brooks & hale - Chapter 25: Chapter 25

BROOKS WASN'T IN SCHOOL on Monday.
Hale had strolled into chemistry, late as usual, only to see the seat where he usually sat was empty. In all the months they'd shared this class together, Brooks had never missed a lesson. Not even once. Hale remembered thinking he must have had some kind of invincible immune system, and yet here he was, absent from school. He even checked with Mrs Mulligan to make sure he was actually off and not just late.
Hale barely heard anything Mrs Mulligan was saying that lesson, even less than usual, too worried about Brooks. They hadn't been able to see each other yesterday because he said he was ill, although he'd seemed fine on Friday. Brooks had also ignored his texts, although Hale had tried not to dwell too much on that. He was probably just sleeping and hadn't seen them. Or too busy resting to reply.
Or he was mad at Hale.
But why? Even as he racked his brain, he couldn't think of anything he might have done. The most likely explanation was just that Brooks was genuinely ill and couldn't come in. He wasn't like Hale; he wouldn't skip school for petty reasons such as arguments or late homework, because he actually cared about school.
While Mrs Mulligan jabbered on about halogens, Hale slipped his phone out under the table.
hale :
you're still ill? you must be seriously dying if it means you're willing to skip school
Hale regretted it the moment he sent it. What if it was true? It really had to be serious if Brooks wasn't in school. He was distracted for the rest of the lesson worrying about it, and it didn't help that Brooks still hadn't replied by the end of chemistry. Or by lunch. It had gotten to the point he was checking his phone so frequently he just kept it in his hand, growing more and more restless when a new text or notification wasn't from him.
"Hale?" Will waved his hand in Hale's face. "The line's moving, mate. You need to get your food."
He realised he'd been holding up the queue and moved forward, taking the bowl the dinner lady offered him. He frowned at the contents. Sludge, sludge, and more sludge. No surprise there. He was still waiting for the day this school actually figured out that to make food, the ingredients used had to be food too. Whatever this was looked like it had been made from blended grass and crayons.
"What's so interesting about your phone, anyway?" Will asked, sidling up to him with his own bowl of sludge. "You've been staring at it way too much to be healthy. I know they say our generation is obsessed with technology and all that, but this is taking it one step too far."
"I'm just waiting for a text."
Text, call, snapchat, whatever. He'd take anything at this point just so he knew Brooks was still alive.
"Oh, I see," Will said, and he was grinning slyly now. "It wouldn't happen to be from a certain red-haired MJ, would it?"
Hale was momentarily distracted. "Who said she was a redhead?"
"I don't know, she just sounds like one."
"Just because MJ from Spider-Man has red hair doesn't mean they all do," Hale said, rolling his eyes. "And for your information, she has brown hair, actually."
What was he doing? It had all been fun and games at first, but he seriously needed to shut up about this MJ before he got in too deep over his head. The more lies he added to the growing web, the more he'd have to keep up with and the more likely he'd be caught out.
"A brown-haired MJ," Will mused. "Jeez, that just sounds wrong. Tell her to dye it red."
Hale just shook his head, following Will to the tables with their food. The majority of their friends were already at their usual table, with his and Will's seats left open. Hale scanned the cafeteria and found the table Brooks sat at too easily, from his gaze wandering in that direction a little too much over the past few weeks. Brooks wasn't there. Calla and Hassan were there, however, and Hale decided he was going to get answers.
Will headed towards their table, and had only gotten a couple of steps before realising Hale wasn't following him. "Where are you going?" Will called after him. "The table's this way."
"Just need to do something," Hale said, walking in the opposite direction with a wave over his shoulder. "I'll be back in a sec."
Their conversation came to a halt before he had even reached them, both of them staring at him. He wondered if Brooks had ever mentioned him, or if this would just seem completely random. Too late to turn back now. He came to a stop at their table, tray with bowl of sludge in hand, and Calla beamed up at him. "Hi," she said, easily covering up her surprise with a pleasant smile. "What's up, Hale?"
"Where's Brooks?" he asked, straight to the point.
"Depends," Hassan said, his eyes narrowing fractionally even while his tone was bored. "What do you want him for?"
Hale chewed his lip as he considered what response was appropriate to give. The truth was out of the question - "Oh, I've just been making out with your best friend frequently behind your back!" - but even then asking out of the kindness of his heart for a friend might seem a little strange. Calla might have believed it, but Hassan seemed a little too shrewd. He'd have to go with the most basic excuse he'd been giving his friends.
