All Chapters of My Bully Next Door: Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

BeckettAfter Ella and her mom went home, our house felt strangely empty.It was ridiculous, really. Ella hadn’t lived here in weeks. She’d only stayed with us for that one week while her mom was away on business, yet somehow the house still felt different whenever she left it. Maybe it was because that week had changed everything. Before Ella stayed with us, I had spent years pretending she was just the quiet girl next door. Afterward, pretending became impossible.Now I couldn’t stop thinking about the look on her face every time another anonymous message appeared.Not anger.Not even fear.It was disappointment.Like every new secret forced her to wonder whether she’d been wrong to believe in me after all.That hurt more than the messages themselves.Dad was already in the garage when I walked in. The large shelving unit Sean and I had installed weeks ago stood against the far wall, lined with paint cans, old football equipment, and boxes Mom kept promising to organize someday.I s

EllaI read Jamie’s message so many times that the words stopped looking like words.I’m sorry, Ella. I can’t keep being caught in the middle of you and Beckett.Two years ago, I hadn’t questioned it. I barely remembered reading it. At the time, my entire life at school had felt like one giant humiliation, and Beckett had been at the center of enough of it that Jamie mentioning his name probably hadn’t seemed strange. Everyone knew Beckett picked on me. Everyone knew his friends did too. Jamie had been getting comments because she was friends with me, so I must have assumed that was what she meant.Now I couldn’t understand how I had ever let those words go.Beckett had never talked to Jamie.At least, that was what he said.And the terrifying thing was that I believed him.A few months ago, I wouldn’t have. I would have looked at Beckett’s face, remembered every joke and every laugh, and automatically assumed there was another cruel story I hadn’t known about. But the boy standing in

EllaFor several seconds, nobody says anything.I keep staring at the last four numbers on Jamie’s screen as though they might rearrange themselves if I look long enough. They don’t. I know those numbers. I’ve typed them when my phone died and I borrowed Mom’s. I’ve written them on emergency contact forms. I’ve watched them flash across my screen at midnight when Lila called because she couldn’t sleep.I slowly turn toward her.Lila has gone completely white.“Ella…”“Tell me that isn’t your number.”She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out.That’s worse than any answer she could have given me.Jamie stands. “Maybe we should—”“Don’t.”My voice is sharper than I intend, but I don’t care. Not right now. My heart is beating so hard it hurts, and suddenly every awful thing that’s happened over the last few weeks is rearranging itself in my head. The notes. The pictures. The rumors. Lila always being there afterward.Lila knowing exactly how scared I was.Just like Jamie had.“Tell me,”

EllaFor a second, I honestly think I heard Jamie wrong.“My sister?”Jamie nods, and something inside me immediately rejects it. Not questions it. Rejects it completely.“No.”“Ella—”“No.” I stand so quickly the bleacher rattles beneath me. “My sister has nothing to do with this.”“I didn’t say she did.”“You just said Tyler gave her the phone.”“Because he did.”My heart pounds as I stare at Jamie. My sister is only a year younger than me. She has enough trouble keeping up at school without getting dragged into whatever twisted game someone has been playing. She loses chargers, forgets passwords, leaves her backpack in places nobody understands. The idea that she has secretly been running some anonymous harassment campaign is so ridiculous I almost laugh.Almost.Beckett stands beside me. “How do you know?”“I saw him give it to her.”“When?”“Right before he left for college.”Jamie looks uncomfortable now, probably because she can see how close I am to losing it. “She was sitting

EllaThere is something uniquely horrible about reading proof that someone once didn’t care about you while that same person is standing three feet away looking like he would tear the world apart if it hurt you now.I read Beckett’s message again even though I shouldn’t.Do whatever you want. I don’t give a shit about Ella James.Two years ago.Different Beckett.Different us.I know all of that, but knowing something doesn’t stop words from hurting.Beckett doesn’t try to take the phone from me. He doesn’t explain himself again or remind me that he changed. He just stands there and lets me feel whatever I’m going to feel, which somehow makes it harder to be angry with him.“I really hate who you were sometimes.”His face tightens. “Me too.”“I’m serious.”“So am I.”I hand him the phone. “You basically gave Bryce permission.”“I know.”“You told him you didn’t care what he did to me.”“I know.”My voice rises. “Would you stop saying that?”“What do you want me to say?”“I don’t know!