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  “Whatever.” I roll my eyes. I see him glance down at the screen and he smirks. He then hands it to me and I see that I have a text from Lucas.

  “You still talk to that guy?” Aiden asks me.

  “Not in a while.” I shake my head as I open the text.

  Hey Riley (: did you like the flowers?

  A smile creeps onto my lips. So Lucas was the one who sent me the flowers.

  I did. That was nice of you

  Aiden stands up from my bed and I look up at him. He paces for a minute before looking at me. “Why are you staring at me, Summers?” he asks, sounding amused.

  “Why are you pacing?” I ask him.

  “I’m thinking.” His eyebrows knit together.

  I purse my lips. “Lucas was the one who gave me the flowers,” I inform him.

  Aiden looks at me and frowns. “It was him?” I nod. “I better get going,” he says suddenly.

  “Okay…”

  “Don’t miss me too much.” He smiles as he exits my room.

  I don’t bother responding.

  ***

  “Riley, wake up.” I feel someone shaking my shoulder. I groan and rub my eyes before slowly opening them. I find my mom hovering over me.

  “Yes?” I ask, feeling a bit irritated. I’m sleeping so well and she has to come and wake me up.

  “Riley, sit up. I have to talk to you,” she says, sounding serious.

  I eye her suspiciously and sluggishly sit up and lean against my pillows. “About?” I question.

  “The neighbor said they saw an unfamiliar car sitting in our driveway for a while,” she says, putting her hands on her hips. “They also said they saw a boy leaving. Care to explain?”

  I frown. “Why do the neighbors have to be so nosy?”

  “Just answer me, Riley. Was there a boy here or not?” she demands.

  “There was,” I say hesitantly. “It was only Aiden though. He just came over to check on me.”

  She sighs. “Riley, I don’t really trust that boy. From what I’ve heard from Anna, he isn’t the best company to have around.”

  “It’s not like we did anything.” I glare at her. “I was sick today in case you forgot. And I’m not even like that.”

  “I don’t care, Riley.” She crosses her arms. “I don’t want you around that boy. What about the one who brought you flowers?” she asks

  I groan. “Mom, I don’t even like Lucas like that. We’re friends. And so are Aiden and I.”

  “If I see you hanging around that Aiden boy, I will ground you and take your phone away.” She threatens me.

  “I’m eighteen, Mom. You can’t do that.” I complain. Why is she so mean all of a sudden?

  “I’m your mother and you will listen to me. I don’t care how old you are.”

  I flip over onto my stomach and sigh loudly. “This is so unfair,” I say into the pillow.

  “If I find out you’ve been hanging around him again, I will not let you move out after you graduate,” I hear her say.

  I instantly look at her. “You can’t do that.”

  “I can and I will.”

  I lay back down and don’t bother replying to her. I hear her walk out of my room and shut the door behind her. As much as I hate to admit it, spending time with Aiden isn’t awful.

  My mom was the one who told me to make new friends. So here I am making new friends and what does she do? Flips out.

  I’m sure every normal teenager says this, so I’m going to say it too.

  Life is so unfair.

  Aiden

  “Alex, where are the goddamn keys?” I call out. I’ve been looking everywhere for those stupid keys and I still can’t find them. If I don’t want to be late to school, I have to leave now. I already missed yesterday, since I went to see Riley.

  “Did you look in the refrigerator?” I hear him ask.

  What. The. Fuck. “Why would they be in the damn fridge?” I demand. But I walk up to the fridge anyway and open it.

  And sure enough, there are the keys, sitting on one of the shelves.

  I don’t bother asking Alex why they’re in the refrigerator. I grab the keys and slam the fridge shut. I then grab my leather jacket, my pack of cigarettes, and my backpack. I run out the door and unlock the car.

  By the time I park the car in the student parking lot, the class has already started. I walk swiftly through the halls and approach my first class of the day. I open the door and immediately everyone’s eyes are on me.

  My teacher, Mr. Richards, looks at me and sighs. “It’s nice of you to join us on this fine morning, Mr. Callaway.”

  I ignore him and walk over to my seat. I quickly sit down and lean back. Mr. Richards just continues talking after I sit down. He hands out a worksheet for us not too long after and then sits at his desk and starts going through papers. The classroom instantly becomes noisy from everyone talking with their friends.

  “Hey, Aiden.” The voice comes from the girl in the seat next to mine. I think her name is Leah. I’m not quite sure.

  “Hey.” I nod at her. I give her a once-over, and I become slightly interested in her. Her blonde hair is pulled up in a ponytail, and she has on a short skirt with a V-neck shirt.

  “I didn’t see you at lunch yesterday,” she says, batting her eyelashes. I become less interested when I notice her voice is a little too high-pitched for my liking.

  “I left.” I shrug. I tap my pencil on my desk instead of working on the paper in front of me.

  She leans forward a little in her seat. “Nicole was looking for you also.” She smirks.

  I cringe. Nicole won’t leave me the fuck alone now. I don’t understand how Ryan put up with her. “Oh joy,” I say sarcastically.

