** Love the cover above k_aitlynl I really appreciate it!

Not Edited: Please point out any mistakes

Got bored and made some character aesthetics. Tell me what you think!

Chapter 4: Before It's Too Late

"Camilla, school." Are the first two horrid words I hear in the morning. Each day, at precisely the time of 6:30, I curse the sun for rising early and for the moron that thought school would be a good idea.

Me and every one else in this world.

The intruder repeats himself again but I choose not to reply and instead snuggle closer to the warmth of my blanket. Minutes pass, and I'm about to fall back into a deep slumber when a hand roughly shoves my shoulder, rolling me over onto my back.

Who in their right minds would torture someone like this?

"Camilla, wake the hell up." That asshole. Thinks he has the power to wake me up? Well not today.

"Five minutes." I croak with my ugly morning voice and turn away from the obnoxious deodorant coming off Toby's body. I'm surprised everyone in a five mile radius isn't passing out right now.

"No Camilla, you're late for school." What is he my mom? Ok, wrong reference but still, he could easily pass of as a thirty year old man that has five kids with all that nagging.

"Wake me up when I care." I mumble again and my left arm shoots out from under the covers before slapping at a toned chest.

"You asked for it." I vaguely remember Toby say. Deciding to ignore the empty threat, I pull the covers back up to my face to block out the vicious sunlight. Minutes pass and there's no sound except for the running of a tap.

Maybe Toby realized waking me up is mission impossible.

Point Camilla.

I couldn't have been more wrong. Seconds later, I feel footsteps creaking back into the room and the bed dipping near my back while the blanket is being pulled away.

I don't even bother getting the comforter back. He can keep the blanket as long as I get to keep my sleep. I don't even care, all I can think about is how nice it feels to ignore him.

What I didn't expect was for the moron to dump a bucket of ice cold water on my face.

Not my stomach, not my legs, not even my fucking butt, nope he went straight for the face. He's literally a spawn of the devil and witch, I don't even know how we're related

"Oh my god, why the fuck would you do that?" My face is heated up with anger, regardless of the cold liquid trickling down my shirt and into my bra, also wetting my panties in the process.

He must really want a purple face today if he had the nerve to do that.

"I never signed up to be Sleeping Beauty's prince charming, plus you need to get your ass up and out to school." A smirk is thrown my way and he walks away.

Damn, he really is stupid if he thinks I'm just going to go take a shower and listen to him. Camilla Brooks does not go down without a fight.

With his back turned to me, I manage to sneak off the bed and launch myself using the mattress as a leverage.

You know how in those cartoons the people who try this stunt end up falling face first into the ground. I was really close to being said person but Toby - I swear this boy has the mind of a fly - stops to turn around giving me the perfect timing of connecting my stomach to his face. His hands automatically go to my arms as he tries pushing me away but I wrap my legs around his waist and cross my arms with a smirk on my face. No way in hell would he let me fall. If I go down, he's coming right along with me.

That's where I went wrong. Tony wastes no time in shoving me away and since my legs were still wrapped around him, my body ended up turning upside down. He then proceeds to tickling my feet effectively causing me to unwrap my legs and go into hand-stand position.

Thanks the lords that my parents made my take Junior Gymnastics or else I never would've been able to do what I did that moment.

So that's where we were, him with a scowl and rubbing his hip, and me facing away from him in a handstand. But hah, I ain't no slow grandpa and instantly rear my legs back before kicking him in the stomach with full force and flipping to stand on my legs. After all these years he should know I always win.

Okay that's not true when it comes to sports but potaeto-potaato.

"You could kill someone with that violence of yours." Toby says while removing himself from the floor. His statement is meant it as a joke but my body involuntarily freezes. Something's just cannot be joked about, not even to someone with a heart of steel.

"Come again?" With a clenched jaw I face him taking deep breaths.

Toby's face is blank for a second before realization and guilt wash over. One hand automatically goes to bring my into a hug but I step away still not sure if I heard him correctly.

"Guess that's why mom died." Barely managing to keep the tears at bay, I walk into the bathroom before closing and locking the door shut. I'm never the girl to cry. Ask anyone and they would think I have broken tear ducts, but just like everyone else I have emotions.

Mom died two years ago, leaving me seven hundred and thirty seven days to cope with it. Now at this point, most people would've accepted the fact correct? But not me, the guilt of her death consumes me each time I think of it.

