Page 1 of Bad Brother: The Collection

Stepbrother’s Room

Sally slammed her locker and followed through with a punch that hurt her entire hand. She was angry. Hell, she was not even angry, this was not anger. This was like a disease eating into her, or a fire spreading through her veins so rapidly, agitating her anger and making her blood boil. The punch reverberated through the entire locker room as she stepped back and flexed her fingers.

They were going to hurt for some time, this she knew. She did not care, however. All she wanted was the little pain to take care of her murderous thoughts. She could not believe that at twenty-five and in college, she still had to deal with bullies. It was stupid. Hell, it was crazy. Why the hell would someone this old want to bully her?

Of course, there was the issue of jealousy. They were jealous, and they did not even try to hide it. Everyone in college knew it; everyone in college was talking about it. She knew that in high school, she was going to have to deal with the grown women who did not want to see her succeed. This was the hardest task because she was not prepared for this. And to think that she had come to college with the intention of following through with her career and becoming a pro.

It all started back in high school. Sally was a rather athletic person and she enjoyed taking on tasks that would normally be tried by gymnasts. While she hated gymnastics, she knew she would do well in the cheerleading session if only she followed the right paths. Someone had hinted to her that if she became good at it, she would be picked by a good team and get a lot of money from it.

There were few cheerleaders and the market was rather extensive. Great teams were in need of cheerleaders for entertainment purposes but the market did not have enough of them. Even when a lot of girls followed the path, they did not really make the cut because, with age, some interests were abandoned.

Sally knew for a fact that she would never abandon being a cheerleader, at least not easily. She loved being flipped in the air. She loved the dances and her body would flow as if it was operating itself. At times Sally felt like she was watching her body from outside every time she was in the pitch entertaining the audience. Her strongest part was the contemporary sets.

These were not the conventional motions that a cheerleader is supposed to go through. While there is a lot of flipping and dancing, a professional cheerleader was allowed to dance to the music of her choice. Dancing, it was what made Sally the happiest. She would dance in front of the audience in such a sophisticated way that would leave them looking forward to seeing her. Dressed in her sexy outfit, her dark skin glistening in the light, she was always the queen of the floor.

That was what bothered the rest of the girls. To start with, Sally was a charmer. This meant that she had earned the admiration of the right people. The wrong people had seen her as a threat. Sally understood them most of the time. It was because they had joined the career with the hopes that they would not grow out of it. Now they were doing things that they did not find fun anymore and they were taking it out on her.

Being a cheerleader was not a walk in the park. There were diets to adhere to. There was a routine set out that they were supposed to follow to the letter. The routine included a lot of exercising which at times even Sally agreed was tiring. Her trainer, as well as the rest of the girls, was a hard ass. He never let her rest. The man was always trying to put her through extremes conditions so she could bring out the best in her. While Sally had disliked it at first, she had finally realized that she would be quicker and agiler on the pitch after such a workout.

This led her to embrace the program. After all, she wanted to be the best there ever was. This was not hard. The bar had not exactly been set very high. Within months, Sally was making news waves among her colleagues. People had actually started watching games just to see her. Sports commentators never missed mentioning her name and appraising her for what she was doing on the pitch.

Technically, Sally was eating off her sweat. She was a hot cake at the moment, clubs wanted to sign her in as soon as possible. People were offering great sums of money just so she could appear for their audiences.

Sally took all this in one stride, made sure to act gracefully around everyone and accepted projects that she could handle. It was clear that she had left a blazing trail for her colleagues to follow, something they were clearly not able to. So instead of working harder, they tried to bully her.

It was as if Sally could allow being bullied. Well, Sally allowed them to bully her every now and then. She did not want to cause unnecessary fights. This did not mean that she let them walk all over her. Sally was a strong young woman who knew when to say no and step up into someone’s face. And she knew that most of the time, her ‘friends’ wanted her to do that so they could involve her in a fight.

Sally was, however, a smart woman, she knew that the moment she as much as flashed a fist, they would destroy her and they would start with her face. They would probably even shave her head and break her legs. This she was not afraid of, what she was afraid of was that she would be tempted to kill them all. Sally did not want to go to prison. She knew, however, that she was going to have to stop them in a way. This way they would allow her to concentrate on her trade.

She finished up in the locker room and stepped outside. She was still angry at the name calling from earlier. She had walked away, something that was completely against what she knew. Her father was not like that. He was a fierce man, a man who was not used to walking away from fights. She, on the other hand, preferred to use her brains more than she used her fists. Sally knew that if she told her father, then the man would come to school.

Sally suddenly realized that she was like her stepmother. The woman had joined her life seven years ago and the two had bonded well. She had come with a son who was the same age as she was. The two had gotten along well but they did not hang around the same groups. Marco was a different man from his mother. He was more like his stepfather.

The young man had attended college to play football. The only similarity they had was the fact that they were both very dedicated to their grades. While Sally was the queen of cheerleading, Marco was the quarterback to beat. The man was like a tornado once he started moving. Nothing stopped him.

This was not the time to think of Marco, however. Sally wanted to get home because there were just too many things to do. She took the back exit and walked to her parking lot where she found Marco waiting for her. Normally, the young man drove home without her; they both had their cars after all.

“What are you doing here?” Sally asked. She had not been expecting him and she did not feel like she wanted to talk to him. She did not feel like talking to anyone.

“My car broke down, I was wondering if I could ride with you,” Marco said.

Marco had a swag that was yet to be matched. The man was too cool. He was the man every guy wanted to be. His confidence was unmatched. The way he talked, way her walked, and carried himself, it spoke of a man who knew what he wanted. Girls in college literary fought each other for him. He was also a good deal taller than most people in college. At six feet five inches, and a well-developed body, Marco was a beast.

“What happened to it?” Sally asked.

“I don’t know. I am going to have it towed to the garage once I got home. Let’s go?” he asked as she unloc

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