Chapter 2: New Neighbor

I got up from eating and walked to my door. Standing against the door, I asked, "Who is it?"

"It's, uh, your neighbor," A guy's voice came through the door.

The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't get out who it was. "How can I be so sure you are my neighbor and not some psycho-killer or what not?" I asked him, smirking.

"Oh, come on." I could almost imagine the guy rolling his eyes. "I heard you screaming this morning, by the way. What, were you dying or something?"

"Nope." I smiled.

"Then what were you doing?" The guy asked.

"Why would you like to know?"

"Because if you scream again, I'll know it's not you dying." I could hear the smirk in the guy's voice.

I rolled my eyes. "OK, I was playing and recording minecraft with my friends. As if you'd even know the game, though."

I heard the guy scoff. "Are you kidding? Minecraft is my expertise!" Suddenly, he gasped. "Uh, can I please come in?"

"What!? Why?" I faced the door.

The man's voice dropped to a whisper. "I have some fans staring at me."

"What, are you famous or something?" I laughed.

"You could put it that way, now PLEASE let me in!" He started banging on the door.

"Fine Mr. Famous Dude." I opened the door and the guy fell in. He quickly shut the door with his foot and let out a sigh.

The stranger stood up and dusted himself off. He was wearing a beanie, jeans, and a black t-shirt. His hair was short and black - from what I could see under his beanie - and it looked like he was growing a beard, but it also looked as though it was just shaved. I tilted my head.

"So, Mr. Famous, what's your name?" I asked him.

"You don't know me?" The guy grinned. "Why, you doing minecraft videos and all, I would think you would have recognized me."

I squinted and slowly smiled, nodding. He grinned, thinking I actually knew who he was. My smile grew wider and I said, "Ahh..." I frowned, "Nope."

The guy glared at me. "Just call me Jordan."

"Alright, Mr. Famous."

"Where did you get that from?" Jordan asked.

"You said you were famous!" I answered, grinning.

"Hm, fine, fine. Call me whatever you'd like." He growled. "Can I see your apartment, new neigh - wait. What's your name, anyways?"

"Kate. Not Kat. Not Katherine. Kate." I introduced.

Jordan snickered. "Who would call you Kat?"

"Only my best friends." I snapped. "And you're still a stranger. So, no Kat."

Jordan shook his head and passed me, walking around. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back, scowling.

"Did I say that you could look around?" I asked.

"Nope. But I did." Jordan grinned and pulled from my grip, walking around. He glanced around the place and then sat on my blue couch, looking at my chips. "Was this your lunch or something?" He grabbed some chips and ate them.

I nodded. "Until I go to the store, it's my only source of food."

Jordan looked up at me and stopped grabbing the chips. "I could take you for dinner today. My treat." He offered.

"Nah, I'm good." I smiled. "I can buy food today."

"Nope. I insist." Jordan said. "As a neighbor, I am forced to be kind."

"Forced?" I sat next to him, grabbing my laptop. "So you came here by force?"

"No, I thought that up. But it's nice to be neighborly, which means bringing your neighbor to dinner." Jordan said, looking at my laptop.

"So, what's your YouTube, Mr. Famous." I said, more of a demand than a question.

"CaptainSparklez." Jordan answered.

I burst out laughing. "Captain-Sparklez!? What - kind of - a name is - CaptainSparklez!?" I gasped in between laughs.

"Hey, don't make fun of it!" Jordan yelled, pouting.

"God, you're weird!" I laughed, opening YouTube and typing in "CaptainSparklez". A video came up that said "Fallen Kingdom" as the title. I tilted my head and looked at Jordan. "Did you make this or something?"

"Yeah, it's a music video. Here, click on it, I wanna get your feedback." Jordan said.

I clicked on the video, listening as the tune of Viva la Vida came on. I immediately grinned, listening to the music. The singing came on and I listened to the words, watching the animation that went with the music. When the video was finished, I looked at Jordan, smirking.

"So how was it?" He asked me.

"Did you just rip off Coldplay?" I asked, trying to make my tone serious. But, due to my smirking, I failed at the serious tone.

"It's not ripped them off...it's a..uh, parody, I guess you'd say."

I glared at him. "I like it, even if the original song is better."

