Love Your Neighbour

Chapter 1

I got up and walked slowly down the stairs, rubbing my eyes as they adjusted to the light. I was not a morning person...
It was 10.30am.
As I sat down at the breakfast table I noticed I was not the last person down to breakfast. My parents were sitting down sipping tea.
"Where's Louis?" Louis was my very lazy brother who usually stayed in bed until 1pm if not woken.
"Upstairs." My parents said in unison.
Just then we heard footsteps on the stairs.
"I'm downstairs now!" Louis walked in looking messy. His hair was all over the place. I guess my brother and I were not morning people.
I poured milk into my cereal and swirled it around with my spoon.
"You're up! Now, we can tell you both the news!" My mum said excitedly.
"Woah, mum, please lower the voice. Just woken up here!" Louis complained.
"Mike and his brother Miles are coming to stay with us for three weeks as Mr and Mrs Landers are going on a cruise! It's so exciting!" I dropped my spoon.
"Yes!" Louis said immediately.
"No!" I yelled.
"Why not? What's wrong with him coming to stay?"
I didn't reply. This was not happening! Having him next-door was bad enough, I couldn't imagine waking up to see him wandering around our house every single day!
"Why can't he just stay next-door? He's sixteen, he can take care of himself." I tried to reason with them.
"You know how his mother is. She is very protective of her sons! Besides, Miles is only nine. He needs taking care of. A sixteen year old would find that hard." My mum was very attached to Miles, and Mike as well.

I didn't know how Mike's parents could have named their children Miles and Mike. It would be too confusing, as they're way too similar.

"Well, they're coming. Whether you like it or not... He'll be here next week." My mum said sternly.
"But next week is my birthday sleepover! I don't want him interrupting it!" I was grumpy.
I would have liked to say that I had lost my appetite, but the truth was that I would need food to get through that day.
"Can I go shopping with Tara today?" I asked my mum.
"Yes. It's good you want to go out."
"I'll be in my room for a while..." I said as I finished my cereal.

I called Tara right away.
"You would not believe what is happening next week! Mike is coming over to stay in our house for three weeks!" I screeched down the phone.
"Calm down, Lauren. My mum is slightly disturbed by the sounds coming from the phone.
"Can we go shopping today if you're free? I need to get out of the house."
"Yeah. I'll just go check."
A moment passed.
"Yeah. That's fine. Should I meet you at the usual place at twelve? And should I ask anyone else?"
"Yeah. I'm just going to go invite Celine. Can you ask Angela?" I said quickly as I saw Louis enter my room.
"Have to go. I'll see you in an hour!"
We hung up.

"What is it?"
"Why do you hate Mike so much?" That shocked me.
"We just aren't friends anymore." I decided to go for a plain answer.
"Hmm."
"Don't you dare ask him!"
"I already did. And he gave exactly the same answer!" He looked frustrated.
"How interesting. Well I need to make a call." I gestured to my phone and luckily he left.

I sighed and dialled Celine's number.
"Hey."
"Oh, hi Lauren!"
"Do you want to come shopping with Tara, Angela and myself today at twelve?" I said straight away.
After she had checked with her parents and said yes, I heard a familiar voice outside on the landing.

I opened the door and glared at him.
"Well hello Lauren." Mike said smiling.
"Why are you here? You're not moving in until next week." I said.
"Well I just came to visit your brother actually. Not you." Mike glared back at me.
Here we go again.
"That's nice. Well, I'm going out. So bye." I brushed past him, squishing him against the wall as I made my way down the stairs.
"I'll walk into town. It's only twenty minutes. I need the fresh air." I needed to get out of the way of that stupid Mike.
"Okay. Have you got your phone, glasses, everything you need?"
"Yes, yes okay, I'm going." Wait, my glasses. Ugh.
"Um, actually..." I raced up the stairs.
"Now I'm going." I raced back down the stairs and then flung open the door.

I walked briskly out of the door, pausing to look up at the upstairs window. The light was on and I could see the figure of Mike next to the window. I quickly looked away, as I didn't want him to think I was spying on them or anything.

I breathed in and out slowly as I reached the town path. Ugh why was Mike coming to stay with us? It was unfair how the one person I hated was going to sleep in the room next-door.

Why was I thinking so much about it? Just take a deep breath, Lauren!
Oh get out of my head Mike Landers...!

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Hi!
I've decided to do a song that I think would fit with the chapter from now on:
Song: Problem by Ariana Grande