Chapter Text
Brandy woke up to the sound of her alarm and immediately reached over to grab her phone so that she could silence it.
She checked the time.
6:30 am.
School started at 8 am so she needed to get up now in order to start getting ready.
It was her last first day of middle school ever and Brandy just wanted to get it over with.
She would not miss middle school at all.
Not that she was looking forward to high school either. Brandy just wasn’t a huge fan of school in general.
She had always been a decent student and she did love being able to see her friends every day, but Brandy would definitely prefer to stay home and work at her family’s farm all day instead.
Unfortunately, she was still a child and had no choice but to keep going to school until she eventually graduated.
Brandy took one more look at the time on her phone and sighed before forcing herself to get out of bed.
She put her phone back down on the table and walked out of her room, quickly stopping by the room that her younger sisters shared on her way to the kitchen.
Their room was empty which meant that they were both already awake.
Brandy kept walking and found both of her sisters, their Mom, and their step-father Benedict already sitting at the table eating breakfast.
“Bwandy” her three year old sister Milly yelled at her. Milly still had some trouble pronouncing words with the letter r and Brandy thought that it was the cutest thing ever.
She walked over to Milly and leaned over to give her a small hug and a kiss on the forehead. Milly giggled.
Brandy took one more look around the table and noticed that one member of her family was missing.
“Don’t tell me he’s still sleeping” Brandy said as she rolled her eyes.
“Where else would he be?” Pen replied from where she was sitting at the other end of the table.
Their Mom just let out a small laugh.
“You know, I think that boy could actually sleep through the apocalypse if he were given the opportunity.”
Brandy silently agreed with her.
“I’ll go wake him up.” Brandy offered.
“I’ll drag him out of bed if I have to. I don’t feel like listening to Coral if he makes them all late for school again this year.”
Brandy turned around to leave the kitchen and started walking towards her brother’s room.
She threw the door open.
“Tanner!”
She walked into his room and saw that he was still in bed and had pulled the blanket over his head.
“Tanner. Let’s go.” she ripped the blanket off of him and glared down at him as she did so.
“Mom told me to wake you up. So get up!”
Tanner just groaned in response.
“C’mon Tanner. It’s the first day of our last year of middle school. Let’s just hurry up and get this over with.”
Tanner rolled over and Brandy knew that he was pretending not to hear her.
God he could be the worst sometimes.
Brandy didn’t even know why she bothered.
“Fine. Have it your way then.”
Brandy turned around to leave Tanner’s room, but before she made it too far she heard his phone buzz from where he had left it on the table next to his bed.
Brandy reached out and grabbed it.
There were three new texts from Coral.
Coral: 50 minutes.
Coral: DO. NOT. BE. LATE.
Coral: OR ELSE… 🔪
Brandy started laughing because she knew that this probably wasn’t the first time that Coral had tried texting her brother this morning.
Finally, Tanner jumped out of bed and he reached out towards her to grab the phone out of her hands.
Brandy laughed again.
“If you aren’t at Coral’s house in 50 minutes and you make her late for school again this year you know she might actually kill you right?”
She watched as her brother visibly flinched.
“I don’t even think that Treech and Mizzen would be able to save you from her this time.”
She remembered Tanner telling her last year how it had taken both Treech and Mizzen physically holding Coral back from strangling him after he had indeed overslept and made them all late for school.
“Ok. Fine. I’m up. Are you happy? Now get out so I can get ready.”
Tanner grabbed her by the shoulders and began pushing her out of his room. She continued to laugh at him even after he slammed the door behind her.
Once she got back to her room, she walked over to her closet to pick out something to wear and got dressed.
When she was done, she walked back over to where she had left her own phone so that she could check the time again.
Lamina Missed Call.
Lamina Missed Call.
Lamina Missed Call.
Lamina: Dee. Are you there?
Lamina: Its important.
Lamina: Call me back.
Lamina: Please!
This couldn’t be good.
Brandy immediately FaceTimed her best friend.
“Hello?” Lamina answered.
Lamina looked and sounded upset which concerned Brandy.
“Are you ok? What’s wrong?” she asked Lamina.
“I don’t know. I guess I’m just nervous for school to start again.”
“It’s going to be okay Lamina. I promise. You have me. You have Treech. You have Coral. You even have Tanner.”
Lamina scoffed and rolled her eyes at the mention of Brandy’s twin.
“I know that you and Tanner aren’t really the best of friends, but still. You won’t be alone Lamina. Ok?”
Lamina had been looking down at the floor but she looked back up at the screen to answer Brandy.
Now that she could finally see her face clearly, Brandy noticed that Lamina had been crying.
Brandy wished that she could reach through the phone and wipe Lamina’s tears away.
Lamina had always been a little more sensitive than any of their other friends and she seemed to get understandably worse after her Mom got sick a few years back and passed away last year.
Brandy’s whole family except for Milly had gone to the funeral.
Lamina had cried the entire funeral.
She had been squeezing Brandy’s hand so tight that Brandy had started to lose feeling in a few of her fingers but she didn’t care. Her best friend needed her so Brandy didn’t complain.
Brandy also knew that Lamina had been squeezing Treech’s hand just as tight as she had been squeezing Brandy’s as he stood on Lamina’s other side.
Coral and Tanner stood awkwardly on either side of them. Coral next to Treech and Tanner next to Brandy.
Neither Tanner or Coral were the best at dealing with emotions, but they were both at least trying their best to be supportive.
Coral even went as far as to awkwardly attempt to pat Lamina on the back a few times before eventually giving up and leaving the comforting to Brandy and Treech.
The four of them being there seemed to help Lamina relax a little though, so they stayed with her the entire day and then they all ended up sleeping over at Treech’s house that night since Lamina wasn’t ready to go back to her own house yet without her Mom.
“Mina. Don’t cry. It’s going to ok. It’s just the 8th grade. We even have Mrs. Plinth as a teacher this year. I heard that she’s the nicest teacher at our entire school. It’s going to be ok.”
Lamina nodded back at her but Brandy could tell that she didn’t really believe her.
It looked like Lamina was about to respond, but before she could, Lamina looked away from her phone and towards something that Brandy couldn’t see across the room.
Lamina quickly attempted to wipe the tears that were still visible on her face away and Brandy watched her try to smile as she tried to stop herself from crying more.
Brandy was confused about Lamina’s sudden mood shift until she heard a familiar voice ask if Lamina was ok.
Treech.
Brandy knew that Treech had probably climbed in through Lamina’s window to enter her room since Lamina had been standing at an angle where Brandy could see the door to her bedroom and Brandy clearly hadn’t seen Treech walk in that way.
