Misunderstood (A Neighbor from Hell YA #1) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,35

I don’t,” Chloe bit out only to demand. “Why did you tell him that?”

“Because you’re always staring at him!”

“Glaring!” Chloe snapped. “I’m always glaring at him!”

“Same thing!”

“No, it’s really not,” Chloe said, sighing heavily as she stood there, rubbing her hands roughly down her face as she told herself that this wasn’t happening.

It just couldn’t be…

There was no way that her life was about to get worse than it already was. It just wasn’t possible, she told herself as she dropped her hands away. God, she hated her life, Chloe thought on a groan only to follow that up by wondering if she wasn’t making too much of this.

Maybe Cole hadn’t heard Katie? Or maybe he really just didn’t care? That was possible, Chloe told herself with a slow nod and the reminder that he barely knew that she was alive. With any luck, he wouldn’t mention it to his friends, Chloe hoped as she slowly exhaled trying not to panic, but it was kind of impossible since she knew what would happen if Cole ever told his friends what her little sister said.

They would make her life a living hell.

Not that they weren’t already doing that anyway, but something told her that if they found out what Katie said that they’d make it a hell of a lot worse and she really didn’t think that she could handle that. For probably the hundredth time this week, Chloe wondered if she’d be better off transferring to the public high school, but…

That really wasn’t really an option.

She’d worked her butt off to get into Latin Scribe High School. For four years, she’d worked her butt off, got good grades, studied day and night so that she could nail the entrance exam, and did every extracurricular activity that she could fit into her schedule all so that she could make her application stand apart from the rest with the hope that it would be enough to get her a full scholarship.

And once her dream finally became a reality…

Cole’s friends had turned it into a nightmare, making her life a living hell and making her wish that she’d never heard of Latin Scribe High School. It would be so easy to tell her uncle that she wanted to transfer, but then she would have to tell him why and she really didn’t think that was a good idea considering that Cole’s grandfather was his boss.

God, why couldn’t she just be invisible?

Knowing that it was pointless to worry about something that she had no control over, Chloe checked under the doormat for the key that was supposed to be hidden there and wasn’t really surprised when she couldn’t find it.

“You interfered with my business,” came the disgruntled announcement that had Chloe looking up and biting back a groan when she spotted Katie standing in the window, holding the spare key.

“Uncle Nick told you to let it go,” Chloe reminded her as she stood up while she tried to figure out how she was going to get in the house now.

“Uncle Nick also told you to watch me,” Katie pointed out with a smug smile as Chloe considered her options and realized that she really didn’t have any.

Not unless she wanted to try climbing to the second floor to see if she could squeeze through the bathroom window and she really didn’t want to do that, mostly because she wasn’t a big fan of heights. That left…

“I guess I’ll just have to tell Santa Claus what you did,” Chloe said with a sad shake of her head.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Katie said with a small gasp of outrage that had Chloe biting back a smile.

“Oh, but I would,” Chloe said, taking immense satisfaction in seeing the glare on her sister’s face, “I really would.”

Katie didn’t say anything for a minute, but then again, she didn’t have to, not when they both knew that she would never do anything to risk pissing off Santa Claus. She would–

“Then I better go make sure that it’s worth it!” came the announcement that had Chloe panicking as she watched her little sister suddenly disappear back behind the curtains.

“Katie?” Chloe said, licking her lips nervously as she shifted her attention to the other windows as she tried the front door again only to bite back a curse as she pushed away from the door and–

Got the wind knocked out of her when she ran into something solid. Before she fell back against the front door, a strong pair of hands wrapped