The Boy Next Door

Chapter 3

"Hey, it's Mark. Is this Raegan?" the text message said

"Hey, it is, how did you get my number? I text back

"Your brother gave it to me." Mark says

"Oh, okay" I say

I immediately put my phone done and run to Johnny's room. "YOU GAVE MARK MY NUMBER" I yell jumping on him, since he is laying down. "What's the big deal, you made a friend and I gave him your number" Johnny says "The point is, you didn't ask" I say getting off him and sitting on his bed "Is that it, you're mad because I didn't ask or do you like him" he says sitting up "I don't know, just please don't do it again" I say getting up and leaving before Johnny could ask and questions about me dodging his question. Do I like Mark, there's no way i just met him. I get back to my room to see Mark had texted back. We texted while I did my homework, we talked about homework but mostly about me and he told me he felt the same way when he moved here. Finally, we tell each other goodnight and go to bed.

I wake up to a good morning text from Mark and I replied telling him he didn't have to send me a good morning text but he insisted he send me one. I get ready for school before Johnny again and wait for him to be done. Our mom had left some money for us to get lunch with at school, a took mine and as we were walking out the house I realized Johnny left his so I got it for him. "Here" I say handing it to him "Oh thanks, guess I forgot mom was leaving money for us" he says "What's wrong, you seem nervous" I ask "I find out if I make the team today and I' nervous" he says as we get into the car "Oh, you probably made the team" I say "Let's hope" he says starting the car and driving to school. The car ride was quiet and I found myself drifting into my thoughts. Why is Mark being so nice to me.

Once we get to school, Johnny pulls me back to earth. "We're here nerd" he says "I'm not a nerd" I say. I star heading to class and Johnny heads to coaches office. While walking to class I kept to myself until I was pushed into the lockers by football players. I dropped all of my stuff because of the force of the push. "You better not be a distraction for Mark" one of them say pinning me to a locker "I'm not being a distraction" I say "GET OFF OF HER" I hear Mark yell before pushing the guy of of me. "Leave her alone, or do I need to tell coach about the pills you are taking" Mark says to the guy "Whatever" the guy says before walking away. I immediately bend down to grab my stuff, Mark bends down to help me, when don't say anything to each other.

During class Mark looks over to me but doesn't say anything. "What" I ask "Are you okay, I can see the bruise on your wrist" Marl asks "Yeah, I'm fine" I say pulling my sleeve down, good thing I wore a sweater today. Class went by fast and all I could think of was, what is Johnny going to say or do if he sees he bruise. I finally make it to lunch and I sit in the same spot I did yesterday. "Hey girlie" Jaemin says as he sits down "Hey, where's Jeno" I say "Oh, he isn't here today, are you okay, I heard what happened this morning matter of fact the school did" Jaemin says "Yeah, I'm fine just a small bruise" I say showing him. A few minutes later I see Johnny walking into the cafeteria, he finds the guy that pushed me this morning and started walking towards him. I get up and stop him. "Johnny no, not here" I say "I'm going to beat his ass" Johnny says "No you're not, I heard you made the team and if you lay a hand on him, you'll be kicked off and I am not letting that happen, now go back to class" I say "Okay but I'm walking you to class the rest of the day" he says "Okay now go before you get in trouble" I say and I go back to sit and finishing eating.

Just like Johnny he walks me to the rest of my classes. We finally get home and I go up to my room and find the biggest sweat I have that goes past my my hands so my mom doesn't see the bruise. "What are you doing" Johnny asks walking into my room "Putting a sweater on, what does it look like I'm doing" I say "Why" he asks sitting on my bed "So mom doesn't see the bruise" I say, as Johnny looks down at his hand "What's wrong" I ask "It's just I heard about Jackson pushing you and all I thought was it was my fault, if i hadn't given Mark your number he wouldn't have texted you" Johnny says "Hey, it's okay but why would it matter if he texted me" I ask "Because Jackson the captain of the football team doesn't want to team members dating anyone and he saw you guys talking in the street yesterday and heard you guys were texting last night and he thought you guys were going out" Johnny says "No we're not, we have only known each other for a day" I say "Mark told him that but he didn't listen" Johnny says and then gets up and leaves my room.

"Where are you going" I ask running into the hall to see Johnny punch the wall. "No where" he says not looking at me, knowing I just saw him. "Hey calm down" I say grabbing his hand. "Breathe" I say. Johnny has dealt with anger problems since he was a kid and my dad used to be the only person that could calm him down but Johnny started calming down when I held his hand and helped him control his breathing. "Why are you angry" I ask "Thinking about Jackson pushing you and I wasn't there to protect you, the one thing I promised dad" Johnny says "I let go of his hand and hug him "It's okay, dad would understand" I say as I start to tear up. Johnny waits a few minutes before letting go of the hug, he looks at me and wipes the tears away. We stand there for a second and the doorbell rings, "I'll get it" I say.

When I open the door I see Mark, he's looking down so he doesn't see me at first. "Hey, Mark, What's Up" I say wiping the last few tears away. "Oh, I was wondering if we could study together, are you okay" he says "Oh, yeah I'm fine just long day but yeah come on in" I say waving him in. Johnny comes down to see who was at the door. "Hey, Mark, What's up?" Johnny asked "Oh, hey, nothing much, just going to do some studying" Mark says "Let's go up to my room" I say before they had the chance to talk about what happened at school. Mark and I go up to my room and Johnny goes to his room to do his homework.

"So what do you need help with" I ask Mark as I sit down on my bed "Shouldn't I be asking you that, since you know, you're new" Mark says "Oh, right, well I did all my homework during my free period but I can help you with yours" I say "Oh, well does that mean you know what this unit is about in Biology because I have know idea" Mark says sitting next to me "Let me have a look" I say as he pulls out his work. "Oh my god, you are doing this all wrong" I say "Seriously" he says in a shocked voice "No, you're doing it right" I say "Don't mess with me like that, if I even remotely fail a class I'll be off the football team" Mark says "I'm sorry, I thought it would be funny to see your reaction" I say "Oh, then I guess it's fine" Mark says. A few hours have passed and while 'studying' Mark kept asking me questions even though he had the right answers. Around dinner we were finally done, I ended up helping Mark with all of his homework. Mark went home to eat and I made downstairs in time for my mom to finish dinner.

"So you and Mark huh?" my mom said "No mom I was just helping him with his homework" I say "Okay, whatever you say honey" mom says. We ate in silence even though I was scared that Johnny was going to say something about what happened this morning but he didn't instead he asked if you go to a therapists. He wants to go and see if they could help with his anger. I am a little shocked that he had asked, he joined the football team to help and it was helping, as far as I could see. After dinner Johnny did the dishes and I went up to my room, and watched TV. Within a few hours I had fallen asleep.