The birds have left their trees

The light pours onto me

I can feel you lying there all on your own

We got here the hard way

All those words that we exchange

Is it any wonder things get broke?

'Cause in my heart and in my head

I'll never take back the things I said

So high above, I feel it coming down

She said, in my heart and in my head

Tell me why this has to end

Oh, no, oh, no

I can't save us, my Atlantis, we fall

We built this town on shaky ground

I can't save us, my Atlantis, oh, no

We built it up to pull it down

Now all the birds have fled

The hurt just leaves me scared

Losing everything I've ever known

It's all become too much

Maybe I'm not built for love

If I knew that I could reach you, I would go

It's in my heart and in my head

You can't take back the things you said

So high above, I feel it coming down

She said, in my heart and in my head

Tell me why this has to end

Oh, no, oh, no

I can't save us, my Atlantis, we fall

We built this town on shaky ground

I can't save us, my Atlantis, oh, no

We built it up to pull it down

Yeah, we build it up and we build it up

Yeah, we build it up to pull it down

And we build it up and we build it up

And we build it up to pull it down

I can't save us, my Atlantis, we fall

We built this town on shaky ground

I can't save us, my Atlantis, oh, no

We built it up to pull it down

The birds have left their trees

The light pours onto me

I can feel you lying there all on your own

We got here the hard way

All those words that we exchange

Is it any wonder things get broke?

'Cause in my heart and in my head

I'll never take back the things I said

So high above, I feel it coming down

She said, in my heart and in my head

Tell me why this has to end

Oh, no, oh, no

I can't save us, my Atlantis, we fall

We built this town on shaky ground

I can't save us, my Atlantis, oh, no

We built it up to pull it down

Now all the birds have fled

The hurt just leaves me scared

Losing everything I've ever known

It's all become too much

Maybe I'm not built for love

If I knew that I could reach you, I would go

It's in my heart and in my head

You can't take back the things you said

So high above, I feel it coming down

She said, in my heart and in my head

Tell me why this has to end

Oh, no, oh, no

I can't save us, my Atlantis, we fall

We built this town on shaky ground

I can't save us, my Atlantis, oh, no

We built it up to pull it down

Yeah, we build it up and we build it up

Yeah, we build it up to pull it down

And we build it up and we build it up

And we build it up to pull it down

I can't save us, my Atlantis, we fall

We built this town on shaky ground

I can't save us, my Atlantis, oh, no

We built it up to pull it down

"Hi," Claire greeted me quietly at my locker.

"Hi, how are you today?" I asked as I opened my locker and took out books for my first class.

"Better than yesterday."

"Good, you'll be more better at the end of the day," I said, opening a book.

She frowned at me, "Brooke, I don't think we should do it. I mean, let's just leave him alone," I closed my book and glared at her.

"Claire, we can't do that. It's not much. He won't get that hurt."

She looked uncertainly at me.

"Well, if you don't want to help me, it's okay. I can do it by myself."

"No, I'll help," She said, still appearing unsure about it.

"Good. And don't be scared. No one will know it was us," I said before walking away to my class.

We were in the cafeteria. I was sitting with my group of friends, Claire, Tyler, Josh and Darren.

"Hey girls, what are you talking about?" Tyler asked us. We all were seated at a table. Claire and I were discussing our plan while Tyler, Josh and Darren were talking about an upcoming party that Darren was throwing.

"Umm...nothing," I said. It was the best if they didn't know what we were going to do. If they knew they would definitely come with us and spoil our plan.

"Well, are you going to come to my party? It's next week," Darren asked us, looking at me hopefully.

"I hate parties but yeah, I'm coming, and Claire too," I told him.

"Brooke, I can't come. I don't want to," Claire whispered to me.

"Shut up. You have to. Show Jesse that you no longer cry over him and he was nothing in your life."

"He's going to be there?"

"Of course. The whole school comes to  Darren's party."

"Then I definitely won't come. What if he knows it was us who did what we are going to do to him today?"

