That Boy by Brooke Bradley (cool books to read txt) 📕

You can't just get all mad when im talking to someone you don't want me to. So chill out and leave me alone. And you and Austin are friends. BEST friends. Why are you pushing him? You two are going to talk and i'm going to class. We can talk at lunch if you really want to, okay?" When I said that last part he relaxed a little. So I turned back to Austin and when he saw me looking at him, his expression softened, and he smiled. I smiled back and walked over.

"Were still on for tonight, right?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course we are. Just because you can fight, doesn't mean I don't like you." i smiled gratefully up at him and Stood up on my tip toes again to give him a kiss before class. Yes we were taking it slow, but I wanted to kiss him. He din't seem to mind. It was a little bit more of a passionate kiss than earlier but who cares? I broke off, smiled, pointed and looked at Drew, and then pointed and looked at Austin, and before I turned to leave for class I simply said,
"Talk." And that was what they did. When lunch time came, I sat at a table by myself. Just a second later Drew appeared at my side.

"Can we talk?" He asked.

"Of course. Sit!" I told him with gesturing hands and a smile on my face.

"So whats up?" I asked deciding to play dumb. Ha.

"I wanted to talk about last night."

"What about it?"

"I really don't like how it went. I was really hoping we could still be friends."

"You know what? Let's just forget it happened."

"Really?" He asked hopefully.

"Yeah! You, Brittany, Austin and I could double! It'll be great." I said excitedly.

"Yeah. Wont that be great." His enthusiasm didn't really match mine. But whatever. And just then Austin showed up.

"Hey bro. Hey babe." Him and Drew did that stupid guy hug/ clap thing and he gave me a peck on the cheek. When we sat down Brittany showed up. Oh, hell. Here we go. In like 3rd grade she decided to give me the nickname "Fatty Maddie" Since my middle name was Madeline and I was a little chubby. Okay I was huge. And I was begging god please don't let her come over here and call me that. And this is what she said.

"Hi honey, hey Austin. What are you doing over here with fatty Maddie? I know she lost all her fat but still." She looked at me and smirked. I was trying so hard to fight back the tears and they all saw it. I had tried so hard to keep that buried down. And I only thought about it when I was working out, I'd repeat fat jokes in my head as I did 50 more Push Ups. I had tried so hard to let the name die down and here it was again. Haunting me.

"Who are you talking about?" Drew asked. I forgot. He was new and hasn't known us since 3rd grade. Oh god. Now she was going to explain it.

"Oh well, Brooke here used to be.. How do I put this? Really fat. And I came up with that cute little nickname. Don't you just love it?" She squealed.

I am honestly so glad I had these guys right here, but right this second I didn't need them. I stood up and gently pushed them back in their seat and turned to face Brittany.

"You know what? Call me what you want. But I am no longer Fatty Maddie. Thanks to you I now have a better body than you. It was your mean and hurtful jokes and comments, that pushed me through. So thank you. And thank you for showing us all that you haven't changed. Your still the hurtful bitch you used to be. Now go and run back to your little posy and gossip and start all the rumors you want about me. I don't care anymore. Now go."

And she was pissed. She stormed off and her little friends went after her. I sunk down into my seat and let one tear fall and then took a deep breath and looked at Drew.

"I changed my mind. I don't want to double with her." We all laughed and Drew assured us that they were done. He still could believe the hateful things that she did to me. I told him it was fine and I was over it. We talked the rest of lunch and then Drew and I hugged, and Austin and I kissed and we were off to class. After school, I met Austin by his car.

"So do you want to come over to my house and hang out until the movie or do you want to have me pick you u around seven?" He asked looping his arm around my shoulders as we leaned against his car.

"Why don't you pick me up at seven. I need to change."

"You could change at my house.." He said and winked as he started walking me to my car.

