All Chapters of The Guy Who Lives Next Door : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

44 Chapters

Ch 31 — After the Tears

Ruby became invisible on purpose. After what happened.She took different hallways. Left class early or stayed late. Sat with her back to the room. If Kai Kingston entered a space, she exited it—quietly, decisively, without a glance. She didn’t flinch when his name was said. She didn’t react when his shadow crossed her desk. She treated him the way she’d learned to treat pain: by refusing to give it oxygen.It worked.At least on the outside.Inside, everything felt tender. Raw. Like the skin beneath a scab.The morning after the rooftop, Ruby moved through St. Celeste on muscle memory alone. Her eyes stayed forward. Her jaw stayed set. When Lila asked if she was okay, Ruby smiled and said, “Fine,” with a steadiness that fooled no one but ended the conversation anyway.Zara slid into the seat beside her in homeroom and whispered, “You’re being scary calm.”Ruby shrugged, opening her notebook. “I’m being done.”That was the truth she could live with.Kai noticed immediately.He noticed

Last Updated : 2026-01-19

Chapter 32 — Stronger Than Silence

Ruby decided she was done shrinking.It wasn’t a dramatic choice. No mirror monologue. No sudden rush of courage. Just a quiet, settled resolve that formed the moment she realized silence had never protected her—only made her easier to step over.By third period, St. Celeste felt different.Not louder. Not calmer.Sharper.It started in History.Mr. Halvorsen had always liked order. Not fairness—order. The kind that kept powerful families comfortable and inconvenient students invisible. Ruby had learned that early, learned to lower her gaze when his eyes skimmed past her name on the roster.That day, he didn’t skim.“Miss Carter,” he said, tapping his tablet. “Your last quiz score has been adjusted.”Ruby looked up slowly. “Adjusted how?”“A clerical correction,” he replied smoothly. “You’re now marked as a B-minus.”A ripple moved through the room. Ruby felt it—the subtle thrill of expectation. Of watching someone be put back in her place.She stood.“I earned an A,” she said.The ro

Last Updated : 2026-01-21

Chapter 33 — Accidental Kindness

Ruby noticed the first change on Monday morning.She paused just inside the classroom doorway, eyes scanning the rows out of habit now — calculating exits, allies, threats. Her name was back where it had been before everything went wrong.Third row. Window seat.Her stomach tightened.That was impossible.Mr. Hale had moved her two weeks ago, citing “class balance.” Everyone knew it was code for sit where Kai can see you. She’d argued — calmly, firmly — and lost.Now her name was back in neat black marker, like nothing had ever happened.Ruby slid into the seat slowly, waiting for the catch.There was none.Mr. Hale began the lesson without a word, like the change had always been there. No apology. No explanation.Ruby stared out the window, jaw tight.Across the room, Kai sat two rows behind her.He didn’t look at her.That was the strangest part.By lunch, it happened again.The gossip app had been buzzing all morning — she’d felt the phantom vibration in her pocket even when her ph

Last Updated : 2026-01-21

Chapter 34 — Brielle’s Lie

Ruby had learned to ignore the gossip app. She had trained herself to walk past it like it was a buzzing fly — annoying, but harmless. Until today.She was walking to her locker when Lila grabbed her arm, eyes wide.“Ruby, you need to see this!”Ruby groaned. “Lila, I—”But Lila shoved her phone under her nose.Ruby froze.The screen showed a post, carefully crafted: two photos cropped and edited to look intimate. Ruby and Theo, arms brushing in the hallway, laughing in the library. A caption ran underneath:“New power couple? #RubyAndTheo #SecretDating”Ruby’s stomach dropped. “No,” she whispered. “This isn’t real.”“It doesn’t matter,” Lila said, her voice tight. “Everyone will see it as real. Look at the comments!”Scrolling through, Ruby saw hundreds of emojis — hearts, fire, shocked faces. Some messages were malicious:“Typical new girl, trying to get attention.”“Wait, isn’t he smart? She’s using him.”“Kingston’s neighbor? Hahaha, she’s got plans.”Ruby’s fingers shook. “Briell

Last Updated : 2026-01-21

Chapter 35 — Jealousy Looks Ugly

“Do you even hear yourself?” Ruby muttered under her breath, mostly to herself.Kai didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. His presence pressed on her from across the hall. A shadow, a warning, a storm waiting to break.The cafeteria was crowded. The lunch rush had everyone in a hurry, trays clattering, gossip buzzing like electricity. Ruby tried to keep her head down, eat quickly, and avoid the inevitable.But she didn’t get that luxury today.Kai sat at his usual table, surrounded by his friends, that careless grin plastered on his face—but it was off. Edges sharp, eyes flicking constantly toward her.And Theo. Of course Theo. He was sitting across the hall, quietly eating, notebook open, eyes scanning the room like a hawk.Ruby’s stomach twisted.It started small.Kai’s friends nudged him. “Look at her with Alvarez.”He didn’t answer at first. He just stared. His jaw tightened. His hand slammed on the table.“Alvarez,” Kai said, voice low but deadly, “what are you doing with her?”Theo’