Lamina and Treech had lived next door to each other since Lamina’s family had first moved to town back when they were all in the third grade and Lamina and Treech had pretty much been inseparable ever since.
They had also been climbing through each other’s bedroom windows for almost as long.
Brandy didn’t know how neither of them had ever fallen while doing so, but Lamina and Treech had always been the best climbers out of their friend group so she guessed that it made some sense.
She also wasn’t too sure why they both seemed to be so opposed to just using doors like the rest of their friends did.
Brandy was sure that they probably had a good enough reason. She just didn’t know what it was.
Maybe one day they would tell her, but neither of them had yet.
“Mina. What’s wrong?” She heard Treech ask Lamina again.
Brandy could hear the concern in Treech’s voice through the phone.
“Nothing. I’m fine Treech.” Lamina tried to smile again.
Brandy wasn’t falling for it and even though she still couldn’t see Treech, Brandy knew him well enough to know that he probably wasn’t buying Lamina’s “I’m fine” act either.
Lamina could obviously tell that he wasn’t falling for it as well, because the smile immediately dropped from her face a moment later.
“What are you even doing here Treech? I thought you were going to school with Coral and Tanner like you always do?”
“I just wanted to stop by and see if you wanted to come with us this year. You could ask Brandy too.” Treech added.
Lamina still had the screen pointed at her and it almost looked like Lamina had started blushing a little when Treech mentioned Brandy’s name.
However, Brandy highly doubted that was actually the case, and instead figured that it must have just been a trick of the lighting in Lamina’s room.
“You can just ask her yourself” Lamina responded as she turned the phone away from her and suddenly Brandy found herself looking at Treech instead.
“Oh. Hey Brandy.” Treech nodded at her.
“Hi Treech.”
“So what do you think?” Treech asked again looking between the both of them. “Do you want to come with us this year?”
Brandy was about to respond that it might be a good idea for them all to go together to help Lamina’s nerves, but before she could answer Treech, Lamina answered for the both of them.
“No thanks. It’s ok.” Lamina said as she stepped over next to Treech so Brandy could now see both of her friends.
“Before you showed up, Brandy and I were actually just talking about how we were going to walk to school together this year.” Lamina continued.
Brandy was confused because they definitely hadn’t been discussing that, but if Lamina wanted to walk to school with just her, Lamina must have had a pretty good reason.
“Oh yeah. We were.” Brandy said as she confirmed Lamina’s lie.
“We also don’t want to be late for school and there is a way better chance of that happening if my dearest twin is involved.”
Treech laughed.
“Yeah. I did just talk to him before I came over here. He said that he was going to start getting ready though, so there might still be hope for him this year.”
Treech crossed his fingers.
Brandy rolled her eyes.
“Your absolute faith in my brother never fails to amaze me Treech.”
“Of course I have faith in him. He’s my best friend.” Treech responded.
“Ok that’s enough talk about Tanner.” It was Lamina’s turn to roll her eyes.
“Treech, get out.” she quickly pushed Treech away from her with so much force, that he actually disappeared from the screen for a moment as he almost fell over.
“I need to finish getting ready so Brandy and I aren’t late for school either.” Lamina said as she turned the phone back around so that the screen was facing just her again.
Lamina also sent Treech an apologetic look because she probably hadn’t meant to push him as hard as she did, but sometimes it seemed like Lamina didn’t know how strong that she actually was.
Treech just laughed again and walked back over from where Lamina had pushed him so that he could kiss Lamina on the forehead before saying goodbye to both of them and walking back towards the window to leave and head over to Coral’s.
“I should probably get going too so I can finish getting ready. I’ll see if I can get Tanner to take Pen to school today since they are going there to drop Mizzen off anyways. That way it will just be me and you. In case you still need to talk to me about anything else that you wouldn’t want my nine year old sister hearing.”
Brandy was confused because it looked like Lamina might have started blushing again, but once again Brandy chose to just blame the lighting.
“Ok Dee. I’ll meet you at the corner store in 20 min. See you soon!” Lamina said as she quickly disconnected the call.
Brandy sighed.
She put her hair back into a quick messy braid, grabbed her backpack, and headed back towards the kitchen to grab something to eat for breakfast.
When she walked into the kitchen she saw that her brother had finally made it out of his room and that he was grabbing an apple off of the table to give to Matilda, their donkey, while also talking to Pen who was still sitting at the table trying to finish her breakfast.
Brandy smiled over at the both of them and then walked over to the cabinet where she kept her favorite granola bars.
“For someone who was teasing me for almost being late for school you aren’t doing much better. Too busy talking to Lamina?”
She quickly turned around to look at him.
“How did you know I was talking to Lamina?”
“Just a guess.” he smirked at her.
She glared back at him hoping that she wasn’t blushing.
She would never hear the end of it from Tanner if he caught her blushing after he simply mentioned Lamina’s name.
“Ugh can you two stop being annoying for two minutes so one of you or both of you can take me to school?” Pen asked her older siblings.
Tanner turned his attention back to Pen and Brandy shot their little sister a grateful smile which Pen returned.
“I’m actually meeting up with Lamina before school starts, but I’m sure that Tanner would love to take you to school since he is already going there anyways.”
Brandy stuck her tongue out at Tanner as she watched Tanner’s face pale.
She grabbed one of her granola bars and turned to leave yelling a goodbye to her siblings as she walked out the front door.
It was about a 10 min walk to the corner store where she was meeting Lamina. They lived in a really small town so everything was luckily pretty close together.
While she was walking, her thoughts began to drift to her relationship with Lamina.
Brandy had come to terms a few months ago that she might have feelings for the other girl that were a little more than thinking of Lamina as just her best friend.
She liked Lamina.
A lot.
She just didn’t think that Lamina would ever like her back.
Brandy was fine with that.
Really.
She would rather have Lamina in her life as a best friend than ever risk losing her over a stupid middle school crush.
Brandy decided that it would be for the best if she never told Lamina.
Everything would be fine.
Brandy had been so distracted that she didn’t even realize that she had made it all the way to the corner store until she heard Lamina call out to her.
“Brandy!” Lamina waved as she started walking towards her.
Brandy felt her heart skip a beat.
Sue her.
Lamina was beautiful.
Brandy waved back and smiled at her best friend.
See everything was still fine.
“Ok. Now tell me what’s wrong. Why didn’t you want to walk to school with Treech and the rest our friends today?” Brandy asked.
Lamina looked at the ground in front of her and shrugged.
