pouted. "It wasn't funny!"

"It was hilarious!" Sasha exclaimed and laughed. "You got him back, though!"

"What did you do?" Brooklyn asked and Alice grinned.

"Filled his locker with fish guts," she shrugged and smirked. "He was not happy."

"He went mental," Sasha giggled. "He stormed into class, his face was bright red from anger and he threw a fish head at Alice. It was classic!"

"And he got suspended," Alice grinned.

"Suspended, why?"

"He threw a fish at the teacher because she told him off for throwing one at me," Alice chuckled. "He's an idiot."

"This school sounds mental," Brooklyn laughed.

"As long as you don't get in with the wrong crowd it's pretty decent," Alice shrugged.

"Yeah, Sasha pointed out the cheerleaders," Brooklyn said.

"Oh, stay away from them, but I wasn't talking about them."

"Then who else should I stay away from?"

"My brother's friends," Alice said seriously and Sasha nodded.

"Why?"

"They aren't the friendliest bunch," Alice said and pursed her lips. "They are the bane of this school. Basically everyone is scared of them and if you get on their bad list... Your high school experience will be ruined."

"They can't be that bad," Brooklyn said disbelievingly.

"They are. The leader, Greyson, once beat a guy up for stepping on his toe," Sasha said. "I hate the lot of them, no offence Alice, but even your brother."

"I hate him," Alice laughed. "My brother is the twat of the group, he's Kal. Ace is the sensible one, he stops the others from doing something crazy and is probably the nicest, Greyson is the leader and is probably the scariest, but Harry is also really scary because he has the whole 'dark and mysterious' vibe."