Misunderstood: Inspired by the Neighbor from Hell Series (A Neighbor from Hell YA Book 1)

by R. L. Mathewson

  Definitely better than raking leaves, Sebastian mused as he focused his attention on the butternut squash that needed to be mashed. He grabbed the small bowl of brown sugar that she’d set out for him and–

  “What happened?” Aunt Kasey demanded, drawing his attention to find Mikey walking into the kitchen, covered in grass and dirt with a large bruise forming on the right side of her face.

  “Nothing happened,” Mikey muttered, looking absolutely miserable.

  “So that large bruise forming on the side of your face…”

  “Is nothing,” Mikey said, dropping her bag by the door.

  Sighing heavily, Aunt Kasey said, “Go clean up for dinner. It’s almost ready.”

  “I’m not hungry. I just want to go to bed,” Mikey mumbled sadly as she started to pull off the sweatshirt that she stole from him only to rethink that decision when she spotted him. She let it drop back down with a grumble and slowly made her way to the living room.

  “Please tell me that they didn’t bench her again,” Aunt Kasey said, shaking her head in disgust as she focused on the mashed potatoes.

  “What happened last time?” Sebastian asked as he dumped the brown sugar in the butternut squash before reaching for the butter.

  “I’m not sure what she told you about the team that she was on back in the Cape, but they wouldn’t let her play. The parents complained about her pitches being too dangerous, which I understood, but the coach took that as an excuse to bench Mikey instead of letting her play a different position.”

  “She should be pitching,” Sebastian said, glancing back at the door that Mikey had disappeared through a minute ago, wondering if there was a way to fix this now instead of having to wait until next year.

  Uncle Reese could probably have a word with the coach but…

  Mikey would hate that and it would probably make things worse for her.

  “Yes, she should,” Aunt Kasey murmured in agreement only to follow that up with, “The coach is the reason why Mikey wants to go to a different school next year, isn’t it?”

  After a moment, he reluctantly nodded.

  With a muttered, “Damn it,” Aunt Kasey shook her head in disgust.

  For the next half hour, they worked quietly. Aunt Kasey looked like she was thinking something over while Sebastian was struggling to come up with a way to make this better for Mikey. While everything was finally going his way, Mikey was struggling. Every day, she got up early to practice her pitches before forcing herself to go to school and ask for extra credit that she didn’t want to do so that she could bring her grades up. She struggled to get as much homework done during lunch as she could so that she had more time to practice her pitches before she had to work on extra credit, study for the entrance exams, and complete her application essays at night, which probably wouldn’t have been a problem if it wasn’t for practice.

  Every day her coach worked Mikey until she was too sore to move and by the time that she came home at night, she was exhausted and all she wanted to do was crash. But, she couldn’t. She had to help her mom with dinner, play with her brothers, finish her chores, and then spend the next few hours with him working on their applications and he honestly wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take.

  It probably wouldn’t be so bad if the coach wasn’t making her life miserable, Sebastian thought as he moved to go do the dishes only to frown when Aunt Kasey handed him a plate overflowing with turkey and all the trimmings. With a warm smile, she placed two forks on the plate and slid two bottles of water into his apron pockets before gesturing toward the living room door. “Go,” was all she had to say to get him moving.

  He quickly made his way upstairs and walked into Mikey’s bedroom to find her sprawled out on the bed. “I’m not hungry,” she mumbled with a sad little sniffle.

  “Good. That means there’s more for me,” Sebastian said with a satisfied sigh that earned him a murderous glare as he sat down on the bed next to her.

  “Why are you so mean to me?” Mikey asked as he placed the water bottles on the nightstand.

  “Because it’s easy?” he said around a bite of turkey.

  “This is true,” Mikey said with a heartfelt sigh and a nod as she reluctantly sat up and grabbed a fork.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not really,” Mikey mumbled sadly as she helped herself to the turkey.

  “Want me to beat up your coach?” Sebastian asked, watching as her lips twitched.

  “Yes, yes, I would,” she said, nodding as she shifted her attention to the stuffing.

  “What’s he done now?” Sebastian asked, turning the plate around to make it easier for her to attack the mashed potatoes.

  “He’s punishing me for being slower than everyone else. Apparently, I’m not fast enough to stand around in right field,” she admitted with a helpless shrug as he sat there, thinking it over as he debated something.

  Deciding that it couldn’t exactly hurt, he said, “I might be able to help.”

  Looking really hopeful, Mikey asked, “Really?”

  Nodding, he said, “I have an idea.”

  Sighing, Mikey helped herself to a biscuit as she said, “At this point, I’m willing to try anything.”

  Chapter 29

  “Wait! No, I changed my mind!” Mikey screamed somewhat hysterically, but it couldn’t be helped. She also couldn’t seem to stop screaming, “I changed my mind!”

  Unfortunately for her, the horrible boy that dragged her out of bed at six a.m. on a Saturday morning didn’t really seem to care. “Come on, five more,” Sebastian said only to emphasize his demand with another spray of ice-cold water from the hose.

