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

by R. L. Mathewson

  “I talked to the coach over at the high school about Mikey playing next year.”

  “You did?” Zoe said, blinking in surprise.

  “Mmmhmm, we took a ride over there and decided to show the video Sebastian made to the varsity coach and talked to him about Mikey’s chances of playing next year.”

  “We?” Zoe said, focusing on that one word.

  “Me,” Trevor said, pausing to kiss her forehead. “Uncle Jared,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose. “Jason,” he said, leaning down to kiss her chin. “And Reese,” he finished by brushing his lips against hers.

  “And?” she asked, smiling against his lips.

  “And unfortunately, he doesn’t have any say over who plays on the freshmen team,” he said, sighing heavily with one last brush of his lips against hers before he stepped away.

  “He can’t make Coach Dilmore give her a chance?” Zoe asked, regretting her decision not to say anything when this all started.

  They probably all were after what happened, but they didn’t want to make anything worse, and now, Mikey was off the team and it didn’t look like that was going to change anytime soon. Not unless she was able to get into one of the schools she’d applied to. They’d be stupid not to accept her. Mikey was a sweet girl, who didn’t deserve this.

  Sebastian didn’t either, Zoe thought only to tell herself that it was all going to work out. They just had to–

  “But he does get to decide who plays on the JV team,” Trevor said offhandedly before his lips pulled up into a grin. “It’s not official, but he said as long as Mikey tried out for the team next year, he’d have a pitcher’s spot for her.”

  “Are you serious?” Zoe asked, already reaching over to pull her husband into a hug when his phone rang.

  “The spot’s hers if she wants it,” Trevor said as he pulled his phone out. Shooting her a wink, he answered the phone and immediately lost that smile as he listened to whoever was talking on the other line.

  After a moment, he bit out, “Where is he?”

  “Trevor, what’s wrong?” Zoe asked, watching as he hung up the phone and headed for the door.

  “Call Reese and tell him that Mikey’s been arrested.”

  *-*-*-*

  “Hey, look at me, Mikey,” Sebastian said softly as she struggled to stop trembling.

  She’d never been this scared before.

  “It’s going to be okay. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Sebastian promised, but she could only nod her head as she struggled to stop crying.

  She watched as another teardrop hit the tiled floor, joining the others. She couldn’t believe this was happening. The image of Sebastian being shoved to the ground kept playing through her head over and over again and–

  This couldn’t be happening.

  Not now.

  This was all just a bad dream. Just a bad dream, Mikey kept telling herself as she sat there struggling to breathe because this couldn’t be happening. One minute, she was staring down at her lunch and the next…someone was telling her that she was under arrest.

  After that, everything felt like a dream. She vaguely remembered being dragged into the principal’s office where they’d started asking them questions. She hadn’t been able to make sense out of what they were saying, but she knew that it was bad. The video of Sebastian sneaking into the school over and over again let her know that there was no getting out of this one.

  After the last time that Sebastian snuck into the school and caught the vice-principal’s attention, they’d decided to take a closer look at the surveillance video. When they spotted Sebastian sneaking in and meeting with her in the cafeteria, they’d decided to check the old footage and what they found was enough for them to decide to involve the police. So, when Sebastian snuck into the school this time, they’d been ready for him.

  They didn’t bother asking her who was sneaking into the school because they wanted to catch Sebastian in the act and they figured that she would warn him and now they were both in trouble. Sebastian was going to jail for criminal trespassing, whatever that meant, and they were waiting for her parents to make her expulsion official before escorting her off the property and…and…

  She couldn’t breathe.

  God, she couldn’t seem to get enough air, Mikey thought, desperately trying to get air into her lungs and–

  “Help her! She can’t breathe!” Sebastian yelled.

  The officer that had arrested her moved to check on her, but someone else got there first. Mikey felt the handcuffs keeping her arms locked behind her back removed before she found herself picked up and looking into her stepfather’s face, but it wasn’t her stepfather.

  It was Uncle Darrin.

  She could always tell them apart because he didn’t have the scar on his brow from the baseball she threw, Mikey thought numbly as he laid her down on the floor.

  “It’s okay. Your Dad’s on the way,” Uncle Darrin said, giving her a warm smile as he checked her pulse. The sounds of her breathing grew ragged as she tried to focus on what her uncle was saying, but her head was spinning and she couldn’t seem to get enough air.

  “Do something!” Sebastian screamed. “Her lips are turning blue!”

  Still giving her that smile, she watched as Uncle Darrin reached for the microphone secured to his uniform and said, “This is unit fifty-seven. I need an ambulance at County Middle School for a fourteen-year-old girl in respiratory distress.”

  “Unit fifty-seven, received for the fourteen-year-old girl in respiratory distress at County Middle School. I have a unit with an ETA of two minutes,” came the response a few seconds later.

  “She’s under arrest,” the officer standing over them said, drawing her attention and making it harder to breathe.

  “No, she’s not,” Uncle Darrin said calmly as he cupped her face and gently caressed her cheek with his thumb.

  “Get the handcuffs off my nephew,” Uncle Darrin said only to add, “Now,” when the officer didn’t move.