“I don’t know. I love our friends, but I also like it a lot better sometimes when it’s just you and me. It’s quieter. Does that make any sense?”
Yeah. Brandy guessed that it did.
Treech could be also be a calm presence most of the time, but when you added Coral and Tanner into the mix sometimes they would all get a little out of control.
Brandy could see how the chaos those three brought with them wherever they went could potentially overwhelm Lamina when they were all together.
“Don’t worry Mina. I understand.” Brandy said as she smiled at her best friend.
Lamina smiled back at her and then reached out to grab Brandy’s hand.
Brandy obliged and she happily laced their fingers together as the two of them continued walking the rest of the way to school hand in hand.
Lamina started squeezing Brandy’s hand a little tighter the closer they got to school.
Brandy squeezed back and smiled over at Lamina to reassure her that she was going to be with her for the entire day.
When they finally arrived at the school, they still had a few minutes before the bell was set to ring and some of the other kids were still hanging around outside before it was time to head into the building to start class.
Brandy knew that it would make Lamina feel better if they got to pick where they would sit for the year, so she pulled Lamina by their still interlocked hands to go find their classroom before the rest of their classmates could do the same and take all of the good seats.
Once they found their classroom, they walked in, said hi to their new teacher, and then went to find their seats.
Lamina let go of Brandy’s hand and chose a desk right in the middle of the classroom.
Brandy took a seat at the desk next to her while also trying not to focus on how she missed the feeling of Lamina’s hand in hers.
“So do you actually think that the others will make it to school on time today or will Tanner make them all late again like he did last year?” Lamina turned to her with a grin.
“This whole feud that you have going on with my brother, should I expect it to last forever? Or is there any chance that you two might figure out how to actually get along someday?”
Lamina turned away from Brandy, crossed both of her arms over her chest, and scowled.
“I don’t know. You need to ask your stupid brother. He started it.”
Brandy watched as Lamina took her backpack off and threw it on the still empty desk in front of her which Brandy assumed meant that Lamina was trying to save the seat for Treech.
Brandy did the same, but with the also still empty desk that was in front of her.
She knew that if Tanner found out that she could have saved him the seat next to his best friend and didn’t, he would never stop complaining about it and Brandy didn’t feel like listening to him.
More of their classmates were starting to arrive now and they all chose their own seats from the remaining desks like Brandy and Lamina had.
Vipsania Sickle and Pliny “Pup” Harrington sat down together at the two desks behind Brandy and Lamina.
Brandy didn’t know Vipsania or Pup that well, but she turned around to say hi to both of them once they were settled.
Lamina did the same not wanting to be left out.
The four of them talked for a few minutes before Brandy felt her backpack hit her out of nowhere and fall to the floor next to her.
She turned around to glare at her twin who must have just walked in with Coral since Brandy also saw Coral throw herself down into the desk in front of Tanner’s.
Treech was nowhere to be found.
That was weird.
Before Brandy could yell at Tanner for throwing the backpack at her, Lamina beat her to it.
“You know Tanner. Some people would be grateful that their sister was nice enough to save them a seat so they wouldn’t be stuck in the first row again like last year.”
Brandy laughed as she picked her backpack up from where it had landed on the floor after Tanner had thrown it at her.
Tanner turned around to glare at Lamina.
Brandy watched as Lamina glared right back at him.
Before Tanner could say anything back to Lamina however, the classroom door opened again and in walked Treech with a girl who Brandy assumed had to be a new student because Brandy had never seen her before.
The new girl was really pretty.
Not as pretty as Lamina, Brandy thought to herself.
Brandy figured that she was probably a little biased though.
No one was as pretty as Lamina.
At least not to Brandy.
Lamina suddenly elbowed her.
Brandy looked over at her and saw that Lamina was trying not to laugh as she was looking over at Coral who was not doing a great job at hiding the fact that she was staring at the new girl.
Luckily for Coral, the new girl hadn’t seemed to notice because she was too busy smiling at Treech.
Brandy gently elbowed Lamina back to let her know that she noticed Coral too, and then they both started to laugh.
While they had been distracted, Treech had made his way from the front of the classroom and was now gently handing Lamina’s backpack back to her as he sat down at his new desk.
He shot both Brandy and Lamina a confused look before turning his attention to Tanner instead.
Treech’s confusion just made Brandy and Lamina laugh even more.
Brandy stopped laughing though when she heard Treech ask Tanner if he was ok?
Was there something wrong with her brother?
She couldn’t see Tanner’s face because he was busy staring down at his desk, but Brandy could see Treech’s and he looked concerned.
Brandy started to reach her hand out towards Tanner to hopefully offer him some comfort, but before she was able to make contact Tanner turned to look at Treech and answered his question.
“Oh yeah. I’m fine. Just tired. Whoever decided to make school start at 8 am is an idiot.”
Brandy snorted.
Treech still seemed concerned, but before he could say anything else to Tanner, the new girl started speaking from where she was still standing at the front of the classroom.
“Hello everyone. My name is Lucy Gray Baird.”
She seemed nervous Brandy thought to herself.
“My family recently moved here and we are really liking it so far. I hope that we can all be friends.” she finished before walking towards the still empty seat next to Coral and sitting down. She let out a deep breath as she did so.
Their teacher, Mrs. Plinth, thanked Lucy Gray for introducing herself to the class and started the days lessons.
Since it was just the first day of school Mrs. Plinth began to tell them what they would be learning throughout this school year and she also mentioned that they would be working on a really fun group project with the person sitting next to them as the first project of the year.
Mrs. Plinth continued to describe the project. It was going to be a family tree project and it would be due at the end of the week. Each of them would be responsible for creating their own family tree and then they would give it to their project partner to present for them to the rest of the class.
Mrs. Plinth mentioned how the project would require great communication skills and would also help them to get to know all of their classmates better.
Brandy smiled because this project was almost going to be almost too easy.
However, when she turned towards Lamina to start discussing the project, Lamina seemed more upset than excited.
Oh.
OH.
How could Brandy be so stupid?
Of course a project focused on their family trees would make Lamina upset.
It had barely been a year since Lamina’s Mom died and now Lamina was going to have to work on a project that would need to include talking about her Mom in order to complete it.
Brandy didn’t hesitate before she reached out to grab Lamina’s right hand from where Lamina was currently letting it dangle under her desk.
Brandy squeezed Lamina’s hand and Lamina returned the gesture but didn’t look back at Brandy.
Brandy hoped that Lamina didn’t start crying.
