She is My Sister (7 page)

“Now you know what the third time will bring, Red.
 
I don’t like to hear my lady
swearing.
 
I don’t swear, either,
and while it is hard to resist at times, it sounds better to use intelligent
words to express anger.”

Sara felt warm on the inside as well as on the outside.
 
Vince called her his lady.
 
And she was.

Chapter Five:
 
Brooke

It was hard being the youngest of the Hart Sisters and
having to live up to all that her sisters accomplished, and Brooke was positive
she fell short most of the time.
 
They were all glamorous and beautiful and hardworking, and none of them
lived at home like she did.
 
No one
ever noticed her as Brooke Hart; she was Jenna Hart Davidson’s little sister,
or Stacy Hart’s kid sister, Holly Hart’s untalented little sister, and Sara 4.0
Hart’s sister who barely pulled an average grade in any class.
 
Yes, Brooke felt sorry for
herself
.
 
How
could she be known for herself with all those smart older sisters?

She resolutely carried herself to her next class.
 
She’d thought it would be an easy,
filler class when she signed up for it, and she was pretty sure it was a class
that none of her sisters troubled themselves with, so she wouldn’t have a
professor asking if she was Jenna, Stacy, Holly, or Sara’s sister.
 
She wanted to be taken for herself.

The Professor was a stickler for time.
 
He started promptly, ended promptly, and
he docked points for being tardy.
 
He told them on the first day of class that while the title of the class
might sound simple, getting a good grade wouldn’t be so easy.
 
He assigned books to read, papers to
turn in, and just when the end was in sight, the man stood at his podium, laser
pointer in hand, and announced their final assignment was the equivalent of
their final exam, and would count for half of their grade.
 
Ignoring the groans, he passed out a
detailed explanation of the assignment and said, “For those of you who lose
everything, you can go online and download a copy of this assignment.
 
I am not going to accept any excuses for
your not finishing on time.
 
I
posted a paper on the back wall with your partner’s name beside yours.
 
It doesn’t matter if you hate the name I
put you with; you will work with this person.
 
In life we all have to work with people
or clients that we do not like.
 
Think
of this as good experience for the future, and no complaints. I do not want to
hear them.
 
I will make no
exceptions or changes, even if the person is your ex, and even if you have a
restraining order!” he insisted.
 
“You have the rest of this class time to talk with your partner and
brainstorm for your project.
 
Every
minute is precious; do not waste time.”
 
With that he was done talking and there was a rush to the back of the
room for partners to find each other.

Brooke was not happy.
 
She did not feel it was fair for this project to count for half of their
grade when they had to work with someone else.
 
She heard a lot of groaning coming from
the back of the room as people paired up.
 
She was sure the Professor was making this final task as difficult as
possible, and by making them work with partners they didn’t like, he was making
the last few weeks in his class extremely difficult.

“You are my partner, Brooke.
 
Couldn’t you at least have pretended
some interest and walked to the back of the room like everyone else did?”

“It figures
you
would be my partner, David.
 
Professor Zorn is a very smart man; he figured there was a reason you
sat as far away from me as possible, and he honed in on it and placed us
together. Unless it escaped your notice, no one in this class is happy about
the partner they were given, including us.”

“Fine.
 
That
realization doesn’t do one darn thing to complete our project.
 
We need to come up with an idea.” David
Worth plunked his butt down in the seat next to hers.
 
“Put that brain of yours into gear and
think of something besides what party you can go to next.”

“I’m not like you, David.
 
I like to be with my friends and have
fun.”

“You spend too much time with those friends and not enough
time studying.”
 
David was not the
least bit shy in expressing his opinion; he wasn’t shy about it when they were
dating a year ago.
 
He’d given her
an ultimatum then, and she’d told him to fuck off.
 
He’d looked at her for a couple of
minutes, and then he walked away.
 
Now, thanks to this ‘nutty’ Professor, they were right back where they
were a year ago.

“I do not have to answer to you, David Worth.”

“Until this project is done you do.
 
We are going to spend a certain amount
of time each day working together so the end result is cohesive and both of us
are visible when this is finished.
 
I want a good grade in this class, and you are going to do your share to
make it happen.”

“I am not going to spend that much time with you.”

“You will spend just as much time with me as it takes to do
this project.
 
Don’t try to use this
class as a way to get even with me, Brooke.
 
I’ve done a lot of thinking since last
year, and I know now where I went wrong.
 
Push me and you’ll find yourself wishing you hadn’t.
 
Now, enough; we need to use this time to
decide on a project.
 
Do you have
any ideas?”

“No.”

David sighed.
 
“Is there anything that interests you that we could turn into a
project?”

“No.”

“Brooke, don’t be like this.”

“Why don’t you just do the project and leave me out of it…?”
 
She got to her feet and ran for the
door.
 
This is one Professor who
liked to play mind games and it wasn’t a bit funny.
 
He’d managed to put people together in a
deliberate manner to cause pain, and she didn’t find it funny.
 
She wasn’t going to pretend that
everything was cool with David when it wasn’t.
 
