% CHAPTER 11 %

I sneeze. "No this can't be happening!" I say as I look at the Hallmark card resting in my hands.

"What's wrong?" Bret asks in a teasing manner. He winks before continuing. "A little cold creep up over night?"

I puff out my cheeks in frustration. I have had it with this guy. All he does is tease and tease and tease. I could be with Lorelei and the rest of my family right now, not this dick. I shove the Hallmark card in his chest roughly before crossing my arms.

"No. It's from Ms. Simmons. She caught a cold over the weekend. I have no one to teach me now."

Bret laughs. "But that's a good thing. No one likes learning!" I glare at him with all the hate of the world. "Except little Taylor of course." He pinches my cheek playfully. When I feel the sparks from his fingertips travel to my cheek, I quickly swat his hand away. Damn jerk.

"Education means job and job means money, you idiot. Surely you're not thinking of working at McDonalds are you?" He doesn't reply. "I'm gonna ask again-"

I never get to finish. The sneeze comes so fast I can't even get a tissue. I try to at least cover my nose with my hand, but it's too late. Another sneeze follows quickly after, making it even worse.

"Ew."

"You're not helping," I grumble as I cover half of my face with my hand. Man, this is so embarrassing. I can't have people seeing me like this! "Could you get me a tissue please?"

Bret crosses his arms and raises his eyebrows, all the while pulling a snobby, stuck-up facial expression. "Why should I?" he asks.

"Because I asked nicely!" Bret just stands there. I don't understand why he can't get me a tissue. He's my coworker and yet he refuses to get me one single thing, even if it's something important, like this!

His lips curve up into that signature grin of his and I try my hardest to stop myself from rolling my eyes. What's he planning now? "If you really need a tissue that badly, why don't you beg for it?"

I'd give anything just to wipe that grin right off of his face. It doesn't deserve to be there, taunting me like that.

All of a sudden, I see Luca coming to join us. I shoot Bret a cocky smirk. Show time. "I have a better idea. Hey Luca, could you please get me a tissue?" I ask politely.

Luca smiles brightly before scurrying away to get me one. At this, Bret's expression immediately turns sour and he rolls his eyes. "That's nothing. He just feels obligated to do that because he thinks you're going to be a big movie star someday."

"Well aren't I?" I ask with raised eyebrows. Yeah, it's a pretty cocky and egotistical thing to say, but compared to Bret, it's barely anything. I just want to rub something in his face, even if it's not the best comeback. I want that grin to stay off of his face for as long as possible.

Bret stays silent. Then Luca comes back and hands me a whole Kleenex box. "Wow thank you Luca! Why can't Bret be more like you?"

Luca sighs. "Taylor, he's not a bad guy. You just gotta get used to him. He really is a good person deep down."

"Yeah, see?" Bret starts. "You're judging me completely wrong. Even Luca thinks so."

With a roll of my eyes, I turn to Bret. I'm about to say something when I hear a voice off in the distance.

"Kids!" Of course its Derek. He sounds like he's calling a bunch of six year olds at a pool party.

"Well, that's work calling," Bret says quickly before he grabs ahold of my wrist and yanks me out of the lot, away from Luca.

"Well thanks," I say sarcastically. "Just drag me out of there..."

"You're welcome," he says seriously. It's the most serious I've ever seen him be out of all my knowing him.

"Dude I was being sarcastic..." I reply with narrowed eyes.

"Well I wasn't."

"What's your problem?! Luca defended you and you didn't even have the courtesy to say thank you! I've never met anyone as disrespectful as you," I seethe.

Bret raises his hands in mock triumph. "Yay. I win another 'I hate Bret award' from Taylor! Whoop! Like I didn't have enough already."

I puff out my cheeks. Have I already said I've had it with him? I can't stand guys like him for even one second. To hell with what Luca said about his best friend. I know it's not true. How can it be?! Bret's an asshole!

"Kids!" I hear again. We walk the remainder of our trip in silence until we reach Derek.