Not that Lamina crying would have been a bad thing. Crying was completely justifiable in a situation like this.
However, Brandy didn’t want Lamina to be bullied or labeled as the class crybaby again like she was last year if one of their other classmates caught her crying already on the first day of school.
Last year there had been an incident.
Brandy, Lamina, Tanner, Treech, and Coral were all outside for recess on Lamina’s first day back to school after she had taken a few weeks off right after her Mom died.
Lamina had started to cry again as they were walking back into the building after recess ended, and through her tears she couldn’t really see where she was going and ended up accidentally bumping into a blonde boy who was a year older than them and in the grade above them.
Lamina wiped at her eyes and tried to apologize, but before she could get the words out the blonde boy yelled at her, told her to watch it, and called her a crybaby with a smug look on his stupid face.
A few of the blonde boy’s friends started laughing and joined in with insulting Lamina.
Lamina started to cry even harder.
Brandy felt like she needed to do something so she started walking towards the boy who had just hurt her best friend.
Before she could get too far though, she felt arms wrap around her waist and drag her back.
“Let go of me Tanner.” she said as she tried to get her brother to loosen his grip on her.
Brandy had always had a bit of a temper.
She was usually able to keep it under control, but it was a lot harder to do so when somebody hurt someone that Brandy loved.
“No.” Tanner replied.
“What are you going to do? he asked Brandy. “Fight him? He’s a lot bigger than you and I’m not going to just stand here and watch you get hurt.”
“Hey loser.” someone suddenly shouted and the twins stopped arguing with each other long enough to turn around and watch Coral punch the blonde boy in the nose hard enough to draw blood.
Treech who had been trying his best to comfort a still crying Lamina also turned around as soon as Coral’s fist made contact with the older boy’s face.
The boy wiped some of the blood away from his nose as he sneered down at Coral.
The boy’s friends went silent.
Brandy wondered for a moment if the boy would try to hit Coral back.
Treech must have had the same thought, because with one last glance over at Lamina to make sure that she was physically ok, he rushed over to get in between Coral and the older boy pushing Coral behind him as he did so.
Coral never being one to enjoy being pushed around tried to get around Treech, but Treech wasn’t budging.
Brandy felt Tanner’s arms tense from where they were still wrapped around her now that both of his best friends were in harms way.
The older boy and his friends started laughing at them again, which only seemed to make Coral angrier.
“Get Lamina out of here.” Tanner finally let go of her as he pushed Brandy towards Lamina and left to go help Treech and Coral.
Brandy hesitated for a moment before listening to her brother and running over to Lamina who had stopped crying but was now staring at Treech, Coral, and Tanner with wide eyes.
Luckily for their friends it seemed like a teacher had finally noticed what was going on and was now rushing over to see what the commotion was.
When the teacher reached them it wasn’t too hard for him to put the pieces together and he forced Tanner, Treech, Coral, and the other boy to follow him to the office.
The principal called all of their parents and Tanner had been grounded for a week even though he tried to explain that he didn’t even do anything wrong.
Brandy confirmed his story, but their Mom said that she knew her son well enough to know that if the teacher did not get there when he did Tanner definitely would have done something to try and protect his friends.
Tanner eventually gave up and accepted his punishment but he obviously wasn’t happy about it.
Brandy had always wondered if that almost fight and Tanner being grounded because of it were two of the reasons why Tanner and Lamina couldn’t seem to get along for more than five seconds, but their rivalry had actually started way before that day.
Brandy wasn’t sure that she would ever really know the reason behind it.
At this point, she honestly wasn’t even too sure if either Tanner and Lamina knew what originally started it either.
She rolled her eyes at the thought.
Stubborn idiots.
She loved them both.
But they were idiots.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard her brother ask Treech if he wanted to come over to their house after school today to work on their projects.
Brandy kicked Tanner’s chair.
She was just going to ask Lamina the same question but she got too caught up in worrying about her best friend to ask Lamina before Tanner could ask Treech.
Tanner turned around and glared at her.
“Can I help you?”
Brandy scowled at him.
“That’s not fair. I was going to ask Lamina to come over so that we could start working on our projects today.” she complained to him.
“Too bad. You snooze, you lose.” he grinned back at her.
Brandy kicked the back of his chair again.
Technically they could all still go over Brandy and Tanner’s house. He knew that their parents wouldn’t care. They loved Lamina and Treech. It was just that when the four of them were together it was really hard to concentrate and they all knew that no school work would be getting done.
“It’s fine. Brandy you can just come over to my house and we can work on our project there.” Lamina said smiling at her.
Brandy smiled back at her happy to see that Lamina seemed to be doing ok.
Then Brandy remembered that she was still holding Lamina’s hand under their desks and quickly let go hoping she wasn’t blushing as she did so.
When she looked up again, Brandy noticed Treech send Lamina a concerned look and she knew by the look on Tanner’s face that he caught on to it as well.
Lamina just shrugged back at Treech and he seemed to accept it, so the twins decided to just leave it alone for now and move on.
Brandy turned her attention back towards the front of the room and noticed that Lucy Gray had turned herself towards Coral and stuck out her hand for Coral to shake.
“You must be Coral. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Coral reached her own hand towards Lucy Gray’s to accept the handshake as she turned around to glare at Treech.
Brandy didn’t know what that was all about but she figured Coral had a decent enough reason and Brandy would support her.
Lucy Gray must have also noticed, because she quickly added “All good things darling. I promise.”
Coral turned back towards her and blushed when she realized that her hand was still in Lucy Gray’s.
Coral quickly pulled her hand back and Lucy Gray turned around so that she was now facing the four of them.
“Let me guess.” she started.
“I know Treech already since he was nice enough to meet me at the office this morning and walk me to class.” she smiled at Treech again and he returned it.
Then she turned to Tanner.
“I am guessing that you are Tanner.” she pointed at him. “I heard a lot of things about you as well darling. Treech here says you’re his best friend. Well one of them.” She winked at him.
Tanner looked a little uncomfortable as soon as Lucy Gray winked at him and Brandy in that moment decided that her and Lucy Gray would be great friends.
Lucy Gray then turned her attention to Brandy and Lamina.
She looked at the both of them almost like she was trying to solve a puzzle.
Then she pointed to Brandy.
“Treech also mentioned that Tanner was a twin and you two do look the most alike, so I am going to guess that you must be Brandy.”
“Unfortunately” Brandy answered Lucy Gray.
Tanner scowled at her.
Brandy smiled back at him until he turned back around and shook his head at her.
