Chapter Twenty Three - And It Begins

The last thing I wanted was to get used to going to my enemy's house every other day but as I stood on his front porch, waiting for someone to answer the door, I had a feeling it was going to be inevitable.

The big double doors opened and I prepared myself to smile at Garrett but it was none other my nemesis himself in a solid black t-shirt and gray sweats.

He'd probably just taken a shower after gym since his hair looked wet. He ran a hand through it to push it back and I noticed his pumped bicep.

"You're late."

What a greeting!

Instead of stepping aside to let me in, he made his way inside the house and I followed.

"Considering that you just stepped out of the shower, I think not."

He cut a glance over his shoulder but said nothing. I quietly followed him, noticing his house for the first time.

It felt a lot like my own—adorned with expensive stuff that would seem useless while buying but would fit right in in some corner like it was always meant for it. His parents must have been into decorating like mine. I couldn't spot them anywhere so I just assumed they were at work.

"Where's Garrett?" I asked.

"What do you want with him?"

I shrugged "Nothing. Just wanted to say hi. He seemed nice to talk—"

I was cut off when he stopped walking and turned around abruptly, almost making me bump into him.

"If you're trying to find out if you're alone in the house with me, yes, you are." As he finished, I couldn't help but notice the subtle curiosity in his eyes.

I looked around before crossing my arms. "That's not what—"

"Hey, Becks."

My head snapped to the side to find Aiden walking up to me with a smile and at the same time, he looked a little confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Aiden. Long story." I pointed towards Matt, who hadn't been visible to Aiden before because of the huge pillar. When he finally saw us standing together, his mouth formed an o-shape and he wiggled his brows at me but when he looked at Matt's face, his smile disappeared and without seeking any trouble, he waved us goodbye.

"What? You showed him your devil face?" I smirked at my enemy and he averted his eyes to me. "What were you trying to achieve by making me believe I was alone with you?"

He lifted his hand to the doorknob behind him and without taking his eyes off me, pushed the door open. Then he shrugged before a smirk tugged at his lips.

"I wanted to see if you would run away."

"Now, why would I do that?" I scoffed. "You're not as scary as you think."

"Right."

To my utmost bafflement, he stepped aside to let me enter the room first and I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "You first."

"What? You think you'll be splashed with a bucket of water the moment you step in?"

"As unlikely as it sounds when it comes to you," I said sarcastically, "I insist. Please lead the way."

Rolling his eyes, he made his way inside and I followed, slowly taking the room in. He had a whole ass recording studio set up in his house with those mics and mixers and about half a dozen stuff I couldn't even name but recognized from YouTube.

He wasn't kidding about the musical equipment, was he?

My eyes landed in the corner and I gasped. I'd just unexpectedly spotted my bundle of joy and I leapt right towards the kittens sleeping in their tiny beds.

"Cheeto!" I grinned at the one sleeping in the middle, fighting the urge to squish his cheeks in his sleep. I turned to the other two. They were just as beautiful as him. I sat down cross-legged on the floor, holding my chin in my hands in awe. I could watch them sleep all day.

"Are you done?"

I deadpanned, turning around. I had forgotten what I had come for.

"We're going to practice here? What about their sleep?" I asked, making my way towards him. There were two chairs facing each other. They were too close to my liking. So, I pulled one back and sat down in it.

"They sleep like the dead," he said nonchalantly while sitting across from me with his guitar.

"Are you sure? I would hate to put them in a crappy mood. Now I know Cheeto won't scratch me but I don't wanna get off on the wrong foot with the other two."

He watched me incredulously for a moment and I could tell he'd never given a thought about his cats' moods. What had he done to deserve them?

"Maybe you're right." He gave a nod and I grew suspicious again until I noticed the satire in his tone when he continued, "we can take this up to my bedroom."

I threw him a glare, then batted my lashes sardonically. "I think we're good. Besides, how much sleep do they need anyway?"

Satisfied, he began tuning his guitar and once he was done, he told me to start singing whatever song I wanted. Apparently, by necessary musical equipment, Matt had only meant his guitar and its capo, which he wasn't even using at the moment.

