A/N: Continuation of Boy Next Door.

Part 2: Gale's POV

When I was eight, I moved from my hometown and into a new city.

"It's time for a new change of scenery, don't you think bud?" My dad said when he broke the news.

In reality, I knew that it was because of money trouble. Even my little eight year old self could figure out that much. Seeing my parents stress over the bills, plus a new baby on the way? It was just getting too difficult.

It was the middle of summer, and as soon as we all got out of the car, I could feel sweat already beginning to form on my upper lip. I wiped it off with my arm and raised a hand to shield my eyes from the sun. I looked up at the house and sighed. It was my first time at a new city and a new school, but I knew I had to put up a brave front for Rory and Vick.

"It's great, honey," my mom said to my dad. She was unconsciously rubbing her protruding belly and my dad kissed her cheek before waving at the mover's truck that had just arrived.

Rory and Vick were playing with a soccer ball and I went inside to check out the inside of the house. It seemed bigger once I stepped inside, but maybe it was because there was no furniture yet.

"Cookies!"

I turned my head to the sound of Vick's voice and headed back outside. That's when I first saw her. Her blonde hair was braided back and she was holding a container full of cookies. Vick had his hand out, waiting for her to hand them to him.

"Be nice, Vick," I said, making my way towards them. He gave me a sad pout before stepping away. The girl remained frozen, and held onto the container with a tight grip.

I gave her a small smile, "Hi, I'm Gale."

She looked at the cookies and slowly handed them over to me.

"I'm Madge. Madge Undersee."

Who knew that would be the start of everything?

High school was like a whole new world, filled with new people, opportunities, and most importantly, new girls.

Well, at least that's what fifteen year old Gale thought.

I had my first kiss with Susanne Patterson. She was a beautiful brunette with bright blue eyes, and who also happened to be one year older than me. After that, other girls seemed impressed that an older, hotter girl took interest in me, and well, as one would expect from a horny teenager, my hormones took over.

When Madge finally entered high school, she didn't expect other girls to see her as a threat. She didn't understand why at first, until she caught me making out with Glimmer Caldwell under the bleachers.

She let out a shocked gasp, covered her eyes with her textbook, and apologized before running away.

I apologized to Glimmer and ran after Madge. She was leaning against the wall, and trying to catch her breath. I could see her red face covered behind her hair and slowed to a walk. She heard my footsteps approaching her and turned around with wide eyes.

"I…I'm sorry Gale, I didn't know that you'd be with a girl. Your friend said you'd be here," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

I groaned and rubbed my face with one hand. "No I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to see that. I mean, unless you have a secret desire to see my tongue down some other girl's throat."

Madge flinched at the idea and quickly shook her head. I let out a light laugh and took her books from her.

"So that's why all the girls have been glaring at me, huh? They think we're…an item or something," she said, a breath of relief. "I thought it was something I did."

I put an arm around her and let out another laugh. "Is that such a bad thing?"

As we entered the building, Madge slipped out from under my arm and said that we shouldn't do that anymore.

"I don't want people getting any ideas."

When I was seventeen, I had my first beer. I was at Cato Richmore's house party and Johanna had invited me.

"It's the biggest party of the year!" she had said, and I reluctantly agreed to go.

It was about 8 o' clock and the party had just started in full swing. A couple of guys from the lacrosse team brought in kegs of beer and Cato had hired a DJ for the night.

He really does go all out, I thought to myself.

Johanna shoved a cup of beer into my face. "Here, have one."

I looked at it for a moment before swigging the whole thing back. The bitter taste burned my throat but I forced myself to keep it down. After that, the taste didn't bother me as much anymore and I could already feel a light buzz in my head as I danced with a few girls.

My phone vibrated and I looked to see that it was Madge. I contemplated for a moment before deciding to turn my phone off for the rest of the night. Madge would understand.

Well into the night, I could feel myself transitioning from slightly buzzed to full on drunk and before I knew it, I was making out with Johanna in one of the house's many rooms.

Johanna and I had a complicated relationship one could say. She was fun to hang around with, but when it came to personal stuff, I always went to Madge. We would kiss sometimes, and fool around but who knew that after a few drinks—okay, a lot of drinks—we would find ourselves in this predicament.