  “He violated the terms of his expulsion. We have it on video. He’s been sneaking into the school for more than two years now and she’s been helping him,” the officer said.

  “Unless you have a valid restraining order, you’re going to have a hell of a time proving that a fourteen-year-old kid knew that he’d be arrested if he set foot on school property. So, I suggest that you take the handcuffs off him now and file for the restraining order that you’re not going to need because he’s never going to do it again.”

  Mikey watched the officer glare down at them. Terrified that he wasn’t going to let Sebastian go, she opened her mouth and tried to beg him only she couldn’t seem to get the words out.

  “Mikey?” Uncle Darrin said, looking upset for some reason. “Mikey? Mikey!” came the words that sounded far away as darkness enveloped her and pulled her down.

  *-*-*-*

  “We had to sedate her, but she’s going to be fine. We’d like to keep her overnight for observation though,” came the words that had Sebastian staring helplessly down at his hands.

  He did this.

  It wasn’t bad enough that he’d screwed up his life and his brother’s life, he had to drag Mikey down with him. He knew this was going to happen, Sebastian thought as he rubbed his hands roughly down his face. He never should have talked to her, never should have gone with her that day, and he sure as hell never should have crawled through her window that night and now…

  She was paying for his mistakes.

  “Who’s Sebastian?” the doctor asked Aunt Kasey and Uncle Reese.

  “Her best friend,” Aunt Kasey said hollowly as Uncle Reese pulled her into his arms.

  “She’s been asking for him. I think it might help her calm down if she could see him,” the doctor quietly explained.

  When Sebastian moved to stand up, his father grabbed his arm to stop him. Without a word, he pulled his arm free and headed for her room, absently wondering when this was going to start feeling real. He ignored h
is parents calling his name, telling him to stop and kept moving until he saw Mikey, laying on a hospital bed with an oxygen mask over her mouth and wires attached to her small body.

  Feeling his heart break, Sebastian walked over to her only pausing long enough to put the siderails down before he carefully climbed onto the bed next to her and pulled her into his arms.

  “Sebastian?” came the mumbled question.

  “Yeah?” he said, holding her tight.

  “I think we’re in trouble,” she said, surprising a weak chuckle out of him.

  “Yeah, I think we are too,” he told her as he pressed his lips against her forehead.

  “Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?” Mikey asked, already sounding like she was halfway there.

  “Yes,” Sebastian said as he watched his mother and father walk into the room.

  They didn’t say a word, but then again, they didn’t need to. He watched as they sat down in the chairs against the wall and waited. When Mikey finally fell asleep, they stood up and waited. Sebastian forced himself to let go of Mikey and climb out of that bed. He looked at her one last time before he walked toward the door. When he saw Aunt Kasey and Uncle Reese sitting in the chairs across the hallway, looking like they’d been to hell and back, he forced himself to walk over to them and say the only thing that he could think of to make this better.

  “You don’t have to worry. I’ll leave her alone.”

  Chapter 38

  “I think she stood you up,” Joshua said as he shoved the rest of the hot dog in his mouth.

  “She didn’t stand me up, because it’s not a date,” Cole said as he found himself glancing at the trees separating their properties and wondering where she was.

  She should have been here an hour ago, he thought, biting back a sigh as he shifted his attention back to his birthday party and–

  “She can do better,” Joshua said, looking thoughtful as he focused his attention on his burger.

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Elizabeth said, nodding in agreement while Cole stood there, glaring down at his siblings.

  “She didn’t stand me up,” he found himself saying, again, when it should have been more than obvious that Chloe enjoyed spending time with him. Granted, she never invited him over to her house, but then again, she didn’t need to since he invited himself over to save her the trouble of doing it.

  “Really?” his cousin Mathew said, blinking innocently up at him. “Then where is she?”

  Narrowing his eyes, Cole said, “I hate you all,” as he decided to find someone more worthy of his company. With that, he headed toward the food only to end up biting back a groan when he saw his mother’s family standing off to the side, taking turns watching Grandma. He didn’t like the way they looked at her.

  He wished his mother hadn’t invited them, but she was determined to give them a second chance and for her, he was willing to keep his mouth shut and smile politely when they reluctantly acknowledged his existence, but other than that…

  He didn’t trust them.

  He looked away only to find himself watching his cousin Sebastian. He’d never seen him like that before. He looked…

  Destroyed.

  Sighing, Cole looked over to where he’d spotted Mikey earlier only to find her sitting in the same spot, sitting off by herself, staring down at the ball in her hands. She looked so lost. He moved to go see if she was okay when he spotted Chloe standing on the other side of the trees. She started to head to the party only to stop, shake her head, and turn around only to reluctantly stop when he called her name.

  “Where are you going? The party’s this way,” Cole said, catching up with her.

  “I was just coming to tell you that I can’t make it, but I wanted to give you your present,” Chloe said, shifting nervously as she held out a small box wrapped in green wrapping paper with a silver bow perfectly centered in the middle.

  “What is it?” he asked, moving to open it only to have her stop him by laying her hand over his.