Jordan smiled and looked at my screen as I got a video request from Autumn on Skype. I looked at Jordan, my stomach turning. That was when I came to reality. There was a guy, a stranger, a YouTube star, in my apartment, sitting next to me. I gulped down my fear and pushed him out of the way of the camera. I answered the video request and saw Autumn looking serious.

"Autumn? What happened?" I immediately asked when I saw her face.

"L-look on your newest video.." She got out after a while of silence. "I-in the c-comments."

I saw Jordan look at me but ignored him as I clicked on my latest video. I scrolled to the comments and saw some good feedback, then I came across what had to be a two-page-long comment. I looked at the camera and saw Autumn nod. I began to read the comment.

KatStudio, you bitch. You say that you would be on soon and leave us for 2 weeks! We were all waiting! Do you realize how many subscribers you have lost? Luckily, I have stayed. But only to tell you this..advise.. But after this comment, I am unsubbing you! So here it goes. You are a lying bitch. Your videos will never get popular, don't you see? Are you blind? Heh, bet you are. You miss all the chests in survival games, and you don't even care if we tell you. You don't reply to anyone's comments, and if you do, it's to a rant or something like what I'm writing right now. You call us your "crew" but seriously? I bet that's stolen. So fuck you, KatStudio.

I stopped reading there. I couldn't read anymore. Sure, it was only one subscriber, but what if the others agreed? Would I lose all of my subscribers? I blinked when Autumn started talking.

"Did you read it?" She asked.

"Not even 1/4 of it...but I can already tell it is not good..." I trailed off. I looked next to me to see that Jordan wasn't there anymore. I suddenly heard a door close to my right and saw that Jordan had left the apartment.

"Kat? What was that?" Autumn asked.

I looked at the camera. "My neighbor had come to visit and-"

Autumn suddenly started laughing hysterically. I looked at her like she was crazy.

"L-load your pa-page again!" Autumn gasped between laughs.

I reloaded the page and started from the top comments. Most of the comments were now saying things like "Captain?" or "OH MY GOD CAPTAIN SPARKLEZZZ!" and sometimes "Way to go Captain :)". Tilting my head, I scrolled down to the ranting comment and saw a comment under it from the user "CaptainSparklez".

Dear Loser,

First of all, get a life, please. It will help you. And second of all, I just met this KatStudio (Sorry Kate if you read me calling you Kat) and I can already tell she is a good person. So, dude, be quiet, please. Unsub all you want, but don't write her a hate letter. Just chill, dude, chill. She was busy. It happens. K?

I joined Autumn in her laughing fit. "Oh- my god." I gasped.

"I don't see how someone so famous commented on your photo! I wonder how he found you!" Autumn's laughing died down, as did mine.

I shook my head, laughing. "No idea." I lied.

Suddenly, Autumn started laughing again, tears falling out of her eyes. I gave her the what-the-hell-happened-to-you look as she pointed behind me. I looked backwards to see that Jordan was giving me bunny ears. He was sitting on the ground and only his hands were showing on the computer screen. I glared down at him and then looked back at the screen. Autumn was still laughing.

"Sorry, that was my idiot neighbor, Jordan." I sighed, feeling Jordan poke the back of my head. I looked back at him. "Jordan, care to show yourself to the screen?"

"Hello! I am Jordan, Kate's imaginary friend!" Jordan yelled in a high-pitched tone, hiding from the camera.

"Oh, come on Jordan. Autumn already knows you aren't imaginary. She saw your hand, you know." I sighed.

Jordan grinned and walked around the couch sitting next to me. I turned the camera to him and heard Autumn gasp.

"Yo-you're CaptainSparklez! Oh- my- freak- goodness!" Autumn screamed.

"At least she has good taste in YouTube," Jordan grinned at me, while I just rolled my eyes. "So, sup, person I have no idea who's name is."

"Autumn, my name is Autumn. Nothing more, nothing less." Autumn introduced herself. Her phone suddenly rang and she looked at me with wide eyes. "It's Travis!"

"Oh god. Answer it and put it on speaker." I told her.

She answered the call and put it on speaker. At once, she heard Travis yell, "AUTUMN WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED ON KAT'S PAGE!?"

I snickered. "That's Travis for you."

