Next Door Lovers

Act 1

"Urrrgh..."
I groggily woke up to the chirping of my alarm clock. It was 5:45 am (a little late for me), and it was just another Monday.
I turned off the alarm clock, then went downstairs at a zombie's pace. Still tired, I poured myself some cereal. Some Sweet O's, my favorite. Unfortunately, I couldn't really taste it, as my taste buds hadn't woken up yet.

I guess there's no better place to introduce myself, so I'll do it now. I'm Linc, short for Lincoln. Obviously. I'm a shy, nerdy, smart and talkative 16-year-old. I love to bake, play video games, and make people happy. I also enjoy the occasional pop song every now and then.

My favorite games are Space Buggers and this one MMO game called Yandere Story. It's this stealth action game where you could play as a yandere girl/guy and you try to kill off rivals. It's a really fun game, and it's hard to actually win.

Back to the present. Next, I had to go shower. I could always wake up after this since the water was cold in the morning. I liked it that way.

When I finished up and got dressed, I got my lunch together, grabbed my backpack, and walked out of the front door. It was a little chilly, but not the kind of weather where you need a jacket. I start walking towards the bus stop.

"Wait!"

Joe ran out of the front door of his house over to me. He looked exhausted.

"Guess we're going to be late again," I said, shrugging.

"No, we could still make it if we run," he replied.

I guess I should introduce him. Joe is the typical popular kid, kind of sporty, everyone knows him, et cetera, et cetera. He loves to play tennis, but also likes to play video games as well.

Let's also talk about his looks. Let's first start off by saying he definitely had the popular look. Brown eyes, a fauxhawk hairstyle, it was all there. His skin was white (even though he was part Mexican), and had a normal build. The only thing about him that might seem off-putting to some is the fact that he has glasses, but I see that as a plus. Glasses can be very attractive.

I and Joe became neighbors last summer when his dad got a job as an accountant at Loyola Inc, but we've known each other before then since we go to the same high school, Shining High. It's kind of how we became friends.

Speaking of which, we're already at the bus stop.

"See, told you we'd make it!" he said, even more exhausted than before. I just giggled.

I guess to lengthen this story, I have to talk about our outfits. They weren't much; I just wore a Pokemon t-shirt with some jeans, and he wore a black t-shirt, a plaid button-down shirt (with it being unbuttoned) and some khakis. Our backpacks were blue and black, respectively, and we both wore Adidas shoes since our parents didn't want to have to deal with our differing styles. It was fine, I treated it like any other shoe, and Joe was cool with it too.

A few seconds later, the bus rolled in. I sat in my usual spot and he sat next to me, which was nice of him. He usually sat near his friends, so this was a nice change. Plus, we have tennis practice after school, so we don't have a lot of time on the bus together.

As the bus started to go, I looked out the window. It was nothing much really, just an assortment of houses, roads, trees, the same old thing every morning. I didn't mind though, as I didn't really focus on the scenery, rather focused on trying not to fall asleep. I have trouble with that sometimes.

After some time, he asked, "So, break the ice, I haven't talked to you a lot lately."

He is right. We haven't talked face-to-face at all recently. He's always off with his friends.

"Eh, nothing much really. Just the usual."

"For me, it's been kind of weird, to say the least. Like, Amanda's being really petty right now."

Amanda is his super popular and annoying girlfriend. Ugh, I hated her the day I met her. I could just tell that she was a drama queen by just looking at her. She honestly is a plastic pop star with no character.

"Hmm? Why so?"

"She's basically yelling at her friends for stealing her 'look', and when I tried to calm her down, she started yelling at me. I swear, sometimes I just am so annoyed by her!"

"Then why not break up with her?" I asked innocently.

He sighed. "Linc, when you have a girlfriend, you'll understand. You'll break her heart, and she might start gossiping about you, throwing shit at you. Also, you can't just break up with her if you still love her."

"But she's being a nuisance to you," I replied. "And she's honestly being a huge jerkwad." I never really liked swearing, so I just find some other alternative. Like "jerkwad" for example.

He gave a frustrated sigh before looking down at his phone again. I looked over to see what he was doing, and he was texting Amanda about something trivial. I sighed and went back to looking through the window.
Eventually, we reached the school. It was a three floor, brick and mortar school. Just like any normal high school.

The inside of the building wasn't much either. The halls were lined with a bunch of lockers, with a staircase in the middle. These lockers were colored beige, and you could see entrances to more halls, which led to other classrooms.

We walked into the commons (which were a combination of a lunchroom and a sitting area with benches), and Joe immediately found his friends. He walked over and started talking. I just quietly sat down on one of the benches and started playing on my phone.

"Well if it isn't the little brat," a thick menacing voice said. An ugly shadow loomed over me.