BRYNN

"I choose, D."

"And we disagree", Noelle and Caitlyn say in unison. 

"Be supportive, its her decision", Austin immediately comes to my defense. 

"Stay out of this lover boy", Caitlyn snaps back. 

"Why the hell is everyone associating us together? Can people stop having preconceived ideas about our relationship. We're just BFF's", I yell not the least bit bothered by the fact that everyone was astonished at my sudden outburst. 

"We're family at the end of the day. Bonds created by blood never break and bonds as strong as ours will never perish, even if you subject it to internal forces or even much persuasion. I finally made friends, came out of my shell and stepped into the social world. I got my nose out of my books, pulled my mind out of the clouds. So why do you want to throw me back to square one?"

"I'm scared that if my friends hang out with me when I'm from A and they're from D. We'll all be breaking rules and getting into trouble. I cannot allow that to happen to my friends when I have the discretion to make the right choice. There's only one thing no one can ever loose in the world and that's family. I know, that whichever decisions I make, I'll never loose you guys. So let me be, with my friends. 'Cause at the end of the day, we'll always be family." 

"Then why don't you just pick B or C", Noelle proposes suggestively. 

"I'm tried of being STUCK in the middle", I exclaim. "Can't I just pick a side without being sandwiched in the middle. Even at home, I'm the middle kid, now I'm supposed to be stuck in between my friends and family. It feels like I'm stuck in an episode of 'Stuck in the Middle'on Disney Channel."

"Austin is right, we should be supportive of your decision", Caitlyn sighs defeated. 

"So, you're not gong to be mad at me?", I ask hopeful. 

"How can anyone be mad at you. Sister hug", Noelle yells. 

"N, you do realize that we're on stage. Right?"

"Oh, crap. But they'll all just end up noticing how much of a nice big sister I am", She whispers in my ear "and that Xavier might just start giving me the attention I so very well deserve."

The pit in my stomach started to worsen. Why was my sister so eager to get his attention? Did she even like him or was he her stepping stone. I hate being skeptical about her feelings towards Xavier but I couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Something bad was going to happen, very soon. 

I release myself from our sister hug and seat myself next to Austin, "I'm impressed you actually got your sisters to believe that D is the right choice for you. I for one know, how much of an influence they are on your daily life."

"Is everyone going to be that supportive of my decision? What will other people think of me?"

"No one cares what others say. Their words don't affect you. So what if you're 'the black sheep' of the family. You still belong to the White family. You're still a White and nobody can change that."

"And if no one supports you. We'll always be there by your side, we'll fight for you and defend you", Stella says as the gang gives me assuring smiles. 

"Aww, this is so sappy. Its making my heart strings cry", Bridgett intervenes with a nonsensical comment. 

"Stella, last time I checked we weren't going to fight a civil war against my family."

~*~

The vice-principal clears her throat "This has been a very eventful and unique coronation ceremony where every single person in this room got an opportunity to understand your peers better, as well as we teachers got to understand our new pupils."

"A-list academy as you all know, is one of the most prestigious schools in the state. We can tolerate misbehavior, rule breaking, rebellion but we cannot tolerate two things; Bad grades and ties. We promote all our students and pupils to be competitive and in competition we're absolutely acrimonious towards ties", She continues. 

"In order to prevent such incidents from occurring in the near future we've decided to hold a special competition for A and D. We've decided to take two students, one from each group and make them room mates.", A chorus of hoots and giggles respond to her speech. 

"Silence!", Her voice booms through the hall and the atmosphere becomes pin drop silent once more. Talk about discipline and demanding much. 

"As I was saying, students from both groups will be juniors. They will each have a role to play in earning a hundred points for their group. There is only one rule they cannot break and that is 'The golden rule: Don't fall in love.' The boy will be from A and the girl from D. The boy will be given the task of pursuing the girl into becoming intimate with him whilst the girl will be given the task of become resilient towards his persuasion. If the boy is unable to pursue the girl into falling in love with him, he looses and she wins, but if she falls in love with him, she looses and he wins."

"The group leaders have made their decision, without further ado, I call Noelle White up on stage to inform us of the two chosen group representatives."

I watch as my sister is handed a white envelope and steps up towards the podium with a confident smile. DO NOT tell me that my sister has a trick up her sleeve. 

"The male group representative and competition participant from group A is............... Xavier Blaze."

I watch as Xavier walks towards the stage with a smug smirk on his face. Everyone knows no girl can resist Xavier. That's exactly why they chose him. They know that Xavier can get any girl he wants. Hes got the looks, money and brains but no emotion. I'm pretty sure any girl would end up sleeping with him on the first night and BAM the challenge is over and what do you know, we lost! 

"The female group representative and competition participant from group D is............................Brooklyn White?"

I think I heard wrong. Me? I was chosen to be a group representative. The girl who hated public speaking. The girl who is the black sheep of her family. Me, they picked me? Why were all my worst nightmares coming true today?

I walk up on stage for the second time today still unsure of what I heard, hoping that it was just a mistake. But A-List Academy never makes any mistakes. Their decision was a hundred percent legitimate. Even my sister was far too astonished to speak. But in a way it was good, Xavier claims to know something about my past, which I don't know. Although guys like him might just blackmail me into kissing him for information or becoming intimate which is something I cannot afford to do. The dreams and hopes of my fellow group mates depended on me and it felt like I was carrying the weight of the world on my two shoulders. 

I look at my sister in anticipation but she shook her head in despair, we both knew that trying to change the group leaders decisions was like trying to get Donald Trump to be the president of Mexico. 

I love Austin, and there was no one who could change the way I felt about him. Curse this stupid challenge, I'll show Xavier and wipe that over-confident smirk off his face. 

"Just one question miss, what happens if we both loose?", I ask.

"A and D will both loose a thousand points", She replies calmly. 

I'm so envious of her calm composure. 

"So Brynn, are you ready to loose?"