  “You don’t have to open it now. It’s not really anything special. I just wanted to get you something for your birthday,” Chloe said, shrugging it off.

  “Thank you,” Cole said only to frown when he said, “Are you sure you can’t come over?”

  “I’m sorry. I have something planned with my family and this is the only day that Uncle Nick could get off so…” she said, letting her words trail off with a helpless shrug.

  “I understand,” Cole said, biting back a sigh, surprised at how disappointed he was that she couldn’t make it.

  Over the past month, they’d become good friends. He’d stopped stalking her and started spending time with her. Every day they walked to school together, sat together in class, they ate lunch together, walked home together and most days, they did their homework together. Most nights he snuck over to her house to binge-watch TV with her and let her sister torment him just so he could see her smile and…

  He liked her, he realized.

  “Happy birthday, Cole,” Chloe said, giving him a warm smile before she turned around and left.

  Deciding that he’d save her a slice of cake and bring it over later, Cole headed back to the party. He went to put her gift on the table with the others, but curiosity had him turning it over in his hands as he glanced back at her house. With a sigh, he walked over to the chairs lining the patio and dropped down on one.

  With a last look toward Chloe’s house, he tore the wrapping paper off and opened the thin white box only to frown when he pulled back the green tissue paper layered over what appeared to be a very old book. The leather was aged and worn, he noted as he carefully opened the cover only to feel the air in his lungs leave him in a rush when he saw the words Emily Bradford written with Manchester, England 1850 written beneath it.

  This was his great-grandmother’s journal, Cole realized as he closed the book so he could run his fingertips reverently down the soft cover. He glanced over at her house as he carefully placed the cover back on the box and quickly made his way next door, deciding that this couldn’t wait. He made his way up the porch, raised his hand to knock and–

  “How come we’re not doing anything for your birthday?” he heard Katie ask, drawing his attention to the open window next to him.

  “We are doing something for my birthday,” Chloe said as Cole found himself moving closer to the window.

  “We’re sitting on the couch watching Harry Potter again. How come we’re not having a party?” Katie asked as Cole stood there, watching them through a break between the white curtains.

  “Because I don’t need a party,” Chloe said as she gestured to the television as Cole bit back a curse. It was her birthday, too. “This is the perfect way to spend my birthday.”

  “What about a cake?” Katie asked, making Cole frown.

  “I don’t need a cake,” Chloe assured her.

  There was a slight pause and then, “I think Uncle Nick forgot, again.”

  “He didn’t forget. He’s very busy,” Chloe assured her little sister.

  “What do you think Mom would have done for your birthday if she was alive?” Katie asked, sounding sad.

  “Well,” Chloe said, reaching over to pull her little sister on her lap so that she could wrap her arms around her, “first thing she would have done was go overboard making sure that everything was pink from the frosting on the cake to the streamers lining the walls. She would have invited everyone that she’d ever met, cooked enough food to feed an army, and made sure that the party lasted until midnight, which I would have absolutely hated.”

  Frowning, Katie looked up at her sister as she asked, “Why?”

  “Because then I wouldn’t have been able to spend the day with my favorite person on earth watching Harry Potter,” Chloe said with a teasing smile.

  “And Daddy?”

  “Would have probably snuck into my room tonight with a huge piece of cake and way too much ice cream, which of course, would have resulted in a tummy
ache,” Chloe said, squishing up her face adorably for her little sister.

  “I would have eaten it for you,” Katie said, nodding solemnly.

  “And that’s why you’re my favorite person on earth,” Chloe told her as Cole turned around and headed back the way he came with the realization that there was so much more to Chloe than he’d ever imagined.

  *-*-*-*

  They should have sent him to military school when they had the chance, Sebastian thought as he slowly rubbed his hands down his face before dropping them away. They definitely should have screamed at him, but that would mean that they were talking to him at the moment. During the ride home last night, he’d waited for them to yell at him, ask him what the hell he was thinking, to scream at him, something, but they never said a word.

  When they got home, they walked upstairs and closed their bedroom door. Not sure what else to do, Sebastian made dinner, helped Mathew and Jessica with their homework, and cleaned up the mess. They didn’t say anything, but then again, they didn’t have to. He knew just how badly he’d messed up, which was why he’d headed upstairs and waited for his parents to finally scream at him, but they never came.

  Long after everyone else had gone to bed last night, Sebastian found himself heading onto the roof and climbing over to his parents’ window, needing to make sure that they were okay only to realize just how badly he’d messed up when he heard his mother crying for the second time in his life. But this time, nothing his father said could console her. He’d forced himself to sit there and listen as his mother cried. When she finally fell asleep from exhaustion, Sebastian headed back to his room, ignoring Jonathan’s questioning look and laid down.

  This morning when his parents told everyone that they were leaving for Cole’s birthday party, he’d considered staying home but he’d wanted to make sure that Mikey was okay. When he saw her walk into the party an hour ago, he’d nearly lost it. She was pale and looked so damn miserable, and it was his fault. The reminder that he’d done this to her was the only thing that had kept him sitting there when all he wanted to do was to go to her and–