"He's my chemistry partner," Hale drawled, as if he couldn't care less. He was pretty good at pretending he didn't care. "So, I need him to get good grades and it's significantly harder to do so when he isn't in school."
"Typical." Hassan's gaze was so cold that even Hale, who was adept at blocking out maliciousness from all the girls he'd fucked over, felt the hostility. "Of course, the only thing you care about are your own grades. You're all the same. I don't suppose the fact Brooks has contracted a fatal disease is of any concern to you?"
Hale nearly dropped his tray. "He what?"
"No, he hasn't," Calla interjected, shooting Hassan an exasperated look. He just shrugged and turned back to poking his own sludge. "He's fine, probably just has a stomach bug or something. Although he did have to go home early yesterday because he didn't feel well."
"Go home?" Hale's eyebrows furrowed. "Did you go out with him?"
"Why do you care?" Hassan retorted.
Because he told me he couldn't go out, Hale thought, clutching his tray a little tighter. He was ill enough to bail on Hale, but well enough to see his friends? Realising that both Calla and Hassan were waiting for an answer, he quickly fixed a smirk in place. "I don't care," Hale replied smoothly, as much a lie as he wanted it to be true. "I couldn't care less about Brooks. And if that's all you can tell me, I guess I'll be on my way."
He walked away before either of them could say anything more on the matter. He couldn't care less? Yeah, right. Kidding himself that it didn't seriously bug him that Brooks had ditched him yesterday and wasn't returning his texts wasn't going to work anymore.
He just didn't know what he was supposed to do about it.
*
Hale squinted at the page, unable to make sense of anything he'd written in the margins. He couldn't decide if it was his terribly messy scrawl that was the problem or his own eyes playing tricks on him again, scrambling up the words. Most likely a combination of both. He sighed and scribbled out the illegible notes. This was going to take a while.
For the first time in probably the whole year, Hale was actually using his free period to do work. He didn't really have much of a choice. His form tutor had threatened to pull from the football and lacrosse team if he handed in anymore homework late, and seeing as Brooks hadn't been in chemistry recently to motivate him to work, he had an entire booklet from class and two worksheets for homework to complete.
It was Wednesday, and Brooks still hadn't come in. Hale knew it couldn't have been anything serious because Calla seemed her usual chipper self at peer mentoring that morning, assuring him it wouldn't be anything more than common flu when he'd asked, but it hadn't put his mind at ease. If it was just flu, why couldn't he answer his bloody phone? Still, Hale didn't have much of a choice but sit around and wait for him to return. He couldn't go round to his house because he didn't have a clue where Brooks lived.
At the other end of the table, Coralie and Kara were whispering and gossiping like their lives depended on it. After exhausting the topic of which nail colour they most suited, they'd moved onto discussing Kara's most recent date with Elliot. "No way," Coralie muttered, examining her nails carefully manicured to sharpened tips. "He actually cooked dinner for you? I didn't think he even knew what an oven was."
"I know!" Kara gushed. "And it was actually nice, too!"
"What did he make?"
"Chinese. He knew it was my favourite."
"Ha! I bet he ordered take out."
"No, he would never!"
Hale was about to interrupt their conversation to tell them to take their unnecessary fawning of Elliot elsewhere, when the library door opened. Elsie hurried inside and made a beeline for her friends, looking around furtively as if searching for eavesdroppers. Hale recognised that expression. She had some form of gossip she was absolutely dying to tell, and Hale turned away before he could be included in it.
"Hey, Elsie," Kara greeted cheerfully. "What's up?"
"I found something out," Elsie admitted, lowering her voice to a whisper that Hale couldn't quite block out. Granted, none of them knew how to whisper properly, but he was probably the only one who could hear what they were saying due to sitting so nearby. "Something I don't think I'm supposed to know."
"Oh my god!" Kara clapped her hands to her mouth. "Lexi's pregnant again, isn't she?"
"Knew it," Coralie said scornfully. "I told that girl the pull-out method won't fucking work. Does she ever listen?"
"No, no, that's not it," Elsie said hurriedly. "I don't know if Lexi's pregnant or not. Actually, it's about my brother."
