The Sophomore

Chapter Fifteen - You Oughta Know

Emily's POV

I woke up a few mornings after the party, my head still spinning from Becca and Madison's argument that night. "What a night," I said. My clock said it was only 7:00AM, so I rolled over to go back to sleep, only to hear a rustling noise somewhere outside the house. I tried to ignore it, but it only grew louder. "Is that... What is that?" I sat up in bed, straining to hear. After a moment, I heard it again. I moved to peer through my window, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Maybe it's on the other side of the house... After everything that's happened with Sebastian, and the sorority, I wouldn't be surprised if it's someone trying to mess with us..." Rising quickly, I wandered down the hallway, but the living room was empty. "I guess everyone is still asleep..." The rustling sound started up again. It seemed to be coming from outside the front door. "I think there's someone out there!" I grabbed a rolling pin from the kitchen and steeled myself. "Okay, Emily, today is not the day that you die." I threw the front door open, rushing out onto the porch. "What do you think you're -"

"Ahhh!" Reyna exclaimed.

"Reyna?'

"Emily! What are you doing here?"

"You know I live here! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry... I didn't think anyone would be awake at this hour, otherwise I would have rang the doorbell or something. Are you... baking?"

She gestured at the rolling pin in my hands. "No, I - Never mind. Let's get back to why you're snooping around our place?"

"I'm doing research for an article."

"It's not an article on me and my housemates, is it?"

"No, no! Okay, I should explain before I start sounding too creepy... You probably noticed that there's an effort to turn this area into a strip mall..."

She gestured down the block, where the land beyond the sidewalks had been razed to dirt patches. There were a few signs showing a proposed development plan, headed simply by a logo that said "DD." "DD...? Should I be worried about this? I hadn't really been paying much attention before, but one of those signs is right across the street. It's kind of intimidating."

"This used to be a whole neighborhood, until someone bought out all the other homes and then tore them down."

"So that's what happened? I did wonder why we were the only house on the block..."

"And that's where things get interesting. The late Professor Vasquez was the only homeowner who refused to sell. It put a halt to the development initiative for a whole. After he passed away, it seemed like the developers would get their way after all... But then you guys moved into his house."

"Us meddling kids, huh?"

"Something like that. I'm actually surprised they haven't contacted you about selling."

"That's probably because Gabriela owns the place and we just rent it from her. But, that doesn't explain why you're snooping in our yard."

"Well... this house is the last thing keeping the remnants of the neighborhood from being replaced by a mall. I wanted to get a more... tangible sense of the place for my article. What it looks like, the natural conditions..."

"Reyna... You could have just asked to come over and hang out for a bit."

"Oh! I... I don't know. I guess I thought I'd be imposing."

"Not at all! And it's a lot better than creeping around in the bushes and freaking me out."

"Fair enough." Reyna turned back to the surrounding rubble and sighed. "This used to be a really cool neighborhood for students who wanted cheap housing, and the other residents were super friendly. But now with the fact that everyone was basically forced to leave because of this development project... This place is going to be completely gentrified. It's not right!"