Player 3?

Chapter 1 : New girl

Chapter 1

Michael POV

Mom told me someone was coming to stay with us, so I needed to clean my room and bathroom and be on my best behavior. She has this friend she's known since middle school who has a daughter. And she needs to travel for work and she's divorced, so her daughter is going to live with us for a while. I wasn't really sure what to think.

One the one hand, maybe she'll be fun to hang out with. But what if she's just like everyone at school and bullies me and Jeremy?

I guess I just need to hope for the best. 

I spent the whole day cleaning my room and bathroom. It wasn't too messy, just sort of disorganized. 

"Michael! Kaye is here!" Mom called.

"Ok," I said, nervously.

I went downstairs and saw a girl standing in the kitchen with my mom.

"Kaye, this is Michael. You'll be staying in the spare room next to his. Michael, why don't you show Kaye to the spare room and let her get settled," mom said.

"Ok."

I started walking towards the stairs and Kaye followed me. I showed her to the spare room and she put down her suitcases. 

"Ok, so mom wanted me to tell you a couple of things. The bathroom is across the hall. My bedroom is next door if you need anything. If I'm not in my bedroom, I'm probably in the basement. And dinner will be in about an hour."

"Ok."

I left and went back to my room. She doesn't seem like she's in a good mood. She seems upset. Maybe because she didn't want to come here? I don't really know. But I'm not exactly happy about it either. 

Jeremy usually comes over after dinner, but mom said he wasn't allowed since it was Kaye's first day here and didn't want her to get overwhelmed. But that means no video games today. There's no way I could play without Jeremy. I'd be dead in seconds. 

I'm bummed. So I decided to just put my headphones on and listen to some music until dinner was ready. 

Later...

Michael POV

Dinner was awkward. Kaye didn't say much. Mom kept asking her questions, but Kaye kept giving one word answers. She doesn't want to be here. And that makes me worried that she'll bully me.

I heard the doorbell and mom looked at me.

"I told you Jeremy wasn't allowed over here tonight," she said, giving me a look.

"I told him!" I said, getting up and walking to the door.

I opened it and Jeremy was there.

"What are you doing here? I told you that you couldn't come over tonight," I whispered.

"I know, but I was thinking, you could just sneak me in through the basement window."

"Ahhh... I like how you think. Give me 10 minutes to finish dinner and then I'll be down."

"Ok."

I shut the door and went back to the kitchen table.

"Who was it?" Mom asked.

"Jeremy. He forgot I told him he couldn't come over tonight."

I finished dinner while mom was still asking Kaye more questions, and then I went down to the basement. Jeremy was waiting by one of the windows. I unlocked it and helped him in. He was shivering from being outside for so long.

"Why didn't you wear a coat? You're freezing!" I said, hugging him.

"I didn't think I'd have to wait outside for so long before you snuck me in."

I turned the tv on and we sat down to start our game. 

"So the new girl is here?" Jeremy asked, quietly.

"Yeah. She doesn't seem like she wants to be here though. She barely says anything and she seems upset. Mom told me that her mom is divorced and has to travel for work, so that's why she's here. Maybe she's upset about that."

"Probably. I mean, I'd love to live somewhere besides with my dad. But he's not a good dad. Maybe she was really close with her mom."

"Well I hope she likes it here and is nice to us. We get bullied enough at school, I don't want her bullying us too."

"You really think she'd bully us? She just sounds shy and sad from what you've told me."

"I don't know. I barely know her yet."

All of a sudden I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. And mom came in.

"Michael! I told you Jeremy wasn't allowed to come over tonight! You snuck him in!"

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to hang out with him," I mumbled.

"I wanted you to get to know Kaye."

"I know. But she's not interested."

"Have you tried getting to know her?"

"Mom, she doesn't want to talk."

"She talked at dinner."

"Barely! She gave one word answers to everything!"

"Tell Jeremy goodbye. You're grounded. I want your phone, and I want you up in your room."

I groaned and gave my phone to my mom. Jeremy followed me upstairs to the front door.

"See you tomorrow," I said, annoyed.

"Bye," he said, giving me a quick hug.

Jeremy left and I went up to my bedroom. I decided to shower and get ready for bed. Mom is making me leave for school early tomorrow so I can take Kaye to get her schedule and show her around. I need the extra sleep.

I showered and then got into bed. I'd passed Kaye's room and saw her sitting on her bed, doing something on her phone. She still looked upset. Maybe I'll get to know her better tomorrow at school.