"FREAKING CAPTAINSPARKLEZ COMMENTED!" He yowled.

I started laughing, having to grip onto the couch to keep my balance. Or..at least..I thought it was the couch. I heard Jordan start laughing. I opened my eyes and realize I was balancing on his arm. I recoiled back, heat flowing to my cheeks. Smooth. I told myself.

"Psh, duh. You didn't expect that already?" Autumn laughed.

"NO" Travis said.

"Travis!" I yelled.

I heard Travis fall silent and the call ended. Autumn and I burst out laughing. Then Travis requested a video call. I added him to mine and Autumn's call and moved my camera back to me. He answered in a second and immediately started shouting he was sorry. I saw Jordan looking at his clock.

"Oh, uh, Kate, we better get going now if you want to go to dinner." Jordan told me, staying away from the camera.

"Sure, Mr. Famous. Let me say bye to my friends." I said. I looked back at the camera. "Bye guys, my new neighbor is dragging me off to dinner."

"But, Kate, what about your eating di-" Autumn got cut off by my glare.

"I will be fine. New life, remember?" I ignored the stare from Jordan and smiled at my two friends. "Bye, guys."

"But I wanna find out who this Mr. Famou-" I hung up before Travis could finish.

Jordan looked at me and shook his head, standing up. I closed my laptop and followed his actions. He walked out the door and I followed, closing locking the door behind me. We both went to the elevator and Jordan pressed the 'down' button on the wall. We waited in silence, me biting my lip. An eerie feeling washed over me and I felt my arms get goosebumps. I looked at the ground until I heard the 'ding' of the elevator. Jordan and I both stepped into the elevator and I looked out the window. Jordan stood next to me awkwardly.

"So...what was that whole thing with what Autumn said?" Jordan asked after a few moments of silence.

"It's..it's nothing." I stuttered. Crap! Stupid anxiety! I mentally cursed myself.

"You're lying. Tell me." Jordan crossed his arms, looking at me.

To my best luck, the elevator doors opened and a little boy and his mother stepped in. They gave us friendly smiles and the elevator continued down to the lobby. The room was quiet, and that was exactly what I wanted. Nobody speaking. Nobody asking about my problems. Just the hum of the elevator. I continued glancing out the window until the usual ding sounded and the doors opened to reveal the lobby. All four of us walked out, Jordan and I going out the doors of the lobby and into the parking lot.

Jordan stopped at a black truck and walked up to the passenger's seat, opening the door. I gave him an awkward smile and stepped in to the car, sitting in the seat. He came around the back and went to the driver's seat, opening the door and sat down. We pulled out of the drive-way without a word.

We started to head somewhere on the main road when I asked, "Where are we going?"

"Sonic." Jordan smirked.

I shrunk in my seat, stomach churning. Shit, fast food. No, no, no, I'm gonna throw up. I'm gonna be fat again. I can't eat that. My mind reeled. I hate you, eating disorder! I felt my face drain as we inched on.

Jordan looked at me as we stopped at a red light "You OK, Kate?" He asked.

Well, I've got an eating disorder, I'm scared to talk right now, my stomach hurts, I feel like I'm about to throw up, and you're driving me to the fattest fast-food restraint in the the area...other than that, "I'm fine."

"Okay..you just looked a little pale." Jordan said, giving me a skeptical look. "And I'm planning on continuing our conversation on the elevator later, just by the way."

"The light is green." I said, ignoring his statement.

Jordan sighed, pressing on the gas. We soon arrived at Sonic and a stone flipped in my stomach.

"You wanna sit at one of the benches?" Jordan turned and asked me.

I just nodded, afraid if I talked that I would get sick. We both got out and walked over to some benches. We sat down across from one another and ordered some food. I just got some chicken strips and water while Jordan got a jumbo cheese burger, fries, and a coke. I nearly got sick just watching him order it. After the waiter skated away on his roller skates, Jordan tried making conversation.

"As your new neighbor, I guess I'm supposed to learn 3 things about you on the first day we meet." Jordan began.

I interrupted. "Woah, where did you get this stuff from? A magazine?"

"No, I'm just trying to be a normal neighbor and learn 3 things about you. Is that so wrong?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I have blue-green eyes that change color during the weather; that's one. I never really liked food that much," That's an understatement.. "That's two. And for third-"

"This one has to be an embarrassing secret." Jordan grinned as I shot him a glare.