  “She doesn’t seem like your type, you know,” she comments.

  “I don’t even have a type,” I say to her. I’m getting somewhat annoyed with her at this point.

  She smirks. “Do you wanna go out Friday night? I’m pretty sure I can prove that I’m your type.”

  “Not interested,” I say as I start working on the worksheet.

  This girl obviously doesn’t get the hint though. “C’mon, Aiden. It’ll be fun.”

  “I already said no, so drop it.” I snap at her. She shuts up after that. I don’t understand why all these girls won’t just leave me alone. I thought sleeping with Nicole would get her off my back, but that only made things worse. It’s better to just ignore them.

  For the rest of the time, I focus on the paper in front of me.

  ***

  Lunch comes around soon enough. After I stop by my locker, I head in the direction of the library. I know Riley would be in there.

  When I walk into the library, I instantly notice Ryan sitting with Riley at a table off to the side of the library. I see her laugh at something and he just smiles at her. I clench my jaw but immediately calm myself down. I don’t know why it bothers me when I see them hanging out. I shouldn’t even care.

  As I approach the table, Ryan notices me and he raises his eyebrows. “Aiden.” He acknowledges me when I’m close enough.

  “Ryan,” I say to him. I sit down next to Riley and smile at her. “Hey, Riley.”

  “Uh, hey,” she says, not looking at me. She instantly starts to gather her things. “I should go.”

  “Are you sure?” Ryan asks her.

  She nods. “Yeah. Um, I’ll see you later, Ryan.” She starts towards the library doors and I frown.

  “What was that all about?” I ask Ryan.

  He shrugs. “Maybe you should just leave her alone for now. I’ve already won her over anyway.”

  “What do you mean?” I narrow my eyes at him.

  “I asked her if she wanted to hang out later and she said yes.” He grins. “Just give up, Aiden. You had your chance, but now it’s mine.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about, Ryan. What chance are you talking about?” I demand from him.

  He stands up and pushes his chair in. “The chance to as
k her out.” And with that, he leaves the library.

  I’m not even going to ask her out. Ryan is just making up all this shit.

  I leave the library and walk in the direction of Riley’s locker. Something is obviously bothering her and I intend to find out what it is.

  And there she is, standing at her locker. I quickly approach her and lean against the locker next to hers. “Is something wrong?” I ask her.

  “Yes,” she says, avoiding my gaze. “I need you to leave me alone for a while.”

  What?

  “What? Why?” I question. Everything had been fine with us yesterday when I went to see her.

  She sighs. “Just leave me alone, Aiden.”

  I’m about to respond when I feel someone besides me. I look to my right and see Nicole smiling at me. “Hey, you,” she says to me.

  Riley slams her locker shut, making Nicole look at her. “Oh look, the nerdy whore is back. We all thought you killed yourself or something.”

  Riley just rolls her eyes and walks away. Nicole snarls. “Bitch.”

  I push Nicole away from me. “Nicole, leave me the fuck alone.”

  “But, Aiden—” she says, laughing slightly.

  “No.” I shake my head. “You think talking to Riley like that is funny? Well, it’s not. You’re the bitch.” I snap at her.

  “That’s not what you were saying when you were screwing me,” she retorts.

  I wince when she says that, but I hold my ground. “Doing you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I want nothing to do with you now,” I tell her.

  She glares at me then makes her way down the hallway. A few people around me start whispering about our argument. But I don’t care about that.

  I need to find out why Riley wants me to leave her alone.

  ***

  I arrive back at the house and park the car in the driveway. I walk up to the door and open it. I throw my backpack on the couch and go straight for the kitchen.

  Alex is talking to someone on the phone when I walk in. I walk past him and go straight to the cabinets. I decide that a nice bowl of cereal sounds good. Alex ends his call and looks at me. “How was school?” he asks me.

  I stare at him. “You sound like a parent.”

  “I’m just asking.” He holds his hands up.

  “It sucked,” I say as I grab the milk from the fridge. I pour the cereal into the bowl then the milk. I put the stuff away and start eating the cereal.

  Alex chuckles. “That’s high school for you.”

  I pull my phone out of my pocket and text Riley again. I know she’s ignoring me, but that isn’t going to stop me from texting her.

  “You seem very tense,” he comments. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that something happened to you today.”

  I don’t answer him. I just continue eating my cereal.

  “Fine. Don’t tell me,” Alex says then. “It’s not like we haven’t been friends for four years or anything.”

  Alex can be a drama queen about everything. He’ll keep pushing you until you tell him what’s wrong, and then he tries to go all Oprah on you.

  I sigh. “Riley told me to leave her alone, and I have no idea why,” I say to him.

  He grinned. “Why don’t you just admit to yourself that you like this girl? It’s pretty damn obvious but you’re so oblivious.”

  “We’re friends, Alex.” I snap. “Even if I did like her, I wouldn’t have a chance with her. She’s got two other guys after her and she’s not even talking to me right now.” I rant.

  Alex has a smug look on his face.

  “What?” I demand.

