Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Monday, September 30th 2013

Brooke’s stapler let out a muffled click as she pressed it into the paper, firm against the corkboard underneath. Once she heard the noise, she pulled back and inspected her work to make sure the poster had gone on straight.

Truth be told, she wasn’t entirely sure what she got out of putting up Kari’s posters. It wasn’t like they ran in the same circles or anything, and Kari hadn’t exactly asked either. Still, after her conversation with Kate and Max the day before, Brooke thought she’d feel like a shithead if she just threw them out. It’s not like she had a whole hell of a lot going on between her classes, anyway.

Her reverie was eventually interrupted by a sickly-sweet voice. “Oh, wow. This is new. I can’t say errand girl is a flattering look, but… honestly, it kind of suits you, Scott.”

Brooke slowly turned her head to meet the gaze of Victoria Chase, who was leaning her shoulder into the wall nearby, her arms primly crossed. A smug little smile was worn on her lips, one which Brooke returned with a flat scowl as other students bustled past. Apparently she was without her little helpers today; that, at least, was a mercy.

“Don’t you have something better to be doing, Victoria?” Brooke asked, staring holes into the corkboard as she tried to seem like she didn’t care.

“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” the blonde replied. “That’s a pretty dry well you’re trying to tap there. Amber’s long gone, slutting it up in Hollywood for all we know; the only one who cares anymore is that ratty-ass punk bitch. Does she have dirt on you or something?” Then, with gleeful relish, “Ooh, or maybe she promised you favors?”

“I– what? ” Brooke finally ceased trying to ignore Victoria, her cheeks burning, fixing the other girl with an incredulous glare.

Victoria casually went on, seeming to thrive on Brooke’s discomfort. “I could definitely understand you being tricked by that nice jawline, but I’m almost certain you’d need a rabies shot or something after a tumble with her.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I don’t even like girls.”

“You could’ve fooled me, with the way you act like a white knight for Kate Marsh,” Victoria shot back, her voice dropping a little, unable to disguise her disdain. “Defending her, guarding her room slate, watching out for her on those weirdass bunny walks of hers... It’s either momma hawk behavior or the most retch-inducing, doomed puppy love I’ve ever seen.”

Brooke’s hand slapped against the poster on the wall in agitation as she turned more fully toward Victoria. “Hey, or maybe, just maybe… it’s none of your business, Chase!”

“Hah! Bingo,” Victoria crowed, claiming preemptive victory. “Deflect all you want. It’s just sad is all. I hate seeing such a treasured classmate set herself up for heartbreak once Abstinence Abby finds out what you really are.”

Brooke wasn’t lying. She wasn’t gay – not that there was anything wrong with it – but she still could not account for the small pang of anxiety in her heart at Victoria’s words. Eager to squash it, she rounded on Victoria again, her thoughts darkening. She didn’t normally get aggressive – she didn’t fight back like this, at least – but this bitch had seriously been getting on her nerves lately. “Jealous or something?”

Victoria faked a gag. “Of not having you trailing after me with puppy dog eyes? Fat fucking chance.”

“Of the fact that Kate’s actually a good person. That she’s fun to be around. You know – nothing like you.”

The blonde’s face colored red with anger, and Brooke felt a flash of satisfaction that her return barb landed. If it reminded her at all of how she felt while putting down Max just days before, she certainly wasn’t going to introspect about it.

“That hypocritical, fake pious skank is going to show her true colors someday,” Victoria hissed. “Nobody is that fucking perfect. I’ll be there when you learn that – and I’ll be laughing.”

“Projection much?” Brooke prodded, baring her teeth a bit. “Did it occur to you that not everyone’s as fucking plastic as you are?”

They were standing closer now, and judging by the wild fury in Victoria’s eyes, Brooke was pretty sure she was a second or two from getting herself clawed to death. Then someone cleared their throat nearby, and a second after came Ms. Grant’s voice, elevated in frustration. “Are you ladies quite finished?”

They both took a step back from each other and swiveled their heads Ms. Grant’s way in unison, Brooke’s face abashed, Victoria’s one of pinched frustration. The science teacher had her hands on her hips and was looking between the two of them with a distinctly unimpressed air.