I had my shirt off and Johanna was only in her bra and underwear. She grinned as she unbuckled my belt and pulled down my pants before wrapping her arms around my neck. She crashed her lips onto mine and I lifted her up and onto the bed. I unclasped her bra and she placed my hand onto one of her breasts.

I was seventeen, a virgin, and a girl was letting me fondle her breasts. Needless to say, I was very excited at this point, despite my slightly tipsy state. Johanna raised her brows amusedly as she could…feel my excitement as well.

That was a night of many firsts.

First time trying beer, first time having sex, and first time ignoring Madge.

"You know, the point of the game is to throw the ball to your team member, Hawthorne. Red is us, white is them!"

I glared at my blonde team member, who was taking off his jersey and throwing it on the ground.

"Well I don't know what I was thinking tonight when I decided to throw the ball to you, when you fumbled it every damn time," I said through my gritted teeth.

Griffith stood up from the bench and walked towards me, a vein popping from the side of his neck.

"And if you were able to throw properly, maybe I'd be able to catch it!"

I gave him a slight shove and he pushed me back even harder. I raised my fist to swing at him but I felt a strong hand pulling me back. I growled and turned around but instantly dropped my raised arm.

"Coach."

"You guys both sucked tonight and need to realize that you guys are both in the same damn team!"

I lowered my head and clenched my fists. Griffith stepped away from me with a final sneer and grabbed a towel before storming into the showers. Once coach left, I finally released my anger and punched the locker door, ignoring the throbbing sensation afterwards.

As soon as I left the locker room, I was hit with a blast of cold air. It was the beginning of December and the winter here was pretty harsh. I shoved my throbbing hand into my coat pocket and threw my duffel bag over my shoulder.

I saw a small silhouette leaning against a tree. She was blowing hot air into her hands and rubbing them for some warmth. On her blonde head was a light blue beanie and I broke out into a wide grin.

"You came!" I yelled, breaking out into a light jog.

Madge looked up, her nose slightly pink from the cold and gave a small wave.

I dropped my bag and grabbed her hands, trying to transfer some of my warmth into hers. "You could have just waited back at my house. It's freezing out here!"

"Yeah, I know. But I know how upset you get after you lose a game, and I wanted to make sure you were-" her voice trailed off as her eyes noticed my red hand.

"Your hand!"

Madge turned it over to examine it and I rolled my eyes. "It's not a big deal. It'll be fine with some ice."

She gave me a concerned look before lightly running her fingers over my bruised knuckle. I flinched slightly, and she gave me a knowing look. "It's alright you said?"

I slipped my hand out of her hold and picked up my forgotten bag.

"Just forget it, alright?" I pulled her into my arms, knowing that she couldn't handle the cold as well as me. "Look, I'll let you go all Dr. Madge on me later, alright? I'll drive you home."

She let out a defeated sigh and pressed her body closer to mine. "Well you better drive me home because I'm definitely not walking."

When I was eighteen, my whole life changed.

I was in love with Madge.

It took ten years and Griffith fucking Mellark to help me realize that.

When Madge told me he had asked her out, I was furious. That smug bastard knew how close we were and somehow smuggled his way into her innocent little heart. He sweet-talked her into a date and she somehow agreed to the damn thing.

She had never cursed at me, ever, and so when she called me an asshole and stormed out of my room, I knew she was truly mad at me.

He was going to use her and dump her, just to get under my skin. Poor Madge couldn't see that. She had always been shy around guys and I didn't want Griffith Mellark to be the one that broke her heart.

I locked myself up in my room, knowing full well that if I left the house I would do something that I would regret. I paced back and forth wondering what they were doing and found myself checking the clock every five minutes.

When I saw the headlights shining through my window, I knew that she was back. I peeked outside and saw her blonde head inside of his car. I didn't have to see his damn face to know that he was probably sweet-talking her again.

"Get out Madge…get out," I muttered to myself.

My eyes widened when I saw Griffith's body leaning towards hers.

There was only one thing they could've been doing. My thoughts were confirmed by the way Madge pressed her body closer to that bastard's and I could see his hand resting on her waist.

