^^Brittany Forbes

As soon as the last bell rang, I went to my locker and got the books I was required to do homework. Closing the locker, I lumbered towards the gate and kept my head down as I walk past everyone gossiping in the hallway.

While walking I sensed someone staring at me and it’s not every day I felt that. Rotating my head, I study everyone and saw them casually roaming and laughing. I wandered my eyes, and that’s when they caught the sight of Benjamin standing at the end of the hallway with folded arms.

He didn’t have to say it again because I knew he was watching me. I turned my head again and walked faster this time avoiding everyone.

After the library incident, Benjamin made sure that he’ll keep his eyes on me but I didn’t know that he was serious about that.

Is he going to do that every day?

There’s still an entire term left and what? Is he going to follow me all the time just to make sure I won’t spill his secret?

A shrill scream left my mouth when a hand touched my shoulder.

“Woah, girl! It’s me.” Hearing the familiar voice made me relieved. I blew a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding.

“Chloe...” I whispered, whirling towards her.

She looked at me with a concerned gaze. “What the hell was that?”

I opened my mouth to answer but again felt eyes on me, and this time it wasn’t of a single person. I looked around and saw everyone in the hallway staring at me in confusion. Heat crawled up my neck at the unwanted attention.

“Nothing. Let’s go.” I mumbled. Quickly grabbing Chloe’s hand, I dashed out of the hallway.

“Easy there, girl. My feet hurt!” I slowed down, making sure I was away from the stares and glanced at Chloe’s feet.

“What happened?”

“That bit*h made us run the football ground.” My brows shot up at the mention of Brittany when she added. “Twice.”

“What?” I asked, surprised.

Our football ground was enormous. I wondered how they did it.

“She wasn’t even there, but she left her minions to watch us, and guess what?” Chloe continued with her angry look. “They were busy continuously making out in front of us!” She gagged, thinking of David and Tiana.

“What did you do then?”

“I ran.” I tilted my head, waiting for her to continue. “Twice.” She shrugged.

“What?!” I shrieked.

“Most of the girls faint before even doing one.” She chuckled lightly, then scowled. “I couldn’t let that bit*h make fun of me and get myself embarrassed so I completed the task.”

“Wow,” I whispered and glanced at her standing figure. “And you’re still able to walk.” I gaped.

“Honestly?” She plastered a smile on her face. “My feet ache as f**k and I think I’m going to fall any moment but I just want to go home and take a long warm bath.” She sighed. I blinked my eyes at her as we walked out of West high.

I admired Chloe for her efforts and for how she did everything to get to her goal. She wanted to be in the team badly and now she’s working hard to get in.

“You should take some painkillers too,” I suggested as we descend the stairs.

“Oh yeah, that too-“ She didn’t get to finish the sentence as she missed a step and was about to fall.

Before I could grab her, a hand came from behind and tugged her arm, steadying her.

“That was close.” We turned around and saw Louis. “Are you okay?”

I heard Chloe taking a sharp inhale as she stared at him.

“Are you okay?” Louis repeated, giving her a once-over.

I glanced at Chloe and saw her frozen in her place as she watched him, dumbfounded. I nudged her side, and she snapped out of her daze.

“Y-yeah. I-I’m fine.” Chloe choked.

“Good.” Louis gave her a toothy grin, showing off his dimples. “Be careful next time. We don’t want that pretty face to get ruined.” With that, he jumped off the steps.

I side glanced at Chloe, who gawked at Louis as he strolled away. “Chloe?”

Chloe slowly rotated her head towards me and whispered in disbelief. “Did he just call me pretty?”

“He did.” I beamed.

“OH MY GOD!” she shrieked. “Louis Young called me PRETTY!” She palmed her face in her hands and bounced on her steps, squealing.

I giggled as she continued fangirling.

“Oh my God, he touched me!” She extended the arm Louis grabbed and pointed at it. “And it still tingles! I’m never washing his touch away!”

“What about your warm bath?” I asked in amusement.