  Wondering why he was doing this to her, Mikey forced herself to continue doing pushup/squat/jumping thingies while the horrible boy stood by with the hose, ready to squirt her if she tried to stop. Once she was done, Sebastian nodded approvingly as he tossed the hose aside, making her sag with relief, that is, until he reached for the stack of egg cartons that she’d been wondering about.

  “What are those for?” Mikey asked warily only to end up gasping in outrage when he pulled an egg out of the carton and threw it at her.

  When she opened her mouth to ask him what the hell was wrong with him, Sebastian reached for another egg as he softly said, “Run.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Mikey said only to gasp when an egg hit her shoulder.

  Taking his time to select another egg, Sebastian once again said, “Run.”

  This time, she decided that it might be for the best if she went for a lovely jog around the neighborhood. Decision made, Mikey turned around and–

  “Hey!”

  “Run faster,” came the calmly spoken words that had her running toward the street to get away from the horrible boy that she was never talking to again!

  *-*-*-*

  “Go away! I hate you!” came the angrily muttered words that had Sebastian sighing as he glanced down at his watch.

  “We’re running five minutes behind,” he told her, wondering why she was being so damn difficult about this as he double-checked to make sure that the Nerf gun that he’d borrowed from his little brother was fully loaded. He wasn’t sure that he was going to need two hundred rounds, but it couldn’t hurt.

  “I don’t care!” came the announcement that drew his attention back to the locked bathroom door.

  “This is for your own good, Mikey,” Sebastian drawled as he debated his options.

  “No, it’s not!”

  Deciding that they’d wasted enough time with this, he made his way back to the hallway, walked the short distance to her baby brothers’ room and quietly climbed over the baby gate. Once he’d assured himself that he hadn’t woken any of her brothers up, he made his way to the bathroom door and reached for the doorknob. He wasn’t exactly surprised to find the door unlocked, but he was surprised to find the bathroom empty.

  Climbing over the baby gate, he crossed to the other door and…

  Sighe
d.

  Just freaking sighed as he turned around and pushed the shower curtain aside. When the teenage girl that was currently trying to hide from him saw him standing there, she noticeably swallowed. When her gaze landed on the large Nerf gun in his arms, Mikey cleared her throat as she stood up and gestured awkwardly toward her bedroom. “I’ll just go grab my shoes.”

  “That’s probably for the best,” Sebastian murmured in agreement as he stepped back, giving her a chance to do just that.

  When she hesitated, he switched off the safety and aimed the Nerf gun at her. With another murmured, “Right,” a nod, and a grumble, Mikey stepped out of the tub, climbed over the baby gate blocking her room, grabbed her sneakers and headed for the door. That was followed by Sebastian deciding that two hundred rounds probably wasn’t going to be enough.

  *-*-*-*

  “Finally,” Mikey mumbled as she shoved the practice test aside and promptly dropped her head down on her folded arms, too exhausted to do anything more than that.

  “You finished with five minutes to spare,” the horrible boy that was making her life a living hell said, sounding pleased.

  “I really hate you,” Mikey mumbled, shifting to get more comfortable.

  “I know you do,” came the absently mumbled response along with a patronizing pat on her head that had her turning her head so that she could level a glare on him.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” Mikey asked, too exhausted to do anything more than glare in his direction.

  “You’ll thank me later for this,” Sebastian said, reaching over to give one of her braids a playful tug.

  “I really won’t though,” she mumbled even though she knew that he was probably right.

  They were scheduled to take the entrance exam next week on the one day that she didn’t have practice, which meant that when Sebastian wasn’t torturing her with early morning runs, pushups, and crunches, he was helping her study and giving her practice exams and now…

  Now she just wanted the damn test to be over.

  “Hey, it looks like you raised your score by twenty points,” Sebastian said, nodding in approval.

  Sighing with relief, Mikey opened her mouth and–

  “Run.”

  “What?” she asked, blinking slowly as she raised her head and–

  “Run,” Sebastian said as he reached for the paintball gun that she’d been wondering about.

  “Wait!” Mikey said, nervously licking her lips as she stood up, knocking her chair over in the process and–

  “Run.”

  “Why am I running?” she asked, tripping over the chair as she backed away from the crazed boy following her.

  “You’re running a minute for every question that you got wrong,” Sebastian answered, sounding bored as he raised the paintball gun.

  “This,” Mikey said, gesturing frantically between the two of them, “is the reason why Jonathan is my favorite!”

  “You probably shouldn’t have told me that,” Sebastian said as he stepped around the kitchen table, right around the time that Mikey decided that a run at this time of night sounded lovely.

  With that in mind, she raced to the door, threw it open, and made a run for it, hoping to lose him in the woods and–

  “Ow!”

  *-*-*-*

  “This was a really good idea,” Sebastian said as he loaded more tennis balls into the ball machine.

  “Ow!” came the startled gasp as the ball hit Mikey in the back simply because she hadn’t moved fast enough.

  “She’s not running fast enough,” Mrs. Blaine said, gesturing with her cane in Mikey’s general direction.

  “I completely agree,” Sebastian said, nodding in agreement as he turned the tennis ball machine that he’d helped himself to from the tennis courts, following Mikey as she raced from second base back to first and–

  “Ow!”

