NED CAME AFTER SCHOOL BEFORE HE WENT OVER TO PETER'S AND BROOKE WAS HAVING WAY TOO MUCH FUN. He would show her new TV shows while they worked on homework, talking and chatting as they discarded their homework in favor of their side activities, Brooke working on the confession portraits while he worked on the audio transmitter. He never looked at her paintings and never asked to look, but she knew he was curious, so she would sometimes ask for his opinion, which always made him smile.

"Is this a little excessive?" she asked on Wednesday, as he was nearly finished with the audio transmitter, "I mean, I want to know if my dad is doing something, but I don't know if this is really excessive."

"I mean, you could always ask him if he's cheating on your mom, and you could follow him, but you can't drive," Ned said, and she sighed, nodding in understanding as she watched him work.

She had been thinking about her father a lot during the week, feeling a creeping sense of dread as Ned drew closer and closer to finishing the gadget for her. It was almost surreal, having a friend of hers making a secret microphone for her to listen in on her father and what he did at his job; a job she didn't even know about. It was something out of a movie, but it was the only thing either of them could think of; talking didn't work, and Ned was right, she couldn't follow him.

"Why do I care?" she asked herself, and Ned paused the show they were watching, turning his head up to look at her.

"I mean," she continued, running her hand through her hair, "It's not as if I paid much attention before, you know? My parents never really noticed me much unless it was to compare me to Liz—that was more my mom than my dad, but still—and I only started noticing when I started working on these paintings, because I'm super aware of things."

"But isn't it a good thing that you're noticing?" he asked, "Because, you know...even if it's hard to keep the secret, now you can try to do stuff to try and help. Even if they don't want you to..."

Brooke paused, looking down at Ned who was staring at his work with a faraway look. "Ned, what has Peter been up to?"

"I can't tell you," the boy sighed, looking at her sadly, and she nodded carefully, worrying on her bottom lip, the boy continuing, "I promised him I wouldn't tell, because it's a really, really big secret, and he didn't even want me to know."

"But you're his best friend," she pointed out, and he shrugged.

"He's my best friend, but he's too busy for me now," he said, and it was the first time Brooke saw Ned as anything but smiling, "It kinda sucks, you know? It's like he's having so much fun he forgot what it was like to, you know, be a regular kid. And he forgot me. Didn't even remember to call me after the party."

Brooke's heart twisted at that and she set aside her work to move down onto the floor next to him, wrapping her arms around him as best she could, resting her head against his shoulder. He raised a hand up to hold onto her arm, slumping forward slightly, as if too tired to even sit up.

"I'm sorry, Ned," she sighed, and he hummed.

"It's okay. But I have fun with you," he reasoned, and she smiled, patting his arm as she pulled away, sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up against her chest.

The two continued to watch the episode until its end, neither speaking as they simply sat in the other's company, happy to have someone to spend their time with, as neither had had anyone who put them at top priority in some time, Brooke longer than Ned, but the point still stood.

"I should get going," Ned said, and she nodded, calling up an Uber for him as he began to clean up, carefully bagging up his supplies and parts, not wanting to leave any behind, his hands precise and delicate despite their size.

"Thanks for the help with math," she said, walking him out where his Uber was waiting ten minutes later, leaning against the door as he stepped out and towards the car.

"Sure," he said, smiling as he turned around, giving her a look, "Don't worry about it, Brooke. If it's necessary for you to find out what your dad is up to, then you're fine."

She nodded, waving as he headed to the car, climbing inside and greeting his usual Uber driver who now knew him by name, greeting him loudly as they sped off, Ned waving through the window until he disappeared from view.

Brooke nodded to herself as she closed the door and headed back up to her room. Her father not trusting the family enough to tell them what was going on already started the cycle of distrust, and while she should be the bigger person, if there was something going on, she was going to find out.

She really hoped there wasn't.

º º º

"So what are you gonna stick this on?" Ned asked, the two bent over the lunch table, Peter watching them with wide, confused eyes.

"By the way, Peter, this is Brooke," Ned said, motioning to Brooke who waved at the boy who seemed to be trying to telepathically communicate with Ned, staring at her with wide eyes, his hand tapping the boy's knee under the table.

"Dude, stop, I'm trying to get this set up," Ned drawled, Brooke's phone sitting in front of him, the girl desperately hoping he doesn't press the wrong button and wind up seeing her nude figure references; she was an artist, but people tended to forget that.

"He's making me something to help spy on my dad who might be cheating on my mom," Brooke explained, glad for the loud noise of the cafeteria to drown out her words to anyone who might be listening in.