"He won't know. He's not that smart. Claire, please. Don't ruin this. Come to the party, for me?" I gave her my best puppy eyes. It usually worked on her.

"Don't give me that look."

I pouted. "You won't do this little thing for your best friend?"

Claire looked guiltily at me. "Fine, I'll come."

A wide grin formed on my face. "Good."

There were still four classes to go before school ended. I had Chemistry, Physics, English and Math.

Chemistry was my favourite subject and I never got below A. I loved the subject.

Today we had a test. I was pretty sure I'll do great in it. I had studied for it. Even if I wouldn't have, I think I would still do good in it.

Physics. I hated it. I don't understand why we have to learn about all the crap they teach us in that subject. No matter how much I try, I always seem to mess my grades up in physics.

English and Math went in a blur. I was thankful for that. Math equaled to dying for me. And I was too young to die. I was very weak in Math as I couldn't seem to get the formulas and equations in my head.

There was still half an hour remaining for Math to end but I just couldn't take it anymore. I fell asleep during class and Ms. Collins had to shout at me to wake me up.

~

"Are you sure we should do this?" Claire asked. She looked so nervous as if she was about to commit a crime. School was over and we were at the building which was having a repaint. No one was around.

"Of course, Claire. It's not like we're going to kill him, although that would be much better. Don't worry, we're doing the right thing," I reassured her.

She nodded and sighed, "I wish he hadn't done that to me." She sighed sadly and I knew five more minutes of her thinking over this and she was sure to burst into tears.

"Oh come on, crybaby. He is such a douche bag. Do you want him to do what he did to you to other girls?"

"Of course not. And don't call me a crybaby because I'm not." Claire narrowed her eyes at me.

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

We spotted the paint buckets kept at the back of the building. Making sure no one saw us, I quickly grabbed a blue paint bucket. I saw some wooden rods lying beside it and an idea popped into my mind.

"Are you mad?! Are you trying to send him to a hospital?" Claire freaked out when I updated her with the additions to our plan.

"No! I'm not trying to kill him, although I would love to. He wouldn't know it was us. We'll be wearing a scarf! He wouldn't have any idea that it was us," She still didn't look convinced. "I'll do the beating part, you do the paint part, okay?"

She looked at me for a minute as if contemplating the situation, "Fine! But if we get caught and suspended, you're responsible for that!"

"Yeah, okay. I'll be responsible," I waved it off.

We crept into the bushes with the paint and the rods. If someone were to see us, they'd be thinking we had gone mad. I made a mental note to never include Claire in revenge plans. As we hid in the bushes of the parking lot near to Jesse's bike, Claire complained about ants and spiders. She complained about her hair getting caught in the bushes. She irritated the hell out of me and I was tempted to shove the rod in my hand down her throat.

"Shut up, Claire!" I whisper yelled at her as I saw (through the bushes where there were a lot of creepy insects!) a pair of legs approaching Jesse's bike. I couldn't see his face as I didn't want Jesse to see me hiding in the bushes with Claire, ready to ambush him.

As soon as he got close enough to us, I nudged Claire to do it. Her eyes widened and she hesitated. No! She would ruin the plan like this.

I glared at her before snatching the bucket out of her and running straight at Jesse. He had his back turned to me and as soon as I got close enough without him suspecting, threw the blue paint in it all over him. He let out a surprised girly yelp as the blue paint covered his hair, messing up his leather jacket and dripped down to his jeans. He was about to turn but I quickly covered my face with a scarf. I threw the remaining paint in the bucket at him straight at his face and he stumbled back before falling flat on the road. He groaned in pain and I was glad there was no one around.

I took the rod and glared at him.

"You!" I pointed the rod at his head. "Are a disgrace to humans! You're such a sex starved dickwad!" I stated before hitting his arm with the rod with not as much force as I would have liked. I heard Claire jump out of the bushes and run towards me. I knew she was going to stop me from hitting him, so I started hitting him on the back harder. A very girlish scream escaped his lips and he attempted to get up but I hit him again and he fell down.

