Chapter 7: Chapter 7: The Sidekick and Some Gifts (Part 5)

Being neighbors with your best friend probably sounded like a dream to most people. While it definitely came with some perks, there were a lot of downsides people didn't consider. First and foremost, you were going to get on each other's nerves. A lot. It came with the territory of constantly being around one another. We used to have so many dumb arguments that we couldn't help but laugh at later. It was more ambiguous where knowing how to sneak into each other's houses fell on the pros versus cons list. 

I entered through the side door, which his family always left unlocked. Always seemed risky to me, but theft was so rare in a small town like ours that they must have felt confident enough to do so. I lingered in the doorway, listening to hear if anybody's home. The TV was blasting some infomercial, so there was a good chance he was in the living room since his parents didn't watch much TV. My shoes were tossed onto the welcome mat before I wandered in by him. 

Slumped on the couch, Ethan lazily propped himself up on an elbow to scowl at me. "Well, look who came by for a visit. And here I thought you were going to start avoiding me outside of school too." 

I placed my backpack on my lap and plopped onto the recliner, careful to avoid stepping on the sleeping cat on my way over. "We've already talked about this. I'm not avoiding you, I'm avoiding your new friends." 

"You talking about Amelia and them?" he asked, flipping the channel. 

"Those would be the ones." 

"I don't know why you don’t like them. You don't even know them, except Rika." 

"I don't really know her." I blurted that out before thinking. 

"Well, she must know you. Otherwise, why would she ask me for your number to go to the mall?" He scratched his cheek. "It was weird too because it was the first time she texted me outside of our group chat. She's always so timid when it comes to guys. I never would've expected her to get up the courage to ask you out." 

I sputtered, nearly losing my grip on the bag. "You think she asked me out?" 

Ethan looked at me like I was an idiot. "Well, yeah. Unless the mall just happens to be your newest hangout spot?" 

To buy you a present, stupid. I wanted to tell him that, but I bit my tongue. It wasn’t my place to interfere in her personal affairs. How did she fall for this guy again though? 

"It was for a group project. We promised to meet up at the coffee shop at the mall, but I forgot to give her my number during class." 

"Oh, the literacy project? That one's a real bitch and a half." 

"Yeah..." I ran a finger over the smooth leather on the arm of the recliner, lying through my teeth. 

He kicked his feet up onto the table in front of him and switched channels again. "Oh, you'll never guess what I got in the mail today!" 

His sudden enthusiasm cranked his voice level up to ten and startled his cat awake. She let out a hiss in our general direction before flopping back onto her side, tail coiled around her stomach. That lazy cat took after her owner a lot more than I previously realized. 

"What'd you get?" 

"It was the weirdest thing." His hands flew in every direction as he told the story. "I went to check the mailbox today, and there was this nicely wrapped package. So, I took it inside and noticed the wrapper only had 'Happy Birthday, Ethan' written on it. No return address, no name, nothing." 

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I felt my heart skip a beat. "Did you open it up already?" 

He nodded. "Yeah, it was Battlefront." 

Damn it, Rika. What were you playing at? We spent all that time at the mall deciding on a gift only for you to chicken out at the last minute. I was livid, but I pushed the emotion away. "That sounds cool. We'll have to play sometime." 

"Yeah, we could invite Amelia and them too." 

I stayed quiet about my dissatisfaction with his plan. Instead, I attempted to divert his attention away from that topic entirely. I tossed my backpack at him, but he made no move to catch it. Instead, he allowed it to hit his chest and tumble onto the couch next to him. "Happy birthday, old timer. Sorry it's not wrapped, but I couldn't find any wrapping paper lying around." 

"Thanks, man. It's not another gift card, is it?" 

"Not this time." 

"Nice, then I'm actually looking forward to opening this." He unzipped my backpack and pulled out the video game case. Holding it up to the light, he scanned the splurges of texts and pictures. "This looks sick! You wanna play some?" 

I smiled at his enthusiasm, glad my present was well-received. "Don't be too mad when you get stomped." 

____________ 

I couldn't stop grinning at my phone as I waited for the morning bell to sound. The students seated next to me were understandably a little wary of my good mood, going so far as to scoot their desks away, but there was no helping it. The comments, likes, and reviews were flying in without any stop in sight. My readers praised everything in the latest chapter from the humor to how likable the newly introduced female protagonist was. One review even went so far as to proclaim her 'best girl' because of her infectious positivity and good-natured ribbing. That comment felt kind of strange to think about considering I kind of modeled her after Rika. The only critique I received was that the chapter was too short, and they couldn't wait until the next update. 

"Ethan!" Rika bounded in with her usual pep but stalled in front of my desk. "Morning." 

I swiped the rankings tab on my phone, curious how my novel stacked up against the others after this recent burst of activity. 

"Yo, cell phone addict. Good morning." 

I glanced up from my phone to find her staring at me with her hands on her hips. "My bad. Were you talking to me?" 

"Wow, and the other day you were lecturing me on how to interact with people. Talk about worthless advice." She rested a palm on my desk and leaned in to whisper. "Meet me in the stairwell during lunch. I have another favor to ask." 

Already people were muttering about her talking to me as she walked away. I couldn’t really blame them. She never bothered to talk to anyone in my homeroom apart from Ethan and the others. I was sure rumors would be spreading around by lunch, but that didn’t bother me. What bothered me was that our conversation drew the attention of Ethan and his group. They're staring over here—Amelia and Nora seemed surprised, while Ethan looked like the smug bastard he was. 

Propping my math book up, I sunk down in my seat to hide my face from view. I had no doubt they were still staring at me, but I did my best to ignore them. This might be the perfect chance to memorize those equations I'd been putting off learning. 

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