“Then by the simple process of elimination, that means that you’re Lamina. Treech’s neighbor right?” Lucy Gray asked as she gave Lamina a small wave.
Lamina waved back.
“I’m Lucy Gray, but you already all knew that from my introduction. I do really hope that we can all be friends.” Lucy Gray repeated the same words that she had said earlier.
“Of course we can. Right everyone?” Treech answered for them.
Brandy, Lamina, and Tanner all agreed with him.
Lucy Gray smiled and then started saying something else directed to Coral.
Brandy honestly stopped listening at that point and turned her attention back to Lamina.
“Are you ok?”
“Yes. It’s going to be a tough project, but I have you right? I’ll be okay.” Lamina smiled at Brandy.
Mrs. Plinth gave the class a little bit more time to discuss the projects before it was time for them to go to lunch.
Brandy and Tanner headed towards the lunch line to buy a lunch since neither of them had time this morning it seemed to bring their own.
Lamina, Treech, Coral, and Lucy Gray went to find a table.
“Lucy Gray seems really nice.” Brandy mentioned to Tanner.
“Yeah. I guess.” he responded.
“Lamina, Treech, and Coral really seem to like her.”
Brandy watched as Tanner looked over to where the rest of their friends were now sitting at one of the lunch tables towards the back of the cafeteria.
Lucy Gray sat next to Coral with Treech and Lamina sitting across from them. There was an open seat across from Treech and next to Coral for Tanner and another one next to Lamina for Brandy.
Brandy smiled over at where their friends were sitting and she noticed Tanner doing the same.
They both had to turn back around to focus on the line when it started moving again though.
Tanner grabbed chicken nuggets and french fries off of the counter, while Brandy just grabbed some french fries and skipped the chicken nuggets.
A few years ago Brandy had decided that she was going to become a vegetarian because she loved all of the animals on their farm so much that she couldn’t stand the thought of eating any of their friends.
Tanner and the rest of their family supported her. They also tried to limit their meat intake more, but they would still eat meat some days.
It didn’t bother Brandy though because it was their choice to make not hers.
Their parents also believed that it was up to each of their children to decide what they wanted to eat and they both thought that Pen and Milly were currently too young to make such a big life decision.
However, Pen forever looking up to her older sister had started following Brandy’s lead more often than not, which usually meant that their Mom would cook two separate meals most nights for dinner. One option that would include meat and one that was without.
Her Mom’s support meant the world to Brandy.
She really did have a pretty amazing family.
Brandy and Tanner both paid for their lunches and then walked over to join their friends.
“So what did we miss?” Brandy asked as she slid into the open seat next to Lamina.
“Nothing much. Just catching Lucy Gray up on some things to do around town.” Treech answered as Tanner took the seat across from him.
“Yeah. We covered the corner store, the lake, the zoo, the beach, and the hiking trails by the woods. We were just about to tell her about the farm but we figured it would be better if one of you told her.” Lamina said as she scooted over so she was now sitting even closer to Brandy.
“Oh a farm sounds like so much fun. I love animals. My littlest cousin Maude Ivory has a cat named Pippa that she takes just about everywhere with her. She would even take that cat to school with her if Barb Azure and the school would allow it. I bet Maude Ivory would love to visit this farm someday. Where exactly is it?” Lucy Gray asked.
“We actually live there.” Brandy responded before Tanner had the chance to answer as well.
“Our family runs a small farm animal rescue and we have all different types of rescued farm animals. You can definitely bring Maude Ivory over whenever. Just let either me or Tanner know first.”
“How old is Maude Ivory?” Tanner asked Lucy Gray.
“She actually just turned eight a few weeks before we moved here. Treech mentioned to me before we got to class, that you all have some younger siblings that might be about her age and that they might all be going to the same school right now. There is also my other younger cousin Clerk Carmine or CC sometimes. He’s nine. I think he could probably be in the same class as Mizzen and Pen.” Lucy Gray said with a smile.
Coral seemed to startle for a second when Lucy Gray mentioned Mizzen, but when she noticed that Lucy Gray was smiling at her Coral just smiled back.
“We are actually going to pick Mizzen and Pen up from school later.” Treech started.
“You’re welcome to join us Lucy Gray. It probably makes sense since you could just go over to Coral’s house anyways after school to start working on your projects.”
Brandy noticed Coral kick her leg out as she attempted to kick Treech under the table due to his suggestion, but eventually Coral must have decided that it was actually a pretty good idea because she agreed to it.
They all finished their lunches and then went back to class to wait for the first day of school to finally be over.
Once school ended for the day, the six of them started walking back to the elementary school to pick up the younger kids.
Brandy and Lamina walked out of school together.
Tanner was walking a little ahead of them with Treech and Lucy Gray.
Coral had taken off as soon as the bell rang and was a little further ahead of the rest of them, but they could still see her and she had since seemed to slow down because they had almost caught up to her now.
Lamina had immediately started talking about a movie that she had recently watched as soon as they walked out the door and Brandy was listening intently even though Brandy had not been able to watch the movie yet and didn’t really understand everything that Lamina was saying about it.
Brandy just smiled at Lamina and Lamina smiled back at her as she kept rambling on about whatever movie she was still talking about.
A few minutes later they arrived at the fork in the road where Brandy and Lamina would have to split up with the rest of the group to start walking to Lamina’s house.
They said goodbye to the rest of the group and started walking in the opposite direction.
Lamina had stopped talking about the movie now and they walked in silence for a few minutes before Lamina asked Brandy what she thought about Lucy Gray.
“She seems really sweet. I think she’ll fit right in with our friend group don’t you?” Brandy asked Lamina.
Lamina nodded and quickly looked away from Brandy.
“She’s really pretty.” Lamina mentioned after a moment looking back at Brandy now, almost like she was trying to see what Brandy’s reaction would be to what she had just said.
“Yeah. She is.” Brandy replied although she was confused about why Lamina would care about whether Brandy thought Lucy Gray was pretty or not.
Brandy was also trying her best to not focus too much on how Lamina also seemed to think that Lucy Gray was pretty.
Brandy wasn’t jealous at all.
She wasn’t.
“It seems like Coral thinks that Lucy Gray is pretty as well.” Brandy said as she tried to change the subject.
“Did you see how Coral couldn’t even look at her all day without blushing?”
“Of course I did. How could I not?” Lamina laughed.
Brandy had always loved the sound of Lamina’s laugh.
Brandy started laughing with her.
After walking for a few more minutes they finally reached Lamina’s house and Lamina reached into her backpack to grab the keys so that she could unlock the front door.