"You filthy pig!" I spat out at him. He still hadn't turned his ugly face at me. Nor did I wanted him to.

I was so angry that I did nothing but continued to hit him. This didn't feel enough. If I could, I would have killed this player.

I felt an arm grabbing mine in a tight hold because of which I wasn't able to hit him anymore. I looked at Claire who looked shocked and beyond scared. I was expecting her to do a happy dance or something. But instead she was frozen in her position. 

"Doesn't he look like a big smurf?" I asked to no one in particular and chuckled evilly.

"Brooke! It's not him!" She exclaimed.

"What?" I asked confusedly, my head snapping to look at her as I feverishly prayed that whatever that I just heard was just a stupid figment of my messed up imagination.

"It's not Jesse! He has blonde hair! This one has black hair!"

I looked back at the figure lying on the road. He had black hair. Oh crap! How did I not see that?!

My hands began shaking and the rod fell out of my hands as I bent over the figure. I shook his shoulder but he didn't move.

"Oh God! You k-killed him!" Claire cried out in horror.

"What? No! I didn't!" I said quickly. "He can't die! I didn't hit him that hard!" I said as I shook him with more force. I gulped when he didn't move.

I stood up and looked at Claire. She had a horrified expression on her face, much like mine. "Claire, what do I do now?"

She looked at me and back at the figure before gasping. In an instant I felt something snake around my legs and pull at it which caused me to fall down. I squealed as I felt the body move beside me. My butt hit the ground and I groaned. In a second, I was struggling to get on my feet and run for my life. I looked around but Claire was no where to be seen. That traitor! She left me! She's so dead!

I felt a hand grab my arm and pull me down again. I was too terrified to see who it was. What if he drags me to a mountain and buries me alive?

I heard the person curse and I turned my head to look at him. My mouth popped open as I recognized him.

Brian Smith.

The good boy of our school. The apple of most of my teachers eyes. The smart one in our school of impossibly dumb people. The only one who doesn't have a record of any bad behavior. I gulped. So what if he's the good boy? What if he's secretly a murderer? If I stayed with him for one more minute, I might possibly wet my pants.

I tried to rip my arm from his hold but he held on to it tightly. He managed to stand up somehow whereas I was still on the ground. He glared down at me, grabbing my arm in a blood circulation cutting hold and pulled me to my feet roughly.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" He shouted. Yep, he's definitely a murderer behind the good boy façade. "I don't think I know you enough to give you a reason to do that!"

I gulped, "I'm sorry. It was a mistake," Was all I could get out of my throat.

I was going to be in some serious crap.

It has been half an hour. I had been sitting outside waiting for half an hour for Brian to come out of the men's bathroom. And it had been more than an hour since school ended. What was I going to tell my stupid brother and my mom for why I was late?

As school ended an hour ago, not many people were there. Just a few teachers and some students. People passing by gave me odd looks from which I could tell that they were thinking why I was sitting directly outside the men's bathroom.

Brian dragged me to the men's bathroom from the parking lot. Of course I tried to run away but I couldn't because he held my arm so tightly as if his life depended on it. I swear he stopped blood circulation in my body. And now he was making me wait for him. And why was I still here? Because he got his hands on my phone! And I had no idea how!

Was he ever going to come out of that bathroom today?

Finally an eternity later, Brian walked out of the bathroom. His clothes were all wet and his hair was disheveled and wet too.

He looked at me. Well, more like glared at me.

"You're driving me home," He stated sternly, leaving no room for an argument.

"Excuse me? Give me my phone back! I'm not driving you home!" I stood up, sticking a hand out in front of his face for my phone.

"Fine. I'll just flush down your phone in the toilet," He said, turning back. Oh my God! Not my phone! I can't live without it!

"Wait!" I said and he looked at me expectantly. I groaned. "Okay I'll drive you home!"

"Good."

"But what about your bike?"

"My friend will drop it off at my place. Now don't waste my time and drop me home. You have a car, right?"

"Er...yes," I said, running my eyes over his form. "But it will be spoiled if you sit in my car!"

