The Boy Next Door

no more secrets

hey guys! so this part might be a bit slow?! idk... tell me what you think.

so i just wanted to make something clear. so my little sister was looking at tbnd on my laptop last night and she was like "people are going to think your name is ebony if you sign all these messages you write to the readers as 'x -e'! and who writes a book about them self?! that's kinda weird!" 

And I figured she had a very valid point... SOOO just to let you know my name isn't ebony... it's just another name that starts with e!

EBONY'S P.O.V.

It's been a week since the day Caleb spent with me and we played Minecraft. I'm beginning to be used to the crutches, and I'm much more immune to the painkillers. I'm watching old Bratayley vlogs on my bed because they make me laugh. Caleb's coming over in a half an hour, I think we're gonna go for a walk. Mum wants me to get outside, and because I don't fall every time I get up on my crutches, (which have been replaced from the blue racing stripe little boy's crutches) *thank god*, I don't fall on my face like I used to.

"Hey Ebony," says Joey, poking his head into my room.

"Hey Joey."

"Wanna play mancala?" He asks, holding the game up.

"Sure, c'mon in bubby." He climbs onto my bed and sets up the game.

"I don't like it when you're hurt, Ebby."

"I'll be okay."

"Good. You can go first." I begin picking up the marbles and playing the game.

"Do you like Carter Elementary?"

"Yeah, I love it. I've got so many friends in my class!"

"That's great."

"Yeah I've got Al, Emmet, Sara, Jenna-" he looks at me and his face falls. I must look sad, thinking of school. I try to smile for him, but he doesn't buy it. "Why? Do you like Carter?"

"No... Not really. It's kinda just like Brighton."

"Oh, well tell me who it is! I'll beat them up!" I laugh and ruffle his hair.

"You sure will Joey."

"Ebby!" Mum calls from downstairs. Caleb's not supposed to be here for ten minutes... Is he coming over early?

"Yes Mum?" I yell.

"Come down here baby, I need to talk to you about something."

"It looks like we're gonna need to pause the game Joey. Take it to your room and we'll finish later, okay?"

"Okay," he says sadly. I give him a quick hug and he runs out, to his room.

"Right, I'm on my way." I yell to Mum, grabbing my crutches which are leaning against the wall. I hate going down the stairs. I feel like I'm going to fall, which I did once. But I was next to Caleb, so he caught me before I got hurt. I hold my crutches in one hand and hold to the railing firmly with the other and hop down the stairs. One step at a time, praying I don't fall and die. I make it down the stairs and crutch (is 'crutch' a verb?!?! Oh well...) into the kitchen.

"Hey sweetie," says Mum.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Well, you've been recovering very well," she says, putting a hand on my shoulder. "And I was thinking... You must be very behind on school, so I think you should go back tommorow." My stomach flips. School? I can't go to school. A wave of panic rushes over me as all of the nasty things Kenzie and Connor said to me. But I push it out of my mind. I need to go to that school, I need to. Mum is so happy with her job, I can't make her stay home and homeschool me. She's actually excited to go to work everyday, I can't get in the way of that.