I started singing, thinking it was going to be just like training with Will. Sing a song, get compliments and call it a day. But compliments from my enemy? What was I thinking?

"Come on!" I groaned when he motioned for me to start from the top again. I'd already sang the same verse five times. "Again?"

"Yes."

"You're doing this to me on purpose. I get it now. I should've seen this coming. No wonder you agreed to train me. You thought 'oh I'll get an hour every evening to torment her. Why let it go?'"

Ignoring me, he started playing the same chords on his guitar and I almost shouted at him to stop trying to tune me out but something got me distracted. It was his fingers gliding over the frets so gracefully. He must have been playing guitar ever since he was a baby to be that good at it.

"You missed your cue, Andrews. Listen," he snapped, a little annoyed. "If you don't wanna do this—"

"Sorry." I bit down on my lip, finally lifting my eyes to his face. He was caught off guard as his brows pulled together and that's when I realized I'd just apologized to him. Dammit, Becks. You let me down. I blinked, saying firmly this time, "I just got distracted—no, I mean...I was thinking about something else. I'll pay attention now."

I looked over at the cats, embarrassed. But it soon turned into envy as I noticed they were still napping. All they did was sleep and eat. No worries about school or stupid challenges being thrown at them.

"Okay," Matt said and started playing the guitar again.

As he struck the right chord, I started singing and was in the middle of the verse when he stopped me again and told me to restart.

"Can you at least tell me where I'm going wrong?" I asked, irritated.

"Nowhere."

My mouth opened slightly. "Then why do you keep telling me to restart?"

"You're getting better each time, that's why."

"Oh!" An involuntary smile formed on my face. He saw it and rolled his eyes before going back to playing.

"A little better. You celebrate too soon."

"You said it yourself. I sound good."

"I said no such thing."

I let out a breath. Stay calm, Rebekah.

"From the top again." He played the same tune and I must have sung it at least another two times before he asked me to stop. This time, he didn't say anything. He just ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly.

"So?" I asked hesitantly.

His eyes lifted to my face and narrowed slightly, not in anger but as if he were in a thought. "Maybe I overestimated you from your stage performance. I should've started with the basics."

I sighed. "I'm trying."

"Do you know do re mi?" he asked, completely ignoring me.

I gritted my teeth in annoyance. "Yes, I do."

"Sing that."

Shaking my head slightly, I started singing the basics but he cut me off again, "you're not singing. You're reciting. Start again."

"Do re mi—"

"You know what? Sing after me."

I did, only to have him interrupt me again, this time before we'd even reached fa.

"You do realize the notes are supposed to go up, right? You're stuck on the same pitch."

"You know, I think I can do better with songs. For some reason, I just don't like this do re mi fa...it sounds stupid to me. Can we do songs?"

He thought for a second. "Alright. We'll pick up after five minutes. I might need a coffee...or something stronger."

I smiled at him sarcastically. "Maybe that protein shake will help now? I never said I was easy."

With that, I got up and started to stretch my limbs. First, I stretched my arms up above my head, then I folded back each leg and grabbed my ankle to stretch, one at a time.

A little movement in the corner caught my attention. Cheeto was stretching his body and rolling over before he lifted his head and looked around with half open eyes. He was so cute, I had to control the urge to aggressively scratch his head until my hands were numb.

I made my way over to the kitten with a smile to pet his head. He purred and shut his eyes, making me chuckle. The other kittens started to move as well and I carefully stroked their back since they didn't know me, at least until they didn't sniff my fingers.

"Do they have names?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Yes," was all he said and I looked back at him expectantly to know them. As if feeling my eyes on him, he looked up from his phone and set his jaw. I stared back awkwardly. I didn't know asking him his cats' names was a crime.

"That one's Scribble," he finally said, pointing to the one I was petting, "and that's um Sc... Soap."

"Soap?" I raised a brow.

"Problem?"

"Did you just make those up so I won't name them?"

"Yes."

I scoffed in disbelief. "Okay, I won't but what are you even calling them? I mean, this one is Cheeto, no matter what you say. What do you call these two?"

He looked away, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"They're just names, Williams. I'm not asking for a peek in your personal diary."

"I don't have a diary."

