Unexpected Neighbor

The sun was already setting. In the alleyway at the district behind the school, there was a group of students that could be seen.

One was a group of five girls and the other was a group of ten boys. They were all wearing the blue school uniform of the St. Therese Academy.

"What's this Lorence? I heard you join some lousy club?" Arishe Belo, the leader of the Phoenix gang, laughed out loud. The other four girls that were with her also burst out laughing. "Are you serious about it or are you just out of your mind?" she chewed some bubble gum and popped it.

She gestured her hand as a sign to stop, which shut the girls. "What is it called? Literature club, pfft." And once again, they start to burst out laughing while Lorence was keeping his cool.

"Hmm so tell me Laurence, why does this club grab your attention and interest to decide to be part of it, huh?" she moved closer to him waiting for his answer. When she was already in front of him, almost three inch apart…

"Shut your mouth up or I'll kill you." Lorence threatened. His gaze was cold which could send shivers to anyone.

She made another bubble using the bubble gum until it popped up due to the pressure of the air. "Oh scary! Come on Lorence, don't be so serious about it. I'm just joking." Arishe removed the bubble gum surrounded on her lips and gestured a peace sign after it. She picked the wrapper from her pocket and put the gum on it. Before throwing it to the trash near them.

"If you want, I can help you get rid of that club and its members. Hmm..." She crossed her arms as if she was thinking. "She was called Queen of Delinquents right? I'll handle her for you. After all, there should only be one queen in our school. What do you think?"

"Do what the heck you want Arishe," Lorence turned around, no longer interested in this meet-up. He felt that whatever that was going to be talked in this meeting of brats, it would waste more of his time.

Cyrus Austria, followed after Lorence. "Hey Lorence, that's a bit too much. Arishe and her gang are one hella crazy bitch when it comes to their target."

"Tch." Lorence clicked his tongue in annoyance. " I don't care. That girl brought it upon herself."

Though worried, Cyrus didn't say anything anymore and just decided to simply change the subject to make the situations much lighter energy than before.

"I heard you moved houses a while ago, Am I right? What's your new place looks like?"

"Yeah, normal," Lorence answered dryly.

"I see." Cyrus said and none of them spoke in the way after that.

***

After riding the Jeep, Lorence went down to where their new house was located now. It was inside a district and a few more walks from the main road. He was now wearing a black jacket with a hoodie and a white tiger design on the back. With both his hands in his pocket, he walked until he reached their new house.

While he kept walking the district was very quiet and still developing. Only a few houses could be seen along with people. This was an ideal place for anyone to live in silence like him. However it was ruined by those people he lived with.

He stopped in front of their new house. A three-storey building with a garage that was enough for three cars. He just stood there in front of the gate. His face curved into a frown.

'Damn because I got annoyed in that meet-up, I have no choice but to go home earlier as expected. Sometimes I really can't manage these emotions and being in flight mode is always a comfortable decision that I've made. Maybe at this moment my only option is to calm my nerves and go somewhere else for now.'

He turned around only to surprise himself. Just the opposite of their house, stood the girl that ruined his hideout.

"Lorence?" Estelle called out, quite surprised as well to see him. "Hmm... Are you my new neighbour? That's unexpected, I mean there were a lot of places here but you are here now in our street." A grin escaped her lips which annoyed Lorence even more.

Lorence looked at her house. It was also as big as their new house. However, he thought that no one was living there already due to it being old. He observed the house carefully at first sight. For sure, a lot of people thought of this house as a haunted house.

"No..." Lorence was going to deny her words when the gate behind him opened...

"Lorence, you're home already?" A kind looking woman, wearing a red floral duster dress, went out.

Lorence clicked his tongue. Not hiding his annoyance. " Yeah, I have a group project to do with my classmate. I'll return back later." He said as he dashed towards Estelle.

"Oh I see, enjoy…." the woman didn't finish what she was trying to say since Lorence started to speak again…

"Let's hurry so that the project will be done so we can rest earlier to review our notes and still have a lot of time for other assignments." He said as he barged inside the already opened gate of Estelle. Everything happened so fast, that Estelle was left speechless in turn of the events.

"Hello sweetie!" the woman called out again.

"Mom! Stop calling her like that. She has her own name" Lorence said.

"Alright son! Well, I'm just happy because I didn't expect that our new neighbour would be Lorence's classmate. I think it will be easy for me to get on track with my son and to know his performance academically."

Estelle turned towards the woman. "I didn't expect that as well that Lorence's mother can be this lovely and kind."

"Hoh, what a sweet kind young lady you are."

"Mom!" Lorence grunted with annoyance but Estelle and his mom were laughing at his reactions.

"I'm just kidding, son. Hi, I'm Lorence's mom, Fatima. You can call me auntie. If you need anything, I'll be just here in our house and please be comfortable if you get some time to visit, okay?"

Estelle somehow got the gist of what was happening. "Nice to meet you, auntie. I'm Estelle Sangalang and thank you for your offer." Estelle said as she reached for her and put the back of her hand towards her forehead, a sign of respect to elderly.

'My, what a polite girl.' Mrs. Fatima said as she looked at Estelle.

"If you have any questions about this neighborhood as well, we can talk to each other some time." Estelle said as she let go of her hands.

"That will be great dear. I must have taken a lot of your time. You can go now and my son can have some attitude but trust me whatever his action may manifest on this physical form he is a good person inside."

"I understand auntie."

Estelle went inside her house and closed the gate. Lorence was simply sitting on the stairs that were leading to her front door. She sighed as she walked past him. With a key from her pocket, she opened the door to her house.

"You may enter and wait for me on the couch, please be comfortable and tell me if you need something like drinks or what." Estelle said as she pointed towards the couch in her living room. There was a TV, a table and some stuff on it.

Lorence didn't say anything and did what she told him to do. Estelle climbed to her stairs towards her room. Since she felt uncomfortable with her uniform that she was wearing she just simply changed to more comfortable clothes from her school uniform.

When Estelle was finally out of sight, Lorence observed the interior of Estelle's house. Since they arrived here, no one had greeted them or anything in this huge house. 'Is she living alone here? Where is her family or her parents? This place was so quiet and lonely at the same time.' He couldn't help but to be curious about her personal life. He stood up to look around, though he just circled around the living room and nothing else.

He noticed that there were no portraits nor other designs on the wall. Aside from the tv, couches and table, the house has less furniture than any houses he had been in. But it was still neatly maintained and organized.

"Done observing the house, Mr. Kid in Rebellious Phase."

He frowned as he turned around. But he was momentarily stunned. Estelle was already done changing. She simply changed to a yellow shirt with a brain printed design and shorts. Her hair was tied in a single ponytail she also put some lip bombs on her lips to look smooth. She looked fresh and quite cute.

"And now done checking me out, Mr. Puberty?" She smirked while raising her right eyebrow.

"Stop calling me like that, which is not my name." Lorence frowned and avoided her gaze. 'I must have gone crazy. Getting stunned by this crazy girl's appearance.' He thought in annoyance.

"So what's this project that we are supposed to do, classmate?" Estelle said, emphasizing the last word. Since clearly, they were not classmates.