It shouldn't be him kissing her. He…he didn't deserve her. As cliché as it sounds, Madge is just…too good for him. She's filled with all this goodness and someone like Griffith Mellark didn't deserve that.

I looked at my clock and saw that it was five minutes before her curfew. She may have made a stupid mistake and decided to make out with Griffith fucking Mellark, but she wouldn't be stupid enough to break her curfew.

I decided that I had seen enough of their snog fest and turned off my lights. I fell onto my bed but my mind was in Madge overload.

Seeing another guy kiss her released an anger inside of me I had never felt before. An anger stronger than the one I had felt when I found Glimmer making out with some guy in the baseball team while we were going out. An anger worse than the one I had felt when I caught Rory smoking weed at the school parking lot.

I felt my heart speed up and my throat burn as I quickly sat up.

I never wanted to see Madge with another guy. I never wanted her lips to be on some other bastard's lips and I didn't want some other guys hands all over Madge's body.

I wanted it to be me.

I wanted to be the one sitting in that car, feeling her lips against mine and if Madge ever broke her curfew, I wanted it to be because of me.

"I love her," I whispered into my dark room.

Damn.

I don't know how I fell asleep, but I did despite the fact that the night before I had realized that I was in love with my best friend.

I felt someone get on my bed and lay down beside me. Imagine my surprise when I lifted the pillow off my head and saw the one person who had filled my thoughts the night before staring up at my ceiling. On my bed. In my room.

"Why are you here?"

She turned to her side and looked at me, her blue eyes gleaming with excitement. "My date yesterday…was perfect."

I stared at her, noticing the silly grin plastered onto her face. I breathed in and slowly let the air out.

"I thought you were mad at me," I said, gritting my teeth together. "If I remember correctly, you called me an asshole. Which by the way, I never realized you had such an extensive vocabulary Madgey."

It wasn't until she sat up and mentioned that the bastard was a "great kisser" that I fully snapped out of my sleep daze and bolted up.

"So you did kiss him?" My assumptions from the night before were correct. "You…you…you can't just go around kissing people Madge!"

I could see the anger taking over and her silly grin was now long gone. "Last time I checked, you're not my mom and I was not going around kissing people. I kissed my date, whom I like very much, and you have no right to say anything. I don't go yelling at you every time you have sex with a brainless tramp!"

I was still angry over the fact that she not only admitted to kissing Mellark the night before, but also that he was apparently fucking great at it.

The words that slipped out of me and finally broke the silence were words I would never be able to take back. "Was he really a great kisser, Madge?"

She looked confused, not expecting my sudden question and nodded.

I felt the anger I had felt the night before rising again and muttered, "he's not."

Madge started another angry fit about why I hate Griffith and she even had the audacity to joke about me liking the bastard. I snapped out of my angry thoughts when I felt the bed shift and looked up to see her getting off the bed. I quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards me.

"He's not a great kisser."

And before I could even stop myself, I crashed my lips onto hers.

Kissing Madge was nothing like I thought it would be like.

It wasn't like my first kiss with Susanne Patterson.

It wasn't like my drunken kisses with Jo.

And it definitely wasn't like the saliva filled make out sessions under the bleachers.

Madge's kiss was sweet.

It made my heart flutter and my head was filled with fireworks.

I could feel her stillness but I needed her to understand.

I moved my lips against hers, begging for entry into her mouth.

She had pancakes for breakfast—I could taste the syrup and it made me groan. I nibbled on her bottom lips, knowing that I could do this all day as I slowly pushed her down onto my bed. I tangled my fingers into her soft hair and I sighed in relief when I finally felt her open her mouth and respond to my kiss.

I really could do this all day, I thought to myself.

Madge pulled back from the kiss, looking at me with wide eyes filled with shock and realization of what we had just did. I stared at her lips, swollen and pink. She was so damn beautiful.

"What are we doing?"

She was gasping for breath, and I found myself doing the same. My heart was still hammering inside my chest and I opened my mouth to respond but I couldn't collect my thoughts.

She ran a hand through her hair before getting off of my bed and bolting out of my room.

I wanted to run after her.

I really did.

But it wasn't until I heard the slamming of the front door that I finally snapped out of it.

My mind was filled with memories of that perfect kiss.