Mia's POV:

Casually, I walk through my front door and drop my backpack by the front door.

"Mia, I swear to God you better have not just dropped your backpack by the front door. You go and take it up to your room, this is not your dumping ground." My mother's voice rings out loudly, and I mentally cringe.

Silently, I pick it up and head upstairs to my room dropping it on my bed. I take off my shoes and my feet pad against my wood floor as I check out my window. The first thing I see is the woods as they sway in the strong wind. My eyes then wander over a bit more and I gasp as I see Zayn picking up boxes and taking them into his house.

Does he seriously live that close to me? Oh God.

Suddenly, he sets a box down and turns his head and looks straight at me. My eyes widen in horror and I quickly fall to the ground in embarassment.

"Mia, what was that noise?" My mom yells, and I groan.

"Nothing mom! I just dropped my textbook."

"Okay, dinner will be ready at six. Have your homework done before then. And dad will be home soon."

"Okay!" I rub my eyes as I think over my stupidity.

How could I be so careless? God, I'm such an idiot. Of course he was going to see me, it was bound to happen when I just stand at my window staring at him like a complete and utter fool.

I put on some socks and grab my homework for french out. As I start, I can't help but think of what has happened today.

My eyes snap open as I hear my mom calling my name out, "Mia, dinner is ready! And come down presentable, we have a guest joining us tonight."

"Coming, mom!" I yell back, putting my unfinished homework back in my bag.

I head downstairs and my mom groans as I walk into the kitchen. "My God, Mia. I told you to make yourself presentable. Oh, never mind that. Take this and set it on the table." My mom hands me a casserole and I walk towards the dining room and furrow my eyebrows as I hear my dad laughing loudly.

My heart drops as I see my father and Zayn having a conversation. Their heads both turn to me, and I blink several times to regain thought. "Hey, Mia. This is Zayn, our new neighbor a cross the street. Have you two met? He mentioned he goes to the same school."

"Yes, dad. We have met." I force a smile as I set the casserole down in front of my dad.

"That's great!"

My mother soon comes out with some vegetables, and she glares at me when she notices I'm sitting next to dad. "Mia, don't be so rude. Sit next to Zayn, and I'll sit next to your dad."

I roll my eyes, but move next to Zayn. As my parents talk about dinner, he turns to me and smirks. "Enjoy the view earlier?"

"Um, I was looking at the woods." I try to lie.

"Do you always drop to the ground so fast after looking at the woods?"

I groan and turn away, focusing on my dinner. My phone rings and my dad stops me, "No phones at the table, Mia."

"I know, dad. Can I just check who it is?" I ask, as anticipation makes me tap my fingers.

"I suppose." He agrees, and starts talking to Zayn some more.

I open my phone and my mouth drops open as I see the person who texted me is Harry. Instead of answering, I delete his message and finish up my dinner.

"Thank you so much for having me over for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Clarke. I'm very sorry my Aunt Josephine couldn't make it. She'll surely appreciate this casserole, though." Zayn thanks my parents as we all stand at the front door.

"It was our pleasure, Zayn." My mother grins, and nudges me in the side.

"Yeah, thanks for coming." I thank him and my dad shakes his hand.

"Mia, why don't you walk Zayn home?" My dad asks.

"Dad, he has feet. He's perfectly capable of walking home by himself." I couldn't risk embarrassing myself even more in front of him.

"Mia, do as your father says."

"Okay, fine. Let's go Zayn." I say, grabbing his arm and leading him outside.

"I must thank you for letting me sit with you and your friends." He smiles at me, his dark brown eyes shining.

I push my hair out of my face and mentally curse the wind. "My pleasure, really. You looked a bit lost."

"You have no idea." He laughs. "What happened earlier? When I was walking down the hall, I noticed you running."

"I felt sick." I explain. "I heard you were with Delila."

"From who?"

We stop on the side walk in front of his house, "A friend."

"Well, I was with her. I must say she is an interesting character."

"She is, isn't she?" I gulp. "Why were you two together?"

"No real reason. She suggested we go on...a tour around the school." He laughs as I make a face of disgust.

"That's disgusting."

"It's a way of life, darling. How do you think you were born?"

"I know how I was born, you idiot. I just don't like talking about it." I glare at him.

"Hm, interesting. Why do you care anyway?" He asks, rubbing his stubbled chin.

"Never said I did."

"Fair enough." We stand in front of each other and sighs as he admires the weather around us. "Is New Orleans always like this?"

"Mostly, sometimes a bit sunny." I explain. "If this wasn't the weather mostly, I would be gone to Washington."

He grins, laughing. "You like storms?"

"Love them, actually. Like is a total understatement." I look up at the sky and a few raindrops fall on my face.

"I agree." He sighs. "I love rain, and lightning. Anything dark and gloomy is my type of place."

I look back at my house, "I think I should get going."

Zayn's face falls, "Oh really? You can come inside and hang out for awhile, I'm sure your parents wouldn't mind much."

"I would love to, and it was lovely talking with you and having you over but I still have some homework to finish." I explain, my phone ringing. Quickly, I open it and see it is from Harry again.

From: Harry Styles

Are you ignoring me, Mia?

"Who's that?" Zayn asks, his face stone cold. "Is it Harry?"

I look up at him, and shake my head. "No, my mom. I really have to go Zayn."

"Oh, I see." He bites his lip.

How does he know Harry? Is Harry pretending not to know who Zayn is or has Zayn heard about him through school? Even so, how would he know that it was him texting me?

"We should do this again." I say, walking back to my house.

"We should." He agrees, standing in the (now) pouring rain.

I go inside, and look out my living room window to see him still standing outside. But soon, he turns around and heads inside. I look over at the woods and feel slightly anxious as I see the trees blowing harder then ever.

I head into the kitchen and see my mom cleaning up dinner. "Need any help?"

"That'd be great, thank you." She smiles, handing me a rag to dry the dishes. "Did you finish your homework?"

"No, I was just about to go up and finish it. I only have a few more questions." I tell her truthfully.

"Okay, I want you in bed as soon as it's finished."

"Will do."

"So, this Zayn boy. He's quite a charmer isn't he?" She asks, handing me a dish to dry off.

"I suppose, he's quite nice." I answer, putting it where it belongs.

"Your father likes him a lot, and so do I."

"That's good." I sniff, and rub my nose. "Have you even known that somebody lives in that house? I've never even seen anyone come out of it."

"Zayn mentioned his aunt being deathly ill the past months. He says that's one of the reasons he decided to move to Longdale."

"Hm, okay. Can I go finish my homework now?"

"Yes, you can." My mom smiles, unplugging the sink letting the dirty water flow down.

I get into some pajamas and pull out my homework, quickly finishing it up. I contemplate whether or not I should message Harry back. I didn't necessarily want him to think I was ignoring him, even though I was. Deciding against it, I plug my phone in and throw my bag onto the ground.

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Well, there is chapter 2! I hope you really enjoyed it and look forward to reading some more.

S/O to saltea_ for being the real MVP and listening to all my crazy ass ideas and working on some book covers for me. Make sure to check her books out, I am obsessed with her books. My favorite would have to be the Mental series for sure.