Chapter 8: Not a Nice Guy

Chapter 8: Not a Nice Guy

Faith’s P.O.V

“Faith? Are you there?”

Debby’s voice came from right outside the door, effectively breaking the moment as Brandon quickly stepped away from me, putting the necklace back into his pocket hastily, before he sauntered out of the classroom.

For a few seconds, my mind had gone completely blank, and it stayed that way until I felt a tap on my shoulder. Startled, I looked up to find Debby looking at me with concern in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Debby placed her hands on my shoulders. “Did Brandon scare you? I’m sorry, if he did. I-”

“No.” I shook my head immediately; not wanting her to get the wrong idea. “Brandon didn’t scare me…he…he was just teasing me.”

He made fun of me…teased me and made me nervous enough that I could’ve fainted, but…he didn’t scare me. It was…I don’t even know how to explain it, and I didn’t know why I wasn’t telling Debby about it, but for whatever reason, I wanted to keep my interaction with Brandon just between us.

I looked up at Debby to find her frowning, as if she was deep in thought. Somehow, it was way easier for me to talk to her than with anyone else. But while I had been with Brandon, I hadn't been able to stop stuttering. It was very frustrating on my part…I could only imagine just how annoyed Brandon might have felt. But when Debby kept on frowning, it worried me a bit.

“What?” I asked her, confused. “What is it?”

“How about I tell you on the way home?” She pointed towards the door, looking over her shoulders to make sure no one was listening.

“Okay.”

She guided me out of the campus, avoiding the most crowded areas as we made our way to the parking area where she unlocked her bicycle and the two of us started walking our way home. Instead of riding on her bike, Debby chose to hold it by her side as she walked beside me.

I was fine with walking actually; since our houses were side-by-side and only a ten minute walk away. Also, Florida was beautiful in the summer and I had already missed out on so much in the past year that I wanted to enjoy the view and feel the afternoon breeze as it ruffled through my hair.

“What did you want to tell me?” I asked Debby as soon as we were away from the campus premises and out of everyone’s earshot. “You seemed concerned.”

“It is a bit concerning…it’s about Brandon.” Debby sighed, giving me a rueful smile. “You should know that he can be really charming when he wants something, Faith. But he’s…not a nice guy…not anymore anyway.”

“I already know that.” I told her frowning. “It’s not that I don’t find him charming…but I really can’t name what I felt when I was spending time with him. Probably the closest emotion would be irritating?”

Debby gave a short burst of laughter at my explanation. “I’ve never heard anyone describe Brandon as irritating, but that’s good to know. It’s better if you stay away from him.”

“Why though?” I asked out of curiosity. “Not that I particularly want to stay close to him, but everyone at the cafeteria were interested in him too. Is he really famous?”

I decided against mentioning our little conversation to Debby. When he had told me that if I wanted my necklace back, I’ll have to work for it. I’ve had no idea what to say. The notion had been ridiculous…why would I work to get back what was officially mine? He was supposed to be the responsible person and hand over a missing item anyways! Right?

“He is famous.” Debby said now, making my attention turn towards her. “Let’s say…Brandon is very popular among the girls.”

“That much I knew.” I nodded, remembering our conversation at the lunch table. “Aurora and Aurelia wouldn’t stop talking about him!”

“Good think you noticed that.” Debby laughed. “You’re shy and introverted, but you’re observant. That’s a good thing. As for the twins, yes, they…just like 90% of the girls in college would just love to be with Brandon. But besides that, the twins are more trouble than you know. They work for the College magazine club and also manage their social media pages. Their job is to collect gossip from all over and post then online. That’s why they’re interested in you too. But be careful how much you share with them; they’d literally post anything they hear.”

“But isn’t that violation of privacy?” I frowned. Shouldn’t that be against some kind of law or something?

“They have a few thousand followers and people love their gossip stories both in and out of school.” Debby shook her head. “No one cares what they post as long as it’s all about the gossip and the lives of the hot boys at our school. Brandon is the most trending topic at their website. He used to be the quarterback but now plays basketball since the start of this semester. He’s top of the class in Business Management and also does modeling gigs. That’s why I’m telling you to be careful with him. He’s handsome; he’s rich and well…let’s just say that he can make women very happy. And these girls don’t like competition.”

“Competition?” My eyes widened in shock, making me halt at the side of the road. “Me?”

The thought was so ridiculous, that it made me want to laugh.

“It doesn't matter if you’re into him or not, Faith.” Debby sighed. “Unfortunately, even if Brandon so much as looks in your direction, you become competition. A lot of girls are after him and they don’t like it when he takes interest in someone new, or if someone takes an interest in him.”

“But that’s just ridiculous!” I frowned. “Even if he’s some kind of movie star or whatever! And even if he does like someone, it’s his personal life. He can do whatever he wants.”

“If only everyone just…understood that point.” She shrugged. “But let’s not get too involved with him, shall we? Tell me, how was your day…well, apart from the obvious detention.”

Detention had somehow been the best part about school today…but I felt like I couldn’t exactly tell her that. But I was kind of curious about Debby though. She seemed sincere about her warning of Brandon…but what about her?

“It was okay,” I told her now, answering her previous question. “After meeting with you, I wasn’t as nervous anymore. I guess it was seeing boys and girls together for the first time, interacting so openly…that’s what had made me so nervous.”

“See? You figured that out all on yourself!” Debby gave me a big smile. “That’s what so special about you. Not everyone would admit to their faults so easily.”

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked a bit hesitantly. “If you don’t mind?”

“Oh? No…it’s fine.” Debby came to a stop and I realized that we had reached home already. The two houses actually had a lot of similarities in style and I was shocked that I had failed to notice how Debby had been living right next door all along.

“Well…you just said that everyone is interested in Brandon, right?” I told her. “Then…?”

I was uncomfortable asking her the rest of the question, but as I watched a smile stretch on her face, I knew that she understood what I meant even without me saying it out loud.

“Why am I not as interested in Brandon as the others?” Debby laughed, shaking her head. “Trust me, it’s not the first time I got asked this question, and usually, I give people an elusive answer…like I’m not into him or something like that. But I’ll let you in on a little secret, okay? So don’t ever tell anyone.”

“Pinky swear!” I told her, holding out my pinky. “I won’t tell anyone, I swear!”

“Okay!” Debby linked her pinky to mine. “You see…Brandon and I…we’re actually cousins.”

I blinked back my surprise. “Really?”

“I know we look nothing alike.” Debby said, removing her hand. “But his mother and my mom were first cousins. So that makes us what…second cousins or something?”

“Ah!” I said, before I realized something. “Wait… ‘were’?”

Debby nodded sadly, her expression changing to some unknown emotion. “That’s another reason why I’m telling you to stay away from Brandon. He isn’t exactly…stable. You saw how he fought today right? He’s been that way ever since his mom committed suicide last year.”

Suicide? That must have been horrible!

My parents died last year too, so I guess I understood what it felt like to lose a parent. The cause of the loss didn’t matter; what mattered were the pain and the suffering that was left behind.

“But…how is that a bad thing?” I asked, frowning.

“Because while you became introverted, building walls all around to protect yourself from heartbreak,” Debby pointed out; “Brandon did the opposite. He became toxic; fighting and getting into trouble any way he could. He also started sleeping around a lot. That’s why so many girls now think they have a chance with him.”