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หน้าหลัก / YA/TEEN / The Guy Who Lives Next Door / Ch. 18 — Lines Are Drawn

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Ch. 18 — Lines Are Drawn

ผู้เขียน: Pauline Maxwell
last update ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2025-12-24 12:23:56

By Monday morning, St. Celeste High had chosen sides.

Ruby felt it the second she walked through the front gates—the way conversations dipped when she passed, the way eyes tracked her like she was a headline waiting to happen. The school had always been loud, but now it buzzed with something sharper. Suspicion. Curiosity. Loyalty.

Team Kai didn’t wear jerseys or badges. They didn’t need to. They moved with confidence, laughter ringing too loud in hallways, shoulders brushing past people who didn’t matter. Teachers smiled at them longer. Doors opened quicker.

The others—the curious outsiders—kept their heads down.

Ruby tried to do the same.

It didn’t work.

First period was English. Ruby slid into her seat, heart thudding, and pulled out her notebook. When the bell rang, Mr. Halvorsen cleared his throat and announced a surprise quiz.

Ruby blinked. Surprise quizzes weren’t in the syllabus.

She answered carefully, confident enough. When papers were returned twenty minutes later, her stoma
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  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Ch. 24 — The Secret Ruby Never Told

    Ruby didn’t sleep.She lay on her back staring at the ceiling, the glow of her phone burned into her vision long after she locked the screen. Every time she closed her eyes, the same words resurfaced.Why she really left.Her chest tightened.By morning, the gossip app had doubled its traffic. The post hadn’t revealed anything yet—but that was worse. Speculation filled the gaps like poison gas.She walked into school braced for impact.Whispers followed her again, but they felt different now. Less sharp. More curious. Like people were waiting for permission to decide what to think of her.Ruby ignored them until lunch, when she finally cracked.She didn’t sit in the cafeteria.Instead, she led Lila and Zara to the empty courtyard behind the arts wing—a forgotten space with chipped benches and overgrown ivy. It felt safer there. Quieter.“Okay,” Lila said gently, dropping her bag. “You don’t have to say anything. But you look like you’re carrying a bomb.”Zara nodded. “And we’re alread

  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Ch. 23 — Power Doesn’t Like Resistance

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  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Ch. 22 — Breaking the Princess

    Ruby learned the sound of a trap before it snapped.It was the way Brielle smiled too sweetly when she volunteered to “help,” the way a few heads turned before the teacher even finished the sentence, the way the room seemed to lean forward like it wanted a show.It was third period—Civics. The class where discussions turned into performances and opinions became weapons. Mr. Calder stood at the front, shuffling papers.“Today,” he said, “we’ll be doing short, impromptu presentations. Two minutes. No notes. I’ll call names.”Ruby’s stomach tightened. She was fine with speaking—usually. But lately, anything that put her in front of people felt like standing under a spotlight with no way to blink.“Brielle Fontaine,” Mr. Calder said.Brielle rose gracefully, already smiling. She spoke smoothly about community responsibility and image—about how perception shaped reality. She didn’t look at Ruby once.But Ruby felt every word aimed at her.When Brielle finished, polite applause followed. Mr

  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Ch. 21 — Theo’s Other Side

    Ruby started noticing patterns when she stopped trying not to.It happened the Thursday after the library discovery, when the weight of the Kingston name still pressed against her chest like a held breath. She lingered after school, pretending to reorganize her locker while students streamed past her in clusters—laughing, shoving, alive in ways she didn’t feel lately.Theo had said he needed to return a book.“I’ll walk with you,” Ruby had offered.He smiled, that same gentle curve that always made him seem harmless. “I’ll catch up. I promised someone I’d meet them.”Someone.The word stuck.Ruby nodded, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and headed out the front doors alone. Halfway down the steps, she glanced back.Theo wasn’t going to the library.He was cutting across the parking lot, phone to his ear, shoulders squared, moving with a purpose she hadn’t seen before. He didn’t look like a quiet, brilliant kid hoping to keep his head down.He looked… focused.Ruby hesitated, then

  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Ch. 20 — The Kingston Name

    The library was supposed to be neutral ground.That was what Ruby told herself as she slipped through the tall glass doors after school, backpack heavy on her shoulders, thoughts heavier still. Libraries didn’t take sides. Books didn’t whisper. Facts didn’t care who your parents were.She needed that illusion.“Group project,” Lila had announced earlier, dropping into the seat beside Ruby in history class. “Local power structures and modern influence. Partners assigned by last name.”Ruby hadn’t laughed at the irony. She’d barely heard the rest.Now she sat at a long wooden table beneath soft yellow lamps, the scent of paper and polish filling her lungs. Theo sat across from her, already pulling books from his bag.“You don’t have to stay,” Ruby said quietly.Theo looked up. “I want to.”She nodded, grateful and guilty all at once.They divided the work easily—too easily. Theo took notes with calm efficiency. Ruby opened her laptop, typed in the project keywords, and let the search re

  • The Guy Who Lives Next Door    Ch. 19 — Rumors Have Teeth

    Rumors didn’t spread at St. Celeste High.They hunted.By Tuesday morning, Ruby could feel it before she saw it—the way people glanced at her, then quickly away, the way whispers followed half a step behind her down the hallway like something breathing at her back.She didn’t need to check the gossip app.She already knew.Theo walked beside her, hands tucked into his hoodie pockets, expression neutral in that careful way he wore when he was bracing for impact. His calm only made the knot in Ruby’s chest tighten harder.“They’re saying things,” she said quietly.“I know.”“About me.”“I know.”She stopped walking and faced him. “Why aren’t you mad?”Theo hesitated, then shrugged. “Because being mad won’t stop it.”“That’s not an answer.”“It’s the truth.”Ruby exhaled sharply through her nose and continued toward class, anger buzzing under her skin like static. She was mad—furious, actually—but beneath that was something worse.Humiliation.First period passed in a blur of half-heard

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