Bad Habits *SLOWLY EDITING*

Chapter 9: the doorway club

"I'm home!" I shout as I enter my house, late evening, from Matts drive. I couldn't stop thinking about him now; everything he seemed to do made me blush. I had now noticed how much attention he had paid to me. My mind reverted to the first lesson in drama when I met Matt Blight, besides the one time at sat with him and his friends at their table. I felt terrible for not noticing him being in my class for half a year, always sitting in the back row.

I go upstairs and have a quick shower, all the stress washing away when the water runs over my body, running down the side s of the slimy drain. I get dressed in my oversized pink jumper, black jeans, and beige ugg boots.

Jumping onto my bed as I grab my phone and go on Pinterest when I notice a message from an unknown number.

I cautiously open the message looking at the number, and not recognising it as I read it.

'Hey, it is me, Matt, just wondering if you wanted to come 'round on Thursday, to hang out again' I read.

Another message pops up; I read that too, 'Delilah has been nagging me about you to come over, hope you can come Thursday'

I send a message, 'yeah sure, tell Lil that I will be coming over and can make her some eggs again; I know how to make French toast too.'

===

Wednesday was a public holiday, so I decided to do some homework for the rest of the week and the week coming, also finishing all assessments and tasks.

"Hey Van, Melissa and Penelope are here!" Mum yells from the bottom of the stairs, leading up to my bedroom.

A few seconds later, Penelope and Melissa are standing at my bedroom doorway looking expectantly at me, waiting to be granted passage.

"Oh hey, passage granted," I say in a posh voice.

Penelope pulls out a chair and spins on it while Melissa places herself on the bed and looking around the room, being unusually quiet.

Just before I have the chance to speak, another yell comes from downstairs, travelling into my bedroom.

"Vanessa, someone is here to see you!" Dad calls out.

"Coming!" I answer back standing at the doorway looking down the stairs, "I won't be a second," I say looking at Melissa and Penelope who have now gotten up and are walking about the room.

"Who is-," surprised or angry, I didn't know how to feel when I saw Adam Richman was standing at my front doorway politely talking to my mother.

"What are you doing here?" I say in a stern tone while pulling Adam onto the front porch and closing the door behind me. I cross my arms over my chest.

"I wanted to see you, I am no longer with Melissa, isn't this what you wanted?"

Oh no.

I was the other girl that broke Melissa and Adam up. It all sinks in, and I feel like I am going to puke.

Why was this all happening so fast?

I may have wanted this, but now Matt was in the picture, plans were slightly adjusted.

"I guess I did, but not anymore. You could have called me before you came, Melissa is here, what would she say if she caught me talking to you!" I angrily say, still thinking about Matt.

"First, I did call, and second, what do you mean, 'not anymore'? What happened to change your mind?" Adam says sternly.

"I-I just," I think through the situation. I can't tell him about Matt. "It is none of your business. Scram or I'll get my baseball bat!" I say hesitantly, failing to be intimidating.

"Fine, fine, don't get your knickers in a knot," he says with a smirk on his face.

That was the last straw, by impulse; I smacked that smirk off his face, leaving a hand mark across his right cheek.

And with that, he left.

===

"Who was it?" Penelope asked as I come back into the room.

I look at Melissa and then back at Penelope before replying, "Adam," I say quietly so only Penelope can hear, well at least that is what I attempted.

"What!" Melissa roared running down the stairs and calmly opening the front door, trying not to cause any more suspicion from my parents.

She runs out onto the street; the fastest I has ever seen her run, with Penelope and I closely follow.

She reaches Adam who was strolling down the street, at first I feel bad because it hadn't even been a second when he turned around and then Melissa collided with him and were both on the floor with Melissa on top throwing punches.

Adam was lying on the ground, he obviously deserved it, but he already had a black eye from when I punched him when they broke up.

"Okay that's enough, stop, come on Melissa lets go back to my place, you can both stay over. Adam go home you have already done enough damage, and you hadn't even said anything to her," I say calmly while pulling Melissa off of Adam.

Adam stands up, and his bruises and cut lip are highly visible now.

Impressive.

===

"I can't believe you did that, that is so cool, Melissa," says Penelope as we start to walk away from Adam finally prying Melissa off of him.

"Yeah, I know," Melissa replies sadder than happy, which was unexpected.

"What is wrong?" I question trying to look into Melissa's eyes.

She was looking at the ground, but you could tell that tears were streaming down her plump cheeks, leaving black lines from her mascara.

"Oh no, what is wrong; don't cry," Penelope says, obviously noticing Melissa's crying too.

"I just wanted around two," Melissa says somewhat sarcastically, making her laugh a bit.

"There you go. You don't have to tell us straight away; maybe when you feel like it, you can tell us," Penelope suggests quite cautiously, trying not to make Melissa angry or stressed.

Instead, she nods slightly and hooks both arms around our shoulders.