A/N : OMG! You're back for the 2nd chapter :') Here *hands you a Hershey's kisses* Go have fun!

PLAYLIST : Lush Life - Zara Larsson

     Monday in school, Tiffany and I sat in the school cafeteria during lunch hour. Tiffany was in a cheerful mood.

     "Did you see Brent today? Turns out he did go to Denny's and waited there for half an hour. Must've been mad," Tiffany said.

     The gossip girl that she was, Tiffany knew everything about everyone in school. Gossiping was her favorite pastime.

     "Hey babes. What's hot?" Shayna joined us. She placed her lunch tray on the table and sat across us. I was surprised to see her tray heaped with food because she was the most calorie-conscious girl I've ever met. She's always going on diets to lose the extra half pound she accidentally gained.

     "Dance practice was torture. Coach Boyd made us do aerobic warm ups for an hour. I'm famished," she said.

     "Explains the pile up on your tray," I said.

     "Don't worry Shayna, you're gonna burn all those calories in a day," she assured herself and started gorging on her food. "Mm, cafeteria food never tasted this good."

     "Did you guys hear that Lindy made out with George in the parking lot and got caught by Mr. Hunt?" Shayna asked with excitement.

     "Oh my god, really?" Tiffany said in disbelief. "I didn't know Lindy had it in her."

     Tiffany and Shayna were into 'gossip mode' now and that was a cue for me to tune out. Shayna was as much a gossiper as Tiffany, maybe even more. I, on the contrary, spoke very little and only when it was necessary. I just didn't understand the need to discuss others' lives at great length, wasting one's own time. I always wonder where they hear all the gossip and rumors and where it actually originates, but knew better than to ask about it because that would mean more gossip. I instead focused on my lunch and munched on some french fries.

     "And did you hear that Brent's date stood him up last weekend?" Tiffany asked.

     "Yeah? What dumb girl would go out with that jerk? Good thing she changed her mind," Shayna said.

     Tiffany leaned forward on the table and whispered, "You want some exclusive inside scoop?" She winked at Shayna's questioning look.

     Wait, what! Was she going to tell Shayna that it was us?

     "Tif, what are you doing?" I asked her, hoping that she isn't doing what I was thinking. Nothing ever stayed a secret once Shayna got in on it.

     "I'm telling her about the prank call," Tiffany said and looked at me like someone would at a baby who had trouble grasping things.

     "That's not important. Why are we talking about Brent? Shayna, what happened to Lindy and George?" I tried to divert the topic back to Lindy and George's sexcapades, but Shayna now became interested in talking about Brent.

     "What inside scoop is it that Vivian doesn't want me to know?" She gave me a wicked smile.

     "We can tell Shayna, Viv. She's our best friend," Tiffany said.

     Shayna gave me a challenging look, daring me to stop her from knowing about the whole story. But now that she knew that there was something I didn't want her to know, she'd go all out to make sure she finds out about it. Trying to stop Tif now would make no sense. It'd only make Shayna mad at me. It just wasn't worth it. So, I gave up.

     I leaned back on my chair and murmured, "Right. Go on."

     Right, Shayna was my best friend. Well, we three call each other best friends but really, she was Tiffany's best friend. And I came along with the package. Ergo, Tiffany's best friend, by default, becomes my best friend too.

     Tiffany and I had been best friends since elementary school. When we were young, we shared the same likes - watching the same TV shows, listening to the same bands, eating the same ice-cream flavor. And that was enough to seal our friendship.

     Growing up and entering high school, I started giving importance to studies and joined AP classes. I wasn't much into dating and focused on school.

     Tiffany grew up to be the incredibly hot and confident girl, who had boys drooling at her slim, curvy figure and long unending legs. She went out on dates with hot guys on weekends, while I stayed home studying for quiz. Miraculously, our friendship survived over the years and we stayed best friends.

     Then came Shayna at the beginning of junior year. She and Tif had some classes together and sat next to each other. They soon became friends and Tiffany introduced her to me and since then, it's been the three of us.

     It's not that I hated Shayna. We are friends and do get along ok; I'm just not really fond of her and the feeling was mutual.

     Tiffany​ finished telling Shayna about our prank call and Shayna looked at me with her mouth hanging open.

     "Hell, Vivian! That was insanely awesome." She laughed.

     "You're not going to tell this to anyone, right?" I asked.

     "No, I won't. I'm not stupid," she said indignantly. "Is that why you didn't want me to know? Because you don't trust me to keep your secret?"

     "It isn't like that. It's just, I hope that a million days have passed since Saturday and everyone forgets about the prank call."