"Me neither. Now what do you call them?" I pointed back to the kittens with my thumb.

After a pause, he looked me dead in the eye while saying, "K1 and K2."

"K1 and K2? What's K?"

"Kitten."

I deadpanned. "You cannot be serious. What happens when they're cats? Do they become C1 and C2?"

He shrugged.

I stared at him disbelief, gauging for any lies or humour. But he was dead serious.

"You know, come to think of it, Scribble isn't that bad. Maybe give Soap another thought," I suggested.

He kept a straight face. "You don't get to name any more of my cats, get it?"

A sly smile appeared on my lips. "So, you are going with Cheeto?"

"Until I find a better name, call him whatever you want. But stay away from naming those two."

I raised my hands up in surrender. "Whatever you say. But, for the record, you're the one who picked Scribble. The first thing that came to your mind."

His brown eyes narrowed before he said, "back to music."

"Already? You didn't even get your coffee."

"I don't need it anymore."

"Why is that? Am I suddenly bearable enough for you?" I blinked innocently.

"Knock it off, Andrews."

"Or?"

"Or I'll have no choice but to kick you out. You know I won't hesitate."

I clicked my tongue. "And they say chivalry is dead."

I settled back in my chair and just as he grabbed his guitar, I sighed deeply. "We've been at this for more than forty five minutes. Are you not exhausted? If Will and I were training, we'd probably have switched to something else by now."

I bit down on my tongue almost immediately for saying that. I didn't even wanna train with Matt if I had a choice, let alone do something else with him.

He scrutinized my face for a moment and I couldn't decipher a single thought behind those eyes. Then, they narrowed a little.

"Like what?"

I could tell he hadn't asked that to get ideas so we could do something different. It was asked purely out of curiosity.

I shrugged. "Silly things. But forget I said anything. You and I would much rather get this over with."

A beat passed in silence before he nodded without taking his eyes off me. "Right. It's hardly bearable enough."

Uh huh? As hypocritical as it was, it offended me a little, but I tried my best not to show it as I crossed my arms. "For me, too."

"Good."

"Good." I nodded, then offered a quick harmless suggestion, "but things might get just a tad easier for me if you could let me finish a song without interrupting."

"What gave you the impression that I want to make anything easier for you?"

He knew exactly how to push my buttons, didn't he?

"You know what, Williams?" I leaned forward gravely. "You might be good at music but you suck at teaching it, or teaching anything for that matter I bet. When I was training with Will—"

"I'm not Will."

His eyes became cold. And somehow, it shut me up for the moment.

Then I gave a hesitant half shrug, muttering, "clearly."

"So, stop telling me what he would be doing because if you liked things the way they were, you wouldn't be here right now."

Good point.

"I wouldn't say I didn't like them," I argued.

"So why don't you go back?" His face muscles contorted into a scowl and normally, I would've argued further but one of the perks of spending too much time with someone, even if it was your enemy, was you got to read their thoughts on their face. I could clearly tell what was going on.

"Aw! Looks like I've hurt your ego, Williams." I tilted my head to the side teasingly, and when his right eye twitched, I realized I was seconds away from being kicked out of his house right on the first day of training.

"Listen—"

"Hello! We're coming in! Y'all better be dressed."

Huh?

My head turned just as the door was swung open and Will and Parker sauntered in with two pizza boxes.

"Hey, guys!" I smiled, a little baffled. "You didn't have to announce yourselves like that."

"Oh, we did!" Parker nodded with a straight face, looking at Matt. "We learn from our mistakes after all."

I stared at Matt in confusion until it dawned on me. Maybe Parker had walked in on him and Rebecca while they were... What is that thing I feel in my chest? Burn? Did I have burritos again?

I blinked at Parker, saying with a straight face, "well, you've got nothing to be careful about when I'm here because you see," I paused to point between me and Matt. "Not gonna happen."

Parker set down the pizza boxes on the table to throw me a little salute. "You have my respect, Rebekah."

I chuckled lowly, feeling a certain pair of eyes on me.

"So, how's the first day of training coming up?" Will looked between us hopefully.

"Good."

"Tolerable."

