My Stepbrother-Too Hot To Handle

DABBY

“You got a new girl already?! Are you kidding Damien? Have you been two-timing?!” Madison rushed so many questions at him, and he just let out a derisive smirk and turned to her.

“Do you know how disgusting it is to deal with you? Just a little breakup and you call the crowd. You really suck,” he said to her face, and she could not hold her tears again.

“So, who is your new girl? I am sure she cannot be any better than me! She would never be,” Madison didn’t give up still, and continued to shout and scream in anger.

“You know what? I am sick of you, bitch. And that is why we are breaking up. I never want to see your face anywhere around me,” he warned icily, “And also, for my new girlfriend. She doesn’t have to be better than you. In fact, she might be a nerd, you know. A really innocent and clueless nerd,” he emphasized on the last word, and continued to give me a very disgusting look. I hated that.

Mason noticed what was going on between me and Damien, and just helped me leave the scene immediately to the back of the school building. It was quite a good spot for relaxation, which looked like it had not been in our school the whole time.

That was when I realized that I had been too much of an indoor and closeted person, that I had not even had time to see around the school by myself. I was really glad to know I had a friend.

But there was nothing more refreshing to me at this point, than to know that Madison’s influence finally got cut into half, since Damien already broke up with her. Though I really pitied her when she was sobbing so profusely, I could not afford to be nice to someone who had made my life too miserable.

“How is living with your step brother? Isn’t it suffocating?” Mason suddenly asked, after he gave me a cupcake from the small box he was holding.

My eyes widened immediately as I tried to prevent him from talking, and reminded him with a hand signal that he had promised not to talk about both of us in the same sentence. Damien would kill me if the word got out.

“Don’t worry, Dabby. There is no one around here, and it is like some kind of abandoned place I found this morning while touring around. Besides, everyone is all busy with their darlings,” Mason assured me, and I chuckled.

“It is not that bad. Not totally bad,” I lied, and quickly bit on the cake so as not to bite my lips. He was quite observant and he could find out that I was lying. I definitely could not afford any problem between him and Damien because of me.

“Why does it sound like you are not telling the truth? I do not think that he can be any nice, considering the way he treats you in school. He is rude amidst all that,” Mason almost said in anger, as he passed a bottle of water to me again.

My mind briefly wandered to how the friendship versus relationship group would be, since Damien had broken up with the leader of the female squad. I imagined if that would mean that the others would have to break up with their friends, or that the squads would have to operate differently.

‘I do not think so,’ my mind countered, ‘Friendship should not be like that.’

“Can you hear me, Dabby?” Mason’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts, and I just gave a weird chuckle like I heard any other thing he had said all along.

“Of course, it wouldn’t be easy living with him. But I try my best to avoid him, you know. And we have different hobbies, likes, lanes,” I told Mason to assure him, but the truth was the fact that I and Damien shared the same lane even in the huge house. Just one stair led to both our rooms.

“You think talking with your mum would work? About how hostile Damien is to you?” Mason tried to think of the possible best solution for me, and I was really grateful to him.

But I could never tell him that both our parents were on a vacation, and that we were the only ones left in the house by ourselves. He would probably hate the idea, and I didn’t want to saddle him with my own responsibilities when we just became close friends.

“No. It is fine. I really am doing great,” I faked a smile to assure him over and over again, that Damien had nothing on me. But he did have a lot on me.

“Try to be happy, okay. And I would be there to make sure that all these terrible people, don’t ruin your day in this school again. And with Damien, you only have a few months with him till you are out of highschool,” Mason reminded me of that fact, and I smiled genuinely this time around.

‘That was actually true. I could just put up with all this for a few months, and I would be fine after high school. Our lives would be totally separate then. Yes, I could do it.’

“So what do you like doing? Your hobbies?” I asked instead, and I was surprised that I could actually ask about someone without being asked first. Maybe because I didn’t get to hold real life conversations that much, I didn’t know what I was capable of doing.

“I like playing games and graphic designing. I like sports too. Basketball and swimming to be precise,” he said, and I was really surprised to know he did all that, “What about you?”

“Playing games. Music. Cooking. Reading too. Nothing really fantastic,” I responded.

“You know reading is a really good thing that not many people enjoy. I suck at academics,” he confessed and I chuckled.

“And I think swimming too is a really good thing not everyone can be good at,” I uttered, when I remembered how I almost drowned in the pool back home. I then realized something.

Even if Damien always acted like a jerk and like someone who doesn’t care about other people, he had some soft side to him even if he never showed it.

If he was a really terrible person that hated me as much as he claimed, he would have just allowed me to just die and drown while pretending like he was not at home at that particular time.

‘Maybe he would have been beaten by guilt if that happened, or maybe we just both needed time to adjust to one another. Whatever it was, time would tell.’

Mason and I returned back to class for the second period, which lots of students didn’t end up attending anyway because they were still loving their moment.

When it was time for lunch, I suggested that we both went to the library to study, and Mason insisted that we both went to eat lunch. I just tagged along and followed behind him like a scaredy-cat, because I couldn’t reject my friend’s idea to go and eat.

We both settled down to eat, and the eyes that were boring at us from every corner of the rook was quite palpable. They would probably worry or think endlessly in their minds, about how Dabby managed to become friends with the new hot guy in school.

Or they would wonder endlessly about why Mason chose to be friends with someone like me, when it was so obvious that so many others would effortlessly like to be his friend. It felt so good.

When I and Mason walked back to our class through the hallway after lunch, I could hear side talks that aligned perfectly with the eyes that kept looking at me. And with time, I could hear those words loudly.

“Heard Damien broke up with Madison because of that nerd bitch.”

“It was after the incident that happened yesterday with her friend challenging Damien, and he got angry that Madison caused him problems.”

“I cannot believe that someone like her would put Madison in a pickle. Maybe she deserved what she got though.”

“And what does the new guy see in the ugly duckling and freak anyway?”

“Wow, she is impressive. Made herself a subject between two hot guys. What beautiful slutty talent.”

Those words I heard that flew right into my ears, really hurt more than being hit or thrown against the floor. I hated to know that they were accusing me of things I didn’t do, and blaming me for Madison’s misfortune.

Mason just grabbed my hand and walked me to class without even minding anything they said, as we took our seat only to more glaring eyes.

“The more you mind them, the more they get to you, Dabby. You are stronger than all these,” he whispered to me, and I let out a wry smile instead of tears. I just hated that I cried too much at any little discomfort.

I wanted to be strong minded too. I wanted to be someone who didn’t let people’s words get to her, and just did her own thing without minding. I wished to be someone who could just live her life freely without having to succumb to trash, but I was far from that.

And maybe I couldn’t be. Because the moment I checked the student forum for the next class in line, there was an anonymous news article that was published there already. And it killed my spirit immediately.