Chapter 2

Out of no where, I subconsciously felt a figure behind me.

I didn't know who it was but the mothers stopped their endless chatting and stared at something behind me.

At first I was scared to look, maybe it was a big bear, but I turned around and accidentally bumped into a hard chest.

I looked up to see something unbelievable.

My jaw probably touched the floor at what I saw, I didn't know whether I was shocked or scared.

Those deep, blue eyes stared at me with confusion as I stood there speechless.

But then Elena's voice broke the silence.

"There you are Finley.

Let me introduce you to our guests and neighbors.

This is Claire Parker and her daughter Lillian." Finley nodded at his mom and returned to staring at me.

I'm not seeing things am I?

This is just a bad dream right?

The school's Bad Boy was standing in front of me...

I forced my eyes shut so hopefully when I opened them again he would be gone.

I opened my eyes slowly but he was still there, staring at me intently.

"Finley, why don't you take Lillian up to your room and get to know each other more.

I'm pretty sure she goes to your school." Elena and mom were smiling at me and it felt bad to refuse their smiles but I was busy.

"It's okay, I have to go soon, my friend is going to pick me up soon." I smiled apologetically and they nodded.

Then a deep husky voice spoke, "So the princess actually speaks." He was smirking which seemed a little sadistic.

I turned to face him again, clear that my eyes were full of distaste.

THAT'S IT.

THE BAD BOY IS A JERK.

HE'S OFFICIALLY THE NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR FROM HELL!

Who says that with that kind of smirk, he's definitely messing with me.

"Excuse me?

!" I was forcing myself not to cuss him down then and there, but he replied with a grin, "You heard me,princess." Just then I was going to shout but was interrupted by the doorbell.

Finley excused himself and went to open the door.

I followed him after our moms were giggling at our interaction.

Then I heard Finley say, "Who the hell are you?"

I peeked from the side to see Ethan at the door and I blushed a little.

I finally broke the weird tension and said, "Ethan, you're here~" I was in a happy mood now and I rushed past Finley to pull Ethan into a bear hug.

Even though I had a crush on him, it didn't mean I wanted to ruin our friendship.

Finley scoffed.

Ethan ignored that and looked at me, "Hey Lil, ready to go?" I nodded, then heard mom say, "Lillian, can you take Finley with you?" and I could visualize Elena nodded in agreement.Ugh I'd rather die

Mom gave me her typical nagging voice which I can never refuse, "Lillian Parker."

I looked at Ethan with the 'is-it-okay?' face and he nodded, he knew to obey my moms words too.

Finley just shrugged and said something like, "I have nothing better to do today so why not, rightprincess?" After our little unwanted agreement, we headed to Ethan's car.

Sophie waved at us from inside and she smirked when she saw Finley.

As soon as we stepped into the car, it became awkward.

But what put me off was that my new enemy was insistently staring at me, Sophie was also staring at my enemy, and from time to time, Ethan would look confused at the "staring cycle" that was happening.

No matter what I did, I kept staring out of the window, trying to avoid Finley' gaze.

After what felt like 5 hours, we finally got to the mall and Ethan finally broke the silence.

"What do you guys wanna do first?" he looked around and his eyes landed at me, as if he was directing the question to me.

"Well, we could go to the arcade for a while then head out for the movie?" Everyone nodded nonchalantly and we headed to the arcade.

When we got there, Sophie saw a teddy bear on a shelf which could be won if you shoot down the bottles with 3 bullets (plastic obviously).

Out of no where, Sophie wrapped her tiny arms around Finley' muscular ones and asked him to win her the teddy bear.

Finley shrugged and shot down all the bottles with only 2 of the bullets and Sophie was jumping with joy.

It made me laugh that she was jumping around like a cute little 5 year old.

Ethan and I were watching them for a while but then headed to the air hockey game.

I smirked when I remembered how many times I have beaten him at this game, and as usual, Ethan challenges me again.

"Lily, I demand a rematch from last time." he was pointing at me as if I was bullying him and was going to try to get revenge.

I tried to hold back my laugh but I burst our into laughter when I saw him pout.

To be honest, I found it really cute and I couldn't stop laughing.

Then suddenly, Ethan walks over to me, wraps his arms around my waist and looked down at me to look somewhat intimidating.

I would have laughed even more but instead I felt heat rush to my cheeks.

I pushed all my thoughts aside and smirked at him while wrapping my arms around his neck, playing with the tip of his hair.

"Why not?

But make sure you don't cry like last time or I might die of laughter." I regretted saying that when he leaned in, his face inches away from mine.

This time I couldn't dismiss the heat and I tried to look away, but Ethan lifted my chin up to face him directly.

This time he was the one that smirked.Round one, my loss.

I was a little disappointed when he pulled away and he challenged me to a game.

I accepted his challenge like usual, but this time he wants to make a bet.

"If you win Lily, I will do ONE thing you want, anything.

But if I win, then you will do one thing I want.

Deal?" It took me a minute to think about it but then I nodded in agreement, the smirk reappearing to my face.

I know I'll win anyways.

We were playing for 30 minutes, poor Ethan trying not to give up after each loss.

I let him have as many rematches because it looked like he wanted to punch something out of frustration,which made his muscles flex and he looked hot.

After our 21st game, Ethan gave up and we called off the bet, and then Sophie and Finley found us.

They had millions of stuffed toys in their arms, it looked cute as if they were a couple.

Sophie looked extremely happy and Finley just looked annoyed, and Sophie noticed it with a smirk.

Seems like she played with him enough.

I chuckled at the sight and Finley got angry.

"What's so funny?

!" He snapped at me and this made me laugh.

They all looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Nothing, I just thought you two looked cute.

Who knew the bad boy likes stuffed toys?" I couldn't stop laughing which made Finley glare at me.

"Fine then.

I challenge you to a game."

Finley pointed at the game me and Ethan played 21 times and me winning every time of course.

"Sure, but what's the catch?" he smirked which made me roll my eyes.

"You're pretty quick for a girl."

I glared at him, "Don't be sexist, you idiot."

Finley chuckled and finally said, "If I win, you will be my slave for a week." I raised my eyebrows at his bet and scoffed,

"Of course someone like you would come up with such a bet, but fine.

And if I win, you will be MY slave for a week." He shrugged and we played at least 4 games, 2 wins each.

We played our final match and much to my surprise, I lost the bet.

I sighed and looked at Finley with disgust.

"You win, but don't think I will let you win next time."

I looked at the time and it was 4:45 p.m. so we all headed to the park to get to know each other better.

I found out that Finley was kicked out of his previous school, which made me remember that he transferred to our school half way through the first year.

I also found out that he was a player, but stopped when he transferred apparently.

Ethan and Sophie went to buy us drinks and probably some snacks.

Finley and I sat next to each other on the swings and had a swinging contest to see who went up higher.

Of course me with the lighter body weight, I won.

Then we started talking, "So why did you move apart from being expelled?" I asked him casually, trying to make conversation.

"My old house broke down after I trashed it with a party.

It was a lot of fun so I don't regret it." he grinned and shrugged, which made me smile.

Then suddenly he started talking about families, "So where's your dad?

He didn't join you guys this morning?" this topic caught me off guard.

My chest started feeling heavy and I looked down, trying to avoid his gaze.

My dad was a sensitive topic till this day.