     "You're thinking too much. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

     I hoped she meant what she said.

~~~

     I lay on my bed, listening to Imagine Dragons' songs on repeat mode on my iPhone, and staring at the quotes on my bedroom wall. I decorated my room with my favorite quotes. One quote stands out in bright pink and black colors and is my absolute favorite - Forever has no meaning when you're living in the moment.

     I try living my life making it my motto - living in the moment, taking life as it comes, not worrying about the future. It doesn't lead to disappointments.

     This made me think of Brent. How disappointed he must've been when he realized he was pranked. I took out Gina's old phone from the drawer and turned it on. As soon as the screen lit, there were several beeps of texts and voicemails, all from Brent. I plopped on my bed and scrolled through his messages. Hell! There were so many texts which ranged from expectation to impatience to outright anger. Boy, he sure was super pissed.

     Just as I was reading the texts, I felt someone breathing down the back of my neck. There was someone behind me. I quickly put the phone in my jeans pocket, still having a glimmer of hope that whoever it was didn't see the texts yet. I turned around slowly and gave a yelp of surprise when I saw who it was.

     "Eric! You scared me," I said. But I was also relieved that it was just my little brother and not my parents or Gina.

     "Why? Were you doing something wrong?" he asked with an innocent face.

     "No. Because you sneaked up on me."

     "You'd feel that I'm sneaking, only if you were doing something you didn't want others to know."

     He was only eight, but had an answer for everything, however crazy it was. It drove me nuts. I don't know if all younger brothers were this irritating, or if I was the chosen one to endure Eric's stupid questions and sneaky behavior.

     "What do you want?" I asked him instead.

     "Why is Brent a jerk?"

     "Stop being nosy. Just go."

     "Why are you using Gina's old phone? You have your own phone."

     Didn't he ever get tired of asking questions when no one bothered answering them. "Not your business, Eric. Leave me alone."

     "Ok. I'll ask Gina. Mom's calling you down for dinner," he said and started to leave.

     "Eric, wait. Don't tell Gina anything. Let's keep this a secret, okay?" I tried coaxing him. He always said I was his favorite sister, so there was a fifty percent chance he'd agree.

     He thought about it. "What would I get in return?"

     "We're not doing business here, little guy." It was the wrong thing to say.

     "I'm not a little guy. I'm eight," he huffed folding his hands, "and I know what you're doing. You're talking to Brent using Gina's phone, and you don't want her to know about it."

     The last thing I wanted was being blackmailed by Eric. "Alright." I gave up. I've been doing that a lot lately. "What do you want?"

     "Five bucks." He put his hand forward, palm up. "Right now or the deal is off."

     My mom would be mad if she ever found out I was bribing Eric. But he had such a big mouth, he was bound to run around the house blabbing about me. I took out a five dollar bill from my pocket and gave it to him. He pocketed the money and ran out of my room.

     I followed him down the stairs to the dinner table where my parents and Gina were already sitting. Eric and I joined them and the aroma of my mom's homemade lasagna filled the place. My mom was a great cook and made the best lasagna, and Eric was eagerly heaping up his plate.

     "What would I do without you, love. If there was a goddess of cooking, it would be you," my dad complimented my mom between his forkfuls.

     My dad's always complimenting my mom, even for simple things. They've been married for 18 years and still love each other a lot. There's also the frequent PDA in our home. They are relationship goals. Seeing them so affectionate and loving, sometimes brings out the hidden romantic in me, who makes me want to have a guy in my life who'd love me as much as my dad loved my mom.

     "Cooking goddess. Cool," Eric said. "Is mom also a sex goddess?"

     Crap! Why is he always lurking around my room. He must've heard me talking to Brent. The sneaky little devil!

     My dad, who was about to eat, held his fork mid air and stared at Eric wide eyed. Then, both he and mom turned to Gina, giving her accusing looks.

     "What? Why are you guys staring at me?" Gina asked and without waiting for a reply, went back to eating.

     My parents didn't reply to that. For the rest of the dinner, everyone ate in silence. It's oddly funny how my parents think that Gina is responsible for every weird thing Eric learns because she's a wild party girl, and not me because I'm the studious one. In my defense, that usually is true, except this time.

     But anyways, bribing Eric paid; no pun intended. Eric didn't blab about me and saved me tonight.

A/N : Thank you for reading! If you liked the chapter, please consider voting :) Do you think this chapter was too long? Should I write shorter chapters?

# Anyone here got an irritating sibling? Or maybe you're the irritating one? ;) How do you pester each other?