"You are not being a good neighbor, Jordan." I growled.

"Come on, now. Third thing." Jordan pushed.

"Fine. Ican'tswim." I rushed. I suddenly became self conscious and my face lit up. Why the hell did you tell him? My mind screamed at me. New life..new life.. I started to repeat.

"Um...what?" Jordan looked at me confused.

"I said.." I paused, wondering if I should lie. Shaking my head, I looked up to see the waiter coming over with our food. I grinned, sending up a thank you.

The waiter came with our food and I felt my face grow pale. My grin faded as I saw my meal. I'm gonna get fat again. I thought, gulping. Jordan smiled at the waiter and gave him a tip. The waiter skated away and Jordan turned to me, about to ask to continue.

He paused at my face. "Uh..you OK, neighbor?"

I looked from my food to him. "Yeah, uh, I'm fine." I stuttered.

"Alright, so how about that third answer one more time?" He asked, taking a bite of his burger.

I stifled a gag, picking up a chicken strip. "I, um...I can't swim..." My voice went to a whisper as Jordan started howling in laughter. I felt it. An eerie feeling washed over me.

"You- can't swim!? It's swimming for Christ's sake!" Jordan laughed.

I shrunk in my seat, setting down my chicken. My mouth started to glue shut and just like that, I couldn't talk. I was too scared about messing up and making Jordan laugh even more. My phone started to ring and I stood up, thanking God for the savior.

"I should probably get this." I whispered, answering the call and then walking away from the table.

I leaned against a pole that was out of hearing range from Jordan. Autumn was on the other line.

Before she could say a word, I whispered, "You don't know how perfect your timing was, Autumn."

"Why? Dates a bust?" Autumn laughed on the other end.

"It isn't a date. He's just being a neighbor. You should know I've given up on that 'love' stuff or whatever. But...our..dinner..is a bust, yes." I sighed. "He asked three things about me and I spilled it to him that I can't swim."

"Oh..what was his reaction?" Autumn asked, more serious now.

"He laughed at me." My voice dropped as I felt Jordan's eyes on me. "Please, get me out of here! I haven't eaten a thing!"

"Have you told him about-"

"No. And I don't think I'm going to tell him. He isn't that good of a friend. I don't even know if he is a friend. This dinner wasn't from kindness, it was from 'being neighborly'." I nearly growled the last sentence.

"Alright. I'm sorry I can't get you. If I could I'd reach into the phone and pull you back to Texas." Autumn said.

"Man, I wish you could." I looked over my shoulder to see that Jordan was walking towards me. "Shit! He's coming! I have to go, bye!" I whispered into the phone.

"Call me later!" Autumn shouted.

"I will, bye!" I ended the call and turned to Jordan. "Hi." I greeted awkwardly.

"Hey, uh, who was it?" Jordan asked.

"Autumn. She was just seeing how I was doing." I told him.

He nodded and said, "Look, um, sorry about laughing with that swimming thing. It clearly made you uncomfortable."

I stood there for a second, looking at my feet. I quickly looked up and said, "I'm gonna go eat.."

"Yeah, okay." Jordan followed me back to the table and sat in his spot.

I looked at my food, stomach churning. Ignoring the sick feeling in my gut, I lifted the chicken and took a bite. It took all my strength not to grimace. After 30 minutes, we were both finished with our meals and were going back to Jordan's truck. He opened the passenger door for me and I stepped in. Walking around his truck Jordan opened his door and sat down. We drove back to the apartments in silence until we got to a red light and Jordan turned up the radio. The song Bleeding Out by ImagineDragons was playing. A grin came across my face.

"I love this song." I said, listening in silence.

The car started moving again and we pulled into the parking lot of the apartments. The car stopped as the words blasted through my mind.

'Cause I'm bleeding out,

I'd bleed out for you...

Hey everybody! This was sort of just an introduction to Jordan and Kate. Poor Kate..having an eating disorder.. :\ But it's what has happened to this generation a lot with all these bullies and such. So I sadly made her have an eating disorder to make the story more realistic. Later on in the story, you'll find out about Kate's past. Thank you for reading! Feedback is appreciated! Have a nice day!