All Chapters of My Bully Next Door: Chapter 81 - Chapter 87

BeckettHolding Ella’s hand in front of half the school should have felt terrifying.Instead, it felt weirdly natural.Like my body had gotten tired of fighting something my heart had already decided weeks ago.The rumors didn’t magically stop.If anything, they got worse.People stared.People whispered.Tyler claimed three separate freshmen asked if Ella and I were secretly engaged.Sean nearly choked laughing when he heard that one.But for the first time, I honestly didn’t care.Not because the attention disappeared.Because Ella smiled more.And somehow that mattered more than everything else.By Thursday afternoon, practice had finally ended, and I was heading toward the parking lot when I heard someone call my name.“Beckett.”I turned automatically.Charlene.Great.Just what I needed.She was leaning against a car a few rows away, arms folded across her chest. Blonde hair perfectly styled. Makeup flawless. The kind of girl that had always fit naturally into my world.Or at le

Beckett Sometimes the quiet moments were the most dangerous. Not because they were dramatic. Because they gave me time to think. Practice had ended an hour ago, and for once I wasn’t rushing anywhere. Sean had gone home with Tyler, Mason had soccer practice with Mom, and the house felt strangely empty. I should’ve been studying. Coach had already reminded us twice this week that grades still mattered, and midterms weren’t exactly optional. Instead, I found myself wandering. Again. My feet seemed to have developed a habit of making decisions without asking permission first. Before I knew it, I was standing on the sidewalk between our houses, hands shoved into the pockets of my hoodie, staring across the small stretch of grass that separated my front porch from Ella’s. The lights were on inside her living room. I could see movement through the curtains. For the first time in weeks, that sight didn’t come with panic. It came with something softer. Comfort. The realization

BeckettI should’ve known one morning wasn’t going to change everything.For about five minutes after walking into school beside Ella, I actually let myself believe things might finally be getting easier.She’d smiled at me.Really smiled.Not the nervous little one she’d been giving me for weeks, but the kind that reached her eyes and made those tiny dimples appear in her cheeks. I’d carried her backpack through the parking lot, we’d laughed together, and for the first time since this whole disaster started, I didn’t feel like I was constantly one wrong move away from losing her.It felt… normal.Which should’ve been my first warning.Nothing about my life had been normal since Ella Monroe started looking at me like I was capable of becoming a better man.By second period, the whispers had already started.I heard my name twice before I even made it to English. By lunch, people weren’t bothering to lower their voices anymore.“Dude actually brought her backpack inside.”“I told you t