VIII

Jerome and I walk out of the café and his chauffer opens the door for us. "Jerome, can you drop me back to school please? I have soccer practice," I request. He nods and tells his driver to drive us back to school.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Jerome asks as I get down from the car. I shake my head and smile. "I'm sure you have better things to do. Besides, Eddie and Aiden will be here so I'll be okay."

"Okay. Have fun," and he drives away. I walk over to the school door and I suddenly hear footsteps behind me. I turn around and see no one there. Okay not creepy at all. I walk inside and the further I walk, the more I could feel someone's presence. I look behind me again and the feeling of someone looking at me disappears. Calm down Lorelai. Ghosts aren't real. No need to be afraid. Suddenly I hear books falling down and I quickly sprint to the soccer field. I open the door and I run over to Eddie and knock him down to the ground. Everyone starts crowding around us as I hug Eddie tightly. "Hey Corbyn, look. Eddie didn't even have to do much and he has already stolen your girl," comments Rayner, another member of the team. "Screw you Rayner," Corbyn cusses. Eddie places his hand on my head and asks me, "Sweetie, is everything alright?" I push myself off of him and I sit down. "I know this is going to sound weird but, is the school haunted?" I ask. The boys look at each other and start laughing. "I'm serious! When I was walking through the hallway, I could feel someone watching me and I started hearing footsteps," I explain. The boys laugh even harder. I roll my eyes and stand up. "Thanks for making me feel even more of an idiot." I walk away as the boys call out to me asking me to come back. I shake my head and I see Aiden walking out from the locker room, heading over to the team. "Hey Peaches, what's wrong?" He asks as we cross paths. I stay silent and make my way to the locker room. I open the door and the stench of sweaty teenage boys fill my nose. I gag and quickly cover my nose. Boys are disgusting.

I look around for an empty locker and on searching, I see a pretty door towards the end of the room designed with paintings and stickers and on the door, my name was written in bold. I make my way over and I see a note hanging on the doorknob. In it wrote :

Let this be a gift from the team to you. As the only girl in the team, you deserve to have your own personal privacy. Well, that and because Aiden and Eddie threatened to gouge out our eyes if we ever try to see you naked. Anyway, we hope you'll be happy with our small surprise and that you'll be a great addition to the family.

Coach and the boys.

I smile and grab the doorknob and open it. On opening, I see a shelf filled with a variety of soaps, countless bottles of my favourite shampoo and conditioner, a basket filled with colourful towels, a fancy table with creams and and hand-wash and a drawer of all the basic necessities. "Do you like it?" I jump in terror and I turn around and see Elian standing by the door. "Elian, you scared me." He smiles and makes his way over to me. "Like is an understatement. I love it. Whose idea was this?"

"Aiden's. Eddie agreed to it too and whatever the captain says, we must follow."

"When did you guys do this?"

"Those past few days when you didn't come to practice. Jerome was kind enough to sponsor for it all." I look at him and smile. "Thank you. This means a lot to me." He smiles and pulls me out of the room and I see the entire group gathered around, smiling jubilantly and they scream, "Surprise! Did you like it?" I laugh and nod and they go wild. "She likes it!" And they make their way over to me and hug me. "Okay that's enough. You guys stink too much." They let go of me and Eddie grabs my hand and says, "Okay Lore. Time to make things official."

Jared and Wilson carry me on their shoulders and lead me to the school hall as the rest follows. They put me down and everyone stands in a straight horizontal line behind me. Eddie then walks up to me with a chalice in his hand and says, "Lorelai Dixon, do you promise to pledge your allegiance and remain forever loyal to the team and try your hardest to make your fellow members proud?"

"I do."

"Then drink the blood of your brothers to become one with them!"

"I'm sorry, what now?"

"Don't worry, it's just cranberry juice."

"Oh okay." I take the chalice from him and I take one gulp and the boys roar. "You're finally one of us," says Eddie. The boys then swoop in and carry me up in the air. I laugh and after a brief moment of celebration, I remember my other plans for the day. Shit. Braden. I ask the boys to let me down and I run to the school gate. I see Braden anxiously waiting for me. "Hi, I'm so sorry I'm late. I got caught up with the team," I apologise. "No worries. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." He hands me a helmet and gets on his bike. My face wears a shocked countenance and he asks me, "What's wrong?"

"You have a black 1299 Panigale. I must say, your bike is sexy." He laughs. "You know about bikes?" I shake my head. "Not really. Just a few." I give him the location of my house as I put on my helmet and get on his bike and he drives us over to my place.

When we get there, I see my mother looking out the window. Oh dear. "Hey, I'm going to go get things ready first so I'll go on ahead." He nods and I run to the back of the house and I rush inside. I see my mother sitting on the couch, seeming as if she is about to tear me to pieces. "What is the meaning of this?" She asks rudely. "Mom, it's not what you think. Our teacher gave us an assignment and we have to do it together. That's all there is to it," I explain.

"So you expect me to believe you after seeing you hugging him so tightly on the back of his bike like some call girl?"

"Mom! I am not his call girl!"

"Doesn't seem that way to me." She lets out a sigh and says, "Does not matter. Today will be the last time I shall see you with that boy. You will finish your work and that is it."

"You need to stop being so paranoid."

"Are you talking back to me?"

I sigh. "I don't have time for this," and I walk over to the door and open it and Braden walks in. He walks over to my mother and greets her. "Hello Mrs. Dixon. I apologise for coming over without a warning."

"No no, it's alright." Mother gives him a fake smile. Braden nods and says, "Thank you for having me over," and my mom smiles and walks away. "Make yourself at home. I'll go get my books from my room." I run upstairs and grab my books from my shelf and I hear a knock on the door. "So you've finally brought a guy over. I was just waiting for this day," says Alex.