That night her boss had requested that she stay beyond office hours to finish a crucial project. My mom was a workaholic - not that she didn't spend time on family - and obviously accepted the proposal. While she was going and working her ass off, there was me, having a major architecture project due the next day and not even starting. Why? All because of my phone addiction.

Ten o'clock came, then eleven, followed by twelve and one. That's when she came home with a tired expression on her face. I was immature at the age of fifteen, and I couldn't even tell that she was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion.

"I need wood." Was the first thing I said as she entered the doors. She tried reasoning with me by telling me how late it was but I wouldn't have any of it. I needed an A and I was ready to sacrifice her sleep for that. After minutes of conversing, she reluctantly agreed to go grab some wood. I stayed home, while she went out and got the materials. That was the mistake I made.

Two hours passed after that and I was impatiently waiting for my mom to show up with the stuff required to do my project. In all truth, I was planning on making her do the project as well. 'She's going to make me fail' was the only thought I had at that time.

That was when the call came. The police officer had delivered the news, my mother was dead. Suddenly, the model Eiffel Tower due tomorrow was unimportant as I rushed with my father and young brother to the accident's location.

A drunk teenager had hit her, and she was so tired that she couldn't even steer away. Her heart stopped beating on impact of the crash. The officers wouldn't let me see her body until the funeral, but what I did see was the wood lying in the backseat. Covered with blood, her blood. The worst part was that the driver that had caused the accident, sped off, not to be seen by anybody.

It was all my fault, if I hadn't been selfish and I hadn't asked her to leave the house at one AM, she may have still been here. I was immature, stupid and worst of all a killer. Samantha Eliza Brooks was dead, because of me.

"Camilla." A knock comes from the bathroom door and I glance to see the doorknob shaking. "Camilla it was just a joke." Hastily wiping the tears that somehow found their way down my cheeks, I open the door to look at him. Toby wastes no time in pulling me to his chest and wrapping his arms around me. Even though he was two years younger, his frame still towered a good five inches over me.

"Shhh Cam, it's ok." His hand goes to rub my back but I pull away from him, closing myself off again. Never have I been the girl to display her emotions, I'm a book that's sealed and shut tightly. In my eyes, showing your emotions to the world makes you weak, and there's no room in my life to be weak.

"Here I'll make breakfast and you just grab some pants alright?" Toby asks in an attempt to change my train of thought. Shaking my head, I smile.

"Nah I'm good, don't worry about it."

"No se-"

"You have more pressing things to worry about, such as changing your cologne and getting a new shirt. You smell like fart." I say, pinching my nose and referring to his tear stained shirt, courtesy of me.

He grins and gives me a kiss on the forehead before turning away. "For the record, I smell sexy." Toby throws over his shoulder and I find myself shaking my head.

Just like that, everything's back to normal. I wipe my wet face and run downstairs determined to make it to school on time.

"Everyone get your ass down here." My screaming voice echoes through the house as a thumping sound is made from my descent.

"No swearing." Dad's voice booms but I'm already yelling more profanities at them while grabbing the pancake batter. It takes me a record five minutes to make everyone breakfast and I run upstairs to change my clothes, but only half way up the stairs I realize it would be faster if I ate and changed at the same time, making me run back down muttering curses and glaring at the clock. Like I said, screw the inhuman human that thought school would be a splendid idea.

Ten minutes later, I find myself hopping into jeans already having run a brush through my unruly hair. "Camilla we have three minutes until school starts." I cuss some more before grabbing my bag and Toby's car keys.

"In. Now." I yell starting the car. Toby jumps in after me, before I speed off ignoring all the honks coming my way. Those idiots can stick it, I have a class to get to.

I barely manage to make it through the traffic and probably gave an elderly woman a heart attack. Regardless, I'm in my usual parking spot within two minutes and glance at the time on my phone, only to realize we still have fifteen minutes. Fifteen damn minutes. That would've meant extra sleep, more food and everything.

"You lied." I look at Toby who has a smug look on his face. "Why would you lie about the time," He ignores me and keeps walking. "Little man come back here and fight me!" No response.

I sigh before getting out of the car and turning around to look in Toby's direction. Just my luck, he's sucking off a girl's face. Smirking I walk up to the pair before tapping on the girl's shoulder. She turns and gives me an obviously irritated look.

"You know he has AIDS right?" I ask. The blonde-haired midget jumps out of my brother's arms and looks at me wide-eyed while I merely nod and give her a sad look.