“I’d hope that one of my best pupils would have the good sense to hash out her differences in a quieter and more civil fashion?” she asked rhetorically, Brooke shrinking under her gimlet eye, especially after noticing how some passers-by were staring. Before Victoria could look smug, Ms. Grant turned to her. “And as for you, Ms. Chase, I’m almost certain you are supposed to be in my chem lab right now, not getting into disagreements in the hallway.”

“Sorry,” Brooke mumbled at the same time that Victoria, recovering a bit, chimed, “Sorry, ma’am.” Kiss-ass.

As Brooke watched Ms. Grant lead Victoria away by the shoulder, the blonde cast one last petulant glare over her shoulder. It was almost adorable how frustrated she looked, but Brooke knew better than to smile. She doubted that was the last she’d be hearing from Victoria. Not by a long shot.

The rest of the day was quiet by comparison. Brooke supposed she should have been grateful for as much. The notion of Victoria popping out to give her grief again was far from a fanciful one, though as the hours passed without further encounters with Vortex jerks, she had to acknowledge that the so-called Queen Bee of Blackwell wasn’t eager to do anything that could get her scolded by the staff again so soon.

Despite that small reassurance, Brooke hurried back to the dorms after classes, and was grateful for the occasion of her second-ever book club meeting. Kate’s room was the venue once again; other applicants had continued to prove elusive.

They were already most of the way through Always Coming Home, and had spent a few minutes at the start of the meeting discussing potential options for the next book on the docket. Kate still seemed a little low energy that day, but had perked up a little since the start of the club meeting at least. It was during a lull in the conversation that Brooke finally worked up the courage to ask what had been on her mind for the last day.

“By the way, uh… Is something wrong, Kate? You’ve seemed way out of it since yesterday.”

Kate blinked once and looked up at Brooke. Her eyes, so wide and expressive, often hinted openly at her inner thoughts. Brooke had found as much over the last couple of weeks; for all that Brooke sometimes had trouble maintaining eye contact for extended periods, Kate’s openness and gentleness seemed to make it easier for her.

Currently those eyes were betraying hesitation and worry. Kate was silent for a second, before bobbing her shoulders in a minuscule shrug and telling the truth. “Oh. It was just my mom… and my aunt. They were complaining about Blackwell again.”

“Huh. You didn’t mention your aunt before.”

“My Aunt May,” Kate offered with a small sigh. “She’s a… not very nice person.”

In Kate terms, that might as well have been a four-letter word. Brooke whistled quietly. Kate blushed in embarrassment and went on.

“She’s my dad’s younger sister, but she and my mom are like two peas in a pod. They dig their teeth into the same problems all the time, so – I’ve kind of been getting the complaints in stereo ever since I said I wanted to attend Blackwell.”

Brooke reflected that this wasn’t Kate’s first year at the school. How long had she been putting up with her mom and aunt browbeating her? “Still, I mean, they gave you a hard enough time yesterday to make you head back to Blackwell early…”

“You noticed that?” Kate asked, a bit timid as she plucked at the cuffs of her cardigan sleeves.

“Well, yeah, of course. And – ugh. I know you don’t really need to hear it from me, but you don’t deserve that.”

“They’re just looking out for me the only way they know how,” Kate disagreed, averting her eyes. “I’ll prove them wrong eventually. I’m sure of it. In the meantime, I just need to be patient with them.”

“They don’t treat your sisters like that, do they?”

Kate let out a sigh of relief – and didn’t that speak volumes by itself? “No, thank goodness. There’s a lot of pressure on me as the eldest daughter to be a good example. So I guess I sort of… shield them, in a way.”

Brooke squirmed in discomfort at the way Kate described the situation. She reached out and set her hand on the other girl’s arm. “You shouldn’t have to do all that…”

Kate sat and allowed the contact for a few moments, mind still far away, before gradually withdrawing her arm and offering Brooke yet another smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “... You don’t have to worry for my sake, Brooke. I’ll be fine.”

Brooke withdrew her own hand, suddenly self-conscious of herself in a way she hadn’t been since she met Kate. She doesn’t need a white knight, she mentally scolded herself, before nodding and returning her attention to her book. Brooke would just need to believe that Kate was right.