"Hey what's up?" Bret asks.

"Well, I don't know if you've heard, but Ms. Simmons is going to be gone for 5 weeks."

"Yeah she left me a note," I say. "You're going to get a temporary replacement right?"

"I've looked at all the agencies. There's no teachers available. They're either not qualified enough for the job or are too far away ."

A sad moan escapes my lips before I can help it. "What about my education?! It'll be ruined! I'm...I'm going to be a stupid, dumb person like Bret and no one is going to hire me!" I ramble.

"Oh shut up Taylor. I've enrolled you two in public school."

My eyes widen. Did...did I just hear him right? "What?! Public school?!"

Derek ignores me and continues. "I've also rented a house where you two can stay for the 5 weeks. That way you guys won't be far away, and then after school Rachel will pick you up for the movie." He's about to continue on when I stop him.

"Wait, wait, wait. Did I hear you correctly? You said we would be living together?"

Derek nods his head. "That's right. Sorry, but I don't have enough money to give you guys two separate lofts, so for the sake of my budget, you'll just have to make due Taylor." He doesn't wait for my response before he continues. "I've also made sure to rent a car that you two will share to get to school since you're the age."

"Um Derek, we're 16," I say uncomfortably. "And I don't know about Bret, but I don't have a driver license."

Bret immediately nods, but not in agreement with me. "I may not have a license, but I know how to drive. My dad made sure of that."

He sighs. "That'll do. Just don't do something crazy and get caught. I don't have enough time or money to find a replacement for your role." Bret shrugs as Derek continues. "Food is already there, and my number as well as Rachel's is on the fridge. Also, please don't tell anyone that you're movie stars. The last thing I want is fans knocking on my front door in the dead of night."

Bret and I nod. It's dead silent after that. Then it all has to get ruined with a sneeze. I grab some tissues out of my Kleenex box and cover my nose as I sneeze repeatedly.

"You okay?" Bret asks. I don't answer. All because I didn't take off my shirt yesterday. Who knew Bret was actually trying to help me? That son of a gun should have made it seem like he was being more sincere. Then I probably wouldn't have ignored those gorgeous brown eyes. I mean treacherous. Treacherous brown eyes.

"Well this could be a problem," Derek mumbles. "Okay I'll give you guys two days off to settle in and cure that cold. And I'll make sure to tell Rachel to get some cold and flu medicine."

I nod in reply before I sneeze again. Then Derek walks away.

This sucks. If this truly is the start of a cold, I'm going to be screwed for at least a few days. I'll be sneezing my nose off, and then it'll get all red and sensitive. I hate when that happens.

"If you would have listened to me," Bret whispers in my ear. I swat him away.

No we're alone together in the lot. In my peripheral vision, I can see Bret studying my face. "You've got snot on your shirt," he says finally, which makes me gag repetitively.

I take at least 3 tissues out and wipe frantically at my shirt. No acting for me these next days.

"So public school huh? Still worried about your education theory?" I grumble random noises as Bret looks at me with a triumphant smile. "Thought so."

"You're such a kid," I sneer.

"That's a good thing. Trust me. I know how the system works at a public school. I was pretty popular back in my day. I actually think I'll go the first day of school to get settled and stuff."

I roll my eyes. "It still is your day and besides popularity doesn't matter. In 20 years, people are going to want your knowledge and experience plastered on your resume, not what position you were in the McDonalds staff."

He rolls his eyes. "There goes another school theory. I guess we'll be in different cliques then."

I shrug. "I guess. It's not like it matters though. You're still going to get on my nerves even if you are a million cliques away so I will still yell at you with all of my being."

He chuckles. "Don't you ever get tired of being mean to me?"

My eyes widen at him. "Trust me, I do! But you don't."

We walk away from that part of the lot and go in search of Luca. As we're looking, Bret spots Glenda, Luca's older sister. Luca mentioned something about her just coming back from a trip in Australia.

