Next Door

Chapter One

"Gabi, will you get the door please?" I heard my mother yell from down stairs. I packed my remaining homework in my book bag and went to answer the door.
Not to my surprise, I opened the door to reveal the pizza man with our order in hand.
"Half cheese, half pepperoni pizza. That'll be $16"
After a nod of my head I pulled a twenty out of my pocket, and gave it to him.  I took the pizza to the table, to find my mother already at the dinner table, with papers sprawled out around her.
"Hey mom, do you want to put aside the work for a minute and have some pizza?" I asked her
"Sorry, I can't Gabi. I have a meeting tomorrow with the business partners to talk about a promotion." She responded.
Disappointed, yet not surprised.  I set aside a couple slices of pizza for my mom and took a couple for me into my room.
As I sat in my room I scrolled through posts on numerous social media sites. I came along to vine and was scrolling through the popular feed, when I saw a vine of the Dolan twins. They are the hottest guys in our school, but since they're both a year older with me I only have one class with each of them.
Art with Grayson.
Health occupations with Ethan.
I continued to scroll through their profile until I fell asleep.
BRING BRING BRING-
I cut off the sound of my alarm before it could continue. I slowly worked my way out of my bed, and proceeded to get ready for school. I threw on an oversized hoodie and a pair of jeans. On my way out the door I grabbed a bagel and slipped on my converse.
I walked to school, as I usually do, since it is only a mere 3 blocks away.
I arrived at school to find my best friends awaiting me. Grace, Cameron, and Megan all ran up to me and asked me how my three-day weekend was. I proceeded to tell them what happened, which was nothing.
"Gabi, you should have came with me to that party on Saturday." Grace suggested
"Pass, I'm not really into the whole, party scene." I replied
"Yes we can tell" Cam said
"How about this, you come with us to one party, that's all we ask, and we won't bother you on the subject ever again." Megan offered
Cam and Grace responded with numerous, "That's a great idea", or "yeah let's do it!".
"Ok fine, I'll go to one party, that's it!"
"But when you go and you love it, you'll want to go to all the parties!"
"Doubtful"
The bell rang.
"See you guys at lunch, okay?" Grace said.
We all went our separate ways and into our classes.

I sat in my usual seat in art, and worked on some busy work until about an hour into class when our teacher, Mrs. Borric, gave us a new assignment.

"You have to design a sculpture, at least 8 inches tall, and it must be inspired by Tim Burton ." She said

Oh yes, I love Tim Burton! I am so getting an A on this. I think i'm going to do a-

My thoughts were cut off my the sound of Mrs. Borric's voice.

"We will be working with partners on this project, one partner will have to draw out the blueprints, and one partner will have to sculpt it. You will then work together on deciding on paint or decorations."

My eyes darted over to Emily. Her and I aren't very close, but we have almost every class together, and we're always partners.

"I will be picking your partners." She added.

I instantly became annoyed yet slightly excited.

"Jason and Tyler, you two are partners. Sarah and Luke, Lilly and Sam...."

Come on, please please please...

"...Danielle and Rachel, Lois and Hailey, Grayson and Gabi, and Kim and Bel."

Yes yes yessss, thank you god.

Grayson got up and came and sat in the empty seat to the left of me.

"Hey Gabi, we haven't talked in a while. Glad to see you again. " he spoke softly

"Yeah good to see you too Grayson." I said with a slight smile.

I interrupted the silence and began suggesting my ideas on the project.

"So I was thinking we could do a simple mysterious/spooky tree of some sort" I suggested.

"Yeah sounds good to me, I think we should start with the blueprints, I can do those if you'd like."

"Yeah that sounds great, here use this fine print pen" I said as I handed it to him. His hand brushed mine as I gave it to him. I could feel his eyes on me but I refused to let myself look at him. I wasn't catching feelings.

The bell rang before I could decide what to say next.

"Saved by the bell" I muttered under my breath.

I stood and collected my things and Grayson put his hand on my upper waist to draw my attention. Once we made eye contact he moved it swiftly.

"Hey, Mrs. Borric said this is due next friday, and I'm not going to be here for the next couple of days, I don't want you to think you have to do everything so-"

"No, no it's okay, I can do it." I said cutting him off

"No really, just come over today, we can work on it then so you won't have to do much of anything to do the next few days." He responded

Hesitantly I agreed.

"Here's my number, I'll text you my address later, okay?" He said as he scribbled a combination of numbers onto a small slip of paper.

I took it from his hand and slipped it in my back pocket. I was slightly excited but I know I shouldn't be.

The day proceeded on and I had little to do. I was ready to go home when it came to last block. I walked into health occupations, and before I could even set my things down Ethan approached me.

"You're coming over today?" he asked, obviously surprised, and curious.

"I'm not coming to see you, Ethan." I said, annoyed.

"Yeah, I know, Grayson told me." He said, mirroring my energy.

"What do you want Ethan, I have to work." I asked

"You know what I want Gabi." He said slightly quieter.
"Ethan. It's not gonna happen, we've talked about this." I said, trying to end the conversation.
"Than let's talk about it again." He said
I remainded silent while I considered.
"Please Gabi, tonight? Just 5 minutes, please just talk to me." He suggested
"Fine."
I set my books down in my seat and proceeded to listen to the teacher lecture.
I could feel Ethan's eyes on me but I didn't dare to look up.

Tonight is going to be rough.

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Sorry for the slow start. I'm trying to set a scene. If you have suggestions please comment.
(Sorry for the long chapter to.)