We both said together, Matt obviously saying the latter one and I narrowed my eyes at him, which he did not acknowledge as he opened a pizza box. Will and Parker exchanged a look.

"He's kidding. I'm awesome!" I assured them.

"Can't disagree with that." Will winked and pulled up a chair right next to me, giving me a fist bump. It had become our usual greeting.

"And you guys are here because?" Matt asked, staring at Will while biting into his slice.

"Because it's the first day of Mission kick evil Rebecca out of the music event. It calls for a pizza treat," Parker answered while grabbing a chair from the corner. One of the kittens was under it and hissed at him before racing out of the room.

"Great! What's it gonna take for your cats to like me?"

"Nothing. Once they hate you, it's forever." Matt shrugged, taking another bite.

"What did I ever do to them?" He scowled.

"Here!" Will grabbed the other pizza box and opened it for me with a sheepish smile.

My eyes lit up. "Pepperoni!"

"You told me it was your favourite during one of our highly progressive training sessions."

"Ah yes! Our highly progressive training sessions." I chuckled. "But you remembered."

"Of course, I did. It was hard to forget when you said 'pepperoni' right before you trampled on my foot during waltz."

"Oh my God!" I burst out laughing. "I'm pretty sure I apologized like a million times. Besides, you got your revenge when you almost sent me spinning into the wall."

He scratched the back of his neck. "I lost the grip on your hand. Sorry."

"Wait!" Parker cut in. "Were you guys ever actually practicing music?"

"Occasionally, yes." Will shrugged. "But hey! Taking a break to switch to other activities is the key to productivity."

Matt was silently looking at his phone. No swiping. No eye movements. I wondered what had him so captured. Perhaps something from Rebecca. I grabbed a pizza slice in silence and its delicious smell instantly hogged all my attention. I loved pepperoni pizza more than I loved myself. I took a big bite and sighed in relief. Perfection. Chef's kiss.

"Hearing that, it's kind of a relief Matt's training her now." Parker shook his head at Will.

I stared at Matt's face for a reaction. A statement like that would've normally had him basking in his own glory but it was like he hadn't even heard Parker. What the hell was he looking at on his phone anyway?

"I agree. He's obviously the better musician but..." Will started and I saw him turn to me out of my peripheral vision so I quickly took my eyes off Matt to give him my attention. "...could he have taught you waltz like I did, Becks?" He wiggled his brows playfully. "I bet you found our training sessions far more interactive and I can bet real money he's either annoyed you or bored you to death in this past hour."

I chewed on my pizza slowly. The phone in my enemy's hand was finally put down and his eyes locked right with mine. One of his brows arched up as if daring me to answer that. And for some reason, he looked pissed even before I'd said anything. I had a feeling his anger had nothing to do with me this time.

"No comments. I still need this training."

"Nice save." Will let out a laugh and grabbed a pepperoni slice.

"Why do you?" Parker asked. He was watching me pensively and it caught me off guard.

"What?"

"I mean, our motive is clear. We want Rebecca's bossy ass out of the music event. But what's your motivation behind this?"

I struggled to reply for a moment. "Um...you know how Rebecca challenged me in front of everyone. I can't back down or lose now. I've got a reputation."

"You don't," Matt cut in, making me snap my eyes to his. There was newfound curiosity in them as those deep browns weighed me up in a silent scrutiny. "The video and those rumours gave you your fifteen minutes of fame but I'm guessing you're back to being non-existent again. I'm not even sure all your classmates know your name."

"Are you always this pleasant to talk to?" I smiled sarcastically.

His head tilted, eyes still searching as he asked in a deliberately low voice, "what are you doing this for, Andrews?"

No! I could not, for the life of me, have him know my reason was Sean. He would somehow find a way to mess things up for me.

As if the universe had come to my rescue, I felt something near my feet and looked down at the kitten nibbling on my jeans near my ankle. With a sigh of relief, I lifted it in my arms.

"What about Dorito?" I suggested a name for it to change the subject. While Will and Parker instantly bought it and chuckled, my enemy's eyes narrowed.

Maybe if you don't look at him, Becks, he'll forget about it.

"Funny," Parker remarked.

