My Stepbrother, My Enemy {BL}-Chapter 179: ...Comes Around

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Gigi’s eyes lit up with that familiar thrill of gossip as she leaned closer over the lab table. "Wait, you seriously haven’t checked out the anonymous post on the school forum? It’s totally blowing up-like, people are analyzing it as if it’s a true-crime documentary."

I laughed before I could help it, the sound escaping sharper than I meant as I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulder.

"I haven’t been on that forum for the past three months," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Not after everyone turned my ’beef’ with Vanessa into the most entertaining reality show on campus. Half the threads were just memes of me falling into the pool on repeat and edits of me bitch slapping Vanessa which never even happened. No thanks."

Skylar burst out laughing, rifling through her bag until she pulled out a crinkly packet of spicy chips. The scent of chili and lime wafted over as she ripped it open and offered it around.

"Fair point," she said, munching on one. "That place is a total cesspool on a good day."

Gigi dramatically rolled her eyes, snagging a chip from Skylar’s stash.

"Still, it’s kinda weird, don’t you think? Vanessa would rather pull her own hair out than leave Brookstone in the middle of senior year. She’s the cheer captain, running for prom queen, and practically has the Snow Queen crown already for next week’s Snow Ball-she’s all about that stuff. She’d never miss any of it."

Skylar nodded, crunching thoughtfully. "Yeah, super suspicious timing. One day she’s strutting down the hall like she owns the place, and the next, her house is empty and there’s a For Sale sign out front. No heads-up, no tearful Instagram farewell like you’d expect...nothing."

Gigi leaned in closer, lowering her voice conspiratorially, even though the room was loud enough to drown us out.

"So, the post said her dad got some sudden job transfer out of state. Apparently, Vanessa has an aunt here who offered to let her crash until graduation, but she decided to go with her parents anyway." She made air quotes around the last part, not buying it for a second.

I raised an eyebrow, my curiosity getting the better of me. "Where did they even move to?"

Both of them shrugged in unison, Gigi practically bubbling over with delight. "Who gives a fuck?" she said, breaking into a wide, mischievous grin like she’d hit the jackpot. "She could be moving to the middle of the Sahara desert for all I care."

Skylar laughed hard, nearly choking on a chip. "Seconded. Good riddance to the queen bitch of the mean girls."

I leaned back on my stool, letting it all sink in. First, it was Patrick, Jace, and Liam getting arrested for some seriously messed-up stuff that still turned my stomach.

Now, Vanessa-the girl who made it her mission to make every school day a nightmare for me...was just gone. No more sneering looks across the cafeteria, no more "accidental" shoulder bumps in the hall, no more whispered comments barely loud enough for me to hear. The weight of it all felt surprisingly comforting, like a warm blanket on a chilly day.

But confusion still nagged at me. Were those incidents connected? Did Vanessa know about the boys’ parties, maybe even helped lure girls into trouble? Or was it just a weird coincidence-her family uprooting everything right when the fallout from her crowd’s actions finally caught up with them? I couldn’t shake the feeling that the universe was tying things up a bit too perfectly.

Had God... finally decided to answer my prayers?

I let out a long, dramatic sigh, leaning my head back as if I’d just come back from a long battle. "God, I’m so glad she’s out of here."

Gigi let out a whoop and threw her arms around me in a tight, almost too-enthusiastic hug that nearly knocked me off my stool.

"Yes! We’re free!" she exclaimed, squeezing me tight enough that I laughed. "Free from the evil queen and her minions! Brookstone is now a safer place for all us awkward nerds!"

Skylar watched us with a smile, brushing chip crumbs from her fingers. "You know what we should do to celebrate, right?" she said, her eyes shining. "Ice cream after school. My treat, triple scoops, extra toppings, the whole shebang. Who’s in?"

Gigi pulled back long enough to throw her hands in the air like she just couldn’t contain herself. "Of course! I want mint chocolate chip with hot fudge and whipped cream. And definitely sprinkles."

A genuine laugh bubbled up inside me, light and unexpected after days of feeling heavy. The thought of hanging out at the little ice cream parlor downtown with these two, music playing from the jukebox, cold spoons clinking against glass-it all sounded just right. Normal. Like something I hadn’t allowed myself to enjoy for way too long.

"Count me in," I said, grinning despite the lingering secrets tucked beneath my turtleneck and the mess I knew awaited me at home. "This definitely calls for a celebration."

Gigi’s face lit up like she had just discovered the joy of dessert, her smile growing as she gently tapped the lab table with her palm.

"Joe’s Ice Cream Parlor," she announced, her voice low yet overflowing with excitement. "You know, the one downtown with that vintage jukebox and those crazy waffle cones that are like edible bowls. I could really go for the peppermint stick topped with extra hot fudge-holiday special, baby! It’s been ages since we’ve been there, and this definitely calls for the full Joe’s experience."

Skylar nodded straight away, pulling her keys from her pocket and jingling them like a promise.

"I’ll drive," she said, leaning in to bump Gigi’s shoulder. "We can blast that cheesy Christmas playlist you love and sing off-key the entire way."

I chuckled quietly, the sound feeling lighter than anything that had escaped me in days. "Absolutely," I replied, envisioning the cozy red booths, the glass counter foggy from the freezers, and the old neon sign buzzing in the window.

We were all grinning now, leaning in like we were plotting the perfect escape, when the door swung open with a decisive creak. Mr. Delgado strode in, his bald head shining under the fluorescent lights, a stack of papers held against his chest like armor.

The energy in the room shifted immediately-conversations stopped mid-sentence, chairs scraped as everyone sat up straight, phones disappeared into backpacks in a flash.

"Good morning, everyone," he said, his voice carrying that calm authority that somehow made you feel guilty even when you hadn’t done anything wrong. He placed the papers on the front desk with a neat tap. "Or, more accurately, good morning for a pop quiz."

A collective groan rippled through the class, loud and theatrical, with chairs creaking as half the room slumped forward in defeat. Someone in the front row muttered, "Seriously?" under their breath, while another kid dramatically dropped his forehead onto his folded arms.

Gigi sank back against her stool, her mouth dropping open in exaggerated horror. "On the day the universe finally gives us justice?" she whispered to us, clutching her chest like she had been personally wronged. "This is just criminal."

Skylar stifled a snort behind her hand, her shoulders shaking as she pulled out her notebook. "Karma for celebrating too soon," she murmured, shooting me a quick wink.

I couldn’t help smiling, even as I flipped to a blank page and felt those familiar pre-quiz jitters. The weight of the morning-the arrests, Vanessa’s sudden disappearance, that nagging feeling of secrets under my turtleneck-hadn’t disappeared, but for a short while, surrounded by Gigi’s outrage and Skylar’s quiet laughter, it felt a little more distant.

Mr. Delgado started handing out the quizzes, and the room fell into that tense hush of scratching pencils and nervous sighs.

For the first time in what felt like ages, the rest of the school day stretched out ahead without that familiar knot of dread in my stomach. And honestly, that felt like the sweetest victory of all.