"Does it look like I care. You are dropping me home and I don't care whether it will spoil the car or not." He gritted out.

"You're such a jerk." I muttered under my breath.

"Are you even from this school? Because if you were you'd clearly know me as the sweetest guy ever," he said proudly.

"I'm from this school and I do know about your reputation but right now you're sort of contradicting it."

"I'm a good guy but don't think of me as a pushover. Did you expect me to be friendly when you best me to a pulp?"

I felt extremely bad for him. "I told you that it was a mistake. I didn't want to do that to you, but someone else."

"Doesn't matter. I'm the one who suffered in the end."

I glared at his retreating figure, hoping it would literally burn holes in his back. In frustration, I raised my hand into a fist and punched the wall adjacent to me. "Ow!" I hissed in pain, cradling my hand against my chest. Why the hell did I do it? Clearly my brain and my actions were temporarily unconnected.

I unlocked the car and got in the driver's seat while Brian sat in the passenger seat. I cringed as I saw the paint sticking to the leather seats. He noticed it and smirked before rubbing his back on the seat which caused it to get more paint on it. I glared at him.

"Are you going to start the car? I don't have all day to get home."

"Asshole," I muttered under my breath.

I pulled out of the parking lot and he directed me towards his house.

After a thirty minute drive, we finally made it to his house.

"Carry my bag. I don't want it to get dirty."

"And it's okay to make my car dirty," I muttered and grabbed his bag. God, the bag was so heavy. What did he carry in it? Dumbbells?

I dragged it towards his door and he unlocked the door, signalling me to place it on the sofa. The house was huge and beautiful but I didn't get enough time to admire it because as soon as I was out of the door, that jerk closed the door on my face. He didn't even thank me for waiting for him for half an hour, for dropping him home or even for taking his bag up to his house. Such a meanie! What more can you expect from an asshole like him?

I glanced at my watch and it was five in the evening. I was two hours late.

I hurried to my car, quickly putting it in reverse gear and driving to my house.

"Where have you been?" Ryan questioned even before I could step inside the house. His voice was dripping with fake concern.

"I had some work to finish. And you don't need to be nosy," I knew my brother very well. He couldn't be all caring and worried about me unless it would get him something. For now, he wanted my car. He had been pissing me off this past week to lend him my car. But I wouldn't. He was just sixteen. Yeah, okay he turns seventeen in a month but that doesn't mean that I would give my car to my underaged brother. I would be responsible if he drove straight into a tree or accidentally killed someone.

"Brooke, why were you so late today? Ryan thought somebody had kidnapped you," Mom asked, walking out of the kitchen.

"Mom, I had some work. I was with Claire at her place."

"Oh. Come on in. But next time you do that again, you will first inform us."

"Yes mom," My family was really very overprotective. And that was annoying sometimes. But nevertheless, I still loved them.

It was after dinner that Claire called.

"Hey, traitor," I answered the call.

"When did you get home?"

"I don't know, maybe two hours after you left me with him."

"Oh. What did Brian do to you? Why did he make you stay for so long?"

"Wow. That's more important to you than saying a sorry to me."

"Oh, yeah. I'm so sorry, Brooke. Now tell me what did he want?"

I looked at the phone incredulously. She really was more interested in knowing about him than apologising to me.

"He wanted a ride home because he didn't want to make his precious bike dirty. And so he made my car dirty. I'll have to clean it up. My car is colored blue like a Smurf just took a shit there," I groaned.

"A smurf's shit is blue?"

"Claire!"

She just chuckled from the other side. "Sorry. And by the way, your prank was a total shit. I'm just being honest."

"You bitch!" I huffed, "Did you expect me to come up with a better prank in half a day?!"

"Yeah, I know you couldn't. I'm sorry. For leaving you there and all too."

"I am going to kill you tomorrow at school for leaving me with that douche. He made me wait for half an hour outside the men's bathroom!"

"Uh, Brooke. It was a snap decision. I was scared."

Scared my ***. If I was in her place, I would have stayed with her even if he tried to kill us.

I just hung up on her.