Misunderstood: Inspired by the Neighbor from Hell Series (A Neighbor from Hell YA Book 1)

by R. L. Mathewson

  “Is something wrong?” Mikey, who looked adorably pissed, asked, blinking innocently at the boy that was glaring in her direction while Sebastian’s brothers and cousins laughed their asses off.

  “No,” Braxton bit out, looking like he wanted to throttle Mikey as he leaned over and snatched his glove off the ground and shoved his hand back inside.

  “Then let’s see what you got,” Mikey said, gesturing with the baseball glove that one of his cousins must have lent her to throw the ball.

  Glaring, Braxton grabbed the ball off the ground, straightened, and with a look that told Sebastian just how pissed the kid was at Mikey, he pulled back his arm and let the ball soar through the air.

  With barely a flick of her wrist, Mikey easily caught the ball, further pissing the kid off as Sebastian shot Jonathan a glare as he headed toward Mikey.

  “You want to keep going or have you had enough?” Mikey asked, tossing the ball in the air and catching it, looking bored while she waited for an answer.

  “Just throw the damn ball,” Braxton bit out, holding up his glove as he struggled not to grimace.

  Shrugging, Mikey said, “Okay,” as she pulled back her arm and sent the ball flying. Barely a second later, there was another, “Goddamnit!” as the ball slammed into Braxton’s glove. That was followed by sympathetic groans from their audience, right around the time that Mikey finally noticed him.

  “Uh-oh…” she murmured, noticeably swallowing as she shifted, licked her lips nervously, and shifted her feet again as she did her best to discreetly shove her glove off her hand.

  “We had a deal,” Sebastian reminded her as he came closer.

  “We did,” Mikey said, nodding solemnly as she kicked the glove behind her. “But, umm, I just thought that some fresh air would help clear my head so that I could better focus on the book.”

  “You were reading outside,” Sebastian said evenly, watching as she barely managed to catch a wince.

  “And now, I’m ready to go back,” Mikey said, smiling brightly as she moved to step past him only to end up gasping in pain as she grabbed her side and fell to the ground.

  It took Sebastian a moment to figure out what happened, and when he did, he glanced over to find Braxton watching them, looking shocked as something like regret flashed across his features only to disappear so fast that Sebastian wondered if he’d imagined it. When the little prick said, “She should have been watching,” a second later, Sebastian found himself heading for him, ready to knock that smug look off his face and by the looks of it, so were his brothers and cousins.

  He barely managed to take a step in the little bastard’s direction when something went flying past his head. A second later, Braxton released a gasp of pain as he grabbed his stomach and dropped to the ground, hard. Frowning, Sebastian looked back in time to see Mikey walking toward them with her hand pressed against her side, looking like she didn’t have a care in the world.

  With a satisfied sigh, she reached down and picked up her ball with a mumbled, “Good game,” as she stepped over Braxton, who was currently in the fetal position, and headed back the way they came. She barely made it two feet before she suddenly stopped with a murmured, “This just won’t do,” and turned around to face him.

  When Sebastian opened his mouth to ask her if she was okay, Mikey gestured for him to turn around. Eyes narrowing on the little brat, Sebastian reluctantly turned around and felt his lips twitch when Mikey used Braxton’s battered body as a stepping stool to climb onto his back.

  Once she was settled and her arms were wrapped around him, Mikey said, “You may carry me back,” releasing one arm so that she could regally wave for him to get on with it.

  “You’re too good to me,” Sebastian drawled as he shot the little bastard curled up on the ground one last glare.

  “I know,” Mikey said with a long-suffering sigh that had his lips twitching even as he decided that it might not be in their best interest to return to the party. Decision made, Sebastian turned around and headed home, even as he contemplated throwing the little brat in the closet to keep her out of trouble.

  *-*-*-*

  “I can’t believe that arrogant–Argh!” Chloe bit out only to end with a groan, unable to think of a word fitting enough to describe the arrogant jackass as she grabbed another armful of dirty laundry from the hamper and shoved it into the washing machine.

