Okay! This is part of a chapter from one of the new stories I will be publishing after I finish Soulmates!!
Let me know what you think!!
It was their senior year of high school and mostly everyone was excited, but not more excited than Ben was. Ben, every girl's dream boy. The captain of the football and baseball team. To everyone he had the perfect life. The perfect girlfriend, the perfect body, the perfect hair, the perfect smile. He was the whole package. He was the most popular boy in school. He walked through the halls, with his, on again off again, girlfriend Audrey on his arm, while everyone smiled at him as they passed.
Mal hated where her locker was. It was smack dab in the middle of Ben's and his clan of lackeys lockers. Why on earth would she be the one cursed to spend a full year surrounded by jocks, she will never understand. She heard the wooing and laughing, making her groan. She pulled her books out of her locker, slamming it closed and left before she was surrounded by the stupidity of Jay, Chad, and Ben. plus, she wanted to go and see Evie and Carlos before she had to go to her first class.
"M! Can you believe it?" Evie exclaimed as she closed her locker door. "Senior year!"
"Speak for yourself, Evie. Some of us have another year of hell," Carlos said.
"Sorry. I'm just so excited," she said.
"Yeah. We can tell, E," Mal said as she laughed at her best friend.
"Oh, shut up. What class do you have first?" Evie asked.
Mal looked at her schedule. "History," she said.
"I have Chemistry," Evie said. "What do you have Carlos?"
"I have Spanish. And I should head there soon so I'm not late," he said before he left the two girls.
"He's probably right. I have to head all the way across campus to get to my class," Evie said. "I'll see you at lunch," she said before smiling and leaving.
Mal walked to her class which was only a couple of doors away. When she got to the room she saw that there were only two other people. She quickly took a seat at a table in the back and next to the window. The bell rang and more students started to file into the class, but what made Mal groan was when she heard the same wooing she heard earlier by her locker. Chad and Jay were shoving Ben back and forth and Audrey looked irritated. The laughing was getting closer to Mal. She kept her head down until she felt someone leaning against the back of her chair. She turned in her seat and saw it was Ben.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me," she whispered to herself.
Their teacher came in looking like a hot mess. Mr. Merlin had been teaching history for 35 years and was a goofball and not one you try to boss around or take advantage of.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen," Mr. Merlin called. "Take your seats."
No one was listening. Audrey was hanging on to Ben like a toddler would candy. Ben was leaning against the chair Mal was sitting in, not even realizing she was there while he talked to his teammates.
"Sit down you bunch of delinquents!" He shouted.
Everyone stared at him and took their seats. Luckily for Mal, Ben and his lackeys sat in the middle of the classroom.
"Thank you," he said with a gruff. "Now welcome to cultural history. I am Mr. Merlin, but you can all call me Merlin," he said. "This year you all will be working in pairs to study, do homework, and projects with," he stated.
"Yay! Ben! We get to be partners!" Audrey exclaimed.
Mal rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe how desperate Audrey sounded.
"Actually Ms…" Merlin said.
"Beau. Audrey Beau," she answered with a perky smile.
"Well, Ms. Beau. I have chosen your partners and I do not like couples working together," he said making her frown.
He hid it well, but Ben was happy that he wasn't going to be partnered with Audrey. They may be on the off stage of their relationship again, but he didn't know if he wanted to go back to being on again with her. She was way too clingy, annoying and he had been wanting to get some space away from her.
"Now. Let's move on to partners. Shall we?" he fixed his glasses and pulled a sheet of paper out of his briefcase. "I have here; Jayden Jabara and Lonnie Li, Chadwick Charmin and Jordan Gene, Audrey Beau and Uma Eliades, Harry Hook and Gillion Rogers, Ruby Fitz and Emma White, Benjamin Anderson and Mallory Drakos…"
"I'm sorry," Ben said, interrupting Merlin. "Who?"
Mal scoffed loudly enough for Merlin to hear, but Ben didn't. "Figures," she said before looking out the window. You would think he would know her. They grew up living across the street from each other their entire lives.
Merlin looked at Mal and then back to Ben. "I believe it is the young lady who scoffed in the back," he said as he slightly raised his finger in Mal's direction before he continued listing off the rest of his list..
Ben turned in his seat and saw her. A girl with violet hair. She was staring out the window. She was pretty, Ben thought. She had long purple locks, fair skin, and plum pink lips. She was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, purple retro lace-up chunky heel boots, and an oversized sweater that hung off her shoulder. She met his stare and then looked back out the window.
"Now that we all know who we are partnered with let's all move to be seated with them and these will be your seats for the ENTIRE year," Merlin said.
Everyone got up and moved to new seats except for Mal. Ben walked up to her and pulled the chair out that was next to her.
"Hi," he said.
Mal looked at him with no facial expression, but he choked and lost his focus when their eyes locked. She has pretty eyes, Ben thought.
"I'm Ben," he introduced himself.
She scoffed a little laugh. "Yeah. I know," she said.
"You do?" He asked curiously. "When did you move here?"