Brandy thought that she caught Lamina throw a quick glance over to where her Dad’s truck was usually parked and Brandy was confused for a moment when it looked like Lamina let out of small sigh of relief when she saw that the truck wasn’t there.
Before Brandy could ask Lamina about it though, she heard someone call Lamina’s name from behind them.
They both turned around and Lamina reached her arms out to accept the hug that was coming her way.
Brandy sighed in relief when she realized that it was just Lennox.
Or Nox as he preferred to be called now.
Treech’s little brother.
Brandy couldn’t help but laugh as Nox threw himself at Lamina and even though Nox was still a lot smaller than Lamina was he was almost able to knock her over with how much force he put into the hug.
Luckily Lamina was pretty strong so she was able to catch him and keep them both standing.
Lamina smiled as she hugged Nox back and even lifted him off the ground for a moment before putting him down and pushing him away from her so she could look at him.
“You seem to be getting taller every day now.” Lamina told him.
“I know. Isn’t it great? Mom says that I’m probably going to be even taller than Treech someday. Treech didn’t seem too happy about it, but I love it.” Nox laughed.
Lamina and Brandy started laughing with him.
It was then that Nox seemed to notice that Brandy was there too and he pulled himself out of Lamina’s grip to hug Brandy as well.
Brandy returned the hug and ruffled his hair as he was stepping away from her.
“Nox” they heard his Mom calling out to her son from their house.
When Nox didn’t immediately answer her, she came outside of the house to look for him.
“Hi girls.” she added when she noticed Brandy and Lamina standing with Nox.
“Nox don’t forget that you have to get changed before you can come to work with me.”
“Oh yeah.” Nox responded as he looked down at the school uniform that he was still wearing.
“Bye Lamina. Bye Brandy.” he shouted over his shoulder as he ran by his Mom and back into the house to change.
Mrs. Masaki smiled at her son as he ran by her before she walked over to pull both Brandy and Lamina into a hug.
“How was school today?” she asked them.
“School was good Mrs. Masaki.” Brandy answered. “Thanks for asking.”
“Hi Mom.” Lamina responded as she also hugged Mrs. Masaki back.
Brandy froze for a second before she remembered that Lamina, Treech, and Nox would often refer to each others Mom’s as their own since they had spent so much time over each other’s houses over the last few years, and most days both of their Moms would joke that it was like they were just one big happy family rather than two separate ones.
Brandy let herself relax again once she realized that Lamina was ok.
Brandy knew how much Lamina missed her Mom every day and she was grateful to Mrs. Masaki for stepping in and continuing to be there to always support her best friend.
“Now, where’s my problem child?” Mrs. Masaki joked as she pulled away from them letting out a small laugh as she did so.
She must have just noticed that Treech wasn’t with them.
Brandy also started laughing again, because it was hard for her to imagine Treech ever being referred to as a “problem child” but in comparison to Nox and Lamina he definitely seemed to find himself in more trouble most days than either of them ever had been.
Brandy figured that it had something to do with Tanner and Coral being his best friends.
Trouble sometimes seemed to follow the three of them wherever they went.
“He’s going to my house with Tanner. We have to work on a project for school and they are partners just like me and Lamina are.” Brandy smiled as she answered.
“Yeah. We figured it was better if the four of us split up so that we would actually be able to get some work done.” Lamina added.
“Ok girls. That sounds good. Lamina you have my number. I know your Dad isn’t home right now, so if either of you need anything you know how to reach me. I have to go back to work now, but you can call my cell if you need anything.”
“Thanks Mom.”
“Bye Mrs. M.”
Lamina turned around and started walking back towards her front door.
Brandy followed her.
Once they walked in the house, Lamina walked into the kitchen and offered Brandy a soda which Brandy happily accepted and then they headed upstairs to Lamina’s room to start their projects.
Brandy had always loved Lamina’s room.
They hadn’t spent as much time over at Lamina’s house since her Mom died, so Brandy took a moment to take a look around to room to see if anything had changed since she was last here, but it looked like Lamina had kept it mostly the same.
The same green walls, the same blue bedspread that Brandy had helped Lamina pick out on a recent trip to the mall, and all of the pictures on the wall next to Lamina’s bed.
Lamina had always loved photography.
Her Mom had been a photographer and she bought Lamina her first camera for Lamina’s tenth birthday.
Lamina took so many pictures at her birthday party with all of their friends and then after the party was over Lamina dragged Brandy all around town to take more pictures.
Brandy walked up to the wall of photos.
There were a lot of pictures of different places around town, some pictures of Lamina and Brandy through the years, a decent amount of Lamina with Treech and/or Nox, a few more of all five of them together with Brandy’s favorite being from a school field trip to the local museum during last year’s field trip, and the last corner was filled with photos from the trip to Japan that Lamina had gone on with Treech’s family two summers ago when they went to visit some of his extended family.
Those three weeks had been the longest three weeks of Brandy’s life. She had been miserable without her best friend and she was stuck hanging out with just her twin and Coral for most of it.
Tanner didn’t handle Treech being away any better than Brandy dealt with Lamina being gone.
Brandy knew that Coral was sick and tired of the both of them moping by the end of the three weeks.
Coral had even told them all as much when Treech and Lamina finally came back home and Coral made them both promise to never leave again, because they might come back to see that she had killed Brandy and Tanner just to help “put them out of their misery.”
Even though they all knew that Coral was only kind of sort of joking, they all started laughing at Coral’s threat.
Coral even joined in and laughed with them eventually as they all caught up with each other and Lamina and Treech shared details about their trip.
The last thing that Brandy noticed on Lamina’s wall was a hand drawn picture of a starfish that Lamina had hung up next to some of her photos.
Brandy assumed that it had been a gift from Mizzen. The kid was obsessed with starfish. It was actually kind of adorable.
Mizzen knew so much about starfish and he would tell anyone who would listen all that he knew about them whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Lucy Gray being new to their friend group was definitely a perfect opportunity and Brandy wondered how many facts he was able to tell her before Coral would finally force him to stop.
Brandy knew that Coral loved Mizzen more than Coral seemed to love anyone else, but even Coral had her limits when it came to just how long she could listen to Mizzen talk about his starfish and Coral probably figured that she was doing Lucy Gray a favor.
Brandy thought that Lucy Gray didn’t seem like the type that would mind Mizzen’s rambling though. She was almost too nice.
“So, just how mean do you think I can be to Tanner when I have to talk about him?” Lamina asked from where she had sat down on her bed behind Brandy.
“Oh by all means go for it. You have my full support.” Brandy joked back as she turned around and sat down on the bed next to Lamina.
