My Surprise Next Door (Sweet Mountain High #4) - Stephanie Street Page 0,1
up correctly—something Mara had berated me for after I’d left it crooked a couple of times. I never realized it was such a big deal, but according to my neighbor, the garbage truck driver has to get out of the truck to straighten it so the machine will pick it up, and it’s rude to make him waste his time.
“Do you always have to move like a bulldozer?”
The sound of her voice immediately got my back up. “Do you always have to stick your nose in my business?”
She stood framed in an open second-story window of the house next door, a paintbrush in hand. When we first moved in, and I realized Mara lived next door, I’d been mildly interested. With dark brown hair and brilliant green eyes, she was pretty. Her tall, slim body made me look twice since I was so tall myself, and I liked her heart-shaped face and golden skin. I thought it might be fun to flirt a little.
That was before I got to know her. Now, I was irritated that she was kind of hot and smelled nice. A girl like her should be ugly and smell like mothballs.
Just to annoy her, I picked up one of the many basketballs that had rolled up against the side of the house during the pick-up games the guys and I would play now and then. I was the only one with a hoop, so I had a collection going. I dribbled several times before shooting.
Thump, thump, clang.
Mara hated it when I played basketball in the driveway. She didn’t have to say anything for me to know—the sound of her window slamming shut every time was enough.
Thump, thump, thump, thump. I aimed and shot. Nothing but net. I should have missed on purpose, so it made more noise. Childish, but I didn’t care.
Mara’s window slid shut, making me grin.
Braden was right. Somehow, I had to get my neighbor off my back.
I spent the next few minutes shooting around just to annoy her when it hit me. I knew just how to get back at perfect little Mara.
“Detention,” I said to Braden the next day as we walked together to baseball practice.
“Huh?” he glanced at me, alarmed. Detention wasn’t the end of the world, but it meant missing practice. “You have detention? What for?”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t have detention. Mara.” It was perfect.
Braden squinted his eyes like he hadn’t heard me correctly. “Mara has detention? Mara Cronk, your neighbor? Why would she have detention?” He knew as well as I did, Mara never got in trouble for anything.
“She wouldn’t, you idiot. That’s why I have to make sure she gets one.” It wasn’t just perfect—it was brilliant. And if that didn’t get Mara to leave me alone, nothing would.
“How in the world are you going to do it?” Braden and I skirted around a corner toward the administration offices. The locker rooms were on the other side.
I shrugged. “I have no idea, but think about it. What better way to get Miss High-and-Mighty off my back than to take her down a peg?” I could already see her expression in my mind. But how to do it?
Braden busted out laughing. “Can you just imagine her reaction? Priceless. Whatever you do, just make sure I’m there to see it.” He held out his fist.
I hit it with mine. “You know it.”
First, I had to figure out a plan, a rule to break that would result in a detention and one I could orchestrate her into breaking in front of a teacher.
The perfect solution presented itself the next day while Braden and I were walking together again, this time toward our third period Language Arts class.
About halfway down the hall, catcalls and whoops broke out.
“What is that about?” Braden strained his neck to see. “Oh man, check it out. It’s Hardwell and his girl, Kate. Doh!”
Craning my neck, I spotted Miller Hardwell and his girlfriend Kate Andrews locked in an embrace. I had no idea what possessed the two of them to go at it in the middle of school, but they better hope they didn’t get caught since they were right outside Mr. Klaton’s room. The AP Calculus teacher gave out detentions like they were Halloween candy to anyone who came to his door.
“Dude, here comes Klaton.” Everyone had stopped to watch Miller and Kate. Kate’s hair, which never seemed to be out of place, had been mussed by Miller’s hands.
Mr. Klaton cleared his throat. But