Neighbors with the Bad Boy (In Editing And Reconstruction)

Charles Longo's Party, Here I Come

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Unedited

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Chapter 10 

“So, um, do you want to go to the movies? Maybe around seven, seven-thirty?” Brandon asked, and I could hear the nervousness in his voice.

“Sure,” I said hesitantly as I walked around my room, “the movies and seven O’clock would be fine.”

“Alright, I’ll see you then,” he said, and I just knew, because of his happy tone, he had a smile on his face.

“Bye,” I said and then hung up.

A small smile was placed on my lips, and I wondered if it was because Brandon’s was so contagious.

“Where were you yesterday?” Mike asked curiously the following day.

My eyes shot to him, and I couldn’t help but let my eyes widen and a gasp escape my lips. “I was, um—I was—“I fumbled with words to say as I stared down at my clammy hands and began to fiddle with my fingers. “I was helping Mr. Donald organize his, um, files and stuff,” I finally said and nodded my head eagerly, as if insisting them to believe me.

“Mr. Donald needed help organizing files?” Lela spoke up, confused. “I usually helped him with that stuff… Since, you know, I’m like Star-Student or whatever.” She rolled her eyes at one of the (non-cruel) nicknames that our classmates in Science had given her.

I had forgotten three things: 1. Lela was in Mr. Donald’s class, too. 2. Lela was the “Helping-Hand” in the classroom. 3. Lela was extremely smart so she could easily tell when people were lying, and I, at the moment, was.

Lela studied me curiously, though said nothing—which I was immensely grateful for.

“So, um, I have news,” I said, changing the subject quickly. “Big news, actually.” I smiled.

“What kind of news?” Jessie asked spastically as she tossed a slice of a cutup clementine in her mouth.

“Yeah, you’re so boring; you barely have any interesting news,” Mike teased as he narrowed his eyes.

I slapped him playfully on the back—a smile threatening to carve on my lips, though I held it down. “Um, you guys remember Brandon Locke, right?” I asked slowly, letting the name process in their mind. I knew their answer for my question perfectly, at least Mike, Linda, and Jessie’s: they knew. They knew perfectly who he was. Brandon wasn’t only my close friend, he was theirs, too. Our friendship for one another had been equal—just the kind and amount of love that I had for Mike, and Brandon had for me, was different. And their reason for their departure of friendship with Brandon was just the same (a little different) as mine, too. What a sad, confusing story, it was—and I just knew that once they heard my surprising news, they would be utterly shocked.

Lela looked around the table, her eyes trying hard to decipher whatever emotion was held on Mike, Linda, and Jessie’s face—though it seemed impossible to do because they were all trying their best to not display any type of expression… but you could see the slight fraction of their eyes widening and the corner of their lips perking up

“Yeah,” the three squeaked simultaneously.

“Well, I’m kind of going on a date with him… on Friday.” I felt my cheeks redden in embarrassment as everyone at my table looked at me with surprise.