"How many secrets do you have?"

The three turned to see the girl from the art room sitting at the end of the table, a stack of books still next to her and her sketchbook opened in front of her; Brooke could only hope that she was sketching in perspective now.

"Not many," Brooke mumbled, and the girl simply hummed, going back to reading and ignoring the three of them.

"So, uh, you're gonna be listening in on him?" Peter asked, trying to make polite conversation, and she nodded, pulling out the necklace she made in the art room during break.

"Yeah, I feel kinda weird about it, but I need to know," she explained, passing over the wooden heart necklace that she had made, "So you said you needed something for it to stick on, so you can put the thing on the heart and I can cover it with this rose that I made out of clay."

"That's so smart," Ned gasped, taking the necklace and pulling out glue he kept in his bag, much to Peter and Brooke's confusion, carefully applying it to the back of the device, "You think he'll wear it?"

Brooke shrugged. "I hope he does. I might have Liz give it to him, that way I know he'll wear it."

Ned frowned, looking up from where he was working. "I don't know your dad super well, but I do know that he really loves you. I mean, he might be cheating on your mom and ruining your family, but he loves you."

"Nice, Ned," Peter mumbled, and the other boy scoffed at him, smiling slightly.

"Do you want to sit, Brooke?" Peter asked, motioning across from them, and she nodded, sighing as her feet were given a break, setting her bag down next to her.

Peter cleared his throat, the two continuing to watch Ned work. "So, uh, besides the part about your dad maybe cheating on your mom, what's going on with your life?"

º º º

That night was a special family night, as Adrian was leaving that night for work and Liz was leaving the next afternoon for Decathlon. Liz had given Brooke all the instructions and directions needed to get to the concert, so it was all a matter of making it until the weekend.

"So how do you think you'll do, gumdrop?" Adrian asked, cutting off another piece of steak that and his wife had made, smiling over at his daughter who shrugged, taking a sip of her soda.

"I don't know, dad, I mean, I think we'll do fine since we have people who are strong in all the areas, but I really wish we had Peter with us, he's best at Physics, and it's not to say that Flash isn't good, he's just...not naturally inclined," Liz explained, carefully choosing her words, making a face when it didn't suit her immediately, and Adrian gave her a nod of understanding before she started to get upset with herself as a result.

"But it'll look good for me to say that I did Decathlon all four years, and I just hope we place well this year," she said, taking another bite of her steak, glancing over to Brooke who nodded, thinking back to how the team did all the other years, which were all still rather high up.

"Speaking of which," Doris said, looking across to Brooke who inwardly groaned, "Brooke, I know you're just starting your sophomore year, so I won't pester you, but have you started to think about what you want to do and maybe where you want to go? And remember sophomore and junior year are the most important in terms of your grades."

"I know, mom," Brooke said, because she understood why her mother was mentioning it, but that didn't mean she was all too happy about it, "And I haven't looked at any schools yet, but I want to go into art in some way. I could be a gallery artist."

"Art?" her mother repeated, and Brooke could feel her father and Liz tensing at the tone of the woman's voice, looking ready to interrupt at any moment, "I mean, are you sure, Brooke, I want you to be happy, but are you sure you'll want to live with that lifestyle? It'll be very different than the one you have now."

"I get that, but I want to, and I'm good at it, so I think I'll get somewhere," she said, avoiding eye contact as she fiddled with her utensils.

"I know, but you know, I just don't think you'll be able to support yourself with such an unstable career choice—" her mother tried, looking towards her husband for help, and Brooke pursed her lips, gripping her fork tightly.

"You know," she said, unable to help the burst of anger, "I just said I wanted to go into art. Just because I don't have my entire life mapped out like Liz does doesn't mean I'm going to die the second I leave this house for college, okay? I want to pursue art, and I get that's not what you want, but we don't even know what dad does, at least I know what I want to do."

"Hey," Adrian said, frowning, "Why do you have to bring my job into this, we're talking about you."

"Well, I don't see why we support everything anyone does in this house except for when I do it!" she cried, "Liz can stay out all night if she wants, but I can't do a school project without someone telling me not to get my hopes up."

"That's different—" her mother tried, but Brooke shook her head.

"No one supports me!" she cried, throwing her hands up, "No one supports me, you guys just feed into my "hobby" because you're glad I do something, but you don't really want me to stick with it. You support Liz and dad, but dad doesn't even tell us anything!"