"There is no guy. Braden is just a friend. The only reason he's here is because we have an assignment to work together."

"So you mean to tell me there's no spark between the two of you?"

"Even if there was, you'd be the last person to know." I carry my books and walk downstairs as Alex calls out, "Don't be so mean little sister!" Wretched pest.

I place my books on the kitchen counter and I sigh. "Are you alright?" He asks. "Nothing you need to worry about. Let's get started."

Braden and I begin our assignment. My mom then shows up out of nowhere are asks Braden to join us for dinner. He politely declines at first but mother insists he stays and he finally agrees. We continue with our work and while Braden works on the models, I write down notes about our topic. Luckily, I hear the door open and I see Dean coming home from school. I run over to him and beg him to help me with our assignment and he says yes. I hand him multiple sheets of paper and ask him to draw various diagrams and he gets started. "Your brother draws?" Braden asks. "Yes. Dean is the only artist in the family. His talent exceeds those of ours," I answer. "Can you two not talk about me like I'm not here," requests Dean as he concentrates on his work. Braden and I laugh and we finish up our work. Four hours later, we finally finish our assignment. Braden looks over to me and says, "Well, would you look at that. We finished an assignment that needed a week's time in one night. I'm proud of us." I laugh. "I'm proud of us too."

"Children, dinner is ready," my mother chimes. Braden and I clean the kitchen table and we sit down. My father then walks in and says, "I'm home." He sees Braden and I sitting next to one another and he looks over to my mother and she mouths him saying, "I know." Braden stands up and introduces himself and shakes my father's hand and we all sit down for dinner.

"So Braden, I take it you're Lorelai's classmate," says my dad. "Yes sir, I am," Braden answers. "My wife tells me you've been working on a project. Which subject?"

"Biology."

"What are your goals in life?"

"I wish to have my own company by the age of thirty."

"What's wrong? Government jobs aren't good enough?"

Braden lets out a nervous laugh. "Not at all sir. I just want to be able to have my own business."

"What if things don't work out? You'll just be wasting your parents' money don't you think? How will you support your wife and kids one day if you don't lay a good foundation yourself?"

"Dad stop. That's no way to treat a guest," Alex speaks for Braden. "I only want to get to know him. If he is going to pursue my daughter, I must know his future plans and whether or not he can give her the life she deserves." I stand up abruptly and say, "That is enough." Braden slowly stands up and excuses himself and says, "I have overstayed my welcome. Thank you for the wonderful meal. It was a pleasure having dinner with you people." He grabs his helmet and walks out to the door and I follow him and shut the door behind me. "I am so sorry. My parents had no right to say such things to you. They're just very overprotective."

"It's alright. I've heard worse from my parents." He gives me a soft smile. He is too kind for his own good. "Let me make it up to you."

"Go out with me." My eyes grow wide and he laughs. "You asked me to let you make things up. Here I am letting you. Go out on a date with me."

"You just witnessed how crazy my family is and you're still asking me out. I don't know if you're daring or stupid at this point." He laughs and I do too. I sigh and I nod. "Fine."

"Great. I'll let you know when and I will pick you up."

"Sounds perfect."

"Goodnight Lory-Lorelai." I smile. "Goodnight Braden."

I open the door and I walk inside. I head to the kitchen and I ask all of my siblings to leave me and my parents alone. "I have never been so humiliated in my life," I say. "Even Aunt Linda wouldn't do this. You had no right to attack him like that."

"I did what any father would do and I protected you."

"Protected me?! The only thing you're doing is pushing me away! When will you understand? I am not a child anymore and you need to stop treating me like one. I am should be allowed to have other guy friends besides Eddie and Aiden. I should allowed to go out with people. If this keeps up, our parent-daughter relationship will only be built on lies and secrets and you are going to lose your daughter way sooner than you expect. I love you both so much but I will not accept being tied down and not being able to enjoy my life to the fullest. I haven't even been home for long and you guys have already starting to suffocate me. If you guys can't learn to trust your own daughter, don't go crying when you realise your relationship is beyond repair."

I walk away and run up to my room as my parents stay silent. I close the door behind me and jump in bed. I hear a knock on the door. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now," I yell out. Apparently, that wasn't enough to stop Alex from entering. "Well damn, the baby bird really has left the nest," he comments. I scoff. "Shut up."

He lifts his hands in the air and smirks. "All I'm saying is I'm proud of you. You handled that effortlessly. Poorly, but effortlessly. I guess my day tomorrow will start off great by seeing your ass get grounded." He laughs and leaves the room. I groan and smash my head on the pillow. I left out a loud sigh and suddenly I hear a knock on my window. I look over and I see Aiden waving at me, holding a bottle of wine. I walk up and open the window. "What are you doing here?" I ask. "Something in me said you're having a bad day, so I thought pizza and wine would make you feel better," he answers. I smile. "You are absolutely right. Let's sit outside. I need fresh air." I get out from the window and walk up to the top of the roof and Aiden follows. We sit down and he opens the bottle of wine while I open the box of pizza and we stare at the stars. "Did you like your locker gift?" He asks. I nod. "I love it."

"Where did you run off to earlier?"

"I have a presentation tomorrow and Braden and I were partnered up so we said we'd meet at my place to finish it."

"Wait, Braden as in, Braden McCain?"

"Yes, you know him?"

"He used to play soccer but he dropped and never said why. Anyway, I'm sorry for being rude to you earlier when I asked you where you were. I didn't like the thought of you and Jerome alone."

"Aiden, I can take care of myself." My blood starts boiling again.

"I know you can, but that doesn't mean you should." He places his hand over mine and smiles. "So, are you going to tell me what happened just now?" I groan and I turn to him and tell him everything that happened and being the best friend that he is, tries to make me feel better and the night just passes by.