Big Brother Instinct

Kaylee had woken up fairly early as well but she hadn’t done much. Answered a few texts, lay in bed scrolling though Tiktoc, Twitter and Facebook. Finally, she decided to get up and get some coffee and see who was up. She showered and got ready, her mind contemplating the date she had with Conner today. The girl liked that they were going on a date and double made sense, she was sure it was a feeling things out kind of date and Kaylee knew enough to not read too much into it. Still, it was nice that he had asked her and she was certain they’d have fun.

On her way outside she ran into some of the rich cheerleaders, she hadn’t interacted with them much and they hadn’t been mean to her but when she had talked with them they always had something to say about others, mostly the scholarship students, and Kaylee was not like that and not impressed, at all, with them.

“Hey, Kaylee.” The girl speaking was Madison. She was a senior and one of the cheer captains. “We were going to the boardwalk. You want to come along?”

Now, even if Kaylee didn’t have plans she would have turned down that offer because the idea of spending the whole day with those girls was a bit cringy. “Thanks but I have plans.”

Madison glared at her “You know. You keep hanging out with scholarship students and those skater losers and we might stop being so nice.”

Kaylee never actually said what her plans were but it was kind of a badge of honor that they were already associating her with other groups. She also wanted to say that those scholarship students and skaters were better people to hang out with but figured she’d be wasting her breath. “Is that a threat? Because, I’m not worried.”

Madison looked confused as if she had expected to intimidate Kaylee. Kaylee was short and petite and Madison was closer to 5’7” but Kaylee also wasn’t one to be intimidated.

“Is that so?” Madison sounded annoyed.

“Yes.” Kaylee said. "Callahan would be pretty upset if she found out what you just said to me. You seem to forget I’m not just a cheerleader but a flyer. I'm a protected class at this school.” Which was true. The cheerleaders were protected but the flyers, because there were so few of them, were a special kind of protected. “I’d keep that in mind in case you ever decide to give any of us a hard time.” The last part said in case they decided to pick on the one flyer that was a scholarship student or course, Kaylee, did know by now that if anyone did pick on Blossom they’d have to answer to Ashley. Still, she felt the need to add it.

Carter had seen the cheerleaders gather around Kaylee and made his way over there to make sure everything was all right. “Hey,” Carter said in a friendly tone but clearly the look of expressions on all the girls, but, especially Kaylee and Madison made him think he might have gotten over here just in time. “You girls coming? We’re going to be leaving for the boardwalk soon.”

One of the other cheerleaders tapped Madison on the shoulder and said, “Yeah, don’t worry about her, she’s not worth it. If she wants to hang with the bottom feeders let her.” The girl then turned to Carter. “We’ll be there in about five minutes.” Which Carter really knew meant, at least ten but that worked for getting them away from Kaylee.

“Are you okay?” he asked Kaylee, when the other girls had left.

“Yeah. I’m fine but thanks for stepping in.” Kaylee said. She didn’t really know Carter had just seen him hanging out with the football players.

Carter had to admit, Kaylee didn’t seem that shaken up or anything and he wondered a little if he hadn’t stepped in who might have been on the worse end of that whole thing. “Well, if us football players don’t protect the cheerleaders, we’ll never hear the end of it from Coach.” In this case he meant Coach Warburton the football coach. “Anyway, I need to go. See ya later.”

Kaylee watched as Carter wandered off. What she hadn’t noticed was, her brother Matt, witnessing Carter and her talking. She was about to continue on getting her coffee when Matt came over to her. “Bonjour.” (Good morning). Clearly something was on his mind. “Que voulait Carter?” (What did Carter want?)

“Puis-je d'abord prendre un café, puis nous pourrons parler?” (Can I get some coffee first, then we can talk?) Kaylee sighed, her brother wasn’t over protective but he certainly seemed concerned about something. She got her coffee, a cafe au lait and her brother got an espresso. The two took their coffees and sat down at one of the tables.

Kaylee took a few sips of her coffee then responded. “Il venait de m'aider avec quelque chose, c'est tout.” (He had just helped me out with something, that's all)

Matt raised a brow, took a sip of his coffee and then asked. “Vous a aidé avec quoi?” (Helped you out with what?)

Kaylee bit her lip, took a long sip of her coffee and sighed. “Certaines des pom-pom girls m'ont donné du fil à retordre; il les a obligés à me laisser tranquille.” (Some of the cheerleaders were giving me a hard time; he got them to leave me alone.)

