The Girl Next Door Pt. 04

It's like that with Gabs, but not in the same way. When I'm with Gabby, I just get hot and it's hard to breathe. I just want to pull her in my arms and hold her. I want to protect her and tell her everything's going to be alright. More than anything, I just want to kiss her. It's almost impossible for me to hold back. That's why seeing her right now would just break me.

"So, we're going to build the float tonight. Can you give me a ride back to my house?" she asks.

"Yeah, definitely," I say. "Wait, where's your car?"

"It's getting worked on," She says.

"Oh, why didn't you say something, I could've given you a ride to school!" I say.

"It's no big deal," she says.

"Well I don't mind driving you around," I say.

"It's okay and thanks, Damarco will be coming over>" She elbows me with a rosy smile. "This will be your chance to finally cozy up to him and get him to take you to homecoming."

"Yay... I actually just ran into him." I've put up a fake smile so many times by now that I have it perfected. I still can't figure out why I can't just be happy with Damarco. Every girl in this school would cut their arm off to be with him. Let's be honest, he's perfect. I've never heard a bad thing said about Damarco. He's the nicest guy in the school. He volunteers with the church. He helps his aunt teach women mixed martial arts. Plus, he's our school's own all-state running back. Who wouldn't want to date him?

And yet, I don't feel anything for him. Yeah, I think he's a great guy and it does make me happy to have him as a friend. But I don't feel that burning desire to be with him. Not like what I feel for Gabs.

--

At lunch

At lunch, it was nearly impossible not to meet Gabs's eyes as she walks from the hallway with her bag lunch. She hesitates before she walks away. Why is this world so cruel? If only she felt the same way about me.

As Stacy rambles on and on about homecoming, I do everything I can to push Gabs out of my thoughts. I look up at Kate, who's picking at her food. She seems unusually quiet and aloof. "So Toby and I are definitely going to be dressing up in matching outfits tomorrow for the country theme. What about you, Kate? Are you going to have Sam match your outfit?"

"Huh?" Kate asks as she looks up.

"Everything okay?" I ask, her sky blue eyes meet mine and I can see she's trying to fight a battle in her mind.

"Yeah... everything's fine..."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"I don't know. It's just Sam and I got into a huge fight Saturday night at the party. He stormed off and I got super drunk afterward. He just never listens," she sighs.

"Why? What did he do?" I ask.

"Oh it's nothing," she says.

"Sure doesn't sound like nothing," I say.

"I was telling him something personal, I like, poured my heart out to him and by the time I finished, he just brushed it off as if he wasn't even listening to what I said. I swear, he has a one-track mind. It's always football... And sex. I'm so tired of it," she says.

"Why are you still with him?" I ask.

"Because he can be super sweet when he's not such a bucket head," she says.

"He's also the starting Quarterback to the state champs," Stacy spat out.

"Yeah, because that's totally the only reason to ever be with someone," I say flatly. God, Stacy is so shallow.

"Isn't that why you're trying to get with Damarco?" she asks.

"Really? That's the only reason you date someone because they're a champion? Damarco is so much more than a football player. He's actually a decent guy. Do you even know Toby outside the fact that he's a State champion?" I ask. God, I hate her.

"Okay, let's just take a step back," Kate says just as the bell goes off.

"Come on, Kate. Let's go to class," Stacy says as she hooks her arm in with Kate's. Fucking leech.

--

After Cheerleading practice, Kate and I pile into my car and take off to her house... "So... Are you going to tell me the truth about last weekend?" Kate asks.

"I did," I say.

"Come on, Gracie. I know you better than that," she says.

"Are you going to tell me the truth about you and Sam?" I ask.

"Touche," She says. "I just worry about you. That's all. We've been best friends since our first summer at bible camp."

"I know and I love you, Kate. I couldn't ask for a better friend," I say, maybe besides Gabs, but she doesn't need to know that.

"God I can't wait until we can leave for college, roomie," she says with a big smile.

"And it'll only be the two of us," I smile. No fucking Stacy...

"I know, it's too bad Stacy couldn't get into the University of Florida with us. It sucks we have to get random roommates," she says.

"Maybe not. What about Gabby?" I ask.

"Did she get accepted into Florida?" she asks.

"She's got the top grades in the school, she can get into any college she wants," I laugh.

"What's with you and her?" Kate asks.