Brandy and Tanner were the type of siblings that could basically say or do anything to each other and not have it be an issue, but as soon as someone else messed with the other one it would become a problem.
As much as the twins would fight amongst themselves, they were still and would always be protective of each other.
Lamina just happened to be Brandy’s exception to this rule and she assumed that Treech was Tanner’s.
However, Brandy didn’t worry too much about Treech ever causing problems for her, because 1.) Treech was way too nice to actually ever be mean to someone on purpose and 2.) Brandy and Treech actually got along.
Treech had spent so much time with their family over the years, that Brandy basically considered him a second brother and most days she actually got along better with Treech than she did with Tanner.
So no, she wasn’t too concerned with what Treech might say about her during their project presentation unlike how Tanner might have to be a little concerned with what Lamina was going to say about him.
Lamina just smiled in response to Brandy’s answer.
“Good to know.”
Brandy laughed.
“What about the rest of your family? Lamina asked as she grabbed a notebook out of her backpack to start writing stuff down.
“I don’t want to include our dad.”
Brandy had already told Lamina all about her, Tanner, and Pen’s biological father.
How he had cheated on their Mom not too long after Pen was born and left their family not too long after they had caught him on a date with another woman one day.
Brandy remembered the night that he had left like it was yesterday.
Brandy woke up to her parents yelling and she started crying even though she tried her best not too.
Tanner had run over to where Brandy was still sitting on her bed, he hugged her, and he tried to tell her that everything would be ok.
Tanner continued to hold her as she cried until they heard the front door finally slam shut behind their dad as he left their family forever.
Brandy hadn’t meant to tell Lamina, but Brandy had been having an extremely bad day a few years ago on the anniversary of the day that he left and she broke down in front of Lamina because she had been sleeping over Lamina’s house that particular night.
Lamina had remained calm and held her as Brandy cried just like Tanner had done all those years ago.
Brandy finally opened up and told Lamina everything as she cried in Lamina’s arms.
Lamina just held her tighter as Brandy explained everything and then they both fell asleep still holding on to each other once Brandy had calmed down.
“Ok. We won’t.” was Lamina’s only response.
Brandy appreciated her best friend so much.
“Benedict’s our dad. He’s always been there for my entire family and now we have Milly too. I love him. He’s my Dad. Not that other man.”
Lamina nodded again but didn’t add anything else to the conversation as she wrote down what Brandy had said.
“We already talked about Tanner and I just want to confirm that you have my permission to say whatever you want about him.”
Lamina stopped writing for a moment and looked back over at Brandy with another smile lighting up her face.
“Pen and Milly will be pretty easy to talk about.” Brandy went on.
“Pen is nine now and basically loves spending time outside, helping me take care of the animals on the farm, and when she’s not with me, she can usually be found somewhere causing trouble with Mizzen, Nox, and the rest of their friends. Milly just turned three and all she basically cares about right now are princesses and ponies.”
Lamina continued to write everything down.
“Ok I think that’s enough about my family.”
Brandy looked over at Lamina.
“Are you ready to talk about yours?”
Lamina stopped writing and took a deep breath.
“No. Not really.”
“Do you want to take a break then?” Brandy asked.
“We can put a movie on or something. It’s almost time for dinner and I have a little money from my parents for doing chores around the farm so we could also order a pizza?”
“Ok. Before we do all that though let’s just finish talking about my part of the project.” Lamina sighed and took another deep breath.
Brandy moved closer to Lamina so they were now sitting side by side up against the headboard of Lamina’s bed.
Lamina leaned over so that she was now resting her head on Brandy’s shoulder and Brandy leaned her head so that it was now resting on top of Lamina’s.
“Just take your time Mina. I’m not going anywhere.” Brandy reassured her.
Brandy could feel Lamina take a few more deep breaths before she started speaking.
“My Mom was the best. I miss her so much that it physically hurts most days. I know it’s been a little over a year but it still feels like it was yesterday and sometimes when I wake up in the morning I still expect to find her making breakfast in the kitchen like she always used to.”
Brandy felt Lamina start to shake a little bit and Brandy figured that she might have started crying.
“Every Sunday morning, my Mom would make this amazing breakfast with pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, a fruit bowl, and so much more. Treech and Nox used to come over all the time for it, and I know that my Mom loved to have them over because she loved them both as much as she loved me.”
Lamina paused for a moment to catch her breath.
“My parents never told me why they never had any more kids after me. I also never asked. I do remember that I was lonely for the first few years of my life before we moved here, but I’m not lonely anymore. Treech and Nox are amazing brothers and I also have you, Coral, and even Tanner I guess.”
Lamina lifted her head off of Brandy’s shoulder quickly and smiled at Brandy.
“You’re my best friend though. You know that right?” Lamina asked her.
“You’re my best friend too.” Brandy responded as Lamina seemed to accept her answer and laid her head back on Brandy’s shoulder.
They sat in silence for a few more minutes, just content spending time with each other.
“Ok. I’m hungry.” Lamina suddenly sprung up and lifted her head off Brandy’s shoulder as she climbed over Brandy to get off of the bed.
“You order the pizza and pick a movie to watch. I’m going to make popcorn.” Lamina said as she walked out of her room.
Brandy figured that she should probably also text her Mom to let her know that she would be staying at Lamina’s for dinner.
She hadn’t bothered to text her Mom sooner because she figured that Tanner would have told their Mom where she was.
Brandy: Is it ok if I stay at Lamina’s house for dinner? We are going to get a pizza and watch a movie?
Mama: Sure honey. Just don’t stay out too late because it’s a school night. I’ll see you when you get home.
Brandy: Thanks Mom. I love you. ♥️
Mama: I love you too. Have fun.
Brandy then called the order the pizza.
Half veggie for herself and half pepperoni for Lamina.
She walked downstairs to Lamina’s living room so that she could work on picking out a movie for them to watch.
She heard Lamina still popping popcorn for the both of them in the kitchen.
Brandy chose the first Despicable Me movie because she knew that it was one of Lamina’s favorites and Brandy was hoping that watching it would make Lamina feel better.
A few minutes later Lamina walked into the room carrying one extremely large bowl of popcorn and two cans of soda.
Lamina threw herself down onto the couch right next to where Brandy was sitting and handed Brandy one of the soda cans.
Brandy tried not to read too much into how close Lamina sat to her. There was a whole entire couch that Lamina could have sat on but she chose to sit as close to Brandy as physically possible without actually sitting on Brandy’s lap.
