Page 33 of The Silent Waters (Elements 3)

“Hey, Brooks,” she said. “How are you?”

She kept twirling her hair, and I kept rolling my eyes. Brooks glanced toward her and smiled before turning back to his notebook. “Good, Cheryl. How are you?”

She hopped up on the dining room table then pushed her boobs together, pressing her elbows against them.

“I’m doing okay. Jordan broke up with me today.”

Really? He broke up with you? That’s not what I heard…

“Oh yeah?” he replied politely, hardly interested. “Sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah. Rumor has it, you broke up with Lacey.” She frowned, dramatically of course. “Or, well, she broke up with you. That sucks.”

Brooks shrugged. “It happens, I guess.”

“Yeah, it’s just sucky because I was supposed to go to prom with him, seeing as how he’s a senior. I already bought my dress.”

“I don’t have a date!” Rudolph shouted.

“Me neither!” Oliver jumped in.

“But you two don’t already have tuxedos. I know Calvin went with Brooks to buy theirs… Oh! I have an idea!” Cheryl shouted, clapping her hands together.

Oh no.

“How about you and me go together, Brooks? We could go as friends, ya know? It doesn’t make sense for us to both miss the event, right?”

Brooks hesitated, because he was kind. He didn’t want to embarrass Cheryl in front of everyone, and Cheryl knew that, too. That was probably why she’d asked him in front of the group.

“Don’t you think that’s a great idea, Maggie?” Cheryl said, shooting a warning glare at me before turning back to Brooks with a sugary sweet voice. “Maggie was the one who was there for me after the breakup today. She knew how big of a deal prom was to me, too. We’ve been talking about it for weeks.”

No, we hadn’t. I hadn’t even known my sister was going to prom until moments before her ex-boyfriend hit her.

I shut my eyes for a beat.

Shh…

“Well…” Brooks’ voice cracked and I opened my eyes. He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced my way, his eyes begging for help, but what could I say?

Nothing.

“I guess that could be cool, just going as friends.”

It amazed me how a heart could shatter in a crowded room and the sound couldn’t be heard by a single person.

I hated everything about prom—the dresses, the slow dancing, the flowers. I hated how artificial and cliché it all appeared, how fake it seemed, but mostly I hated the fact that I’d never be able to attend a prom because I was homeschooled. I also hated the fact that Cheryl was only a junior this year and was attending her second senior prom.

“I mean, it’s not like you could go with him anyway, and it doesn’t make sense for him to go by himself, ya know?” Cheryl snapped her gum over and over again as she stood in front of my vanity, applying her fifteenth layer of candy apple red lipstick. I sat on my bed with a book against my chest, listening to my sister talk my ear off.

She wiped off the red lipstick and then applied a deep purple shade. When she finished, she smiled at herself, as if she was so proud of her beauty—as if it was her own doing and not just genetics. Her long gold dress sparkled every time she swung her hips, which she did often. “Plus”—she smirked wickedly—“I think he has a crush on me.”

I snickered to myself.

No, he doesn’t.

She whipped herself around to face me and pushed her lips together. “What do you think? This color? Or the red?” She frowned. “I don’t even know why I’m asking. You know nothing about makeup. Maybe you’d know more if your face wasn’t always in a book.” She hurried over to me and sat down on the bed. I held my book closer to my chest, but she snatched it out of my hand and tossed it to the floor.

Oh my gosh. That had to be some form of abuse, didn’t it? She had literally bruised and battered dozens of characters—dozens of my friends. Snatching the book from my grip was rude, but throwing it was reason enough for a termination of our family ties.