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its_me_kimmy · 03:20 PM

Jenny walked up to Brandon with hopeful eyes, twisting her fingers here and there, something she did often when nervous. "H-hey Brandon," she smiled at him, looking into his eyes.
"Oh, hi Jen!" He smiled back at her and took her hand, although they weren't dating.
"So..." Jenny started. "Om, the, om.." She cleared her throat silently. "The school dance is in a couple of days." There was a long pause and Brandon's eyes widened.
"Oh yea, huh?" Brandon replied, looking off into the sky. There was an even longer pause as Jenny waited for the question she was hoping she wouldn’t have to ask.
"Is- something wrong?" She changed the question at the last second, too afraid to ask the other one lingering in her mind.
"Kinda." Brandon said in a flat tone.
"Oh, well, do you want to talk about it?" Jenny asked, trying to read Brandon's expression.
"Not really." Brandon looked down at Jenny and she quickly looked away, blushing cherry red. Brandon sighed.
"Look, i need to go. I'll see you in second hour." He took his hand out of Jenny's and walked away, something he rarely did. She stood there for what seemed like forever, her hand still frozen by her side.

The bell ran sometime after Brandon left, but Jenny was oblivious to it. Another unmeasured time after, a teacher touched Jenny's shoulder and Jenny whipped around, hoping it was Brandon, but when she saw it was only a teacher she sighed.
"You need to get to class young lady, its already almost time for second hour." Jenny just stared at the teacher. Finally she shook her head slightly, coming out of her daze, and analyzed the teacher's words.
"Yes ma'am!" She picked up her backpack and ran to her second hour as fast as her legs would take her.
When Jenny finally got to second hour, Brandon was already sitting in his usual seat. Jenny sighed with relief; at least this hadn't changed. She walked over to her seat next to Brandon and sat down.
"Hey" she said, trying to sound as normal as possible. Brandon kept starting at the white board.
"Hi." Jenny turned her head slightly to the side as Brandon's words came out with little life to them.
"What's bothering you? You know you can tell me, I'm your best friend. We have been forever." She kept staring at Brandon.
"I told you I don’t want to talk about it." He said in an icy tone. Just then the teacher walked into the classroom and yelled at the class to quiet down. 'I guess I'll have to wait till lunch to get the answer out of him', she thought.
Second hour passed slowly, just as third. When the bell rang, Jenny was the first out the door. When she came to a stop at the lunch room, Brandon was sitting next to Ginger, the popular girl. Brandon and Jenny hadn't ever been big fans of the popular group; although Brandon could have joined "the dark side" anytime he wanted. Jenny would never be so 'blessed'. She'd never been a popular girl and never wanted to be.
When her eyes set on Brandon at the popular table, next to Ginger, of all people, her heart broke into a million pieces. She'd always had a feeling this day would come, but as Jenny and Brandon grew closer and closer every day, she didn’t expect it to be anytime soon.
Brandon turned his head then, and looked Jenny flat in the eye. A flash of something crossed his face, pain maybe? Right when Brandon was about to, what looked like, get up and come over to Jenny, Ginger grabbed Brandon’s hand. She pressed it to her face softly, in an angelic way. 'Why did she have to be so perfect?' Jenny thought. Not even a second after she thought that, she processed what just happened. Ginger had Brandon's hand on her face! Her face!! In a loving way! Like a girlfriend? When did they start dating? When did Brandon even start liking her? Even just a little?? Jenny was so confused. She looked from Ginger to Brandon, Ginger to Brandon. Her eyes finally stopped on Brandon, tears about to fall out.
"How could you?" Jenny mouthed to him, and then ran out of the cafeteria, the tears flowing down her face.

Jenny ran as fast as her weak legs would take her, down the hall, and didn’t look back or stop running; for fear that Brandon might be following her. She ran straight to the girls’ bathroom and closed the door quickly. She slid down, her back on the door, and sat down on the bathroom floor. She soon heard a ‘Bang!’ on the door and screamed.
“Jen, it’s me! Please open up!” Brandon’s voice echoed through the bathroom, and tears welled in Jenny’s eyes again. She sat there speechless as more bangs came.
“Jenny, please. I’m sorry.” Brandon spoke again, this time, in a softer tone. ‘Brandon never calls me Jenny.’ She thought, the tears lingering in her eyes. She sat there for a minute, waiting for the bangs to come again, but all she heard was Brandon’s deep, staggered, breathing. She soon stood up and opened the door.
“Why?” Jenny asked, looking at Brandon, then looking down at his shoes. They stood there in silence for a while, but finally Brandon answered in a whisper.
“I- I don’t know.” Jenny could feel his gaze on her, so she kept staring at the floor.
“You’re going to have to give me a better reason than “I don’t know”.” They stood there again, in silence, for a long while. Brandon finally cleared his throat.
“Well, it’s just...” His voice trailed off as someone approached us. I turned to see that it was Ms. Perfect herself. ‘Oh great! What’s she doing here?’ Jenny thought. She sighed and turned to walk back into the bathroom, until Brandon grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
“Don’t leave.” He whispered in her ear, and then let her hand go and put his arm around the back of her neck. “Hey Ginger.” Brandon said, slapping on a happy face.
“Hey sugar plum!” Ginger said in an acid tone, staring at Jenny with evil witch eyes.
Jenny looked at Brandon with wide eyes. “What did she just call you?"