"Cheeto and Dorito—oh! The third one can be Nacho," I said with wide, excited eyes and it made Parker burst out laughing.

"Looks like they're finally getting names." Will nodded. "Thank you, Rebekah. I was sick of calling them kitty 1, kitty 2..." he trailed off when Matt snapped his eyes to him. Then, he gave a little shrug. "Just being honest, man."

"Finally! Somebody with a brain." I chuckled, high-fiving Will.

My eyes happened to have fallen on Matt right then. He was scowling between us, and Parker, observing silently, threw him a smirk. "What are you so cranky about? I like Dorito."

"Come to think of it, Parker," I cut in, "it isn't that amazing. This little girl deserves something better like, say, Lola. That's cute."

"You know what, Andrews," my enemy snapped, clearly annoyed. Sometimes, he acted like a toddler who didn't get his food on time. Or like a cat, since he owned so many.

"Okay fine. That last suggestion was unintentional," I said quickly, rolling my eyes.

But his scowl did not ease off right away. He took his time taking his glare off me and directing it in various corners of the room.

"So..." Parker started uneasily. The room had grown awfully silent with our little stare down. "...Becks! What did you think about the gig video we uploaded?"

"I didn't know you uploaded. I haven't seen it. Sorry."

"Oh! No problem. You show up in the video in your onesie by the way. You're seen interacting with a woman and you're both smiling. It looks good."

I recalled the woman who'd asked me to tell her daughter to eat her veggies. It must've been her.

"You know," Will continued, throwing me a smile. "There was a major hike in our subscribers after that gig. I'm giving you all the credit for promoting us so creatively."

I grinned. "Really? That's—"

"Right," a certain musician cut in. "We performed on the stage but who would subscribe to our music channel because of that? It was all because of her wandering around in a stupid onesie."

At least he admitted it was stupid. Will's jaw dropped, clearly offended. The onesie was his idea.

"You were saying, Will?" Placing my chin on my knuckles to look at Will attentively, I completely brushed my enemy off.

He looked over at Matt as if to gauge his anger this time, a little amused, before turning to me. "Yes. We went from 87k to 95k in three days."

My eyes widened. "Oh my God! That is great!"

"How did you miss that video? Did you not get a notification?"

"Um...no." I scratched my forehead.

"Wait!" Something dawned on him and his mouth opened, a look of deep betrayal falling in his eyes. "You don't follow us?"

"Sorry." I managed a nervous smile. I'd known about their YouTube channel ever since they'd started it two years ago. Everyone at the school had been talking about it but I had no interest in it because of Matt. I'd never seen any of their videos.

"Seriously?" Parker gaped at me with the same look of betrayal.

"I..." I trailed off, cutting a glance at Matt. Both of them seemed to have understood the reason right then but said nothing.

"How often do you guys upload?" I asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Once in a month. Sometimes twice if our subscribers are lucky." Parker smirked.

"You must have the entire school following you, right? What's the subscriber count right now?"

He held up his phone, showing the channel page proudly. "Nearing 100k. We're practically stars. Or at least he is." He motioned with his chin towards Matt, who'd been still as a stone in my peripheral vision for a while now. I wondered what he was up to—whether his mind was in the room with us or in his damn phone looking at whatever it was that had him so occupied.

I nodded at Parker's phone, impressed.

"You're coming to the next gig as well, right?" Will asked.

"I don't know if I'm in the mood for another evening in a onesie."

"Just for moral support, then?" he pleaded with a grin. "It was nice to have someone waving at us from the crowd. Right, guys?"

"Yep."

Obviously, only Parker answered.

"Okay then. I'll be there." I nodded and looked down at my watch. "But I think I should be heading home now."

"Already?" Will made a face.

"Yes. I'd love to stay more but I've got to finish my homework. See you guys tomorrow. Thank you for the pizza," I said to Will and Parker, and finally averted my gaze to Matt. "And thank you for the training, for whatever it's worth."

He must not have been expecting me to say that as he looked at my face to make sure I was talking to him, narrowed his eyes a little in suspicion over God knows what and then he shrugged. "It's fine."

I picked up K1, who was still near my feet, and walked across the room to put him on his tiny bed before I could leave.