“Who cares about that now!” she cheered. “I’m never taking shower again. Never ever!” I laughed at her flushed, blissful face and we continued walking down.

“I can’t believe he talked to me!” she sighed dreamily. “He was this close to me-“ she pinched her finger showing it to me, “- and that haircut looks so f**king hot on him!”

“I am glad that you got your senses back on time or else that would have been awkward.” I reminded her when she froze.

She halted in her steps and clasped her face. “Oh my God, you’re right! How much I made it awkward and couldn’t even utter a word!”

“Not that bad.” I patted her shoulder.

She groaned, rubbing her face. “After seeing that smile and dimples, all I could think was to grab his hot face and kissed the hell out of him.”

I burst out laughing and shook my head as we reached the parking lot. “I’m sure someday you will.”

She bit her lip and bobbed her head cheerfully. “I’m going to fantasize about Louis now. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She giggled, then waved at me as she walked backward. “Bye!”

“Bye!” I waved back and watched her leave.

Chuckling at my friend, I walked towards my bicycle and glanced at the sky. It looked clearer now, and I sighed in relief that I did not have to worry about riding home in rain. Reaching for my bicycle, I took it out and mounted it. Just as I was about to paddle, I heard someone grunt.

Not again!

Twisting my head, I saw Andrew and some girl making out in the corner. I glanced at the red hair and frowned. She wasn’t the one he was dating before the breaks; it was Velma. Velma was in one of my classes, and the girl was pretty excited about dating Andrew. She kept announcing every day that they were dating and how good things were between them.

Guess they were not that good. I sighed and shook my head at him.

The guy doesn’t know when to stop.

I turned my head away from them and rode towards my house. On my way, my mind kept replaying the library scene. It’s not every day you see that, and it was a surprise to see Ben.

He didn’t come out and that must have been the reason he got terrified at the thought of someone knowing. I remembered him saying something like two years. Maybe Toby and he have been in a secret relationship.

I parked my bicycle in our driveway when I reached my house and dad’s car wasn’t there. My dad worked in a company and my mom was a nurse. Mom did the night shifts, but in emergencies, she spent the entire day there.

“I’m home!” I yelled as I entered my house and found it quiet. “Mom, where are you?!”

“I’m in here!” I padded towards the kitchen and saw her cooking.

“Hey, Mom.” I kissed her cheek and glimpsed at what she was cooking. I sighed when I saw a chicken.

“How was school?” Mom asked.

“Fine.” I shrugged and sat at the table, pouring water into a glass.

“Anything exciting happened on the first day?” She turned around, enthusiasm written over her face.

I gulped the water deliberately as I thought of how to respond to her.

Yeah, Mom. I caught two guys making out in the library, and one of them was Benjamin Forbes, also known as the bad boy from the Clichés. Turns out he’s gay but he hasn’t come out yet and now he has threatened me not to tell anyone or else... I don’t even want to imagine what he’ll do to me.

I glanced at my mom, who raised her brows, waiting for my answer.

“Nothing...” I placed the glass down and replied.

“Really?” She pouted. I nodded my head, and she continued. “You have boring high school life.” She said, turning around.

Only if you knew mom.

She started telling me about her high school experience again and how she enjoyed every moment doing pranks on everyone and got detection. I sighed and listened to her.

I’ve always been responsible, according to my brother and parents, because they know I never did anything to get in trouble. I liked to play safe and stay away from anything that could harm me or anyone around me.

But now things have changed.

After my mom finished with her story, I went to my room and changed out of my uniform. Getting downstairs again, I ate lunch with mom; I was starving because I didn’t get to eat anything at lunchtime. After helping my mom, cleaning the dishes, I went to my room and sat at my study table to do the homework our teacher gave.

I was halfway through my first homework when my phone pinged, showing I got a message. My brows knitted in confusion as I turned around and eyed my phone.

The only person who texted me was Chloe, and I was sure she must she sleeping after running the whole ground. Mom was downstairs and my dad always called me.

I got up from my seat and picked up my phone, reading a message. It was from an unknown number and it wouldn’t take a genius to figure from whom it was.

