Chapter 1

I was seated on a stool in the kitchen when I heard shuffled movement coming from the other room, followed by the sound of nerf guns being fired.

Idiots.

It was 2pm on a Saturday afternoon and I was trying to eat a snack in peace.

It is always like this when my parents are out of the house.

Just yesterday afternoon they had the not-so-bright idea to turn the staircase into a ramp using cardboard so that they could ride down it on a skateboard. My brother, Mitchell ended up breaking one of our mother’s homemade kintsugi vases and blamed it on me.

He always blamed me for everything, mostly because our parents are easier on me than they are on him. He’s the oldest, and I’m the youngest, their ‘baby boy’ as they like to put it every so often.

I took a bite from a chocolate-chip cookie, patiently waiting for my parents to return from visiting my grandma.

Another round of nerf bullets went off, followed by the sound of shattering glass against the ground. I jumped at the sound, accidentally dropping my cookie on the floor.

Great.

I hopped off of the stool, picked up my fallen cookie and discarded it in the trash can before I walked angrily towards the scene of the crime. “Are you guys serious?!” I shouted, turning the corner into the living room area.

And all of a sudden, I’m struck on the forehead by a nerf bullet.

I paused, taking in the shooter.

His stupid caramel hair falling over his annoyingly bright and blue eyes. The way he smirked so devilishly it made me want to walk straight up to him and punch him in the jaw. Behold, the one and only, Grayson Scott; The bane of my existence—Also known as my brother’s dumb and annoying best friend.

A short silence followed as anger rushed throughout the entirety of my five-foot-seven body.

They began laughing—no, scratch that—they began cackling, like two clowns at a circus, which made sense, given the way that they were behaving so moronically.

“You are both assholes!” I spat with flared nostrils.

“Cheer up, we were only just messing around.” Grayson said with a grin.

“Yeah baby bro, quit being such a downer.” Mitchell added.

“Why don’t you quit breaking shit! Go outside if the two of you want to keep acting like a pair of fucking idiots.” I turned around and headed back to the kitchen to continue eating cookies.

The best thing about comfort food: you can eat it when you’re sad, bored, happy or angry.

“And clean up your mess!” I called from the kitchen before taking a seat on the stool again.

“Yes sir!” Grayson mumbled sarcastically, just loud enough for me to hear.

That smug prick.

I rolled my eyes before pulling my phone out of the right pocket of my sweatpants. I expected a text from any of my best friends to appear, wanting to hang out or something, but nada.

They’re all probably busy.

I sat my phone face-down on the countertop and reached for another cookie.

“Oooh, Can I have some?” Grayson asked after appearing beside me. I swear my soul nearly left my body.

“Jeez!” I backhanded him in the arm.

He reached towards the plate of cookies that I had baked just earlier today, missing it by an inch as I dragged it away from his hands and out of his grasp. “Why don’t you go buy your own, or better yet, go back to your house and bake some.”

“Why you gotta be so rude?” He pouted.

“Did you seriously just quote lyrics by MAGIC!?”

“Don’t you know I’m human too.” He answered in song.

To my surprise, he actually sounded pretty good. Like, he could possibly get two or three chairs to turn for him if he had auditioned for The Voice good. Then they’d probably make up an entirely new rule where they can disqualify contestants and send them home if they’re being too annoying.

“Are you?” I asked, shoving another cookie into my mouth.

“Am I what?” He wondered, staring into my very soul.

“Human?”

He scoffed, rolling his eyes at me. “Can you keep a secret?” He asked in all seriousness.

I furrowed my brows in confusion. What could he possibly have to say?

He leaned in towards my left ear, close enough that i could feel his breath.

“I’m…… an…….. alien.”

He laughed, almost making me go deaf in one ear. I shoved him away.

“Asshole!” I spat.

He punched me in the arm. “Don’t be rude, little Cooper.” He said, smirking again before reaching for a dustpan and broom. He held them in his left hand while quickly managing to grab hold of a cookie with his right, popping it straight into his mouth with an all too proud of himself grin.

My arm began to hurt instantly. “Dick!” I spat.

“Thanks for the cookie.” His voice called back from the living room.

Why couldn’t they just go and hang out at Grayson’s house?! I thought angrily to myself.

I shoved the plate of cookies away from me and rushed upstairs to my bedroom. Maybe I should just take a nap. I know it’s only two in the afternoon, but it’s not like I have anything better to do.

After making my way upstairs, I opened the door to my bedroom and walked inside, closing the door behind me before taking a few steps towards my bed. I fall face first onto it’s surface, ready to ease into a peaceful nap.

Thank god for California king beds and silk sheets.

After lying down for a few minutes, sleep started to envelope me, right up until the moment a heard four melodic knocks on my bedroom door.

      Knock… knock, knock…. Knock.

“Aargh! Go away!” I groaned, shoving my face into my pillow.

