My Bad Boy Neighbor (Now on Radish)

Episode 6

After Art class was over, Diana and I went to meet Addie in the girls' bathroom. While we were walking down the hall, we passed several students who kept on whispering and sending looks our way. Diana didn't care because she thought they were admiring her outfit which I had to say was fantastic and I hoped that had been the case.

"Guess what I heard," Addie said to the two of us as we entered the bathroom. She was in the process of putting on lip gloss but stopped to look at us for a second. "Astrid, you didn't tell us that Kai Asher gave you a ride this morning."

Diana's mouth dropped. "Seriously? How did that happen?"

I shrugged. "He felt guilty for ruining my car."

"You know what that means, right?" Addie hinted, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh, girl. You're his next target," Diana told me before she got temporarily distracted by her reflection in the mirror.

"I'm really not," I insisted.

"How did he even know where you live? Did he just show up at your doorstep? I'm confused," Adelaide said, pouting before putting away her lip gloss.

I ended up telling them that he was my new neighbor and ripping off the bandaid. They had many, many questions for me which I myself did not have answers to and I tried to steer the conversation away from Kai as soon as possible, especially when a group of our school's socialites entered the bathroom and said hello to my friends, ignoring me as always.

We walked out of the bathroom and in that moment, Kai and his group of friends neared us. I kept my head down and pretended not to notice. Kai was respected around here, the star of the school if you didn't count my brother. Every girl wanted his attention and he was happy to oblige to some.

The three of us headed toward our locker again, with me at the front and it just so happened to be the same direction that Kai was walking to.

I tried to ignore him as Diana and Addie fell into conversation about Diana's loss over a pair of shoes.

"Hey, Astrid!" The entire corridor stopped as I heard the too-familiar voice shout my name. People were staring at Matt, my brother's best friend, and parted ways as he walked up to me. We had just reached the locker and I fidgeted with the lock, needing to occupy my brain for the next few minutes.

"Are you deaf?" Matt asked. "I called your name."

"I know," I replied calmly.

"Connor says you're going to write his essay. Here's the title of mine. You can hand it to me when I drop your brother off," Matt said to me.

I hated the feeling in my gut when he stood so close to me. I hated that I was attracted to him once. I hated him with all my heart but at the same time, I wanted him. I felt something for him because he wasn't like this when no one was around. He was only like this in the presence of others.

People slowly stopped paying attention to us soon after he reached me and went their separate ways which is what gave me the courage to speak up.

"I'm not doing that," I said quietly, taking out my books.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"You heard me. You can find someone else to write your essay. And you can deliver that news to my brother as well. I'm not your slave," I told him, my heart thumping in my chest. We were creating a scene again and I could feel my insides shake. A flash in my mind reminded me of my very first panic attack in front of the class. I needed to get away from him.

I slammed the locker shut and tried to get away but he grabbed my arm. "It wasn't a request."

"Matt, stop it. That's not cool," Diana said to him, putting her arms around me.