She laughed again and shook her head. Merlin walked up to their table.
"It's time to get to know each other. You'll be spending a lot of the year together," he said before walking away.
Mal groaned a little. "I have lived here my whole life," she said, not looking at him.
"Really? I don't think I have seen you before," he said.
"Well, that's funny because I have lived across the street from you my entire life," she said, shocking him.
"What?" He asked her.
"Yeah. You know. Big white house. Directly across the street from yours," she said sarcastically.
"Yeah. I know the house, but… really?" he said, turning his body to her.
She nodded her head slowly at him him, making him feel stupid.
"So am I just stupid and oblivious or have do you hate me so much that you have been avoiding contact with me all our lives?" He asked.
Mal actually chuckled at his joke. "I'm leaning towards 1," she said. "But two can still be an option," she said.
"I remember going to parties at your house when I was little," he said.
"Yeah."
"You have a brother right?" He asked.
"Yeah. His name is Hadie. He's a freshman this year," Mal told him.
"Yeah. I remember now, but I don't remember you," he said.
"Well, I'm not that interesting," Mal said.
"Why do I find that hard to believe?" He asked her.
"Because your oblivious and stupid," she said, making him laugh.
"My little sister would like you. She's five and loves when people call me stupid," he said to her.
"She does like me," she said, shocking him again. "Who do you think watches Rosie while your parents are at your games?"
"You're her Mally," he said, astonished. "I thought she had an imaginary friend."
Mal shook her head. "Nope. very much a real person," she said as she pinched his arm.
Ben felt like the stupidest person on the planet. How could he live across the street from this girl his entire life and not know who she was. He wasn't just stupid. He was a fucking douchebag.
"Rosie loves you," he told her.
Mal smiled a little bit thinking about the toddler. She loved watching Rosie and the bond that they shared.
"And I love her. She's the sweetest little princess I know," she said.
Ben squinted his eyes. "Are we talking about the same Rosie? The little she devil who wakes me up every morning with a slap to the face?" He asked.
"You mean the sweet princess I babysit?" Mal asked. "She would never do such a thing," she finished with a laugh.
Ben scoffed a laugh. "So your mom is Persephone and… I'm sorry I don't know your dad's name."
"His name is Hayden," she nodded. "and Persephone is technically my stepmother, but she raised me since I was a baby," she told him.
"That's nice, but I feel like I should know who lives across the street from me," he said.
"You know my mom," Mal noted. "And you remembered I have a brother."
"Well, my mom always talks about you mom all of the time."
"They have been best friends and have been for like 15 years," she told him.
Ben was flabbergasted. How could he not know anything about his family and his neighbors?
"Okay. I'm oblivious, stupid and a douchebag," he said as he banged his head on the table in front of him.
"You could say that again," Mal whispered low, but not low enough for Ben to miss.
"How could we live across the street from each other for 18 years and I haven't once talked to you?" He asked her.
"Well, one your parents come over to my house all the time for dinners, while you are out with your friends," she said as she started to count on her fingers. "Two, you have football and baseball practices. And three…" The bell rang cutting her off. "That is mue cue to go to my second class," she said as she got up and walked out of the classroom.
He sat there in awh. Had he really been so out of touch with his family for years? So, oblivious to his surroundings. He was so self absorbed in his own self, he didn't know anything about anyone around him.
"Ben."
He looked up to see Audrey staring down at him.
"Can you walk me to class? I want to talk to you," she said.
He took a deep breath and then stood.
"What class do you have next?"
"Chemistry."
"Yeah, no. That is in the other direction of my class," he told her.
"But I need to talk to you. I want us to end our break," she said.
Ben really didn't want to talk about this right now. He cracked his neck and took another deep breath.
"Look. I don't want to talk about this. Okay? I don't even know if I want to get back together with you," he told her.
"You have been gone all summer and I haven't seen you one bit," she pouted.
"I was at football training camp for the summer. I didn't get to see my family," he told her.
Saying that aloud made him feel horrible, because now he knew very little about anything going on with his family. He didn't know who their friends were. He didn't even know who babysat his sister.
"I need time to be with them. I don't have time for a girlfriend," he said. "I have to go. I'm going to be late for class."
He walked past her and out of the room. He knew Mallory didn't mean to hurt his feelings, but what she said made him think. He needed to be around his family more. Needs to be less selfish. He walked through the halls and found his next class Advanced French. He walked in and there she was again, sitting in the back of the classroom and what looked like drawing in her notebook. He walked out the seat next to her and sat down.
"So, what was that third thing?" he asked, making her jump. "You ran out of history and didn't tell me."
Mal huffed when she saw that Ben was in her French class too.
She rolled her eyes before closing her notebook. "Three, I have a job, so I don't get home until late sometimes." she said.
"Where do you work?" he asked her.
"Trying to get to know your neighbor after 18 years?" she asked, turning her head to the side.
He gave her a crooked smile. "I guess you could say I'm trying to get to know someone who is closer to my family than I am," he said.