"She's been my neighbor since my family moved here. Give her a chance, I bet you'd love her."

"Sure. You can't say I'm not open-minded," she says.

"You're the best Kate," I say.

As we reach her house. The trailer is already set up for us to work on. "We truly need to put in some work..."

Stacy pulls up in her nice Audi and gets out. "Hey girls. I'm here, let's get this party started," she says.

As we get to work, some of the other seniors on the cheerleading squad pull up as we put it together. Kayleigh brings a scarecrow out of her van. "Nice, you definitely pulled through," Kate says as we get it dressed in our Rival football teams Trojan uniforms. "Now if we can only create a paper Mache tiger ravaging the trojan, we'll be all set."

Our attempt at creating a tiger from paper mache fails miserably. "I'm probably going to head out soon, Kate," I say, looking at the time, knowing Bristol won't ever let me go out with her and Erin if I don't get any training done.

"Well, if you would've shown up this weekend, we would probably be done with it by now," Stacy says, flinging her hair. I just wish I could take a razor and buzz it all off. Her phone goes off and she looks at it. "Oh! Toby and Damarco are on their way over."

Kate elbows me and gives me a wink. "Now's your chance."

"Is Sam not coming?" I ask.

"No, he's got other things going on."

"Oh. That sucks," I say.

She only shrugs. It's not long after that Toby and Damarco pull up.

"You guys came," I say as I walk up to them.

"Of course, I said we would," Damarco says with that perfect smile of his.

Kate and Stacy also come up to us.

"So, what's our float going to be?" he asks.

"Well, as you can see we were trying to build a paper mache tiger killing a Trojan... but it's not going so well," I say.

"I can help with that," Toby says as he pulls out his vape pen and takes a rip.

"Seriously?" Kate asks. "You're going to do that here?"

"What? I can only bring out my artistic nature when I'm stoned as a kite," he says.

"Don't you mean, high as a kite? That just doesn't make sense otherwise," Stacy says.

"Yeah, whatever. Same meaning, different words," he says.

"Well, let's get to work, the float's not going to build itself," Kate says.

As we get started, Toby pulls out his brilliance with the Tiger, it almost looks real. It looks pretty epic, the Tiger looks as if it's about to rip the Trojan to shreds.

"Damn, fucking great," Toby says.

"Yeah, you did an amazing job with the Tiger, who knew you were such an artist with paper mache," Stacy says. You would if you actually took the time to get to know your own boyfriend.

"Hey, with weed, anything is possible," Toby says, making everyone else laugh.

"Well, I should get going," Damarco says.

"Awww. Come on? Now that the work is done we still have to have a little fun," Toby says.

"I don't have time for fun. I've got to help my aunt out with her martial arts class. I also need food," I say.

Kate elbows me in the side and nods her head towards Demarco. "I'll give you a ride. That way Toby can stay and have all the fun he can handle," I spit out. He looks at Toby and who only shrugs.

"Don't matter to me," Darmarco says. After he grabs his things and gets into my car. I pull out of the parking lot and take off.

"So... Homecoming dance... Are you going with anyone?" I spit out.

"Honestly? I'm not sure if I'm going, period," he says.

"What! Why not?" I ask, looking over at him.

"I've got too much going on to take time out for the dance," he sighs.

"But you're running for homecoming king," I say.

"I didn't want to. Everyone kind of forced me into it," He says. "Besides, I don't have anyone to go with."

"Why don't we go together?" I ask. Did that really just come out of my mouth?

"As friends, right?" I ask

"Sure... Or we could be a couple. I mean we don't have to. We could just be friends," I say. Wow... Why do I make everything so awkward?

"I don't know... " he sighs. "I just have a lot going on."

"What could be so important that you would miss out on a fun night with friends? It's just one night," I say.

"Well, I've got a martial arts tournament earlier that day," he says.

"But nothing's going on that night, right?" I ask.

"Well..."

"Come on, it's only a couple of hours. You can spare that, can't you?" I ask.

"Huh, fine. I guess," he sighs, clearly disinterested.

"Yes! You'll have so much fun. You won't regret it. I promise," I say, putting in the extra effort to sound sincere as I pull into my driveway.

"I guess. Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for the ride," he says, getting out.

"Later Damarco," I say. Wow. That was surprisingly easy.