"Ooh, your brother," Kara said with a grin, exchanging a lustful look with Coralie. Hale kept his eyes on his page but couldn't help rolling his eyes. And they said guys were the horny ones? "That blonde bombshell? I'll gladly talk about him."
"Is he still single?" Coralie tapped her nails on the table with a sly look. "Feel free to let him know I'm available for anything, Elsie. I've always wanted to know how fast a swimmer could go out of water, doing something a little different."
"Yeah...I don't know about that." Elsie chewed her nails nervously and looked around with wide eyes. "I think he's gay."
Seriously? Hale didn't even know Elsie's brother, but he was getting the sense that his life was turning into some kind of reality TV show for coming out of the closet. A few weeks ago, he'd never even met a gay guy, forget admitting to himself he was anything beyond straight. Now he'd finally accepted the truth and everyone around him was turning gay. He knew exactly what Brooks would say to that if he was here. People don't turn gay, Hale, it's not a choice, blah blah blah.
Okay, he knew that, but what was the deal with everyone suddenly deviating from heterosexuality? Couldn't things just stay normal for a little longer?
"Gay?" Kara pouted. "Aw, man. Why is it always the hot ones?"
"Why do you care?" Coralie smirked. "Aren't you supposed to be dating Elliot now?"
"Well, yeah, but a girl can't help but appreciate. Just 'cause I'm tied down doesn't mean I can't keep an eye out for what I'm missing."
"Whatever." Coralie turned to Elsie, who was patiently waiting for the conversation to turn back to her own issue. "Alright, you think he's gay. Why?"
"I saw him kissing someone," Elsie said quietly, and Hale had to strain to catch what she was saying now. He didn't even care that he was blatantly eavesdropping on a conversation that had nothing to do with him. Screw chemistry - his curiosity had gotten the best of him. "Someone who wasn't a girl."
"Don't stop there!" Kara's eyes shone with the prospect of gossip as she leaned forward and grabbed Elsie's arm. "Give us all the details, Els, or we can't make a proper judgement! When did this happen? Where? How?"
"Okay, so, you know that party I was at on Saturday? The Woodway guy in the year above?" Both Coralie and Kara nodded. Hale hated to admit their rapt attention was sucking him in, although he continued to pretend he was actually doing work, his head ducked as he scribbled aimlessly with his pencil. "Reed was there too, of course. And later in the evening when I went to the kitchen...it was just to get a drink, I swear, but I saw...well - "
"Woman!" Kara grabbed her shoulders and gave a small shake. "You're killing me here! What did you see?"
Elsie paused, no doubt for dramatic effect, before whispering, "I saw Reed kissing Brooks."
Hale head snapped up and his hand went skidding, sending a thick black line across the page. It was sudden enough to send his textbook to the edge of the table, where it teetered precariously for a second before toppling to the floor. All heads in the library turned to stare at him and the librarian hissed at him to stop disrupting the peace, but he ignored all of them.
"What did you just say?" he demanded, staring at Elsie.
The girls glanced at him in surprise. "Were you eavesdropping on our private conversation?" Coralie asked archly, seeming more amused than anything. "Shame on you, Hale Ryves."
He ignored her too. "Elsie, seriously," he insisted, flattening his hands against the table as he leant forward. "What did you just say?"
Elsie looked a little startled at the urgency in his tone. "Just that I saw my brother kissing Brooks," she said, bewildered. "Oh, he's your friend, isn't he? I didn't know Brooks was gay either. I'm pretty sure he dated Bellamy at one point too."
Hale ran a hand through his hair and tipped back in his chair, muttering a few choice words under his breath in Spanish. Was that really true? Brooks had kissed whoever the hell this Reed guy was? He didn't want to believe it, but it made too much sense not to. The party was on Saturday, and Hale knew Brooks had been there. It was from Sunday onwards that Brooks had been acting strange, avoiding having to see or talk to Hale. Going as far as to ignore his texts and calls.
Was this why?
"Are you sure that's what you saw, Elsie?" Hale asked. "You weren't just drunk or, I don't know, hallucinating?"
"I'm pretty sure," Elsie said slowly. "I mean, I didn't stick around to watch or anything in case they saw me but yeah...they were definitely kissing."