Last Updated : 2026-01-21

Chapter 36 — Detention

Kai’s voice echoed in Ruby’s head long after he disappeared down the hall.She told herself not to care.She told herself it was just another Kingston line—arrogant, entitled, empty.But it followed her all the way to the last period.And apparently, so did he.Detention was announced over the loudspeaker in the most casual tone possible, like it wasn’t a sentence.“Ruby Hale and Kai Kingston, please report to Room 214 after school.”Ruby froze mid-zip of her backpack.Around her, the classroom erupted in whispers.Kai didn’t even look surprised.Of course not.This was his territory. Consequences bent around him like weak knees.Ruby stood slowly, jaw tight. Detention with him. Trapped in the same room. No escape. No buffer. No Theo. No Lila. Just her and Kai Kingston and all the words she’d been holding back.She hated that her pulse quickened.Room 214 was small and old, the kind of classroom that smelled faintly of dust and erasers. Two desks sat separated in the middle like an aw

Last Updated : 2026-01-22

Chapter 37 — Cracks in the Armor

Kai’s words followed Ruby out of the classroom, down the hallway, all the way to the front steps of the school.She didn’t answer him.Or slow down.But she felt it.That sentence lodged itself somewhere deep, uncomfortable, and warm in a way she didn’t trust.Ruby told herself she was done noticing Kai Kingston.Done analyzing his moods, his words and she also done wondering what he meant when he looked at her like he almost understood her.And for most of the next few days, she succeeded.She focused on school. On Lila’s dramatic recaps of every hallway interaction. On Zara’s sarcastic commentary during lunch. On not looking toward Kai’s table.But life had a way of pushing her back toward him.Especially when they lived next door.It happened on a Thursday evening.Ruby came home late from the library, arms full of books, brain fried from studying. The street was quiet, lights glowing softly along the sidewalk.The Kingston house loomed beside hers—huge, modern, intimidating.And d

Last Updated : 2026-01-23

Chapter 38 — Theo Confesses

Ruby didn’t sleep well that night.Kai’s flinch replayed over and over in her mind—the way his body had reacted before his face did, like something deeply buried had been touched by accident. She told herself it wasn’t her problem. That whatever lived behind his walls wasn’t hers to unpack.Still, she woke with a heaviness she couldn’t shake.School the next day felt tense in a different way. Not loud. Not dramatic. Just… watchful.Theo noticed immediately.“You okay?” he asked as they walked toward the library after the second period.Ruby nodded out of habit. “Yeah. Just tired.”He didn’t push. That was one of the things about Theo—he never crowded her. He walked beside her, not ahead, not behind. Like he understood space mattered.They took their usual table by the tall windows. Sunlight spilled across the wooden surface, dust motes floating lazily in the air. It should’ve felt calm.It didn’t.Theo didn’t open his notebook.Instead, he folded his hands together, fingers lacing and

Last Updated : 2026-01-25

Chapter 39 — Violence

It happened faster than rumors ever did.Ruby was halfway down the east hallway, books hugged to her chest, when the laughter started behind her. Sharp. Mocking. Familiar.“Careful,” a boy’s voice said loudly. “Don’t trip. Wouldn’t want Kingston’s charity case bruising her knees.”Her shoulders tensed.She didn’t turn.She didn’t slow down.She’d learned that lesson already.But footsteps rushed closer. Too close.Someone brushed her arm on purpose.Her books slipped.They hit the floor with a crack that echoed down the hallway.Laughter burst out—three boys this time, seniors she recognized vaguely from Kai’s wider social orbit. Not his friends exactly. Worse. The ones who borrowed his name without his permission.Ruby crouched, cheeks burning, fingers scrambling to gather her things.“Relax,” one of them said. “We’re just joking.”“Yeah,” another added. “Theo’s girl can take a joke, right?”That made her freeze.“I’m not—” she started.“Hey.”The word cut through the hallway like a

Last Updated : 2026-01-25

Chapter 40 — The Price of Power

Kai’s words lingered on the rooftop long after he left.Ruby stood there alone, the wind biting through her jacket, staring at the city lights below. She didn’t answer him—not because she didn’t have words, but because every answer felt dangerous.She went home with a knot in her chest that wouldn’t loosen.The consequences came fast.Just… not the way she expected.By the next morning, everyone knew Kai had been “involved in an incident.” That was the phrase circulating—polite, vague, sanitized. Not fight. Not violence. An incident.The boys he’d hit were in school.Kai was too.No bruises on their faces. No visible punishment. No emergency assemblies.Just whispers.Ruby overheard them everywhere.“They said it was mutual.”“My cousin said the parents handled it.”“Kingston money, obviously.”In the first period, Kai’s seat was empty.Ruby noticed immediately. She hated herself for that.By the second period, the vice principal made an announcement.“Due to a minor altercation yeste

Last Updated : 2026-01-27

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