neighbors | ed

stranger

As I walked to class with two guys and one of my girl friends, a tall familiar figure bumped into me.

I watched as the books in his hands dropped to the polished floor causing a loud thump. His broad back was against the lockers now and I faced him along with my friends. His hair was messy with a light grey streak going through the front. He had a slight scruffy beard going on. He bends down slowly and gathers his books and puts them inside his bag this time.

"Watch it dumbass" I snap at him as my friends laugh. He doesn't say anything, just shakes his head and walks off. I turn my head back and see him walking with both his large hands holding onto the straps of his bag, enhancing his big arms. I sigh and walk off to class, completely ignoring the fact that I just yelled at someone for no big reason.

He isn't a stranger. I know that boy. I've known him ever since I was 7. Ethan Dolan, that's his name. We pretty much grew up together.

He isn't rich like me, and he most certainly isn't popular either. He's kind of an introvert, doesn't have many friends, doesn't talk much, stays out of the way of drama.

Growing up, my parents were always hesitant about me playing with him since his family was extremely poor. His dad left, leaving behind him and his now 8 year old sister Cameron with their mom. Their mom is always high on drugs. I don't even know how they manage to pay their bills to be honest. When we were young, as I said, my parents were hesitant but they still let me play with him since we were really young.

But nowadays, it's different. I've changed a whole lot since my dad died. I became a bitch. But he's still the same. He's really sweet. That's probably the reason why he shook his head at me earlier, because he kind of knows the real me. And I guess he's just disappointed that I act so different at school. We are still neighbors, but it's not the same. I don't ever talk to him anymore. I don't know why, I guess I care too much about my reputation and what people would think about me hanging around someone like him.

My mum would flip tables as well if she caught me around him, she seems to care about my reputation more then myself. She only wants me to be with people who are the same standard as us. It's low, and I'm aware. But what can you do right?

"You gonna throw any parties or something lissa?" My friend Chantel asks me half way through class.

"What do you mean, literally today's the first day back to school" I say and we both burst into laughter.

"Mind explaining what's so funny Alissa and Chantel" our old and cranky teacher yells from across the room. I roll my eyes and lean back into my chair.

Sometimes, I'm amazed at how my teachers deal with me. It's not that I'm a bad bitch or anything, it's just my attitude is actually horrible. However I do like to actually focus in class and get my shit done because I want to get somewhere in life.

Speaking of, I want to be a dentist. I have to do all the tough subjects for that, chemistry, physics maths etc. And I am taking them and somehow surviving.

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The last bell for home time finally goes off, and I rush outside to the back of the school. It's where I normally meet Josh before heading home. As I walk up to him, he gives me a brief smile and blows a puff from his cigarette. I cough as the smoke blows onto my face.

"You're going to get caught Josh, throw it away" I mumble scared for his response. I'm always scared of him, especially lately. Simply because of the fact that he's always so annoyed at me so his responses usually hurt me a lot but I try not to show it.

"Why do you care, it's not you the one who'll get caught" he snaps back at me. Again I ignore his rude remark and start a casual conversation with him.

"Do you wanna come back to mine" he says catching me of guard.

"Don't think I can today, I've got so much homework to do, sorry babe"

He rolls his eyes at me bluntly and tells me he's going home. With that I watch him walk back to his car and drive off. I follow him back to my car and also drive back home. I lied. I don't have much homework at all actually. I don't even know why I lied, I just did. He's my boyfriend and I should be happy to hang out with him, but I just... don't know.

I unlock the front door with the keys in my hand and I enter inside the house.
"Mom" I yell but get no response.

Guess she isn't home. Again. I walk over to kitchen and grab a packet of crisps and head upstairs to my room. This is my life. Most evening for me are spent like this. Alone in my room either drowning in homework or having nothing to do. The days I have nothing to do, I go shopping with my friends.

Today was a hot day, so I decided to change into my bikini and jump in the pool. Just me.

I swam around for a while, but it's only a matter of time before I got bored again and decided to head back inside. It was dark by now. There was no dinner for me, so my first instinct is always to order food and get it delivered and that's what I did. When my food arrived, I headed to my balcony and looked down at my street while I ate.

I noticed Ethan in his front yard, running around and playing with his sister. He's the one keeping their family together from what it seems. I often see him with his sister playing and making her laugh.

I watched as he tackled her onto the grass and cuddled her into his buff arms. It reminded me of my dad and I. My dad would always play with like that and we'd do crazy things together. I didn't even notice that tears were soon running down my face.

Ethan notices me, and he furrows his brows with a confused expression on his face. Probably because I was crying like an idiot. I didn't want to appear weak in front of anyone. Especially not him. So I aggressively wipe away the tears off of my face with my sleeve, pick up my phone from the glass table beside me and head inside.

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