"Yeah, think twice before you sleep with him." And that was all it took for her to remove all contact from Toby and flick his forehead before walking away.

"You're kidding me Cam, what did I ever do to you?" A glaring Toby asks.

"Oh let's see, how about making me prone to an accident?" My mother's death never taught me how to drive safely, but it did make me vow to never drink. I drive faster than those guys in Fast and Furious.

"And this is why I can't have nice things." Toby grumbles from beside me. I shoot him an innocent smile before replying.

"Hey just thank me when you graduate college without a baby on your hands."

"That's why there's this thing called condoms, it prevents the male's sp-"

"Alright thank you for that science lecture." I loudly cut him off before hearing the late bell ring. Crap I'm late again.

"Just so you know, I blame you for this." I say before running of to Calc, while just realizing, I had a test to take.

Great.

--

Thump Thump Thump.

"What?" I hiss spinning around to face the spawn of the devil himself.

"Hey." His face is morphed into a cheeky smile.

"Don't you have something to do, like I test?" I say referring to the thick white packet in front of us.

"Nah, but you're on my list of things to do tonight." Did he..did he just use a pickup line on me? This kid has guts if he's still trying to win me over with these cringy and cheesy lines.

"Yeah, well you're on my list of people to kill tonight." I retort ready to turn back around.

"I've seen Paris, I've seen France but girl, what I really want to see is your underpants."

"I've seen horror, I've seen humor, but what I really want to see is you getting a tumor." My response is almost immediate.

"You can call me nemo, because I'm never afraid to touch that butt." He has a smirk and I swear half the class is now tuning into our conversation.

"You can call me a baller, because I'm never afraid to hurt that ball."

"Are you a broom? Because you sweep me off my feet."

"Are you a piñata? Because you make me want to beat you senseless." I stick him the 'fuck you' finger and turn around, going back to solve the impossible problems.

"We're taking a test Camilla. Where are your manners?" Oh lord, does he have to turn everything I say into something worthy of holy water? I groan loudly forgetting that there are probably other students trying to pass this class and actually answer the questions on this test.

"Ms. Brooks there is no talking during the test." I open my mouth to rat out Jax when he cuts in not allowing me to let a syllable out of my mouth.

"Sorry Sir, I was just asking to borrow an eraser but Camilla here won't let me."

"Ms. Brooks just give him the eraser." Roberts says with a sigh from above his glasses. I grit my teeth and fish out an eraser before turning around and throwing it at the narcissistic idiot. He catches it without even flinching, of course.

"Fuck you." I say in a deadly whisper, forgetting that this is Jax I'm talking to.

"How about the janitor's closet?" Not even bothering to turn reply I turn around, already brimming with irritation. One more time and I swear with the punch I give him, the poor boy won't live to see tomorrow, or the next hour. All I need now is a good lawyer and a place to hide the body.

"Why do I still hear talking?" The teacher asks at our obnoxious antics.

"Because your ears are still in function oldie." A voice from beside the both of us states and I find myself grinning in satisfaction, but only until I realize who it is.

"Damn bro, that was lit." Jax claps his friend's hand and suddenly both boys' eyes are on me. Zach gives me a quick wink to which I merely stare in response. He's supposed to be heartbroken, not jumping through the roof with joy.

"What, your girl's got no reaction?"

"I'm not his girl" I'm quick to respond and Jax just chuckles beside me. "But I know that you want a certain girl."

It's probably not best to announce the current elephant in the room but I somehow manage to do it with just one sentence. Point to 'Camilla when she's a bitch'. Zach's grin is replaced by a grim look.

"Not like I could to anything when she's with Nate."

"Well you could've not cheated on her, or maybe apologize for the stupid thing you did."

"I'm not having this conversation with you right now." Zach says with a sigh which only irritates me further.

"Fine, just don't come crawling back to me when you can't have her."

"Alright ladies break it up." Another masculine voice comes in and I turn to see her source.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the last of the three idiots. Nick gives me a sly smile before winking, just as his friend did before.

"Now I'd like to get a piece of that cake." He says accompanied by what he must think is a seductive look. I'm quick to place a hand over my eyes.

"Oh my god, stop before I'm permanently blind."

"You four, if I see one more word come out of your mouth, I'll be giving the three of you detention alright?" The four of us instantly shut our mouths, each tempting the other to speak with our eyes. Finally, Nick feels like being Hercules of the day and flicks the boys on the head gaining their attention.