They were definitely kissing. The words took a moment to sink in, and when they did, his hand curled so tightly around his pencil that it snapped into two. Hale thought about all the times he'd taken the piss out of his friends for getting hung up on a girl, unable to understand how a breakup or being cheated on could warrant for so much hurt. He'd never understood why they let themselves get so hurt over one person who would mean nothing in a few years.
Just move on, Hale would always tell them, with a shrug. Plenty of fish in the sea. Why do you care about one?
Well, it made sense now, and Brooks hadn't even cheated on him, not really. Cheating implied they'd been dating in the first place, and Hale had been the one to hang back on labelling them as just that. Brooks simply played the field while Hale was stupid enough to think he'd be the first choice, regardless of anything else. Maybe Brooks had just lost patience waiting for Hale to come to terms with his sexuality, and moved on.
Friends with benefits, Brooks called them. Maybe he had benefits with this Reed guy too.
"Hello, earth to Hale?" Coralie snapped her fingers in his face and he instinctively flinched back from her razor sharp nails before they took his eyes out. "Why the hell do you even care? So what if they were kissing? I swear to god, if it's because you have a problem with Brooks being gay, I'll tear your balls out right here."
It was such a ridiculous notion, so far from the truth, that Hale couldn't help but laugh. "What?" Coralie snapped. "You don't think I'd do it? Just try me - "
"That's not going to be a problem, Cora," Hale assured her. The librarian wasn't the only one giving him the evil eye now; apparently, other students actually wanted to do work here, and Hale wasn't taking any considerations for them to keep his voice down. "I don't care if he's gay. Seriously."
Coralie looks satisfied. "Good. Guess you can keep your balls."
"Wow, thanks."
The girls turned back to their conversation, but Hale wasn't interested in being part of it anymore. He pulled his phone out and scowled down at his screen when he saw no new texts from Brooks. What the hell was his problem? If he wanted to make out with other guys, fine, it wasn't Hale's business. Brooks could do whatever the fuck he wanted. But he could at least take the time to explain what the fuck was going on. It wasn't difficult to pick up the phone and type out a simple text, was it?
Bet he isn't even ill, Hale thought angrily, snatching up his textbook from the floor. No, he was probably holed up somewhere with Elsie's "blonde bombshell" of a brother, laughing together at Hale's texts while ignoring them. And to think, Hale had wasted his time feeling worried about that dickhead. Well, Brooks had another thing coming if he thought he could avoid Hale for the rest of his life.
Hale was getting answers. And he was getting them right now.
"Hale?" Kara stared at him with large eyes as he aggressively packed his bag, shoving his books and pencil case in like he wanted to break them. "What are you doing?"
"Having tea with the queen," Hale replied sarcastically. "What does it look like? I'm leaving."
"But...we still have half an hour left of school."
"Well, that's wonderful." Hale stood up and swung his bag over his shoulder. "Tell someone who cares."
The three of them exchanged the secretive looks of girls that Hale didn't have a chance of understanding, even if he had wanted to, which involved a lot of eyebrow raising and pursing of lips. Let them think whatever the hell they wanted. At this point, he really couldn't bring himself to care. He strode out of the library without a backwards glance.
He didn't really have anywhere to go. He couldn't give a shit about ditching school, but he didn't currently have a way to get to Brooks' house. He stormed down the empty hallways and relished in his anger, even if he looked like a complete idiot stomping around the school. He really wanted to hit something. Quite a few things were looking like appealing candidates; the wall, the lockers, the water fountain.
The bin standing at the top of the stairs ended up taking the brunt of his frustration, which Hale kicked out at with savage intent. It toppled over and went rolling down the stairs with a loud crash. "Oops," Hale said dully, watching as it banged down every step. "My bad." Watching litter exploding all over the stairs wasn't satisfying enough for his destructive mood, so he punched the wall.
"Fucking fuck shit," Hale hissed, yanking his hand back. He'd hit hard enough to break the skin along his knuckles, blood seeping from the painful cracks.
That was a fucking dumb thing to do.
But almost breaking his hand successfully helped release some of his irritation, because when he found himself waiting at the school gates after school, he was considerably calmer. He kept an eye out as he scanned the crowds flooding out from the school and it wasn't long before he spotted Hassan. He would have preferred to have this conversation - or any conversation, really - with Calla, but he'd take what he could get.
"Hello," Hale greeted, stepping into his path before he could get any further. "Long time no see, huh?"