Sometimes, Brandy wondered if it were at all possible that Lamina might feel the same way about Brandy that Brandy felt about her.
Brandy tried not to think too much about it though, because she didn’t want to get her hopes up only to be wrong.
They were just best friends and that’s all that they ever would be.
Best friends sat this close to each other all the time and it didn’t mean anything.
Brandy thought about Tanner and Treech.
They were best friends just like Brandy and Lamina were, and they almost always sat close together like this whenever they got the chance to and it didn’t seem like it meant anything different for either of them.
This was fine.
Brandy was fine.
Brandy took a breath and tried to relax as she pressed play and started the movie.
She reached into the bowl to grab some popcorn.
However, Lamina chose that exact moment to reach into the bowl to grab some popcorn for herself as well and their hands accidentally brushed as they did so.
Brandy stilled.
They held hands all the time, but this felt different for some reason.
Brandy had felt a spark once her fingers touched Lamina’s.
Brandy knew in that moment that she was screwed.
She didn’t think that this was just a simple middle school crush anymore and that thought terrified her more than anything.
Brandy stole a quick and worried glance over at Lamina, but it seemed like Lamina hadn’t thought too much about it like Brandy was, because Lamina was busy staring ahead at the screen and eating the popcorn that she had been able to pull out of the bowl while Brandy had been distracted.
The doorbell rang and Brandy jumped up to get it.
Lamina grabbed the remote from where it had been sitting next to Brandy and looked at Brandy with concern.
“It’s just the pizza delivery person.” Brandy told her. “I’ll go get it and I’ll be right back.”
Lamina nodded at her with a concerned expression still on her face, but she let Brandy go without saying anything else and turned back towards the television grabbing some more popcorn out of the bowl.
Brandy grabbed the money for the pizza out of her backpack on the way to the front door and paused to take another deep breath before she smiled and opened the door.
Brandy grabbed the pizza, handed the delivery guy the money for it along with a tip, and then turned around to walk back to the living room.
She set the pizza box down on the coffee table that was in front of the couch and where Lamina had been resting her feet when she made it back into the living room.
Lamina moved her feet as soon as Brandy set the box down and she sat up putting the bowl of popcorn down so that she could open the box and grab a slice of pizza.
Brandy smiled at Lamina from where she was still standing on the other side of the coffee table before following Lamina’s lead and also grabbing a slice of pizza.
Lamina pressed play on the remote again to resume the movie once they were both sitting down and had started eating.
Lamina remained sitting up a little more so that it would be easier to eat the pizza but she was still sitting extremely close to Brandy and Brandy was trying her best to not panic.
Once Lamina was done eating, she sat back further into the couch and pressed her shoulder up against Brandy’s as she laughed at something the Minions were doing during that particular part of the movie.
Brandy was really trying to not panic now, because she didn’t want Lamina to know that she was freaking out which would only freak Lamina out as well.
Brandy took a few more deep breaths and Lamina must have noticed, because she reached out and grabbed Brandy’s hand with hers while also never taking her eyes off of the screen.
Brandy figured that this was Lamina’s way of trying to help Brandy relax since Brandy would always hold Lamina’s hand when she was freaking out about something.
Brandy relaxed for a moment before realizing that if Lamina did this, then she must have known that Brandy was freaking out about something and would probably ask her about it after the movie was over.
Brandy had to think of an answer to give her and quick because the movie was almost over now.
When the movie was over Lamina turned to Brandy, but before Lamina could speak Brandy stood up, let go of Lamina’s hand, and started working on cleaning up the mess that they had made of Lamina’s living room.
“Are you ok Dee?” Lamina asked from where she was still sitting on the couch.
“Oh yeah. I’m fine. It’s just starting to get a little late and I should get going soon.”
“Oh. Ok.”
Lamina looked a little upset and Brandy hoped that it wasn’t because of how she was acting now.
Brandy never wanted to hurt Lamina.
Before Brandy could say anything else though she felt her phone buzz from where she was keeping in her pocket.
Tanner: Walking Treech home now. Be ready and we can walk home together. We should be there in 15 min.
Brandy: Don’t tell me what to do.
Tanner: 🙄
“Who was that?” Lamina asked as she stood up from the couch to help Brandy clean up.
“Just Tanner. Him and Treech are on their way back now, and Tanner told me to be ready so that we could walk back to our house together.”
Lamina nodded but she still looked sad.
“What time will your Dad be back? Will you be ok by yourself?” Brandy asked.
“He’s working late but I am sure that Treech will either stay with me or I’ll just go over to his house until Dad gets back. I’ll be fine don’t worry.” Lamina said as she tried to smile.
Brandy and Lamina finished cleaning up and then Brandy ran to grab her backpack from where she had left it in Lamina’s room.
Her phone buzzed again.
Tanner: Here. Hurry Up.
Brandy: Relax. I’ll be right there. 🙄
Brandy grabbed her backpack and walked back downstairs.
Lamina was already waiting in the doorway for her.
Brandy pulled Lamina into a hug and told her that she would see her tomorrow at school but Lamina could text Brandy for anything if she needed her.
Lamina hugged her back.
After what felt like they had maybe been hugging for a few minutes longer than necessary, Brandy pulled away and turned around throwing one more wave to Lamina over her shoulder as she started walking over to where she could see Treech and Tanner standing together as they watched Brandy and Lamina hug goodbye.
“Hi Treech. Bye Treech.” Brandy said as she quickly walked by the two of them so that she could start walking home.
“Goodnight Brandy.” Treech called after her.
Brandy didn’t stop to wait for Tanner as he said goodbye to Treech and possibly Lamina.
She knew that he would catch up to her and he did.
“So, you and Lamina…”
Before he could get any further with his sentence and imply anything further, Brandy pushed him over so hard that he fell over and hit the ground.
Brandy turned away from her brother and kept walking home as Tanner laughed from where he had fallen on the ground.
A few moments later though he caught up to her and put his arm around her as they continued walking.
Tanner didn’t push her anymore about her relationship with Lamina and Brandy figured that him doing so meant that he supported them.
Not that there was currently anything to support, but maybe someday.
At least Brandy could dream right?
The twins walked the rest of the way home in silence until they finally made it home.
It wasn’t until Brandy was getting ready for bed that night and she was going back over the day in her head that she realized that the entire time they had been talking about their family tree projects, Lamina hadn’t mentioned her Dad once.
Brandy didn’t know why that thought made her nervous, but it did.
She would try to talk about it with Lamina tomorrow.
For right now though, Brandy was tired and she just wanted to try and get some sleep.