Brandon's jaw tightened and he spoke lightly from the side of his mouth. "Nothing, I'll tell you later." He smiled as best as he could to Ginger and pulled Jenny closer to him.
"Where did you go lollipop? I was looking all over for you." Ginger's lips slipped into a slight pout as she looked at Brandon with puppy dog eyes. Jenny tried hard to not roll her eyes. 'She couldn't be serious. Lollipop? Really? Dear god.' Jenny shook her head as she thought.
"Look, this is a bad time Ginger. Could we talk later?" Brandon asked in a serious tone. Ginger just looked Brandon and me over.
"Later huh?" She asked in her stupid squeaky voice. "Sure sure; as long as Jenny can keep her hands to herself and not all over my honey pie." There seemed to be a threat hidden someone in her voice, but Jenny couldn't quite detect it.
Brandon didn't speak, but his mouth moved slightly and Jenny only caught part of it. He seemed to say 'Don't push it', but Jenny couldn't be sure; and even if that was what he said, she had no clue what it meant. Ginger just snuffed, flipped her hair, and walked away in her usual snooty way.
Once she turned the corner Brandon turned to Jenny and looked into her eyes. "I need to tell you this before she ruins it."
"Ruins what?" Jenny asked, confused as always.
"Shh. Please let me talk." He put his index finger on her lips gently and began to speak again. "You are so special to me; you don't even know how much I care about you." He spoke quickly, as if he were afraid the world might end before he could get this last sentence out.
"Care about me?" Jenny whispered, but Brandon paid no mind to it.
"Jenny, listen closely, because I don't know if I can ever see you again. You hear me? Listen." Jenny's eyes widened as she tried to complain, but her voice was gone, locked away somewhere inside her and she couldn't find the key. Brandon lowered his voice and spoke slowly now. "Jenny, I love you."

****

Jenny smiled as she knocked on Brandon's door gently. She stepped back, her cute little 12-year-old skirt bouncing up as she did so. She giggled and pulled it down quickly before Brandon opened the door. Jenny blushed a cherry red as Brandon examined her skirt. "Sense when do you wear skirts?" Brandon asked her, still looking it over, staring at the pink butterflies that flew all over the plaid print.
"Sense I found this one," Jenny twirled around then stopped in front of Brandon, just as she had been earlier. "And the butterflies are just too cute!" Jenny smiled and looked over her skirt.
"Well, it's uh.." Brandon paused and searched for the right word. "Om, cute." He looked up at Jenny and smiled his usual perfect-teeth smile. Jenny slowly ran her tongue over her own jagged teeth. Her eyes flew up to Brandon's, feeling his eyes still on her.
"Oh, thank you!" Jenny smiled, no teeth showing. They stood there for what seemed like an hour, just looking into each other’s eyes, when Brandon's mom called from inside. "Are you just going to stand there all day in the hot sun or invite her in?!?" She exclaimed from the kitchen.
"I'm letting her in now ma'!" He called after her, putting emphasis on the word ma'. Brandon suddenly stepped back and motioned for Jenny to come inside. Jenny walked into the too familiar house and waiting for the usual calling that was soon to come. "Bree! Jenny is here!" Brandon called after his twin sister. He looked over at Jenny and smiled again. "She'll be right down, I'm thinking." All Jenny could do was nod as her voice caught in her throat.
"Wow! You're already here? You're a speedy little chick now aren't you?" Bree giggled as she came down the stairs slowly. She always acted like Jenny was her little sister, though they were the same age. Jenny couldn't help but giggle back as she skipped to the stairs to meet her. Bree looked over at Brandon and waved. "See ya' Brandon. We're going upstairs to do each other’s hair." Jenny's eyes widened as her hand flew up to her plain-Jane hair.
"My hair?" Jenny squeaked out. No way would Bree be touching her hair! Bree smiled and winked at Brandon, then took Jenny's hand and dragged her upstairs.