He was one real rude bastard, bossy as
hell, and he hurt her when he dumped her.
 
She wasn’t going to help him pass this course.
 
That was
her
final word.

David let Brooke go.
 
The last thing he wanted was a public scene with her.
 
He would confront her when no one else
was around.
 
That evening he rang
the doorbell at her house and her father answered.
 
“Hello, Mr. Hart.
 
How are you, sir?” he asked politely.

“I am fine, David.
 
It’s good to see you; come in.”

“Thank you, sir.
 
Is Brooke here?”

“Yes, she is.”
 
The man looked as though he didn’t know whether or not to allow David to
see his daughter.
 

“We have a problem, Mr. Hart,” David said quietly, and then
told the man about their assignment.
 
“Brooke doesn’t want to work with me, but the Professor hasn’t given us
a choice.
 
I need this credit, and I
am sure she does, too.”

“I do not approve of this assignment, and I think this
Professor is crossing a line by putting students together who have a history,”
John Hart stated.
 
“But, you are
right.
 
Brooke needs this
credit.
 
She doesn’t take her
classes seriously enough; she spends too much time with her friends having a
good time.
 
I’ll back you up,
David,” he said, reaching his decision.
 
He went to the bottom of the steps and called upstairs, “Brooke, come
down here, please.”

David knew that Brooke was going to have a fit and he hoped
her Dad could handle her.
 
She was
lacking in discipline, and instead of walking away from her last year, David
felt he should have hauled her over his knee and spanked her soundly.
 
It was exactly what she needed, and
unless she showed him some cooperation on this assignment, Miss Brooke was
going to get the spanking of her life.
 
David was through with her childish behavior.

Brooke cut short her conversation with her sister Jenna, and
hurried to see what her Dad wanted.
 
It wasn’t like him to disturb her when he thought she should be studying
and preparing for the next day’s classes.
 
It was probably nothing important, but she lived under his roof and
Brooke did love him… even though he could be impossible at times.
 
“What is it, Dad?” she asked softly, a
smile on her lips… until she saw David.
 
“I have nothing to say to you, David Worth.
 
Get out of my home and don’t come back.”

“Daughter, I invited David inside this house and he is
welcome here until I say otherwise,” John Hart said sternly.
 
“He tells me that Professor Zorn gave an
assignment pairing the two of you…?
 
Is this correct?”

“Yes, but I am not going to work with him!” She gave her
long hair a toss over her shoulder, and her pretty blue eyes snapped with
temper.

“This project is worth half of your grade, daughter;
correct?”

“Yes, but Dad…”

“You will work with David, and you will do your best to do a
good job and get a decent grade; is that clear?”
 
John Hart could be intimidating, and
David had to smile when Brooke looked toward him and gave him a mean look
before turning back to her parent.

“He threatened me, Daddy!” she announced.
 
“I am afraid of him.”

To David’s surprise, John Hart laughed.
 
“Brooke, you have never been afraid of
anyone in your entire life.
 
Stop
acting like a child and get this project done.
 
I expect no less than a B, and if I
don’t see some proof that you did your very best, I refuse to spend one more
cent on classes for you.
 
I’ll
expect you to get a job and start supporting yourself, and paying some sort of
living allowance to your mother to cover living in this house.
 
You are going to put some effort into
school for a change, and if that means actually staying home and studying, then
so be it.”
 
John Hart looked at
David.
 
“Did you threaten Brooke?”

“Yes, sir,” David freely admitted.
 
“I warned her that she was going to work
with me on this project, and if she tested me she was going to regret it.
 
I meant the words,” he added.

“Sounds to me like you don’t have much of a choice,
daughter.
 
David has my support, and
if you behave like a brat, you’ll suffer the consequences.”
 
John Hart left the room to go back to
his study and his crossword puzzle.

“I cannot believe you came here and involved my father in
this!” she hissed at David.

“I need this credit, Brooke.
 
End of discussion.
 
Let’s get started on this project.”

“I’m busy right now.”

“Busy doing what?” he asked, striving for patience.

“Preparing for tomorrow’s classes.”
 
Her expression said he couldn’t argue
with that.

“Fine.
 
We’ll
spend a few minutes, come up with an idea, and then I can go to the library and
start researching the subject while you get back to your other classes.”

“David, I am not
not
not
going to
work with you!
 
This is a completely
impossible situation and you know it.
 
You have no respect for me, and I can’t stand being in the same room
with you.
 
If I’d known you were
taking this class, I never would have signed up for it!”

“First of all, Brooke, I do respect you; it is your work
ethic I have no respect for.
 
It
doesn’t matter what either of us think about working together on this project;
we have to do it and Professor Zorn will know if one of us does the project alone,
and he will automatically fail both of us.
 
That is not going to happen.
 
We are going to work together, without drama, or I am going to take you
in hand.
 
That, dear Brooke, is my
final warning.”

Brooke looked at David, then reached down and picked up a
candy bowl from the end table.
 
She
threw it at him and it crashed into the television across the room, missing
David by mere inches, and shattering the
tv
screen!
 
“Go to hell, David Worth!”