Benjamin was true to his words.

The whole Tuesday, he kept his eyes on me. Whenever I turned my head, he was there. I was putting my stuff in the locker and he was there. I was walking in the hallway with Chloe; he was there. I sat in my class and through the window he was there watching me.

He’s always there.

On Wednesday, I quietly sat in my first class waiting for the teacher to come. Instead, someone else did.

It was Forbes.

But not the one who was spying on me.

Brittany entered the class with Tiana, and her eyes examined every one.

“Which one of you is Lillian Smith?” She asked, crossing her arm around her chest.

I ducked my head immediately and thought of a way to hide but it was impossible because I sat at the first desk and she standing in front of me.

The entire class started murmuring in confusion because they were not aware of any Lillian Smith in their class.

“So?” Brittany slammed her hands on my desk, making me flinch, but her gaze was behind me. "Who is it?!"

“We don’t have a Smith in our class.” Said our monitor. Even our monitor wasn’t aware of me.

Brittany cursed and glanced at Tiana. “I swear I feel like she’s under my nose but I can’t point her out.” She muttered, irritated.

The irony of the situation would have made me laugh if it was some other day because I was literally sitting under her nose. She sighed, and they left with sweet smiles on their faces when the teacher entered our class.

That was close.

I blew a breath out and put my head on the desk. I was glad that no one knew me and I was invisible. I didn’t want to even imagine why Brittany was looking for me and what she was planning to do.

At lunchtime, I sat with Chloe under the shade of a tree on our high school grounds as we ate. I never enjoyed sitting in the cafeteria because it was crowded and Chloe doesn’t go to the library because she felt nauseous, even thinking about it. So whenever we were together, we spent our lunch on the ground.

I leaned on the tree and ate the avocado sandwich my mom made for me and glanced at the blue sky. It was clear today and no signs of cloud, the cold breeze flew and I took a long breath inhaling the fresh air but halted when out of the blue Chloe asked.

“Why the hell is Benjamin Forbes stalking you?” I slowly darted my eyes from the sky to her and saw her raised brows as she waited for me to answer.

“W-hat are you talking about?” I asked, taking a big bite of my sandwich.

“I saw how he has been following you since the first day but I’ve been ignoring it...” I opened my mouth but she held her finger, “... and don’t you dare say he isn’t because I’m not blind and the fact that he’s standing behind that tree staring at us is enough proof.”

I turned my head to where Chloe pointed and saw him standing behind the tree, sneaking on us.

Well, sneak would be the wrong word because everyone around us can see him constantly staring at us. So either he was not good at stalking or he was doing this on purpose to remind me not to open my mouth.

“I don’t know.” I shrugged, taking another bite of my sandwich.

“Maybe he likes you?” Chloe suggested, making me choke.

“What?” I coughed.

“Yeah.” She bobbed her head, then beamed. “What if he secretly has a crush on you?!” she squealed.

“That’s unlikely to happen,” I mumbled.

“Why? You’re beautiful. I’m sure he must fancy you for your gorgeous eyes.” I felt my cheeks heat at the choice of Chloe’s words. “I should ask him.” She said, getting up.

“No!” She frowned at my outburst. “Maybe he just thinks of me as someone else and I’m sure he’ll stop soon,” I said, more like praying.

I couldn’t let Chloe talk to him or else he’ll think I told her and that would create more problems.

“But-“ I shook my head, cutting her off.

“Let’s finish our lunch and get back inside,” I suggested.

Chloe tilted her head and watched me, then shrugged and got back to telling me her dreams of Louis since the encounter.

I was glad that my friend was the oblivious one, and she easily let go of things.

I sat at our usual table at lunchtime eating my pasta with Maddie and Jordan playing games while Louis slept on the couch and David drew things on Louis’s face and took selfies with him.

“Check this one!” David showed me the picture. I cackled when I saw a di*k on Louis’s forehead and David posing with his tongue out.

“F**k! This one is epic, send me.” We laughed.