"Jax, twenty bucks says you can make him say a swear word." Without hesitation the brown haired boy nods.

"Watch and learn pretty boys." He raises his hand and Mr.Roberts glares at him from his tiny spectacles.

"Mr. Roberts I have a question." The teacher glares some more before giving him a curt nod.

"Yes Mr. Malik."

"How would you pronounce the beginning of 'fun' and the end of 'duck' together?" The teacher's face twists into that of confusion.

"Let's see here, 'fudck', 'fudun' 'fu-ck'. That should be it." He turns to face Jax. "Mr. Malik I believe it would be pronounced fu-uck." Behind me, Zach and Nick snicker while Jax is having a really hard time keeping a straight face.

"Wait..." The teacher trails off until he realizes what just came out of his bearded mouth. "That type of language is unacceptable in this classroom."

"Sir but you said it." Jax states, while stretching his arm behind him. Nick mumbles a few choice words before slapping a crisp green twenty into his hand.

"That's it, Mr. Malik, detention." These teachers handed out more detention slips than the lessons they teach.

"Nice going Mr. Malik," I say with a sadistic smile. "Have fun with Bec."

Turning around, I take a long look at my half assed Calculus test before shrugging. I have better things to do than plot these stupid graphs thank you very much, and plus, I've attempted solving all the problems. That should be enough to get an A.

"I'm done." I holler causing many people to glare at me but I pay them no attention.

"Please keep your voice down and leave Ms. Brooks." I smirk, unable to resist myself, the guy said 'fuck' in a damn classroom

"Please watch your language Mr. Roberts." Before he can entitle me to detention I'm out of the room, not bothering to look behind.

--

"Would you stop poking me?"

"Christ I swear I'm going to slap you so hard you won't live to see tomorrow." My threats were gone to thin air as Lucas payed no attention to them ad continued poking me. It doesn't help that he found a hole in my favorite sweatshirt either.

"I swear if you touch me one more time I'm reporting you."

"Aw, you wouldn't do that." His voice holds so much amusement, causing my mind to go in a frenzy. Boys these days need to go to Prep School or something, their etiquette flat out sucks.

"Try me bastard." Not wanting to spend after hours with the detention teacher, I settle on merely standing up from my seat in French and moving over. I lay my books down on the new shiny surface before relaxing into it. The pleasure only lasts for a few seconds before I feel the same finger enlarging the area where the cotton failed to stitch.

"Come with me to the beach." Lucas asks in a tone hinting that him and his five year old brother just might be twins.

"No."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because Mr. Jackass feels like coming along." I don't dare say his name out loud because I'm afraid I might barf after saying it. It's almost like He - Who - Must - Not - Be - Named, except the devil in acquainted with has a nose and noticeably nice features.

"Camilla he'll probably be busy fucking other girls to even talk to you." Lucas says which only aggravates me more at his fuckboy ways.

"I'm the only girl you guys are friends with idiot." I'm met with silence and a thoughtful look on Lucas's face.

"If I convinced Vanessa to come would you?" The boy next to me could even hold her at gun point, but Vanessa still would have the sense not to come traveling with a bunch of dirty boys.

"Key word being if." I lightly respond.

"I'll just use my charm." He gives me a know-it-all look.

"What charm?" I'm quick to retort before glancing at the now chalk filled board. The teacher rambles on and on but all I hear is blah blah blah in my ears. How I managed to push through to AP French remains a mystery.

Freshman, sophomore and junior year, I would always do all the homework assignments and mildly study for each test leaving me with a high A, but when finals came, I would never study and always ended up getting a D on the considerably major test.

But in the end, it always averaged out to an A because of all those hefty homework assignments.

Yes I know, it takes skill to be this lazy.

"If I were you, I'd run away right now." Lucas says from my right and I give him a quizzical look. Following his line of site I almost slump at the sight of that exact same figure that's been haunting me for days, walk up to me. Lucas was right, I should've run when I had the chance.

"Hey BabyDoll," A masculine voice that isn't Jax tells me. Ready to pounce on the guy's poor attempt at flirting I smirk and turn around.

"Hey Dickface." Nick's smile falters slightly before I burst out laughing.

"Not smooth with the ladies?" I give him a wink while tapping the pencil to the desk.

"Please, the number of girls I've bedded is off the charts."

"Remind me again, how many sisters do you have?" Beside me Jax and Zach start barking with laughter, but Nick stays quiet, clearly not getting the joke.

