Misunderstood (A Neighbor from Hell YA #1) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,8

pull it off. This could definitely work, Mikey thought, nodding only to end up groaning as she dropped her head in her hands because she definitely wasn’t going to be able to pull this one off in time.

“What are you doing?” came the murmured question that had her dropping her hands away to find Sebastian helping himself to the hamburger that she bought for him as he dropped down in the seat across from her.

“Wallowing in self-pity,” Mikey said as she grabbed a tater tot and popped it in her mouth.

Nodding, Sebastian said, “And you’re really good at it.”

“I know,” Mikey said absently as she glanced around the busy cafeteria, making sure that none of the teachers had noticed Sebastian’s presence even as she couldn’t help but wonder how he kept managing to sneak in here without getting caught.

“Why are we wallowing?” Sebastian asked, popping another tater tot in his mouth as he leaned over and picked her backpack up off the floor.

“Because it brings me joy,” she said, grabbing one of the chocolate milks off the tray and took a sip as Sebastian searched through her bag to see if she had any new books to read. When he came across the book that she was supposed to read for class, he said, “The Count of Monte Cristo? I’ve already read this book,” with a disappointed sigh.

“Figures,” Mikey said with a pathetic groan as she watched Sebastian shift his attention to her book report.

“What’s this?” he asked, frowning down at her paper.

“My book report,” she said, switching her attention to her burger.

Blinking, Sebastian looked back down at the paper in his hands and–

“No, seriously. What is this?” he asked, making her eyes narrow on him as she reached over and snatched the paper that she’d really rather not discuss out of his hands and decided that a change in topic was in order.

“How was therapy?” she asked, watching as he ran a hand through his messy short dark-brown hair that somedays looked black, today being one of those days.

She liked his hair, but she liked his eyes even more. They were the bluest eyes that she’d ever seen. They were also the first thing that she’d noticed about him. The second? That he was too damn serious for a kid their age. While the rest of the kids in his family had been playing football, running around on the beach, and playing tag, he’d had his face buried in a book, ignoring the world around him.

The few times that he’d spoken to her, he’d been quiet, greeted her with a polite smile, asked her a few questions about baseball and then…

He’d have another book in his hands and the world around him was once again forgotten. She’d shrugged it off, figuring that he wasn’t really interested in talking to her, which was why he’d taken her by surprise when he’d decided to go with her when she got stuck going with her mom and Reese on an errand to pick up tools for the renovation on their house. Not that driving two hours to pick up tools was her idea of a good time, but it had either been that or spending the day with her Uncle Eric at his office, helping sort through IRS forms.

That had led to her sneaking over to the cottage Reese’s family was renting for the summer, deciding that it would be in her best interest to bring someone with her to make it harder for her mom to change her mind and make her go with her uncle. With that in mind, she’d quickly decided to drag one of the boys with her since the girls hadn’t seemed all that interested in baseball.

She’d quickly decided against bringing Sebastian with her because he was too damn serious and had settled on his brother Jonathan only to find herself dragged out of the room by Sebastian, who’d decided that he was going no matter what. That’s when she’d realized there was a lot more to Sebastian than she’d thought. He was smart, funny, and entertaining, which she’d appreciated since it made the trip more interesting.

They’d hung out with his family, played Monopoly, watched movies, and had a sleepover at Reese’s parents’ house and then, the next morning when they got back to her house, it had been like none of it had ever happened. He’d gone back to his books and she’d been disappointed. She figured that he didn’t want to be friends with a