The Boy Next Door Is Not What He Seems

Chapter Five: So Cute That it's Disgusting

Chapter Five: So Cute That it's Disgusting

•.⌯.•River's POV•.⌯.•
Four days have past since I've last talked to, or seen Charlie. Since we went to the shop together and bumped into the group of people who have been harassing him, I have been avoiding confrontation from him as much as I could. Word had already gotten around about us being together and me being the socially awkward person I am, I refused to eat in the cafeteria anymore.

Turns out that group of people spread it around school and now Charlie and I were a target of attention in the halls. I made sure however that I was never seen with the neighbor boy as if my life depended on it. In class I made sure that I was far away as possible from him, so we wouldn't be the subject of attention during class, however that only made the rumors worse.

Ryan being both of our friends had become some sort of messenger between the two of us during the days I was avoiding Charlie. Ryan obviously knowing the details to the whole thing became the middle man unknowingly; however, when he realized what he was becoming he admitted that he was growing tired of the whole messenger game between Charlie and I and that he was no longer our carrier pigeon.

I admit, I feel awful for putting him in the middle of this little game Charlie and I had created. The guilt for bringing him into all of this was still eating me away despite having already apologized.

I was alone in the house with nothing, but music playing in the background to avoid silence when my thoughts were interrupted by the tapping on my window. It was late on a Friday night and it scared me more than ever when the tapping soon turned into loud knocks.

Slowly, but surely, I looked out the window from my bed, only to see Charlie waving his hand at me. He motioned me to unlock my window, causing me to groan as I trudged over to my window and unlocked the it, "What do you want?" I said, pushing up my reading glasses.

"Look we need to talk." He says, "Preferably where we're both standing on solid ground and not in danger of falling off a tree."

Rolling my eyes, I allow him in and we both migrate over to my bed, "I know that you've been avoiding me." He said, finally saying something.

I look at him in over exaggerated shock, "No... You really just have been looking in all the wrong places."

Shaking his head, he continues, "Look, I'm sorry for getting you into this mess. I froze up when they mentioned you being my girlfriend. I didn't know what to say, so they just continued the assumption that you and I are together without allowing me to get a word in." Charlie says, running a hand through his unkept hair, "I'm planning on telling them on Monday the truth. I didn't think it would get this far and they would bring the whole school into this."

Just by looking at him, I could tell he wasn't lying. His flushed face could tell anyone from a mile away that he was indeed embarrassed from the fact he was admitting this, especially to me.

I sighed, "How did this all start, Matthews?"

He closed his eyes before explaining, "That guy who called out my name, his name is Evan. His girlfriend has been hitting on me for these passed three months and a lot of his friends been telling him that I'm letting it happen and encouraging her behavior. I think Evan thought that I was the one to initiate the whole thing, so ever since then, Evan and a couple of his friends have been jumping me because I'm helping his girlfriend cheat on him when in reality I have done nothing, but breathe next to her and turn down her advances on me."

Feeling even more bad for his situation, I let out a breathe I didn't know I was holding. In truth, I pitied the boy who sat beside me. He was getting physically harassed because another girl doesn't know how to respect another person's boundaries.