It takes a couple seconds before realization dawns on his face and he goes into glare mode.

"Haha Camilla, that was so funny I forgot to laugh."

"Aw don't be a stick in the mud." I pout and give him a slight shove. Nick is in no way an ugly guy but the seemingly permanent frown etched on his face isn't doing those hot features justice.

"Nah, but I'd like to be the stick in your mud." These guys must never learn.

"Enough with the pick up lines, they all suck, just like the three of you." I say motioning to the three bodyguard-like figured standing in front of me.

"If I remember correctly, you're the one that's supposed to be sucking." Jax says with a wink. His words are so dirty that he could even make a rock blush, lucky for me it's impossible to tell when I do get that rosy tint on my cheeks.

The bell rings after that and I bring the conversation to an abrupt halt before waving to the boys and taking my leave.

A mental checklist of what I want to accomplish this weekend runs through my mind.

Ad always, the first order of business for this weekend is binge watching Netflix until I can't keep my eyes open, and now way in hell is anyone coming in between that.

The hallway is mostly bare due to my speedy exit and I'm already at the front doors once students begin pouring out. I send a quick text to Toby letting him know that I'm at the car, when I spot him leaning against his black Mercedes. His gaze is trained on a girl currently sucking the face of another guy. One look at the ombre hair tells me all I need to know.

I make the quick walk to the vehicle a sense of sadness fills inside of me. Ik always one to appreciate a happy couple, but just not this time.

"Hey." I approach him warily, still not giving away the fact that I know what's going on. His eyes snap to mine in a haze before shooting me a weak smile and climbing into the drivers seat.

I know Toby isn't a player, but he's forced to be one with all the social 'etiquette' going around jocks. Believe it or not, my baby brother is an extremely committed guy, too bad he's only had eyes for one girl. Adrianna Giovani had been in his class for over eight years now when she moved from Boston. The two sat next to each other in second grade, they had talked, and Toby was left smitten in just a day.

That's when puberty hit the both of them, changing Toby into a muscular yet slim fitted teenager, and Adrianna a real hottie. With puberty also came the fact that other boys wanted her, and Mark just so happened to be the one that caught her eye.

"How are you doing?" I ask breaking the awkward silence.

"I'm fine why do you ask?" Toby holds a guarded expressions on his face and his tone is nonchalant. Does he really think I can't see through him? We've been molded together as siblings for a while now and I'm sure I can tell when his mind is elsewhere.

"How are you guys doing?"

"We're fine." He nonchalantly says but the slight tightening of his grip on the steering wheel is a clear indication that his emotions are running wild.

"Really, because last time I checked, you were too busy watching her get on with someone else.

"Well thank you for that discreet reminder." His voice is solemn and I immediately realize what I said. "No that's not what I meant-"

"Then what did you mean?" He cuts me off in a harsh tone. I take a deep breath and turn my body around in the moving car to face him.

"I'm not going to just let you throw her away Tobes. If you like her then go after her."

"Am I just blind or did you see her and Mark?"

"Well I don't think she's going to come running into your arms if you watch from the sideline."

"I can't just waltz in and ruin what they have." Aw, he still cares so much about her feelings. I think my heart just peed a little.

"You do know that Mark has been cheating on her with so many different girls right?"

"Yes but if anybody tells her, she refuses to believe them." Toby shakes his head in disbelief.

"We both know Mark will drop her if another creature with two legs and a vagina walks into school. Don't let this affect you." A smirk appears on Toby's face and I give him a light shove, an equally happy grin forming on my own face as well.

I've been rooting for this couple since the day Tobes came home gushing about the new feisty ombre haired girl. And I know, that maybe if my brother filled in the gap where his non-existent balls are supposed to reside and actually grew a pair, they both would be much happier.

I just don't know if he's going to realize it too late.

A/N: I'm so so so so sorry it took a long time to update. I've been extremely busy with school and just a life in general and I know this is an excuse but I truly am sorry.

I like posting my chapters when I feel like it's actually interesting to read and honestly I can't even tell if the humor I'm attempting comes through.

Anyway sorry for that rant and the late update but I'll try writing more often.

1. Should Toby move on from Adrianna or not?

2. Does anybody believe that Vanessa and Zach don't belong together?

3. Last question, was this chapter ok in general? It's hard for me to assess my own writing.

Aight that's all for now, I'll see you guys in the next chapter, and don't forget to comment your thoughts and vote!

Au Revoir,
Music1001