"Yes, ma'am, I do," He said seriously. "I could do her make-up better than you could!"
"We'll have to see about that!" Hayley grinned at him.
"Ok," He agreed. "We'll do it this weekend."
Hayley laughed. "You know I'll win."
"No, I will," Brian said seriously.
"Yeah, and I can beat you at basketball!" Hayley laughed again.
"That'll be the day!" He laughed. "You're good, Hayley-Baby, but not that good!"
Hayley sighed contendedly as she heard him use that special nick-name he'd given her years ago, when he was in kindergarten and she was still in preschool. It was his way of reminding her she was younger. But then his heart condition had acted up and they were in the same grade the next year.
As they grew older, they had become better and better friends, until at the beginning of that year, they'd begun dating. They were nearly three-quarters of the way through their junior year and the Valentine Dance was coming up. Brian, in spite of his heart condition, was a Varsity basketball player, and Hayley was captain of the Varsity cheerleading squad and on the Girls' Varsity basketball team.
Hayley sighed and sat up straight in her desk, which she had turned to face Brian's. "Come on, Bri-Bear, if we wanna get this American History project done, we need to start working on it!"
"Aw, man," Brian sighed, but dutifully sat up straight and began working. "It's too early to do schoolwork! It's only eight thirty!"
A messenger came in from the office and handed the teacher a slip of paper. The teacher nodded at the messenger as he opened the message and scanned it.
"Brian Littrell, please go with the messenger to the office," The teacher said curtly before going back to his work.
Brian was known far and wide for his practical jokes that more than occasionally landed him in the Principal's office, but he could always sweet-talk his way out.
"What did you do this time," Hayley sighed.
"I didn't do anything," Brian shrugged, gathering his books. "Keep this for me, ok, Hayley-baby?" He added, tossing his blue and white letterman's jacket over Hayley's head.
She pulled it off her head and glared at him. "Bri-ian," She whined, trying to smooth her hair out.
He laughed and winked at her on his way out the door. Hayley shook her head and slid the jacket on over her white baby tee.
"What was that about?" Jessica, Hayley's fraternal twin sister, asked, sliding into Brian's now-empty seat. Jessica and Brian were merely acquaintances, not the best of friends like Hayley and Brian.
"Whatcha mean?" Hayley asked as she breathed in the scent of Brian's cologne.
"Uh, gee, I dunno. I could mean why was the Boy Wonder summoned to the office?" Jessica said dryly.
Hayley sighed. "I don't know. He probably had a phone call. He didn't do anything this time."
"Yeah, right," Jessica scoffed.
"He didn't," Hayley snapped as she continued writing.
Jessica smirked. "'Course not. I forgot, this is the Boy Wonder we're talking about. He can do no wrong in the eyes of Hayley Green."
"Shut up, Jess," Hayley laughed, and Jessica stopped being so mean.
"You know I really have a secret obsession with him and I have a secret room on the other side of my closet that's my shrine to him," Jessica grinned, blew Hayley a kiss, and ran off to the other side of the room.
Hayley playfully caught Jessica's blown kiss and then sighed. Her room was basically a shrine to Brian. There were pictures of him everywhere, shirts of his she'd borrowed hanging in her closet and strewn about the floor, a pair of sweats she'd once used sat on her desk, a bottle of his cologne sat on her dresser. She grinned when she remember the pair of socks that sat in her hamper, dyed red from when he bumped his Kool-Aid while trying to tickle her. His teddy bear and childhood blanket even sat on her bed. He had hers in his room, across the road. A picture of them at the Christmas dance and another picture of them at Homecoming sat in two frames on her desk, smiling back at her every night while she did her homework. There were various other articles laying around, hidden in various nooks and crannies. She didn't mind, though. She loved him and everything about him.
Hayley started to worry when she went to her last period study hall that Brian shared with her and he was still absent. That meant he'd been gone literally all day. Something had to be wrong. Was it his heart?
© 2001 Princess Fan Fics