“Open up, Little Cooper.” Grayson’s muffled voice came through the door.

Oh, I didn’t realised that I had somehow accidentally summoned the devil to my doorstep.

I annoyingly get up out of bed and head to open the door. “You know my name is Dallas.” I grumbled.

He grinned, leaning against the doorframe. Ohhhh I could punch him so hard in the face right now.

I gave him an annoyed look which pretty much said ‘What the hell do you want?’

“Mitch asked me to see if you wanted to come with us to the beach?” He clenched his jaw.

Hanging out with dumb and dumber at the beach was that last thing that I wanted to do.

All I wanted to do at this point in time was to have a nap, but no, I can’t even do that.

After contemplating it for a few more seconds, I rolled my eyes and said “Fine.” It might be good to go out and hang in the sun.

“Little Cooper is in!” Grayson shouted to Mitchell who was still downstairs.

I shoved him into the hallway and walked straight past him.

“You know, stress is really bad for your health.” He says from behind me.

I rolled my eyes, already regretting my bipolar decision to go to the beach.

In case you are wondering, I didn’t always hate Grayson Scott.

I was only nine years old when I first met him, and my first impression was that he was a nice kid. He was ten; the same age as my older brother. He had come over to our place one afternoon to hang out with Mitchell. Imagine this: a ten year old boy who wore braces and light up sneakers, along with a mohawk on his head—which didn’t actually look as bad as it sounds.

“Hi, I’m Grayson.” His ten-year-old self introduced himself to me, holding his right hand out for me to shake. “Hi, my name is Dallas.” I responded, shaking his hand.

“I know.” He smiled.

At first, he seemed like a nice guy. I hung out with him and my brother so often that I was basically part of their little group. But everything changed when they went off to middle school and left me behind, becoming a pair of athletic jerks in the process.

“You ready?” Mitchell asked as I made it to the bottom of the staircase, Grayson following close behind.

“Yep.” I said after quickly grabbing a beach towel from the closet beneath the stairs, and a pair of shades from the cabinet in the foyer.

We all exited the house, Mitchell using his spare key to lock the house before we all piled into Grayson’s car.

One day, I might just key this car…

Grayson drove like an absolute maniac.

I was surprised we were still alive when we had finally arrived at the beach fifteen minutes later. “Whoever gave you a driver’s license should be fired.” I voiced my opinion the second the car had halted to a stop.

“I agree.” Mitchell laughed from the passenger seat, causing Grayson to punch him in the arm.

“You can both walk home.” Was Grayson’s response.

The three of us got out of the car and walked over to the beach.

There were people scattered along the sand. Some were playing volleyball and some were lying on their towels either reading books or tanning themselves.

I don’t really like to swim, but I do like the beach. Normally I’d just stick to the sand, occasionally dipping my ankles in the water for a temporary relief of being underneath the scalding sun for too long.

After finding a secluded part of the beach, Mitchell threw off his shirt and rushed into the ocean. I had set my beach towel on the sand and proceeded to lie down on it.

“Aren’t you coming in for a swim?” Grayson wondered, casting a shadow as he stood over me.

“Nope.” I replied.

He just shrugged, lifting his shirt up and revealing a six-pack of abs. I couldn’t help but stare.

Someone works out…

He caught me staring and I quickly look away, averting his gaze.

This is just outright embarrassing!

And disgusting!

What the hell is wrong with you me?

“Grayson!” Mitchell called from in the water. “Hurry your ass up!”

“Yeah, I’m coming!” Grayson shouted back before heading towards the ocean. He stopped after a few steps and turned back to me. “You should probably put some sunscreen on.” He grinned. “I’m sure you don’t want a repeat of what happened last time.”

I inhaled a deep breath, not that that would help to calm me down.

He caught up with Mitchell and the two of them began swimming around. I reached into a backpack that we had brought with us and pulled out the sunscreen.

I’m only doing this because I don’t want to end up with skin cancer, not because Grayson told me to.

Last time we came to the beach, I’d gotten so sunburnt, my entire body began to peel.

It was awful.

So bad I didn’t leave the house for weeks.

After applying sunscreen onto my skin, I spent the next half-hour lying down and enjoying the warmth of the sun, turning over every-so-often. It honestly felt good to be out of the house, although it would’ve been better if we’d brought an esky and some cold drinks with us.

I was parched.

Suddenly, saltwater drips down on my face when two hands grip both of my underarms. I opened my eyes to find a soaked Grayson laughing down at me.

“What are you doing!?” I seethed.

Then Mitchell came out of nowhere and grabbed my feet. The both of them lifted me off of the towel where I had been laying down and started carrying me towards the ocean.

“STOP!” I shouted, attempting to wiggle myself out of their grasp.

They just laughed as they threw me into the waves.

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This is a first draft, any mistakes I might make will be corrected at a later date.

Thank you for reading Hating Grayson, I hope you enjoy this novel.

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