Izzy shrinks into her seat as she sees Nicole head their way. She can already see the horrors that can develop if this girl discovers she's on academic probation, or even needs tutoring... she'd never hear the end of it. And everyone else would hear it.
As Nic and Brooke talk, she grabs her sketchbook and focuses entirely too intently on, pretending she can't hear the other two, slowly sinking further and further into her seat. WHen Brooke lies, though, her gaze darts up in surprise and relief, before quickly returning to her sketchbook. She flips backwards a few pages, scribbling something quickly on the back of one page, before carefully tearing it out along the edge. She looks up and when she is quite certain neither Brooke nor Nic are looking, she slips it into one of Brooke's textbooks.
By the time Brooke has turned around, she is back to simply looking through her sketchbook, though still looks like she wants to sink through the floor. She places it back on the table when she notices Brooke's attention has returned. A forced, but genuinely grateful smile. "You don't need to apologize for her, you weren't the one... well, being that way." And she tactfully refrains from pointing out the blatant lie.
Brooke smiled at the girl's words. "I know, but it sort of comes with the territory when you're Nicole Julian's best friend." Brooke wasn't sure why she was even explaining all of that to this girl.
She looked back at the geography book and skipped a few pages ahead. "Do you have to do the questions at the end of the chapter for homework?" Brooke needed to focus on wrapping up this session. Nicole would not be happy if Brooke was late.
Brooke looked over the questions and helped Izzy find a few of the answers. She wondered if all of this was weird for Izzy, coming from Canada and everything. They went over a lot of the material the other girl had covered in the class earlier, and then decided to wrap things up. She had almost ten minutes to spare.
She picked up her books and began shoving them into her bag. Her history book dropped and as she picked it up, a piece of paper fell out. She opened it up and looked at it, surprised to find a drawing. She flipped the paper over and read the little note scribbled on the back.
Izzy stays fairly quiet as Brooke helps her with the questions, focusing on them and trying not to delay the other girl, who she knows has to leave.
As the drawing falls out, her eyes widen to a deer-in-headlights look. Accompanying the look is a noticable blush.
This was not the plan. It was supposed to be found when she was elsewhere and could not be further embarassed. Crap.
THe drawing itself is one of the fairy tale ones that Brooke had seemed to admire while she was looking at Izzy's drawings. A forest, amongst which a tall tower rises with a beautiful woman framed by the sole window. The woman's hair cascades down the tower to the very bottom and there appears to be no other opening or entrance.
After a moment, she nods, "Yeah. Uh... that is... as.. a um... thank you. For not uh, y'know... " she gestures vaguely in the direction of the door, where Nicole entered and exited. "Like it says on the back."
Brooke looked from the picture in her hand to the nervous girl and smiled. "Well you don't have to thank me for that. Like I said earlier, it comes with the territory of being her friend. Though I did want to talk to you about something if you don't have to rush off..."Brooke let her words trail as she looked at the girl expectantly.
Izzy runs her fingers through her hair, trying to make herself look like something approaching calm. Grateful for the apparent change in subject, she succeeds, looking less mortified.
A small smile forms, though a touch self-deprecating, "I have nowhere to be. What's up?"
"I want to apologize again for Nicole. She can be rude on occasions and she wouldn't have been very understanding about the tutoring. It looks to me that you don't want her finding out anymore than I do. So I was wondering if maybe you...might want to meet somewhere else. I mean because today it was Nicole. The next time if could be her or...Josh or anyone." Brooke really hoped she wasn't coming off as offensive.
So much for it being a subject change... With that, she returns to looking uncomfortable. Again, she runs her fingers through her hair. "No, I think I'd rather avoid giving her ammunition against me." She realizes belatedly how harsh that sounded, wincing faintly at herself. "I mean... I'm not uh.. keen on her finding out. So uh.. meeting elsewhere would be fine."
She considers, adding after a moment, "Uh, is Josh" as she says the name, it sounds rather as though she has no clue who he is, "someone else I should be careful around?"
"There aren't a lot people in this school that don't feel the same way," Brooke half-heartedly joked. "We could do it at my house, my dad's hardly home in the evenings," Brooke said thoughtfully. "Or your place..."
