Page 41 of Don't Love the Boy Next Door
After a few minutes of me breaking my brain trying to learn this stuff, I close my book and turn to Phoenix, who’s absorbed in her phone again. “How’s it going with your parents?”
“It’s fine. I’ll visit them as much as I can. I just can’t live there anymore.”
“I’m sure they’ll support you one day.”
She shrugs. “It doesn’t bother me that much. They have six other kids. There’s a high probability one of them will turn out to be their perfect kid and make them happy.”
“You make them happy, Phoenix. I know they’re proud of you.”
“Meh. Doubt it. It’s cool, though. I love what I do and no one can take that away from me.”
“Not to mention your fans will chase you with pitchforks if you quit your channel,” I say with a laugh.
“I just wish my parents were a little younger and understood me a little better,” she says. “I hate arguing with them.”
At least she has parents to argue with. My mom is no longer here and my dad and I hardly interact.
“Anyway, I should probably try to learn that math, too,” she says as she picks herself up from the bed. “I don’t want to repeat junior year.”
Chapter Fourteen
Phoenix
“Why am I even going to this thing?” I complain to Katie as we get ready in her room. “He’syourbandmate. I don’t want anything to do with him.”
She holds a shirt over herself, frowns, and then tosses it to the discarded pile on her bed. “Because I don’t want to go alone.”
“You’re going with Eric and Cody,” I point out.
“It’s not the same as having my best friend at my side. Besides, don’t you want to live stream it?”
I twist my mouth. Sure, live streaming this epic football game would probably do wonders for my channel, but why does Jerkface have to be the star? I’ve managed to avoid him all day yesterday and today, and I’m so not looking forward to seeing him own the field tonight.
Mrs. Holden returned our report to us today and we got an A+. And she told us the last page added so much more depth to the report, turned it into a spectacular piece of work. Are you freakin’ kidding me?
“Don’t you think you and Ethan should try getting along by now?” Katie asks as she examines another shirt. She chucks that one, too, before grabbing another.
I couldn’t care less what I’m wearing. If it was up to me, I’d show up in a potato sack to that jerk’s precious game. The only reason I’m not is because of my fans. I need to at least look decent when I live stream.
“Nope,” I tell her. I’ll never forgive him for what he and his football buddies are doing to me online.
The past two days were more of the same thing, the jerks attacking me, and my fans—especially Liam—sticking up for me.
Liam and I talked a bit and played some games together the past two days. He’s so…mature. Like, clearly he’s older and doesn’t like dealing with petty juvenile stuff.
Gosh, I feel all hot and cold just thinking about him. And he makes me smile like an idiot, something that never happens to me.
My phone dings.
Katie lifts a brow. “Is that your boyfriend?” she teases.
I playfully roll my eyes. “He’snotmy boyfriend.”
“Yet.”
Rolling my eyes again, I reach for my phone. Yep. It’s Liam, asking me if I’m looking forward to gaming tonight. I text back that I’m nevernotready to game, but it’ll have to be much later because of the football game. He tells me that he has a family thing tonight and might not be able to text much, but he promises to meet up with me later.
Awesome.