Chapter 8

Gabby's Perspective

The alarm goes off and I hit the snooze button. Not even sleep can shake the feeling that I'm drowning. Drowning in an ocean of my own despair. Why can't I just tell Gracie how I feel? How is it so hard to express the emotions running rampant inside me? I love her. I know that now. I just wish I knew that Friday night when she kissed me. God, her kiss...

It was like feeling the sun for the first time after living in a cave for eternity. Why did I push her away? I'm so stupid. As the alarm goes off for the second time, I slink out of bed and grab my glasses. My slippers are nowhere to be found. I don't even bother to put the sheets back in place. I let out a sigh, looking at the mess of my room which perfectly matches the shape of my mind right now. As much as it drives me crazy, I just don't have the energy to deal with it right now.

I take a seat at my desk and turn my computer on. I scan through the internet looking for any new footage and stumble upon a new video of the vigilante. I turn on my webcam and desperately try to pull myself together and straighten my hair. God, my eyes have bags hanging under them. I let out a sigh. Let's just get this over with.

"Hey everyone, I'm sorry for being a total mess. I've just been going through a hard time at the moment. I found a new video of the vigilante and I'm hoping this will pull me out of my rut. So without further wait, let's check it out."

The footage is from the inside of a window looking out at what looks like a shady house next to a trailer park. A huge explosion must of went off. A car is wrapped in flames outside this really shabby looking house. Several men rush out of the house with guns. The vigilante dressed in all black runs out from the side of the house and bashes the first guy against the side of his head with his fist. It looks like he has a chain wrapped around his hand. "Ouch. That looks like it hurt."

The guy closest to him charges, but the vigilante lands a kick to the guy's stomach, sending him stumbling backward. Then the vigilante connects another punch with his chain-wrapped hand to the guy's nose, knocking the guy out cold. The other guy is too slow to react as the vigilante uppercuts him after slamming his fist in his stomach.

The vigilante looks around before gunshots go off. Holy... The vigilante stumbles backward and falls down the stairs. "I... I didn't expect that. Did they just kill him?"

A fourth man walks out of the house holding out a gun at him. Another shot goes off. "What the hell?"

"That's... No..."

Heroes aren't supposed to die... Even if they are vigilantes. This is awful. The person holding the camera ducks down from the window. The man turns the camera on himself. "This is crazy. I just witnessed a murder. My neighbors are definitely cooking meth and this guy in black blows up their car and beats the shit out of three before one of them kills him. I have to call the police. Fuck..."

"What's going on?" A woman's voice asks.

"Shawna, call the police. Our neighbors, the meth heads, they just murdered someone."

She rushes to the window. "What the fuck?"

The guy gets up and looks out. He holds the camera up. The man who shot the vigilante is checking out the other guys as he talks on the phone. "Holy... The... The vigilante... He's getting up. He should be dead. We just watched him get shot like 4 times in the chest."

He charges the last guy as the woman calls the police. The vigilante wraps the chain around the guy's neck and bashes him against the post on the deck, knocking him cleanout.

The vigilante then stumbles off the porch, nearly collapsing. He staggers out of their driveway across the street and gets on a black motorcycle and rides off, almost crashing as he drives away.

The video ends. "That... I don't even have words to describe what I just saw. He's clearly an evolve. How else could he survive being shot 4 times? Still, what do you guys think of his actions? Was he justified in fighting those men? Their neighbor said they were making meth. If that's true, then I think he is justified. Besides, he didn't kill any of them. And since the police were called by the neighbor, hopefully, they will be taken off to jail. So I think this so-called vigilante is doing our city a favor in shutting down the meth operation. Let me know what you think in the comment section below. I'm signing off. You all have a great day and let me know if you stumble upon any other footage of superheroes or villains for that matter."

I turn off the webcam and stop the stream. I upload the recording to my vlog. Then I pull myself together as I get ready for school.

Downstairs, my mom and dad are buzzing around the kitchen as they both get ready for work. The news is blaring the background with politics... Senator Lucian is babbling on about his anti-evolve rhetoric as always.

"These so-called superheroes are nothing more than vigilantes taking the law into their own hands. Hell, some of these evolves are not heroes at all. They use their powers to put ordinary citizens in danger. We need to put laws in place to protect the everyday citizen from these monsters. They should all have to register and check-in daily with their locations and activities. We need to monitor these... Look at what happened to defense lawyer Finlay Kelly. He was murdered in cold blood by one of these despicable evolves. You can't tell me the way his body was left that it was a natural death. The autopsy report said it looked as if the life was sucked out of him. This innocent man was killed because someone with powers that aren't god-given decided to take his life..."