"No, I din't meant it like that. I meant other distractions or interruptions. Josh is my boyfriend. He's harmless." Brooke fought the grimace that sprung to her lips at the mention of his name. She needed to talk to him soon, before she no longer had a boyfriend. Maybe she'd be able to call him tonight.
Izzy nods, "Either place works for me." A bit of a smile, "You'd probaby get dinner out of it if it was my place. My parents will probably be home, but they're pretty good about giving space. Whichever you prefer."
Izzy's brow furrows ever so faintly as she notes Brooke's grimace, wondering what that is all about. Fighting back the urge to ask what's wrong, she says instead "Oh, uh, sorry, I thought you meant..." She trails off, finally shrugging sheepishly. "Good to know."
Brooke looked at the clock, five minutes. Opening her purse, she pulled out a small piece of paper. Checking to make sure it was nothing important she slipped the paper to Izzy. "Here, write your email address down, and I will email you once I know something more definite. I still have to run it by my father." Brooke was rather distracted as she spoke, comprising a list of things to do in her mind.
Izzy suppresses both a sigh and disappointment as she notes the other girl's distraction, reminding herself that this is tutoring, not a friendship. She accepts the slip of paper, and writes down her e-mail address, then passes the paper back to Brooke. "Sure thing. I should probably run it by mine, too."
"Hopefully...well I hate to do this, but Nicole's waiting for me. I'd...better get going. I'll email you later, and feel free to come to me if you need any help between now and then." Brooke was in a hurry, but she was also a little sad their tutoring session was coming to an end.
She slipped her bag onto her shoulder and walked out of the library.
As Nic and Brooke talk, she grabs her sketchbook and focuses entirely too intently on, pretending she can't hear the other two, slowly sinking further and further into her seat. WHen Brooke lies, though, her gaze darts up in surprise and relief, before quickly returning to her sketchbook. She flips backwards a few pages, scribbling something quickly on the back of one page, before carefully tearing it out along the edge. She looks up and when she is quite certain neither Brooke nor Nic are looking, she slips it into one of Brooke's textbooks.
By the time Brooke has turned around, she is back to simply looking through her sketchbook, though still looks like she wants to sink through the floor. She places it back on the table when she notices Brooke's attention has returned. A forced, but genuinely grateful smile. "You don't need to apologize for her, you weren't the one... well, being that way." And she tactfully refrains from pointing out the blatant lie.
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She looked back at the geography book and skipped a few pages ahead. "Do you have to do the questions at the end of the chapter for homework?" Brooke needed to focus on wrapping up this session. Nicole would not be happy if Brooke was late.
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She nods in response to the question, "Yeah, we do."
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She picked up her books and began shoving them into her bag. Her history book dropped and as she picked it up, a piece of paper fell out. She opened it up and looked at it, surprised to find a drawing. She flipped the paper over and read the little note scribbled on the back.
"You're giving this to me?"
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As the drawing falls out, her eyes widen to a deer-in-headlights look. Accompanying the look is a noticable blush.
This was not the plan. It was supposed to be found when she was elsewhere and could not be further embarassed. Crap.
THe drawing itself is one of the fairy tale ones that Brooke had seemed to admire while she was looking at Izzy's drawings. A forest, amongst which a tall tower rises with a beautiful woman framed by the sole window. The woman's hair cascades down the tower to the very bottom and there appears to be no other opening or entrance.
After a moment, she nods, "Yeah. Uh... that is... as.. a um... thank you. For not uh, y'know... " she gestures vaguely in the direction of the door, where Nicole entered and exited. "Like it says on the back."
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A small smile forms, though a touch self-deprecating, "I have nowhere to be. What's up?"
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She considers, adding after a moment, "Uh, is Josh" as she says the name, it sounds rather as though she has no clue who he is, "someone else I should be careful around?"
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"No, I din't meant it like that. I meant other distractions or interruptions. Josh is my boyfriend. He's harmless." Brooke fought the grimace that sprung to her lips at the mention of his name. She needed to talk to him soon, before she no longer had a boyfriend. Maybe she'd be able to call him tonight.
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Izzy's brow furrows ever so faintly as she notes Brooke's grimace, wondering what that is all about. Fighting back the urge to ask what's wrong, she says instead "Oh, uh, sorry, I thought you meant..." She trails off, finally shrugging sheepishly. "Good to know."
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She slipped her bag onto her shoulder and walked out of the library.
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