The Bad boy, the baby and Me

"...and, then, there were none," Hailey concluded over the phone. I covered my mouth and yawned silently. It was already eight at night, and she was going on and on about...about...um, I don't know what because I wasn't really paying attention. I was too busy trying to decide which position would be the most comfortable to sleep. "Hello? Millie? Are you listening?" her hyper-energetic voice came over the phone. I nodded, then, realized that she couldn't see me. "Yes, yes. I am," I lied, stifling another yawn. God! I was a terrible friend. "Then, tell me what my last words were?" she demanded. I racked my brain for an answer. What was it? What was it? Wait...Yes! I knew. "You said Agatha Christie," I told her, proudly. There was a pause on the other end, then, she sighed, "I said, then, there were none." "Hey, but isn't that Christie's book?" I protested. "Yeah, but, I was not talking about the book." "Oh...I..." She sighed again, cutting me off. "Never mind. It's my fault. You go and sleep," she said in a defeated tone. I sat up from my lying position. "Hey, Hailey, wait. It's not like that. You know how it works. I need to go to sleep early because that devil and his friends start their devil ball around midnight and then, I am not able to catch sleep for another three hours." Hailey chuckled, "You are talking about Ashton and gang?" I grunted in response. "I seriously can't believe how you are able to catch even a wink of sleep, knowing that four hotties are practicing just ten feet away from you." I scoffed, "Hotties? More like baddies!" "Yeah...bad boys..." She sang dreamily. "Seriously, Hailey? You will forget about that when you are not able to catch your beauty sleep. You should come for a sleepover at my place, then, you will get what I am talking about." "Really? I'd love to!" She exclaimed excitedly. I rolled my eyes. I should have known. What else could I have expected from my best friend who had made it her goal in life to obsess and drool over boys? And, I didn't blame her. I totally blamed the devil, Ashton Sylvester. This all started when his family moved to the house next door, a month ago, at the beginning of my senior year. You must be thinking what he ever did to me? Well, I will be honest. I hadn't really talked to him, ever. We had just made accidental eye contact across the school hallway on several occasions, which involved him smirking at me and me scowling at him. Well, it would be safe to say that we both belonged to different social orders on the food chain, orders which had been sworn enemies since time immemorial. He was the bad boy player and I was labeled as the plain Jane nerd (though, I would never call myself a nerd. That would be totally ridiculous. I barely scored average grades.) And,even worse was, he was not the only one. There were three more morons, whom he called 'best friends'. I was totally unaware of their existence, until I saw them hanging out with Ashton. Turned out, they all went to Bellwood High, the same school as me and were popular even before Ashton came. When I had asked Hailey about them, she had gasped dramatically and said that she couldn't believe I was this much ignorant. When she recovered, she added that I have been practically living under a rock, my entire life and now she had taken it upon herself to teach me the 'ways of world'. This included her fangirling over the boys and updating me on all the latest gossip of school, during most part of which I zoned out. Hey! Don't get me wrong. I loved my best friend and appreciated her efforts but living next to Ashton Sylvester alone completed my share of tolerance. As if that wasn't enough, his room was just across from mine, as in, we were window neighbors too, and that my friends, is why, I wanted to sleep at that moment. "Millie! Millie!" Hailey's voice penetrated my thoughts. "Yes? I am right here," I assured her. "You spaced out on me. Again." She accused. "No, no. what were you saying?" I asked, sheepishly. "I was saying that it's a matter of two more days, then, we will be off to the fest and there will be no more practice after that." "You have no idea, Hailey. That thought alone is keeping me alive." I told her honestly. Yes! Two more days and everything would be back to normal or I atleast my sleep would be. There was this big inter-school fest in which most of the schools of the region were participating. All kinds of competitions, like painting, dancing, singing, writing, cooking, etc. would be taking place. It was a big deal for our school to win them. Teams of talented students were already rehearsing for the contests. Ashton and his friends were one of them. They had their own band, named, "Bad boy backbenchers" or "b3" for short. And, that's what they did