"You're done! Aww, you look so cute!" Jenny was afraid to open her eyes as Bree set down her brush and blow-dryer. "Well common' now, open your eyes." Bree tapped on Jenny's shoulder when her eyes didn't open. "Fine, be that way. I'll just have to go get Brandon and tell him to convince you to open your eyes." You could hear the smile in Bree's voice, knowing Jenny wasn't good with boys.
"NO NO!!" Jenny's eyes flew open, but Bree was already gone downstairs. "Oh no..." Jenny whispered under her breath as she closed her eyes again. Suddenly, Jenny could hear footsteps coming closer to her and she blushed again. 'Why does she always do this?' Jenny sighed and opened her eyes. She saw Brandon standing in front of her with the biggest grin on his face. Jenny quickly closed her eyes, knowing that she looked like the biggest dork ever with her 'new' hairstyle. Jenny slightly peeked around the room for Bree, but she was nowhere in sight. 'Bree, if you can read minds, just know; you're dead meat.' Jenny squeezed her eyes shut when she heard Brandon's feet move. "I know I look silly, you don't have to say it," Jenny said softly, but there was no reply. Maybe he left? Jenny opened her eyes slowly and saw Brandon right in front of her face.
"You don't look silly at all. You look cute." He smiled his perfect smile and Jenny almost gasped.
"Oh, om, thank you?" Jenny looked down, feeling the butterflies from her skirt fly into her stomach.
"I'm just telling the truth," he explained, then kissed her cheek gently. Jenny's mind got lost somewhere, thinking only about how soft his lips were against her skin. "Om, I'll see you at school tomorrow," He said suddenly, then got up as if he'd been caught doing something very wrong. He ducked out of the room as Bree cleared her throat and glared at Jenny.
"What was that about?" Jenny could only shake her head.
"Om, I gatta go. There is some homework I forgot to do for this class, and, yeah...” She picked up her bag and darted for the door. Her hand touched the knob when she heard Bree call, "You better explain that at school tomorrow." Jenny just nodded and left the house as quickly as she could.
That was the day she decided she would always like Brandon, and the last day she was friends with Bree.

****

Jenny came back to reality with a shake of the head; but that was many years ago years ago, five to be exact, and her hopes for ever being with Brandon diminished over the days. Though today her heart pounded with hope as those words came out of Brandon's angelic mouth. 'I love you', Jenny replayed those words over and over in her mind, lost in Brandon's eyes.

"Jenny! Jenny?" Brandon lightly gripped the sides of Jenny's shoulders and shook her. "Jenny are you ok?" The sound of Brandon's voice only threw Jenny further into oblivon. There was no concern in Brandon's voice when Jenny hear it, only his normal, happy tone. Jenny lightly blushed and looked at the floor.
"Do you really mean that Brandon?" Jenny's tone was soft, each word slipping out of her mouth slowly. Brandon sighed and Jenny looked up to examine his expression.
"I am afraid so..." He sighed again and looked away from Jenny.
"Afraid so? Is being in love with me a bad thing?" Jenny didn't know what to think, her thoughts were so jumbled up right now that she had a head ache.
"Yes, it is.." Jenny's jaw almost dropped down as a silent tear slid down her cheek.

"Wha- what do you mean? Why is it a bad thing?! We have been friends forever! Why can't you love me? Why is it so bad?" Tears were flowing down Jenny's face one at a time, each one going down her cheek and dropping to the floor from her chin. Jenny couldn't believe what she had just heard, she just couldn't!
"Look Jenny, you are great and all, but I just can't do this. There are things in my life that you can't handle and that I won't make you handle," Brandon took Jenny's hand and kissed it lightly. "You will find better. Now this is all the time I have left. I must go now. Remember to be careful," before Brandon let go of Jenny's hand, he planted a soft, warm kiss on her cheek, then turned to walk away.
"You can't!" Jenny called after, but Brandon just kept walking. What was she going to do?! How was she going to stop him before he left? Before Jenny could even think of what she was doing, she ran after Brandon and hugged him, not letting go; there was no way she would let go, never. Jenny could feel Brandon sigh as he picked her slightly up off the ground and turned her to face him.
"Jen-," again, before thinking, Jenny kissed Brandon. She didn't care what he thought of her after all of this or if he never wanted to talk to her again, at least she tried. Another sigh came from Brandon and he pushed her away.
"Jenny, what did I say?" He looked at her as if he were her father and scolding her for the first time. "I can't do this Jenny, I can't be with you. As much as I would like too, it seems impossible. I need to go, to change what I am, then some day I might come back," Brandon was looking out of the window, seeming to be talking more to himself than to Jenny.
There was silence for a while, then a small, "Why?" Jenny could finally speak again, the lump in her throat gone.
Brandon shook his head, looking at her like it was common sense to know why. "Jenny, I can't say anything more. I need to go!" Brandon set Jenny down and walked away. What was Jenny supposed to do now? What would make him turn around? What would tear at his heart more than anything? Jenny had to hurt him to get him to come back.
Tears rolled down her face quickly, mostely for the act. "I hate you Brandon! You are the worst thing that has ever happened to me! I hope you never come back ever! I NEVER LOVED YOU!" She cried, her voice echoing through the hallway.

What do you think?
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