"Hey Glenda!" Bret shouts.

"Bret. Taylor." She nods her head at us in acknowledgement.

"Have you seen Luca?" I ask politely.

"I think he's in Bret's trailer."

"Okay thanks." I grin at her.

"I just love your eyes," Glenda compliments suddenly, and I immediately smile and blush a little in response. I always get a lot of compliments on my eyes, but it still gets to me. I honestly can't help blushing sometimes.

"Thank you!" I say before she and I smile at each other and part ways.

Bret and I walk off toward his trailer. I start to chew on my bottom lip. Last time I was in here, Bret and I spent like a minute making out. That's where my lips lost their virginity. Yeah, I realize now that kissing kind of isn't a big deal, but I still can't believe my first kiss had to be Bret. It's like someone from up above was trying to punish me or something.

I hope nothing like that happens this time. Oh wait, it won't because Luca is here, and even if he wasn't, I wouldn't let Bret even get close enough to try something like that.

As soon as Bret opens the door, we can hear Luca yelling at us to come in.

"Hey Taylor!" Luca greets me first as he runs to the front of the trailer.

"Hi."

"What up Bret?" The guys do their little bro hug before they both turn to me. "So how's the movie getting along?"

"Well there are a few dilemmas," Bret states and looks at me with a mischievous grin.

"You know Ms. Simmons is not sick right?" I say. "She's doing it so she can get away from you. I mean, who knows that they're going to be sick for exactly five weeks? She's probably on vacation in the Bahamas."

"Well this is an advantage for both me and her then. She gets away and I get the girls."

I frown. Of course Bret would think that. "The world doesn't revolve around you."

"Oh but it does Taylor. If only you knew."

I roll my eyes. "That's your problem. You can't seem to get that stick up your ass to come out and it's affecting you."

"So I'm a nuisance?"

"More like a narcissistic piece of shit, but nuisance is a good word too."

Bret narrows his eyes at me.

"Okay kids!" Luca says and puts himself between us. He then turns to me. "Taylor! Don't be so resentful," he scolds.

"I'm not the one being resentful!" I say.

"You sort of are." He looks at me in apology. "And Bret! Act like the man I know you are! Stop taking her shit so literal."

Bret just rolls his eyes. I laugh.

"Well I can see where this is headed," I joke.

"Yeah, by the end of Ms. Simmon's break, I'm going to be the most wanted kid in America for giving the best-"

I cut him off. "And I do not want to know where that sentence was headed!"

Luca rolls his eyes. "So what were you guys talking about with that director dude?"

"Derek," I correct him.

"We're going to public school because our private tutor is sick," Bret explains.

"Wow. Interesting. Never heard of it before. Two movie stars going to public school. Not even a fancy shmancy private rich kid school. A public school," Luca murmurs.

"Hey! Private schools aren't bad at all!"

"Only kids who go to private school say that Taylor," Luca says and Bret nods his head in agreement with his best friend.

"How many kids at that school are in your grade?"

I shrug. "Eight. Why?"

Luca's eyes widen. "Eight?! Eight people?! Holy shit, that's not even one class at my school!"

My eyes roll at his shock. "Anyways, now my education will be ruined because public schools don't really know what they're doing."

"Oh well. As long as I get more girls," Bret inputs.

"Bret, you need a better plan than girls. When you're sixty and applying for your retirement, they're going to tell you that your retirement is so small, it won't even last for five years because you were too busy flirting with your coworkers instead of worrying about getting paid. You're not going to be getting girls then. What are you going to do with them anyway?"

"Do you really want to know? Cuz I could show you right-"

"Don't! Touch. Me," I growl.

"I gotta hand it to Bret. Getting girls! That's a pretty good plan." The boys do a quick handshake.

I shudder. "Boys make me sick!"

"You'll come around soon enough," Bret says with a wink.

I cringe away from him. "In your dreams!"

A hint of a smile shows on his face. "Maybe."