Hassan was less than pleased to see him.
"Oh. It's you," he said flatly, packing so much condescension and disdain into the words that Hale was impressed. The guy might have hated him but at least he was upfront about it. "On the hunt for a new nerd to replace Brooks? Sorry, not interested. Better luck next time."
He moved to step around Hale, but Hale sidestepped too, blocking him off again. "Hold up," Hale said, at the dirty look Hassan shot him. "You don't even know what I want."
"No," Hassan agreed, "but I know what I want. And that's for you to leave me alone."
Hale rolled his eyes. "Just hear me out, okay? I need you to tell me where Brooks lives."
"And why would I do that?"
Hale had anticipated that question, and had an answer ready as he procured his thick chemistry booklet from his bag. "I need to give him the work he's missed at school," Hale explained, pretty confident in his excuse. It actually sounded believable.
Hassan didn't seem to think so. "Really," he said, his eyes narrowing to suspicious slits. "And you're willing to go all the way to his house just to deliver it?"
"I'm just too nice of a person, right?"
"I see," Hassan said coolly, clearly not inclined to agree with his statement. He held his hand out. "Give it to me."
Hale frowned. "What?"
"The work," Hassan said, enunciating each syllable slowly as if he was particularly stupid. It was difficult for Hale not to feel entirely insignificant having a conversation with this guy. "Give it to me. I can give it to Brooks for you. Saves you making the trip for a random nerd, right?"
Hale heard the challenge in the question and stuck the booklet back into his bag in response. "No, that's okay," Hale said. "Wouldn't want to put you out of your way."
"I don't mind."
"Yeah, well, I do."
They stared each other down for a few seconds, neither of them backing down. Why was this guy so difficult? Hale should have just waited it out for Calla, who would have gladly handed over the information he wanted in a heartbeat. "Hassan," Hale said through gritted teeth, "just tell me what his address is."
Hassan looked like he was considering it, then finally held an imperious hand out. "What?" Hale raised an eyebrow. "You want me to slap it? Give you a high five?"
"Hand me your phone, you dumbass. So I can write his address down," Hassan elaborated. "I don't trust you to remember it if I tell you. You'll probably end up lost on the other side of the city."
Hale heaved a sigh, handing his phone over. "You're really quite a friendly guy, aren't you? It's 1012," he added, when Hassan held the screen out for the password. He kept forgetting his password so he eventually set it as Izzy's birthday so he wouldn't forget. He tapped his foot impatiently against the floor as he waited and finally looked at Hassan when he still didn't get his phone back. "What, it doesn't work?" he asked, when Hassan just stared at the screen.
"No," he said shortly, glancing up at Hale. "I've got it."
"I have to wonder," Hale said, as he typed out the address, "how exactly did you and Brooks end up friends?"
"My sparkling wit," he said, passing the phone back to Hale. "Same reason he ended up as your friend, most likely. And look, I even put the address into google maps for you, because I'm that nice of a guy."
"What a sweetheart," Hale said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He glanced down at the screen and felt his eyes widen. "Wait, this is where he lives? Are you sure?"
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Hassan looked annoyed at his questions. "Of course it's where he lives. I think I'd know better than you."
Hale knew exactly where this was, because it was only the richest neighbourhood for miles around. It wasn't all that far from Hale's house, maybe a fifteen or twenty minute walk, but Hale never had a reason to go near that area before. It was where the businessmen with expensive tastes and expensive wives lived on huge estates, and their children were spoilt brats born with a silver spoon stuck in their mouth. Brooks was the last person Hale would have expected to live there.
"Well, thanks, I guess," Hale said, nodding to Hassan. "For the address and for the cold words. Really feeling the love."
Hassan smiled sarcastically. "No problem."
Hale finally ended up outside Brooks' house, after getting the wrong tram and having to walk an extra fifteen minutes because he walked in the wrong direction for a while. He must have spent at least fifteen minutes in the wide driveway, five staring at the stone fountain and another ten staring up at the house. It was all terraced windows and stone columns and fancy attachments that Hale couldn't even name. You probably could have fit Hale's house ten times over into the whole building.
Hale looked up the wide steps leading to the door, and refused to let himself feel intimidated. The house was large, sure, but it was just Brooks who lived here. And he deserved answers.
Hale took a deep breath and made his way up to the front door.