“Pourquoi?” (Why?) Matt hadn’t realized Kaylee had been having problems with anyone.

“Parce que je préfère passer du temps avec des gens que j'aime qu'avec eux.” (Because I’d rather spend time with people I like than I would with them.) Kaylee said truthfully.. “Ils avaient des choses moins gentilles à dire sur les étudiants boursiers et les patineurs.” (They had some not so nice things to say about the scholarship students and the skaters.)

Malheureusement, c'est ce qu'ils font. Mais qu'est-ce qu'ils ont dit de toi ?“” (Unfortunately, that's what they do. But what did they say about you?) Matt wasn’t playing around. He wanted to know if they had threatened his sister.

“Ce n'était rien. Ils ont juste dit que je devais arrêter de traîner avec les étudiants boursiers et les patineurs. Ou ils pourraient cesser d'être si gentils. Je leur ai juste rappelé que les dépliants de cette école sont une classe protégée et j'ai ajouté un petit extra au cas où ils décideraient de déranger les autres dépliants.” (It was nothing. They just said I needed to stop hanging out with the scholarship students and the skaters. Or they might stop being so nice. I just reminded them that the flyers at this school are a protected class and threw in a little extra in case they decided to bother any of the other flyers.) Kaylee downed more of her coffee and looked at her brother to judge his reaction.

Matt sighed. “Eh bien, dis-moi s'ils te dérangent encore.” (Well, tell me if they bother you again.) He was really getting annoyed by how much the divide of the school seemed to have gotten worse. “Maintenant, à propos de Carter.” (Now, about Carter)

“Qu'en est-il de lui? Comme je l'ai dit, il m'a juste aidé. Je connais à peine le gars.” (What about him? Like I said he just helped me out. I barely know the guy.) Kaylee was really confused because this wasn’t like Matt, at all.

“Je veux que tu me rendes service et que tu ne t'associes pas, avec Doug Jefferson ou les gens avec qui il traîne. Carter est l'une des personnes principales de ce groupe.” (I want you to do me a favor and not associate with Doug Jefferson or the people he hangs out with. Carter is one of the main people in that group.) Matt was completely serious.

Kaylee was a little confused. “Eh bien, je n'aime pas la plupart d'entre eux, alors ne vous inquiétez pas, je ne le ferai pas, mais pourquoi ?” (Well, I don't like most of them, so, don't worry I won't but why?)

“Fais-moi confiance, d'accord ? Je ne leur fais pas confiance. Écoute, je sais que certains d'entre eux sont des pom-pom girls et tu n'as pas le choix quand il s'agit de s'entraîner mais en dehors de ça. Autant que possible. Je vais donner une exemption à Melissa mais c'est tout et si tu lui parles et que Doug est dans les parages, sois prudent.” (Just trust me on this, okay? I don't trust them. Look, I know some of them are cheerleaders and you have no choice when it comes to practice but outside of that. As much as possible. I'll give an exemption to Melissa but that's it and if you talk to her and Doug's around just be careful. ) Matt knew this was confusing her but he couldn’t say much more without saying too much.

Still, Kaylee knew her brother well enough to know he wouldn’t be saying this for no reason so rather than going on with this she relented. “D'accord, je vais essayer de ne pas m'associer avec eux autant que possible.” (Ok, I’ll try to not associate with them as much as possible}

Matt nodded, satisfied with her answer and then switched to English. “So, what are your plans for today?”

“I’m going on a date, or really a double date, with Conner and JD and Rose.” Kaylee responded.

“Oh, do I need to have a “big brother” talk with Conner?” Matt joked.

“Don’t you dare?” Kaylee joked back. Of course, Matt trusted Conner and wouldn’t do that anyway. “So, what about you?”

“I’m going to be here with Courtney and Melissa.” Matt said.

“Oh, I heard Melissa got injured last night. Is it bad?” Kaylee asked.

“Courtney said sprained ankle, mostly. Everything else should be fine in a few days.” Matt responded, not giving away any more information than anyone could find out.

“Oh, still I feel bad she got injured.” Which was very Kaylee-like; she didn’t like people she got along with to get hurt.

Kaylee finished her coffee and then said. “I’m going to go and make sure I have what I need for today, together. I’ll see you at breakfast?”

“I’ll be there.” Once Kaylee left Matt sighed. He needed to keep a closer eye on things until Kaylee figured out who went with what group. He knew she could handle herself but he couldn’t help the big brother instinct that had just come out in him.