"Haha you wish." I said and nudged him in the ribs gently. When we got to my car, he opened my door for me. How sweet. I asked if he wanted to come over to my house. He said sure. Austin has been to my house plenty of times for birthday parties and stuff when we were little. So we walked in and went up to my room. When I closed my door and locked it like I always did, I turned around to see him looking at my bulletin board that was still covered with pictures of Drew and I. Just friendly pictures. But still, there had to be thirty of them. They were in kind of in a collage. It was pretty cool. I came up behind Austin and put my head on his shoulder and looked at the pictures with him.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him.

"No, I'm fine." He replied uneasily.

"Wait hold on. Your not, jealous, are you?" I couldn't control my giggles. I threw my head back and laughed until I couldn't breath.

"Hey! I can be jealous! You'd be upset if i had a bunch of pictures of a girl and me in my room. I have every right to be." But even he couldn't suppress his laughter. When we finally stopped laughing, I looked up into his eyes and all I saw was a honest guy. I smiled and stood on my tip toes and kissed him gently on the mouth.

"Babe, you don't need to change. You look great." He called to me.

"Yeah yeah, but this dress is so ITCHY! It's been killing me all day." I complained back to him.

"Just be quick!" He replied nicely.

I looked at all my clothes. I grabbed the skinny jeans that I had that made my legs and my butt look fantastic, and put them on and ditched the dress. I found a light pink tank blouse that had little white flowers on it. It wasn't supposed to be super cold but just in case, I grabbed a white long cardigan and put it on over it. I grabbed a new pair of flats and put them on. I ran to the bathroom before Austin saw me to touch up my hair. We left at 6:45 on the dot. We were taking my car but Austin was driving. He put his hand on my thigh and turned and smiled at me.

"Eyes on the road." I told him jokingly.

"You look beautiful. You did earlier too. I just wanted you to know." He said and blushed and smiled nervously at me.

"Wow. Is Austin Davis, the school player, nervous?!" I laughed a little.

"I am not a player. I have only flirted with a few girls. And it's mostly a joke. The only person that I have ever truly liked, is you." He told me seriously. Before I realized it the car was slowing down. Then we stopped.

"What's going on?" I asked, starting to panic.

"Nothing! Oh you thought- Oh god no. I just wanted us to talk. Nothing more. Were going to talk at dinner, sure, but I just wanted to clear some things up." He told me franticly. Oh god. Overreact much Brooke? Jesus. He probably thinks i'm a freak. Or maybe that's why he wanted to talk. To tell me that I wasn't a freak.. I kept thinking about this until I realized that he was waiting for me to respond.

"That sounds fine to me. You just never know. I've been fooled before. So what do you want to talk about?" I asked. I was silently praying in my head that he wouldn't bring Drew up.

"Do you have feelings for Drew?" He asked cautiously. I totally just jinxed myself. He looked over at me and I faced him straight on.

"No. Were just friends." I lied. I was still getting over Drew. It was only last night that we had had that big fight. I wasn't over him. Yet. And we were just friends.

"Okay. I trust you. You hungry?" I felt so bad for lying. But I had to. Soon it would be the truth.

"Starving. But I have to ask you one thing." I told him slowly. He turned in his seat and faced me, curiosity all over his face.

"Anything." He told me.

"Why did you wait until we were sophomores in high school, to ask me out? Or at least tell me. And why did you finally decide to ask me when I looked like I did?" I asked him seriously. I really wanted to know.

"I was scared. I know that sounds like an excuse, but it's not. I was so scared, Brooke. And I was actually going to ask you out. The day Drew came. But I saw you two together, and I didn't want to ruin it. I had never thought that you felt the same way." He told me.

I honestly couldn't think of anything to say. I leaned over and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. Then I pulled away and took his hand.

"Thank you for being honest with me." I told him. And I really meant it. I grabbed his hand and sat back in my my seat. And then he started driving to the restaurant. When we got there I was a bit relieved that it wasn't super fancy. We walked in and I never could have prepared myself for what I saw when I walked in.