The Bad Boy And The Nerd

Chapter 13

On my walk home from Laura's house I realized three things:

1. Hunter just became more of a suspect than anyone else

2. Laura's mystery boyfriend just became another person to add on my list

3. I really need to work on my Physics project

With all the stress of deciding if I'll go to college, finding Laura, and avoiding Hunter, I completely forgot about my Physics project.

I made a mental note of working on it tomorrow in the library during lunch.

Before I had a chance of opening the front door to my house, it was opened by Matt. He saw me and smiled with his pearly white teeth and held the door open for me.

"Hey Matt," I said, surprised to see him in my house, "What brings you here?"

"Just decided to hang out with my cousin," he said, nodding his head at Hunter's figure that was entering the hallway "Still need to do unpacking in my apartment."

I nodded my head, understanding how hard unpacking can be. "I can stop by this weekend or after school to help?" hoping he'd take me up on my offer. Considering how little time I've spent with Matt, I'd like to get to know him better in person than through text messages.

To my dissapointment he gave me an apologetic look "That's okay I have a lot of stuff that I need to go through. I'll see ya around."

I watched as he crossed the street and entered his home and completely oblivious to Hunter's presence. I let out a deep sigh, feeling like he was never going to give me a chance.

"Awh," Hunters voice cut through my silent thinking, startling me "Did someone just get rejected?"

I scowled at his hurtful words. Usually when it came to him or Jessica I would be afraid of saying anything back that would get me in trouble. But since living with him I learned to fight back and give attitude when necessary.

Suddenly rembering that he had gone to Laura in hopes of changing her mind about telling the truth, my scowl turned into a frown. I pushed past him and entered my kitchen with Hunter following.

"Awh what's wrong Hunter? Is someone feeling jealous?" I teased him. I opened the fridge hoping to find leftover pasta. My eyes spotted the red container hiding behind the carton of almond milk. I grabbed the pasta container and put it in the microwave to heat up.

Hunter walked around the kitchen counter and sat down at the dinner table. "Super jealous," he said sarcastically. I could feel his eyes on me as I waited for the microwave to go off. I tapped the grated cheese that was in my hand nervously. "Where were you? Couldn't of been at a friends house considering you have none."

"You know considering how I'm letting you stay at my house, you sure have very rude mannors." I said while taking the pasta out of the microwave.

I took a bite of it and savored the delicious food that Mikey was clearly trying to hide from me and anyone else who would search our fridge. Isn't food always better when it's someone else's?

He scoffed at what I had said and stood up from his seat. My body and actions instantly froze, waiting to see what he was going to do next.

"First of all, it's your brother who is letting me stay here, not you. Second of all, you're eating his pasta." His voice sounded as if he was standing right behind me. I kept my eyes on the pasta, trying to listen for Hunter's movements.

"Doesn't matter," I turned around abruptly and stumbled a bit when I noticed how close he was to me, "I could easily tell him how bad you've been treating me and you'd be gone within seconds."

Now to be honest I would never do that to Hunter. I know how much he dislikes his dad and how bad things can get at home and I would never want to send him back to that. What I was telling him was nothing but a threat and I could sense that he knew that.

He stepped closer to me causing me to back away until I hit the kitchen counter. "You're too kind to ever put me out of your house. You know deep down you love me shortcake and would never make me go back there."

Gazing into his eyes made me forget about the position I was in and how much I really dislike him. He stood there looking down at my small figure and played with a piece of my hair. I instantly relaxed and exhaled before I pass out from lack of oxygen.

"How are things at home?" I asked him quietly. This same question is one that I've repeated a lot since he was staying with us. My curiosity got the best of me when we got along and this always seemed to ruin our good moments.

Hunters face went from being playful to completely blank. I blinked realizing how quickly the mood had changed between us.

He stepped away from me, putting a good amount of distance between us. I instantly felt regret for ruining our only nice moment we've had all weekend.

"Same as always. Mom said he's still home and wants to see me." Hunter said coldly.

Hunters dad had gone away to jail for about 4 ½ months. He often did dirty jobs for our local motorcycle gang, the Jags. Ever since Hunter was little his dad was rarely around, but when he was it left Hunter traumatized.

Mikey never gave me specific details, only that Hunters dad would abuse him and at times Hunters sister. He told me anything else would be too graphic for me to handle.

They've been great friends for years, probably since we were in elementary school. They were always so busy doing their own thing that Hunter never noticed Mikey had a little sister. Not until Freshman year thanks to Jessica.

"He wants to see Rosalina too but my mom wont let him. I doubt he's taking that well." Hunter said breaking me from my thinking.

Rosalina is Hunters adorable 8 year old sister. His eyes seem to get brighter when talking about her, except when it comes to his dad.

"What about your mom? Is she alright there with him?" I asked concerned for his moms well being. I can only imagine what it would be like to deal with his anger.

He nodded his head and took a deep breath, "Out of all of us he'd never hurt her. He loves her too much to cause her physical pain." he says sourly.

I could see his hands were in the shape of a fist as if he's ready to punch something. His knuckles are a bright white and his breathing has become irregular.

"I didn- didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry Hunter." I said apologetically. Before I knew what I was doing my hand reached out and grabbed his. He allowed me to intertwine our fingers before letting out a deep breath.

He stayed silent the whole time we stood there. I was glad he had opened up to me instead of shutting me out, but I knew my pasta was getting cold and it caused my mind to go blank.

"Do you wanna do something together?" He lifted his eyes to meet mine and looked thankful that I had changed the subject.

A playful smirk played on his lips, "Well a nerd like you has to have a secret anime collection."

My cheeks flared up at how predictable I really am. "Well I do have a few of them on Blu-Ray."

And with that, we settled on the living room couch; me obsessing over Todoroki and Hunter silently judging me.

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Had to throw in a Chapter of their friendship :) Also wanted to add a little backstory to Hunter and why he will be hanging around Chachi and Mikey more often. Hope you enjoyed!