"You're gonna walk her home or what?" Parker raised a brow at Matt.

I opened my mouth to say that it was not at all necessary, but my enemy beat me to speaking.

"Walk her home? She lives across the street."

It wasn't like I wanted him to walk me home but that just irritated me. Why was he like that? Or wait, why was I acting like I wanted him to act any differently?

"That's right." I nodded.

"Alright, then. I will." Will pushed the pizza box away and got up. "I'll be damned if I let our precious rockstar walk herself home."

Matt watched him for a second before averting his eyes to me. Lately, for some reason, I'd started believing that I could read his face. Right then, I could read him telling me to decline Will's offer. So clearly, I was wrong. I couldn't read shit.

"Shall we?" Will offered me his hand and bowed his head down dramatically, recreating our waltz lesson.

I chuckled.

"We shall." I placed my hand in his and he grinned while waltzing me out of the room. As we were heading out, I happened to take one final look at my enemy and he had another deep scowl on his face. This time, he looked somewhat restless with his jaw clenched as if he was dying to do something.

He should stop scowling so much if he doesn't want his face to get stuck like that.

"Long day?" Will asked once we were out of the house.

"Very. I can't wait to be in my house."

"Look at you guys calling these mansions a house." He pointed between mine and Matt's house, shaking his head.

I chuckled. "I think it's much better than saying something like 'oh I'm so tired. I'm gonna head back to my mansion' and be called a bragger."

"Fair point." He smiled, scratching the nape of his neck. "Becks, I know he's not an easy one in there." He pointed back to Matt's house. "A real asshole sometimes. Thank you for doing this."

It felt weird when Will called him an asshole. I was so used to calling him that, it had started to feel like I owned the rights.

"Sometimes?" I scoffed. "He wouldn't even let me finish a verse until it sounds like he wants it to. A damn perfectionist."

"He doesn't mess around with music. Other than that, guy's okay...ish. You know, you should see him during events. Worse than Rebecca."

"He is?" My jaw dropped. "And here I thought we were the good team."

"We are! Rebecca only bosses people for fun. She's not a leader. Matt, however, does it only when he has to, just for music. Call it constructive criticism, only you get it on a platter of thorns."

Some way to put it.

"You know." Will chuckled, as if recalling something. "Sophomore year, when I was new in the club, he yelled at me during practice when I couldn't get a note right. I was so pissed and ready to pick a fight later but he felt guilty and got me an ice cream. Can you believe the guy? We've been hanging out ever since."

"What?" I laughed in disbelief. "No way!"

"Like I said, guy's okayish." He shrugged.

I blinked. "How did that even go? Was he like, hey, man! I'm sorry, so let me buy you an ice cream and yay! Now we're friends?"

"No." He laughed. "More like, hey man, I shouted earlier. Let me pay for your ice cream. Cool? And I said I see what you did there. And he stared at me blankly for five seconds and then shrugged whatever." Will mimicked Matt so accurately, I could almost see it all happening and I burst out laughing.

"Next time..." A voice made both of us look sideways to find Matt marching up to us, his eyes fixed on me.

"Try not forgetting your things so people don't have to come after you." He put my phone on my palm and I blinked.

"I hadn't even realized I'd left without it until now."

"I can see that." He sneered, eyes running between me and Will. "You're not the most aware person I've met anyway."

"See?" I turned to Will. "He's always an asshole."

Matt folded his arms, frowning between us. "You guys have been talking about me?"

"Yes. And nothing good came out of our mouths." I smirked.

His eyes narrowed. "Don't you know, Andrews? You shouldn't talk about people behind their back."

"Oh, it's nothing I haven't already said to your face. Don't worry. You're all caught up."

Matt turned to Will with his usual no bullshit expression and Will shrugged. "Well, what she said."

Right then, he looked like a cranky toddler who'd been denied a trip to Disneyland as he averted his eyes to me, seemed to have an internal struggle whether to start with me or not before he chose wisely and turned back to his house.

He started to walk but as if realizing something, he turned back around and raised a brow at Will.

"You coming?"

"Of course." Will nodded and left with him, waving me goodbye.

"See you, Will." I waved back with a smile and headed inside my house.