Love Thy Neighbour *editing*

"You're not all that."

The next day, I made a point of not even looking at Niall's house. I didn't need him feeling sorry for me. When I looked at the scratch in the morning, it was red and angry, so I sort of lathered on the concealer and foundation to cover it up; I didn't need social services poking their noses around in my home life.

I didn't even stop for breakfast when I went down the stairs; I just bombed it out of the door. At least that way, I wouldn't have Kai yipping in my ear about something we could do on Saturday. I wasn't in the mood for him most days, but today was going to be a bitch.

"Evie!" Aah shit, not fast enough. I grudgingly turned around but instead of coming face to face with Kai, it was Niall's who appeared, jogging up his garden path to catch up with me. There was a reason he had a car. I spun around and kept walking but he was quick.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Even he couldn't hide the concern in his voice. I sped up but he grabbed my wrist. I saw red and tried to hit him but he grabbed the other wrist and we stood, me glaring at his beautiful face. I really wanted to hate him but I knew that he was trying to do the decent thing.

"Just piss off, Niall," I sighed, trying to put my fists down. "I'm not going to hit you." He let them go slowly, as if he was scared that I would go back on my word. I rolled my eyes and began to walk again. I couldn't deal with this; I already felt bad letting Tommy stay with my mum. To have the Irish Shagger trying to talk to me about my feelings was almost laughable.

"Evie, please, I just want to walk with you."

"Well I don't want to walk with you, buddy!" I shouted back at him. Walking led to talking and talking led to kissing and then kissing lead to...well, you get the picture; I wasn't just going to be another one of his conquests. I wasn't like that. Just because he had had a little insight into what went on in my house, didn't mean he knew everything about me.

I'm sure that he walked behind me the whole way to school but he never said anything after my slightly over the top statement. I walked through the school gates and spotted Sian, Jen and Veronica. I walked over, trying to force my facial muscles into a viable smile.

"And I was like, "If you're going to come, come!"" Jen screeched. The others fell about laughing.

"Would it be totally sick minded of me to presume you're talking about sex?" I asked, strolling up to them. Jen raised her eyebrow at me.

"No," she said. "I was talking about a car."

"That's what she said," Sian muttered, only just loud enough for me to hear. I snorted and tried to look interested in what Veronica was saying. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Niall stop and stare at me. I forced a loud laugh and my three friends stared at.

"I was just saying that my mum lost her job," Veronica whispered. I could feel Sian shaking with laughter and I felt like kicking myself. Well, that was what you got when you didn't pay attention to what was being said. I turned away from Jen and Veronica to talk to Sian.

"Are you coming to this party on Friday?" she asked. I was about to open my mouth and come up with some excuse. "You can stay at mine, if you want."

My brain wasn't functioning properly; lack of sleep did that to me and besides, how bad could going to a party with Sian be anyway?

"Okay," I agreed. She excitedly told me all of the details before the bell rang, screeching at the top of her voice that it was going to be the best night of my life. I just sighed and walked to my registration room on my own. It felt like an own personal best; no Kai on the way to or at school.

Niall was sitting in my seat when I got into the classroom but I wasn't in the mood to challenge him about it. I just slumped down in the chair next to him, resting my head on my school bag. He jabbed a finger in my shoulder. I ignored him until he hit me.