  And god, was he arrogant, Chloe thought in disgust as she shoved more clothes into the washing machine, slammed the cover shut, turned on the machine, and–

  “What the hell is your problem?” Cole demanded as he angrily wiped rotten egg off his face.

  Shaking her head in disgust, Chloe pushed past him and left because she honestly couldn’t deal with him right now. The hour she’d spent in the basement with him had been more than enough to last a lifetime, Chloe decided as she cut through the living room and spotted Katie relaxing on the couch, watching Harry Potter. Knowing that Cole wouldn’t really hurt her, Chloe headed up the stairs and went straight to her room, slamming the door shut behind her before she threw herself across her bed with a sigh.

  When she heard the door open a few seconds later, she looked over her shoulder to tell her sister to get out only to bite back a groan when she spotted Cole walking into her room.

  “We weren’t done talking,” he bit out as he closed her bedroom door behind him.

  “We really were,” Chloe said, biting back a sigh as she reached over and dragged the chemistry book that she’d been reading when this nightmare started, closer.

  “I was trying to be nice to you and let you down gently,” Cole snapped.

  “And now that you have, you can leave,” she said in absolutely no mood to deal with this right now.

  She just wanted him to leave her alone.

  “Look, I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings. I just–”

  “And you did a great job,” Chloe said, gesturing toward the door. “So now you can leave.”

  There was a heavy sigh and then, “I don’t understand why you’re being so difficult about this.”

  “Then ask your friends,” Chloe said, shaking her head in disgust as she moved to turn the page only to end up glaring when the large jerk yanked her book away.

  “What do my friends have to do with anything?” Cole demanded as he closed her book and tossed it on her desk.

  “Besides the fact that you’re oblivious?” Chloe asked as she climbed off the bed, deciding that if he wasn’t going to leave, then she would.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Cole asked, slamming his hand against the door to stop her from leaving.

  “Move,” she said, closing her eyes as she slowly exhaled, praying for patience only to end up chuckling without humor when he said, “What have my friends ever done to you?” because he couldn’t be serious.

  “What have your friends done to me?” Chloe asked, opening her eyes as she turned around to face him. “Are you serious right now?”

  “Deadly,” Cole bit out as he glared down at her as he dropped his arm away.

  Nodding slowly, she asked, “How about the fact that they’ve gone out of their way for the past two years to make my life a living hell?”

  “I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about,” Cole bit out, looking pissed as she reached back and opened the door.

  “No, you don’t, do you?” Chloe said as she gestured for him to get the hell out of her room. “And that’s the problem.”

  Chapter 18

  “Oh, thank god it’s over,” Mikey said, sighing in relief as she closed the book that had taken her three days to finish and shoved it aside so that she could roll over onto her stomach and–

  Groan when a set of strong hands clamped down around her ankles and dragged her across the bed. “Why are you doing this to me?” Mikey demanded on a pathetic whimper as she tried to grab hold of her comforter and drag herself back up to the comfort of her pillows for a well-deserved nap, but the mean boy who’d woken her u
p at the crack of dawn this morning had other plans.

  “Come on, you’re almost done,” Sebastian said, ignoring her disgruntled grunt as he pulled her to the edge of her bed, rolled her over, and after a long-suffering sigh that she really didn’t appreciate, dragged her to her feet.

  Once there, he turned her around and gave her a gentle shove in the direction of her computer. “Get writing,” Sebastian said with a satisfied sigh as he dropped down on her bed and grabbed a book off the stack that he kept on her nightstand.

  “I can write it in the morning,” Mikey pointed out, moving to return to the comfort of her bed when Sebastian’s next words had her reluctantly turning around and forcing herself to cross the short distance to her desk.

  “It’s one in the morning,” he said as she dropped down in her chair with a sigh.