at midnight. Practice. I couldn't even complain about them disturbing my sleep, because the rest of the neighbors were okay with it as long as they won accolades for the town. His parents had no problem, obviously. As for my parents, they slept like logs. Not even an explosion could disturb their sleep. That left me, sweet little me, alone against the whole world. So, I had no other option but to count the days till the fest, when this torture would end. I mean, it's not like they were not good singers or anything, but, try waking up in midnight to loud bass and drum booming in your ear, and, you will get me. "Millie, you go to sleep now. I will see you tomorrow." Hailey's voice brought me out of my thoughts. Oh, right. We had to go shopping tomorrow because we too were going to that fest. No need to get excited folks, we were going just as volunteers. Yes, you got that right. For all the tiring odd jobs that no one wants to do. That's why it's called volunteering. Only people who have no social life or are insane enough, volunteer for such jobs. People like Hailey and me. But, hey, it was totally Hailey's idea. According to her, it would be 'fun'. And, being the good friend that I am, I complied but not before getting an ice-cream treat from her. This time, my thoughts were broken after Hailey hung up on me. Poor girl. Sometimes, I don't understand why she is friends with a girl like me. Okay, okay, now was not the time. It was nine already. I seriously needed to sleep. But, before that, there was one more thing to do. I got up from my bed and walked up to the window. A few feet away I could see Ashton's room. I leaned a bit to get a peek inside his room. No, no! It's not what you are thinking. I was not stalking him. Nope. I was just checking to make sure that he was not stalking me. You never know these days. Boys were totally unpredictable. "Looking for me, nerd?" a deep, velvety voice made its way to my ears. I froze in my place. Ashton Sylvester was standing by his window, sporting his infamous smirk that was known to increase the room temperature drastically and in most cases, make the females in the vicinity faint. "I know I am hot and all, but, on top of everything, should I be worried about a psycho stalker living across my window?" he continued, dramatically. That snapped me out of my frozen state. Because, it made me angry. Very angry. "You wish, jerk." I snapped at him. He chuckled, "So, the crazy nerd speaks. I thought you were only capable of scowling." I scowled at him, automatically. He threw back his head and laughed heartily. "See what I mean? I am getting that a lot from you since I moved here." Damn! What else could I do apart from scowling to express my dislike? "Cute outfit by the way," He smirked, giving me a once over. My cheeks were on fire. He was clearly making fun of my angry bird pajamas. I glanced at his clothes. He was dressed to kill, ready for a concert anytime in his black jeans, white t shirt, black leather jacket and that sexily messy black hair. "Take a picture. It will last longer." He smirked again, catching me checking him out. "That line is getting ancient, don't you think?" I retorted to save myself from embarrassment. "Not if it comes out of my mouth. Chicks totally dig that." "Ugh. You need to get over yourself." I told the over confident jerk. In return, he flashed me a dazzling smile as if I had just complimented him. "Why am I even talking to you? You are disgusting." I muttered. "Only for you nerd." He replied, making a show of bowing down. "I am not a nerd! How can you just assume that?" "Just like you can assume that I am disgusting." He winked. I hated that he had a point. When did I become so judgmental? Wait, I know when.... "I didn't assume it. You proved it by disturbing my sweet slumber since the last two weeks." "Slumber?" "It means sleep, idiot." I informed him, with a look of disapproval. He grinned victoriously. "See my point? You yourself proved that you are a nerd." What? What the hell was he doing? He was turning my own argument against me. "Ugh...whatever. I don't have time for this. I have catch sleep before you wake me up at midnight." "You mean, my dreams wake you up at midnight?" "What? No...what the hell? You know what, you will soon need to find a place for your ego, it is growing by the second." "Really?" he asked, beaming as if I just awarded him an Oscar. I frowned. "You are weird." "Well, what can I say? You bring out the best in me." "Stop already, dude." I almost cried out, losing my patience. He just chuckled at that. I quickly sprinted away from the window to my bed. It took me two and a half hours to fall asleep after that and just when I was going to win a lottery in my dream; I was woken up by the source of all my sleepless nights.