The Player

Chapter 7

Brielle

12:07 AM

"What are you doing here?" A voice behind me asked. I braced myself, expecting to receive a scolding

from Christopher, but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be Sam.

I threw myself at her, wrapping my arms around her in a hug. I couldn't tell if I was handsy due to the

fact that I was happy to see her, or because I was a little tipsy.

"Daniel dragged me here," she said, annoyance in her voice.

Daniel was Sam's stepbrother. They were in the same grade, but completely different. Daniel loved to

party and drink, and Sam did anything but. Despite their differences however, they were really close.

While Sam hated the idea of her mom remarrying at first, their relationship brought her the brother that

she always wanted.

Her eyes looked glazed over, seeming to not be focused on me completely. Judging from the way that

she was swaying as well, I could tell that I wasn't the only one who underestimated the punch.

"Let's go dance," I yelled atop the music, motioning for her to follow me. When we finally reached the

dance floor, it was absolute chaos. Bodies were everywhere, moving against one another, with a DJ at

the center. Making our way through the crowd, we settled in a less crowded spot, swaying our hips to

the music.

I was always dancing as a kid, so I was good at it, but I never had the courage to do it in front of

people. With ballet, it was easy. There were certain rules to follow, and if you did, you would do good.

But when dancing in settings like this, there weren't any guidelines. You just had to let go and feel the

music, and that scared me.

I seriously began to curse the amount of alcohol that I consumed as the room started to spin more and

more, until I felt light and free. My body felt like it was in a haze, going through the motions, but not truly

processing what was going on.

"I'm going to go get another drink," I told Sam, stumbling my way off the dance floor, unable to even

walk straight. On my way to the kitchen, I saw something catch my eye, which made me stop dead in

my tracks.

A table.

Thinking that it would work well as a makeshift stage, I made my way over there. When I finally

reached it, I planted my hands on top of it, trying, and failing, to pull myself up. After what felt like the

hundredth time, I finally launched myself on top of the table, nearly falling off once I stood up.

After a few seconds of wobbling, I finally regained my balance somewhat, planting my feet on the table

top. I began to dance, letting the beat run through my body and overtake me. I heard someone cheer

me on, only fueling me as I danced harder to music.

More and more people began to cheer, as I became a spectacle.

I'm famous. I thought. I have fans!

The cheers slowly started to morph into the word strip, as the chant became louder and louder and

louder.

"Strip! Strip! Strip! Strip!"

Well I can't let my fans down now. I sighed, being famous was such a burden.

I slowly lowered my strap off my shoulder, attempting to look somewhat sexy. I had never done it

before, so the only reference that I had were from movies, which weren't very credible. I grabbed the

bottom hemline of my dress, getting ready to take it off over my head. But before I could lift it, a strong

pair of arms hooked around my legs and lifted me up, throwing me over their shoulder.

"Hey!" I yelled, pounding the unknown person in the back. "I still had the grand finale left you jerk!"

After protesting to no avail, I gave up, limp on this person's shoulder. I surveyed his body, noticing his

tall build and muscular frame.

"You have a nice butt." I blurted out, not being able to hold it in. "Can I touch it?"

Without waiting for confirmation, I poked it, trying to see how hard it was.

"It's really firm," I said, angling my head to the side to get a better look. "I'd rate it a solid 8.5."

"Shut up." The voice yelled, cutting off my commentary.

"Fine," I grumbled, looking away. It wasn't until then did I realize that this person could literally be

kidnapping me.

Play it cool, I reminded myself. Don't panic.

I scoured my head, trying to remember some karate moves from the class I took when I was six. I

groaned in frustration, my head to foggy to remember anything. I settled on just kicking him where the

sun doesn't shine and making a break for it. Before I could enact my plan, he set me down in a car.

I looked up at him, realizing that it was Christopher.

"Hey," I laughed nervously, "Just forget what I said about your butt."

He completely ignored me, his jaw clenched.

Wait, was he mad?

"I would have given you a nine but one was bigger than the other!" I told him, trying to defend myself.

"Why did you leave my room?" he said angrily, completely ignoring what I had said previously.

So that's what he was mad about, I thought. That makes a lot more sense.

"You really just expected me to stay locked up in there like Rapunzel!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands

up in the air.

"Yes," he replied. "But you couldn't even do that."

"Well news flash, you're not the boss of me, I can take care of myself."

"Obviously not, because had to save you out there. And now I'm babysitting, just like I said I would," he

spat out.

"Why do you even care?" I questioned.

"Because I had to leave a fun party to take care of you." he barked, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

"I didn't ask you to help me!"

"Sorry for trying to be nice."

"Well you're not my friend!" I shouted, getting carried away in the heat of the moment. "I don't like you,

so stop trying to do me favors and be nice to me. So unless we're dancing, just leave me alone!"

His face was stone cold, as he stared at the road.

"My pleasure."

***

The next two days were rough. I woke up after Christopher's party with a massive hangover and a

pissed brother. To be honest, I didn't know which one was worse. Scott refused to even talk to me, and

while I understand that me leaving with Christopher made him mad, I still didn't understand why he

hated him so much.

After Christopher and I's conversation in his car, things had been very awkward between us. During our

dance practice, we didn't say a word to each other. I cringed just thinking about it. So when the first day

of school came, I was more than happy to put a close to the summer.

"Brielle, Sam's here," my mom yelled from downstairs, gaining my attention. I quickly grabbed my

backpack off my chair and went downstairs, knowing that Sam hated waiting for people. I usually rode

to school with Scott since he had a car. However, with our current state, I didn't think that I could last

the ten-minute car ride. Luckily, Sam's parents bought her and Daniel a car to share, so she was able

to drive me to school this year.

"Thanks for the ride," I said to Sam while opening the car door. Noticing that Dan was in the back seat,

I turned around, waving to him.

"Don't thank me so soon," she began. "You're going to be the one paying for gas money."

"What!" I cried out, surprised at how cut-throat she was. "How is that fair?"

"You're just lucky that I'm not charging you an uber fair."

"My house is right down the street from yours," I cried out. "I'm literally on your way to school."

"Don't hate the player," she shrugged. "Hate the game."

I rolled my eyes at her, knowing that she wasn't actually going to charge me. Or at least I hoped.

When we finally pulled up to the school, Daniel quickly hopped out, not even stopping to say goodbye

first. I looked to Sam questioningly.

"He doesn't want to be seen with us," she told me. "He said something about his reputation." I rolled my

eyes. Boys.

Grabbing our backpacks, me and Sam exited the car. I was somewhat nervous for the first day of

school. We were starting junior year, and I was really nervous about my course load. I was talking all

honors and AP classes, while still dancing every day. I cleared my head, trying not to get stressed

already.

We walked into the school, the familiar smell of sweat and lemon cleaner hitting my nose. However, the

school was much quieter than I thought it would be. Everyone in the hallway was talking in hushed

whispers, as if they were telling a secret that they didn't want anyone else to hear. Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

I made eye contact with a girl before she looked away, whispering furiously to her friends once more. It

wasn't until I looked around that I realized that multiple people's eyes were on me.

Wait a second, was I the one they were taking about?

I looked at Sam, confusion written on her face as well.

What in the world was going on?