  Deciding to make this short and sweet, Mikey turned on her computer, opened a blank Word document, put in all the necessary information and then gave a quick rundown of what happened in the book, making sure to add every adjective that she could think of before typing, “The End” with flourish. Once she was done, Mikey moved to hit print only to groan when she suddenly found herself being rolled away from the computer and the boy who oversaw her torture, shaking his head in disapproval as he read her book report.

  “It’s less than a hundred words,” Sebastian said, frowning in confusion as he read her book report.

  “Which I’m sure my teacher will appreciate,” Mikey pointed out as she moved her chair closer to the bed only to gasp in outrage when Sebastian deleted her book report.

  “That will get you an F,” he said, closing the file only to open the internet browser, and after a quick search, he gestured to the screen. “This is what a book report should look like.”

  Frowning, Mikey watched as he scrolled down the page…and kept scrolling. “Are you serious? That’s like three pages long,” Mikey said, unable to help but groan when Sebastian grabbed her chair and pushed her back in front of the computer.

  “It will be over before you know it,” he lied, giving her a patronizing pat on the head before he walked away, leaving her sitting there, feeling her shoulders slump in defeat as she stared at the screen.

  After a moment, she sighed and reminded herself what was at stake here. It was just one book report. She could do this, Mikey told herself with a firm nod as she opened another Word document and followed the directions on the book report template. Once she was done, Mikey sighed with relief and hit print only to groan a few minutes later when Sebastian plucked the book report out of her hands and went through it with a pen. Once he was done, he handed it back to her and had her groaning pathetically again as she turned back around in her chair and set to work.

  An hour later, Mikey was exhausted, seeing double, but she was finally done. Rubbing her hands down her face, she turned her chair around and found Sebastian passed out on her bed. God, he was so damn bossy, but he was also the best friend she’d ever had, Mikey thought as she turned her chair around and after a quick Google search and a few clicks, found what she was looking for.

  After a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure that Sebastian was still sleeping, Mikey turned her attention back to her computer. She clicked the link, opening a blank email and did the only thing that she could think of to help Sebastian, hoping that it would be enough, but if it wasn’t…

  Then she’d find another way.

  *-*-*-*

  Just let this be over, Mikey thought later that morning as she struggled to keep her eyes open so that she could watch Mr. Rose as he graded her book report. She felt her eyelids grow heavy as her head dropped forward only to force her eyes back open when she saw Mr. Rose reach for the red marker. Worrying her bottom lip, Mikey watched as he picked up the marker only to decide against it and put it back down and grabbed the red pen instead.

  For several minutes, Mr. Rose sat there, reading her paper only to periodically look up at her, frown, look back down at her paper again and shake his head in wonder as Mikey did her best not to panic. She was exhausted, a tad cranky, and fully prepared to cry if she had to do it over again and she really hoped that she didn’t have to do it over again.

  “Mikey, can I talk to you for a minute?” Mr. Rose asked just as the lunch bell rang.

  Nodding, Mikey took a steadying breath as she grabbed her bag and got to her feet only to wonder why her friends were always throwing her pitying looks whenever a teacher wanted to talk to her. She should probably be concerned about that, Mikey thought as she watched Mr. Rose sit back in his chair as he gestured to her paper.

  “Who wrote that?”

  “I did?” she said, wondering why that came off as a question.

  “You did?” Mr. Rose asked, looking skeptical as he glanced back down at her paper.

  “Every life-altering word,” Mikey said, nodding solemnly.

  “And you read the book?” he asked, throwing her a questioning look as he reached over and picked up her book report.

  “Unfortunately,” she said with a helpless shrug.

  “How did you manage that?” Mr. Rose asked, looking curious.

  “Desperation,” Mikey said, making his lips twitch.

  “Who helped you with your book report?” he absently asked as he picked up her book report and took another look at it.

  “My best friend.”

  “And did your best friend read the book for you?” Mr. Rose asked, throwing her another questioning look.

