High School Days [No Good Nick]

After-School Confrontation

Guess what?! 

Eric lives three houses down from me! 

First I was telling Kevin about him, and he was like, "Oh, the guy who lives across the street?" 

I was like, "What?" And Kevin was like, "Yeah. He's outside now," and pointed. 

Then I turned around to see the familiar face of Eric. He was sitting on the porch, reading a book. 

"Eric!" I called. This would be the perfect time to ask him about Kelsey. 

He looked up. His face said, do I know you? 

I rushed over. "It's me, Gemma!" I cried breathlessly. "From.. from lunch! Remember?" 

"Yeah, I remember you," replied Eric. I didn't care how his voice sounded. 

"Um, I have a-a question," I told him nervously. 

"Ask me anything." He sounded impatient. 

"Does—does Kelsey have a problem with you?" 

He was a little taken aback. 

"She acted kinda weird when we were talking about you earlier..." I continued. 

He narrowed his eyes. "Why were you talking about me?" 

"Just answer the question, Eric!" 

"Okay." He paused. "Well, it's probably just because she has a cru—" He stopped suddenly. 

"What?!" I cried. 

Eric didn't answer. He just went back inside. 

I followed him. "Eric!" I called after him. "What is it?!" 

He turned around. "Please get out of my house." 

Frustrated, I went back to my own house and up to my room. Keisha was there, having finished unpacking all my stuff. 

"You could've let me do that," I growled. 

"Someone had a bad day at school." She sat down on my bed. "What happened?" 

"Well," I started, "it wasn't exactly at school." 

"Was it when you were talking to that guy outside?" Keisha raised her eyebrows. 

I smiled. "He's cute, isn't he?" 

"No." 

I walked around as I told Keisha the whole story, about how Kelsey had acted weird and I'd tried to ask Eric about it, and he'd just ignored me. She listened patiently. 

"Well," she said, getting up, "I gotta go make dinner. Wanna help?" 

"Anything to get Eric off my mind."