  “She’s definitely not moving fast enough,” Sebastian said with a sad shake of his head as he watched Mikey turn around and head back to second base again.

  “She needs to move faster,” Mrs. Blaine said as she reached over and turned the knob to a higher setting and–

  “Ow!”

  “That’s better,” Mrs. Blaine said, and he couldn’t help but agree.

  *-*-*-*

  This ended now, Mikey decided as she slowly, ever so slowly, pushed Sebastian’s bedroom window open. Once she was inside, she moved to close the window behind her only to rethink that plan since she would most likely need to make a quick escape.

  Decision made, Mikey slowly made her way across the room, careful not to wake up the boy passed out on the bed on the other side of the room. She would make him pay, Mikey decided with a firm nod and–

  “What are you doing?” came the whispered question from her left.

  After making sure that Sebastian wasn’t awake, Mikey turned her attention to Jonathan and softly whispered, “Revenge.”

  Nodding in approval, Jonathan laid back down and closed his eyes as Mikey slowly turned her attention to the reason that she was breaking in at two in the morning.

  Sebastian.

  The hell he’d been putting her through ended now!

  She would no longer live in fear of having eggs thrown at her or have to wonder how early Sebastian was going to break into her room to drag her outside to run laps while spraying her with the hose.

  Those days of living in fear were over!

  After tonight, he would never chase her with water balloons again while yelling for her to run faster. She was going to make sure that he never–

  “What’s going on in here?” Uncle Trevor asked quietly as the bedroom door suddenly opened, spilling light in from the hallway on her.

  Swallowing hard, Mikey followed his gaze as he took in the large roll of duct tape in her hand before glancing back at her. At his questioning look, Mikey licked her lips nervously as she weakly gestured toward Sebastian, who was still thankfully fast asleep in his bed, and said, “Revenge?”

  For a moment, he didn’t say anything and then…

  “No permanent damage,” Uncle Trevor said as he carefully closed the door behind him, leaving her standing there trying to figure out what just happened until she realized that she was wasting precious time.

  Giving herself a mental shake, Mikey shifted her focus back on Sebastian, quietly cleared her throat, and–

  “Run,” came the softly spoken word that had her breath leaving her lungs in a rush as she watched Sebastian, who should’ve still been sleeping, sit up and…

  She wasn’t exactly sure what else he was doing since she’d decided that it was imperative for her to turn around and head back to the window. She barely made it two feet before she suddenly found herself thrown over Sebastian’s shoulder.

  “You know,” he began conversationally, “it’s still pretty dark out. Why don’t we work on your pushups for now?”

  “But…my revenge,” Mikey mumbled sadly, not really caring that she was pouting.

  Sebastian gave her leg a patronizing pat as he said, “And it was terrifying. I’ll probably have to sleep with one eye open for the rest of my life now.”

  With a sniffle, Mikey said, “Well, I guess that’s something.”

  Chapter 30

  “This just isn’t going to work for me,” Aunt Haley said as she placed the essay that he’d been working on for the past week back in front of him.

  “What’s wrong with it?” Sebastian asked as he handed the bottle back to Hunter, who had thrown it on the floor, hoping to distract Sebastian long enough so that he could steal his sandwich.

  “Everything,” Aunt Haley said, reaching up to push her glasses back up her nose.

  “That really cleared everything up. Thanks,” Sebastian said dryly with a mock glare that had her smiling.

  “It didn’t move me,” Aunt Haley said as she helped herself to his chips while Hunter managed to get his tiny hands on his sandwich.

  “It’s supposed to move you?” S
ebastian asked with a resigned sigh as he got up and grabbed everything out of the refrigerator that he was going to need to make another sandwich.

  “So then, what are they looking for?” Sebastian asked as he made another turkey sandwich.

  “More than this,” Aunt Haley said even as he had to wonder why he was wasting his time.

  They were never going to let him in no matter how good his essay was, but then again, that wasn’t really the point was it? He needed to do this for Mikey. She wanted to play baseball next year and he was going to make sure that happened, which meant that he had to play along.

  “Can you be more specific?” Sebastian asked as he reached for the mayonnaise and–

  “Light on the mayonnaise, please,” Aunt Haley said, making his lips twitch as he reached for another plate. “They want a glimpse of who you are, how well you handle yourself, your ability to explain yourself, and they want you to convince them that you are the best choice.”

  “Okay, so then what would you suggest I write about?” Sebastian asked as he quickly finished making her sandwich and started making one for himself.

  “You could write about your expulsion and how that affected your life, but then you take the risk of reminding them that you were expelled from middle school, which might not end well.”

  “True,” Sebastian murmured in agreement, mostly because there was no way in hell that he was going to write about that when he didn’t even like thinking about it.

  “You could talk about what it was like when your mom acted as a surrogate for Darrin and Marybeth, and what it felt like when you saw the triplets for the first time,” Aunt Haley suggested.

  “That’s not really my experience though,” Sebastian pointed out since the extent of his involvement in that had been getting his mom snacks, trying to stay out of trouble, and watching his father lose his mind whenever his mother tried to do anything for herself.