All Chapters of THE QUARTERBACK NEXT DOOR: Chapter 31 - Chapter 38

Lena’s POVBy the time I get to school the next morning, I have already made a very important decision for the sake of my remaining sanity, my emotional stability, and my ability not to throw a textbook directly at Derek Hayes’s perfectly shaped head.I am done trying.Not dramatically. Not emotionally. Not in a “standing in the rain while sad music plays” kind of way.I’m simply done wasting energy on someone who clearly wakes up every morning and chooses confusion as a personality trait.Which means if Bryan Miller wants to publicly announce to half the school that I’m his crush like he’s submitting a declaration to the government, then honestly… fine.At least Bryan acts like he actually likes me instead of treating basic human feelings like they’re illegal.The second I walk through the front entrance, I can already feel eyes turning toward me, whispers moving through the hallway like people here survive exclusively on gossip and overpriced cafeteria fries, but for once, it doesn’

Lena’s POVThere are certain things inside the Hayes mansion that nobody talks about directly, the kind of things that exist quietly beneath polished floors, expensive furniture, and carefully controlled smiles, and ever since I arrived here, I have noticed small details that feel insignificant on their own but deeply unsettling once they begin collecting inside your mind long enough.Locked doors that nobody explains…and I was strongly told not to approach.Since the Hayes came back there's been late-night conversations that stop immediately whenever footsteps approach.And then there is the restricted corridor near Mr. Hayes’s office, a narrow hallway on the second floor with a dark door at the end that somehow always feels colder than the rest of the house, as though even the air around it understands it is not supposed to belong to anyone else.Nobody goes there.At least not openly.Which, unfortunately, only makes me more curious, because telling an observant person not to wond

Derek’s POVHmmmm….There are very few things more exhausting than walking into Ridgewood High at eight in the morning and immediately sensing chaos before anyone even opens their mouth.Unfortunately, Vanessa Blake has perfected that atmosphere over the years.She does not create scenes loudly anymore because she learned long ago that subtle cruelty survives longer than dramatic cruelty, and the second I spot her near the lockers surrounded by her usual audience of emotionally unemployed cheerleaders, I already know somebody’s day is about to get ruined for entertainment purposes.Then I see Lena.And suddenly the problem becomes predictable.She is standing near her locker quietly adjusting the strap of her bag, expression calm in that careful way she has when she is trying not to attract attention, and for reasons I do not entirely understand, watching her exist like that while people constantly look for ways to tear at her nerves irritates me more every day.Bryan is beside her ta

Derek’s POVBy the end of the day, I have officially become Ridgewood High’s favorite topic against my will.Which is saying something considering last month people thought Coach Thompson was secretly having an affair with the cafeteria manager because they were seen buying oranges together at a grocery store.This school survives entirely on delusion and WiFi.The second the final bell rings, my phone starts vibrating like it has developed a personal vendetta against silence.Messages and notificationsFootball group chats exploding.Social media posts already dissecting my “public defense” of Lena like sports commentators analyzing national tragedy.Mason appears beside me while I shove my phone back into my pocket with growing irritation.“You know,” he says thoughtfully, “when people said senior year would be memorable, I do not think they imagined you defending a girl accused of theft like a divorced father in court.”“I hate you.”“No, seriously,” he continues, barely holding ba