  “No, he slowly destroyed my will to live by making me finish reading it on my own,” Mikey said with a sad shake of her head.

  “It’s well-written,” Mr. Rose pointed out, tossing her book report back on his desk.

  “Apparently there’s a format for writing book reports,” Mikey told him.

  “Imagine that,” he drawled, looking amused as he considered her for a moment.

  “Can I go to tryouts today?” Mikey asked, forcing the words out of her mouth as she stood there trying not to panic because she honestly didn’t know what she would do if he said no.

  Besides cry that is, she amended a moment later when he reached for the red pen. She watched as Mr. Rose took his time going over her book report and just when she thought that she was going to be sick, he flipped back to the first page and–

  “Good luck at tryouts, Mikey,” Mr. Rose said with a warm smile as he wrote an A at the top of her paper and handed it to her.

  Mikey slowly looked down at the paper in her hands, her gaze zeroing in on that A before shifting to Mr. Rose, back to her paper, back to Mr. Rose, and–

  “Thank you!” Mikey yelled over her shoulder as she booked it out of there, afraid that he’d change his mind.

  As soon as she made it out of the room, Mikey slowly exhaled as she glanced back down at her book report and felt her lips pull up into a pleased smile. She did it! She actually managed to pull this off, Mikey realized in a daze even as she quickened her pace, eager to tell Sebastian.

  She quickly made her way to the cafeteria and headed for the shortest line that she could find all while glancing every which way, looking for Sebastian. When she didn’t see him, Mikey grabbed a plastic tray and shifted her attention back to the lunch line, willing it to move faster as she anxiously tapped her thumbs against the tray. The lunch lady barely had a chance to open her mouth before Mikey was asking for a double lunch, grabbing two milks, some fruit, and two brownies and shoving them on her tray.

  With an absently murmured, “Thank you,” Mikey paid for her food, grabbed her tray and headed for a table in the back. Once she was there, she placed the tray on the table, dropped her bag on the floor and–

  Threw herself into Sebastian’s arms when he suddenly appeared by her side.

  Chapter 19

  “You are the best!” Mikey said, hugging him tightly only to drop her arms away before he got a chance to wrap his arms around her.

  “I take it that you did well on your book report,” Sebastian said, trying not to
think about how good it felt to have her in his arms as he sat down across from her.

  “I really did,” Mikey said, nodding as she grabbed one of the chocolate milks off the tray.

  “So, that means you can go to tryouts?” Sebastian asked as he helped himself to a chicken nugget.

  Nodding, she said, “It also means that we can finally focus on all those things that you don’t want to talk about.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, popping the chicken nugget into his mouth as he glared at the little pain in the ass, hoping that it would be enough to get her to drop it.

  “And yet, we’re going to talk about it anyway,” the stubborn pain in the ass said with a look that dared him to argue with her as she plucked a chicken nugget off the tray and ate it.

  “Shouldn’t we talk about tryouts?” Sebastian asked, hoping to distract her.

  “Please don’t make me hurt you,” Mikey said, throwing him a pitying look that had him narrowing his eyes on her.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a pain in the ass?” Sebastian bit out.

  Nodding solemnly, she said, “All the time,” making him chuckle as he helped himself to the other chocolate milk.

  “Fine. What do you want to know, brat?”

  “What are you going to do about school?” Mikey asked as she selected a French fry.

  “I’m not sure yet,” Sebastian admitted as he reached over and plucked the fry out of her hand.

  Grumbling, she grabbed another fry and quickly popped it in her mouth before he could steal it.

  “I think you should keep trying,” Mikey said as though he really had a choice.

  “And if I don’t get in?” Sebastian asked, because he honestly didn’t know what he would do if he didn’t get in at this point.

  “You will,” she said with a firm nod.

  “And if I don’t…” he said, letting his words trail off because it was time that they faced reality.

  He was screwed.