Who in their right mind would vote for that man? All he spews is hate. Sure there are some bad evolves out there. But not all of them deserve to be treated as if they're not human. And then to make them register as if they're criminals for just existing. It's inhumane.

Walking into school, I try my best to not fall apart. As people chat amongst themselves, I can't help overhear the gossip that spreads through this place like a plague. "Did you hear? Damarco's going to homecoming with Gracie!"

"Of course, how am I not surprised that little miss perfect gets the golden boy..." Emily Tenorio says, one of Gracie's teammates on the cheer squad. "She gets everything. Cheer captain, Kate fawns over her and now she gets Damarco? Urgh... life is so unfair."

Gracie is going to homecoming with Damarco? Since when? I thought she was gay. I don't understand... Why? And why is Emily tearing down Gracie? I thought everyone liked her. For god sakes, they're teammates. I need to talk to Gracie.

I grab my books from my locker and make my way to first period. As we get into our new groups which the teacher assigned for the new book The Hero of a Thousand Faces, I can't help but sigh. I wish I was still in Naomi's group, but she got assigned with Zack Lambert, Damarco, and Kate.

At least Robert's in my group. And so is Erin, although she's rather intimidating. Cooper Reese also got assigned to our group. Robert and Erin get close. I think they're dating, but I'm not quite sure.

"So what did you guys think of the book so far?" Robert asks. "I'll admit that I may have gone ahead and finished it, but I still remember the first chapter very well."

"How am I not surprised," Erin sighs.

"What? I couldn't help myself, it's a good read," he says.

"You'll have to give me the jist, there's no way in hell I'm reading that," Erin says.

"Yeah, I tried reading the first paragraph and fell asleep," Cooper says.

"Well, at least there's someone in the group I can discuss it with, right Gabby?" Robert asks with his usual goofy smile.

"I... I actually didn't have time to read it. I'm sorry," I admit.

"Wow... The 4.0 Gabriela Manzandedo didn't finish the assignment? Is the world coming to an end?" Erin asks.

"I actually only have a 3.9," I say.

"So you're not perfect?" Erin asks. "It's okay, you're only human. There's no need to apologize."

"Now who am I going to talk to about the book?" Robert sighs.

"Well you could give us the summary so we don't have to read it," Erin says.

"I mean... I guess," he sighs. "I'll eventually have to help you with it anyways."

Erin winks at him.

"Are you too, like a thing or whatever?" Cooper asks.

They both trade wide-eyed looks. Before Erin chirps up. "Yeah."

Robert's face glows like coals on a smoldering fire.

"Ookay," Cooper says leaning against his chair with that awkward expression on his face.

"Is there a problem with that?" Erin asks.

"No. None at all," Cooper says.

--

After class, Erin rushes up to me. "So... I take it you haven't talked to Gracie yet. You really need to do so."

How does she know what's going on with me and Gracie? "I... I'm trying."

"Just walk up to her at lunch and pull her aside. It's as simple as that," she says.

"Easy for you to say," I sigh.

She grabs my arm and turns me to face her. "Do you like her? Like, like-like her?"

I look into her eyes and nod my head without thinking. "I... I do."

"Then tell her that," Erin says.

"Okay. I will," I say.

"Good," she smiles before walking away.

--

As lunch comes around, I seek Gracie out only to find her sitting with Kate and Stacy. Breathe. I can do this. I can talk to her. Just take a minute to compose yourself. Come Gabs. I take a step forward. As I make my way up to her Damarco swoops in.

She and him go off together down the hall. Seriously? Can I ever catch a break?

Chapter 9

Gracie's Perspective

Walking down the hall with Damarco, for some reason, I can't help but feel nervous. We head outside and he turns to me. "Gracie, I have something I need to tell you."

"Sure," I say.

"Last night... I... I met up with Naomi and I... We... Ummm. We kissed," he says, tearing his gaze away from me as he rubs the back of his neck.

"Oh, I see. I mean, it's not like we're dating or anything. Do you like her?" I ask.

"Yeah. I think I do," he says.

"Then ask her if she wants to go Homecoming," I say.

"You won't be upset?"