“What the hell is so funny?” We looked up and saw Brittany and Tiana.

Brittany flopped beside me, groaning while Tiana walked to her boyfriend.

“This.” David showed them the picture, and both girls rolled their eyes.

“What happened to you?” I asked, eyeing her tired face.

“Lillian happened.”

“Uh?” I tilted my head in confusion.

“Erg! I can’t find this girl anywhere! It’s like she’s a ghost or something!” She groaned, massaging her forehead.

“We checked the whole school but didn’t find her.” Tiana sighed, placing her head on David’s shoulder. “I’m so tired baby.”

“I’ll take care of that.” He said and massaged her shoulders. I rolled my eyes at them and glanced at Brittany.

“And you’re looking for this girl, why?”

“Because this ‘girl’-“ she air quoted, “- is someone my brother’s suddenly showing interest in.” She finished plopping onto her seat.

“Die you motherf**kers!” Maddie shouted, playing games with Jordan, but we ignored her.

“Ben didn’t mention any girl to me,” I said, leaning beside her.

“Exactly!” Brittany shouted. “Ben tells me everything, like everything and now out of the blue he’s interested in a girl who doesn’t even exist.”

“How do you know about it?”

“Rumors are going around Ben stalking some girl and he’s not even being discreet about it.”

“And you believe them.”

“No.” She shook her head. “But after listening to everyone and also the whole cheerleader squad told me they’ve seen him because they all monitor him like he's a celebrity.” She scoffed.

“Ben would have told us if he liked someone,” I said, trying to relax her.

“I know but haven’t you noticed his change behavior?” She raised her brow. “He doesn’t come to lunch, and he’s been all MIA during the school. He doesn’t even talk to me at home saying he’s tried. He’s the most athletic person I know and doing nothing he’s tired?”

That’s weird.

“Something is definitely up.” She mumbled.

I opened my mouth but halted when I saw Ben entering the cafeteria. “We’ll ask him ourselves,” I said and gestured towards him.

We watched as he stepped inside, and his eyes wandered around the cafeteria, and then he left. My brows snapped in confusion.

What the f**k?

“See!” Brittany pointed at him as he exited. “I told you something is up! It's twin intuition.”

“Maybe he likes her?” I suggested.

“I don’t think so.” She shook her head and bored her green eyes into mine seriously. “When was the last time you saw him with a girl?”

I raked my brain to think of the girl but came up with nothing. The last time I remember was when he dated Gabrielle. She was Brittany’s friend in her cheer squad and that was in freshman year.

After that in sophomore year, Ben and I went on a double date and it worked well for me, but I couldn’t say the same thing about Ben. Since then I have never seen him with a girl.

I glanced at Brittany as she watched me with a raised brow. “Got what I’m trying to say.”

“Who is this girl?”

“I don’t know!” She screamed in frustration. “I’ve been looking for her all day in every class, but I can’t seem to find her. I wished I knew how she looked then it would have been easy.”

“Did you get her name?”

“After struggling yesterday that’s the only thing I got.”

“What is it?”

“Lillian Smith.”

Never heard of her.

“What about her?” We turned at Nate’s voice as he sat down.

“You know her?” Brittany asked in surprise.

“She’s a new scholarship student who transferred here last year.” He shrugged. “and she’s cute.”

“And you know that how?” I questioned.

“I’m the Student Body President. I know everyone.” He gave me a toothy grin.

Brittany groaned beside me. “Why didn’t I think of you before.” She sighed and sternly look at him. “Get me her schedule and every little detail you can.”

“Why?”

“Because I need to get to know the mystery girl my brother’s interested in.” She sweetly smiled at him, but I could tell she was scheming in her wicked brain.

A/N

Spencer Locke (Brittany Forbes) and Lucas Till (Benjamin Forbes) are not so twin I know XD but they are the closest I got. I don't know why but I think they kinda look alike. 🤷‍♀️

Ben isn't good at stalking 👀 and let's see what Brittany's going to do about it.

Do you think Brittany's aware of Ben's secret?