"Why are we always going back to me, what did I say?" Adrian demanded, and he was right, she had no reason to be upset with him, but with all the secrets and lies, she couldn't stop herself.

"Dad, she's just upset, she's right, you guys don't really support her," Liz said softly, trying not to speak too loudly for fear of getting yelled at herself.

"Liz, we're just trying to explain to her—" Doris tried, but Brooke jumped to her feet, a flare of anger seizing inside her.

It was irrational, she knew it, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't help but feel seize at the way her mother calmed enough to address Liz, because no one ever yelled at Liz. The girl could say whatever she wanted, but their parents wouldn't get upset, because she earned her way into the trust and the security that Brooke could never get, because she and Liz would never be the same, but their parents hadn't gotten the memo.

It filled her with a kind of rage that she couldn't express or explain, an irrational pang of hatred filling her as she looked over at Liz who was giving their mother a pointed look, trying to stay out if yet still somewhat defending her. Despite her stance, Brooke couldn't feel anything but a gnawing anger as she looked over at her sister, because all her parents ever saw was Liz and someone who couldn't keep up.

She loved Liz, but she hated when they were together.

"Brooke, come back," her father called as she stormed off, seething.

"No!" she cried, "Why should I talk to you when you won't tell us anything?"

"This again?" he sighed, now standing, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Pumpkin, come on, if you're mad at me, be mad at me, but don't take it out on your mother or ruin your life."

"As if she's better, she doesn't even listen to me!" Brooke screamed, now in the hall, ripping her door open and slamming it shut.

She fought back tears as she grabbed her phone and texted Ned who immediately replied.

from: Ned (6:20 pm)
Do you wanna talk about it or
do you wanna Skype and watch
something?

She let out a short huff as she typed back, her hands shaking as she grabbed her laptop, refusing to look at any of the work she had to do; she did, however, notice the necklace she was supposed to give to her father.

"Great," she breathed, now kicking herself for not giving it to him earlier.

"Hey, you okay?" Ned asked, sitting in a room that didn't seem to be his, "Also, I'm with Peter, Peter, say hi."

"Hey, Brooke, you okay?" the boy asked from outside the frame, and she sniffed, shrugging.

"I got in a fight with my parents, and things just suck," she grumbled, and the two boys winced in unison, which helped her mood slightly, but only barely.

"I'm sorry, but hey—" Ned began, but was interrupted by the sound of knocking on Brooke's door.

"Brooke?" Liz called out, muffled against the wood, "It's Liz. Hey, dad's leaving, you wanna say goodbye?"

Brooke huffed, muting her laptop and grabbing the necklace off her backpack, walking to her door and opening it, handing Liz the necklace and closing it, speaking through the wood. "It's for him. Tell him I say bye."

Liz sighed, but her footsteps soon retreated, leaving Brooke alone again. She walked towards her laptop and picked it up, unmuting and sticking in her earbuds.

"I gave Liz the necklace to give to my dad," she explained, "I didn't want to go out."

"Oh," Ned said, fidgeting slightly, "But what if, you know, something happens to him, and the last thing you ever did was fight?"

She sighed, toeing her rug with her foot. "Ned, I get your point, but they barely pay attention to me half the time anyways, so I'm really not in the mood."

"Okay," the boy replied, nodding, "That's cool, I guess. So you wanna watch something, cheer you up?"

She nodded, relaxing against her bed. "Yes, please."

While Brooke stayed upstairs, Liz made her way down, saying goodbye to her father who glanced up the stairs, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth set in a fine line.

"Don't you want to wait until she's calmed down before you leave?" Liz asked, confused as to why her father was so determined to leave at a set time, especially when he wouldn't be saying goodbye to his second daughter.

"I have to go now," he insisted, though he seemed conflicted, his eyes darting up the stairs, as if waiting for Brooke to appear.

"Well, she's really upset with both of you, and I guess she made this to give to you since you were leaving. But she wanted me to give it to you because she's upset," Liz said, judgement dripping from her words as she looked both her parents in the eye.

Adrian sighed, unlatching the clasp and putting on the necklace, tucking it against his shirt. After kissing his daughter and wife, he cast one last glance up towards the hallway. "Tell her I'm sorry, okay?"

Liz steeled her gaze and raised her chin. "Tell her yourself. You hardly talk to her at all."

Adrian didn't say anything. He simply left. He was helping his family, even if it meant having to leave them. That's what good fathers did. That's what he needed to do. Even if it meant no goodbyes.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 07.27.18 )

I don't really know how I feel about this chapter, Brooke wasn't angry enough, but hey it's out so here it is!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!