Neighbor

Janessa And the Stranger

Simi groaned as she listened to her Principal announce the conjoined camping trip her grade was to participate in with the final years. The principal had explained that it was a chance for the two grades to take a break before writing their exams.

"It will also possibly be our last school event for the 12th Graders before they graduate," Principal Devon explained.

The trip was compulsory which meant Simi wasn't going to be able to dodge this one but at least Hailey would be there to accompany her.

-

After a dreaded day at school, Basil made his way to the practice garage.

The garage was situated at the bottom of the apartment building, it was small enough to fit the band equipment in it, a rugged purple carpet lay in the center of the floor, torn posters hung from the wall and the only place they had to sit was on the battered chairs that were scattered around the room. Basil was the only one with keys to the garage, not even his family had access to it.

The band spent the rest of the afternoon messing around with their instruments and jotting down some lyrics.

"Simi!" Jade noticed Simi walking away from the staircase and flailed her arms around to get her attention.

The emerald-eyed girl huffed at the sound of Jade's voice and continued walking to the café, not even looking behind her.

Jade was never the social type, she was very introverted and only interacted with the small group of friends she had, because of her relationship with Basil she felt obligated to side with him for everything. Including The Feud. That's why she tended to poke her nose in the two's business - like the day at the café when she announced Simi's presence to the boy. Simi could sense the that Jade had her ulterior motives whenever she tried to interact with her so she always just ignored her.

-

The night dawned upon the small suburb faster than Simi expected, it was already 9pm when she put her book down and noticed the staff exchanging shifts in the café. She quickly downed the last bit of coffee that was left in the cup that sat in front of her and began to make her way back home.

The street lamp that usually lit the parking lot of the apartment complex had stopped working, leaving Simi struggling deeply to navigate her way around the cars.

That's when she heard the muffled sounds of people having a conversation. She didn't think much of it until-

"Simi could lead them right to us!" A familiar voice whispered intensely. Simi froze in her tracks, doing her best to not let whoever was speaking catch her.

She ducked behind a car.

"I don't get what you're saying, Nessa," Nessa as in Janessa? Janessa as in Basil's mom?

Simi wondered what she meant.

"I overheard that girl a week ago," Basil's mom continued to talk in her yelling-whisper voice. "She said something about demanding to reopen the case."

"Okay, and?" The deep male voice continued to question her.

"What if they actually go ahead with it?"

"You're worrying too much, Janessa. There's no way you're this worried about the words of a 17 year old girl," the man chuckled.