  He just walks into the living room. I slam my fist on the counter and sigh in frustration. I don’t know why I’m getting so worked up about all of this. I shouldn’t even care. But I do.

  I have to find out why Riley doesn’t want to talk to me. And I think I know how I’m going to do it.

  Chapter 27

  Riley

  Ryan pulls into my driveway and I smile. I had spent the afternoon with him and it was actually quite fun.

  “So, I’ll see you tomorrow at school?” he asks, turning to look at me.

  I nod. “Yup.” I then grab my bag and get out of the car. I wave to Ryan before he drives off.

  When I walk inside the house, I notice my mom by the kitchen window and I automatically know she’s trying to see who I’m with.

  “That was Ryan, for your information,” I tell her then run up the stairs.

  Once I finish my homework, it’s around five o’clock. I’m in my room listening to music on my iPod when my mom comes. I pull my earphones out of my ear and look at her.

  “Riley, I’ve been calling you from downstairs for the past five minutes,” she tells me. “You have a visitor.”

  She makes it sound like I’m in a jail or something. I get up and walk out of my room to see who came to see me. I know it isn’t Aiden because my mom probably wouldn’t have told me if it’s him.

  I raise my eyebrows in surprise when I see who’s at the door. “Kelly.”

  She smiles at me. “Hey, Riley.”

  “What are you doing here?” I ask her slowly. I haven’t really talked to her much lately.

  “I was wondering if you wanted to take a trip to the park. You know, just catch up and stuff,” she says, continuing to smile.

  “Uh, okay,” I tell her. “Mind if Sassy tags along?”

  When Kelly says she doesn’t mind, I tell my mom where I’m going and grab the dog leash. I call Sassy to the door and the three of us then head down the sidewalk.

  “So, how’s everything with Robert?” I ask her.

  “Everything is fine. He makes my mom happy and I don’t have anything bad to say about him.” She shrugs. “What about you? What’s new? Still watching Star Wars at home?” She teases.

  “I haven’t watched it in a while actually,” I tell her. “I don’t know if Ryan told you, but I went to visit my dad over the weekend.”

  She raises her eyebrows. “You did? Didn’t you say he left, like, when you were little or something?”

  I nod. “Yeah. It was a little awkward at first when I found out he had another wife and daughter. But everything worked out.”

  “Damn.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know how you managed to work things out. I found out that the woman my dad cheated on my mom with is pregnant with his kid.”

  We’re both basically in the same situation. Only I worked my way through it and she hasn’t. “How are you dealing with it?”

  Kelly sighs. “It sucks. I know my mom has moved on and everything, but knowing that my dad is going to have another kid with that woman…”

  “Have you talked to your dad?” I ask curiously.

  She shakes her head. “No. The day I found out about him cheating on my mom is the day I stopped talking to him. Ryan talks to him every now and then, but I can tell he is still trying to handle all of it.”

  I remember telling Aiden that Ryan could be feeling the same way about his dad also. Maybe they should just sit down and try to understand each other instead of disliking one another.

  We pass by Aiden’s old house and I glance at it for a few seconds before looking down at Sassy.

  “Let’s talk about something else,” Kelly suggests. “I don’t feel like going home depressed.”

  I chuckle. “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”

  “Boys.” Her eyes sparkle as she says it.

  “Okay…”

  “So, I met this guy…Not recently though. I’ve known him for like almost a year now. Anyways, we’ve been texting non-stop for like, three days now.” I smile. “But he told me yesterday that he’s been dating this girl for about a month.” Her smile falters.

  I frown. “He’s been dating this girl for a month, but he barely mentioned it now?” I ask her. That seems a bit odd. But then again, I’m actually having a girly conversation. This is odd.

  She nods. “Yeah. It sucks because I did develop a s
mall crush on the guy and he has a girlfriend already. And it sucks even more because he said he’s only known her for three months. I’ve known him longer.”

  I feel like I need to give her some encouraging words, but I don’t know exactly what to say.

  She sighs. “Well, enough about me. What about you?”

  “Me?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I know you and Ryan hung out today. But what about Aiden or Lucas?” she asks me.

  It’s my turn to sigh. “Lucas is just a friend and so is Ryan. And I…uh…I’m not exactly allowed to see Aiden anymore,” I tell her.

  She frowns. “You’re not allowed to? What the hell does that mean?”

  “My mom doesn’t like me hanging around him and she threatened that she’d keep me at home after graduation instead of helping me move out on my own,” I inform her.

  “I’m sorry, Riley, but that is just stupid. You’re eighteen, right? You can move out even if your mom says you can’t,” she says to me.

  I know that. But I’m afraid that if I start all this crap right now, my relationship with my mom will never be the same. “I know,” I tell her.

  “It’s okay to rebel against your parents every now and then Riley.” She laughs slightly. “I think it would be quite healthy for you to go against your mom.”

  I think about it and she’s right. I’ve never done anything bad in my life. Well, besides spray painting on the back wall of the library. I won’t go so far to when it will affect my grades at school or anything, of course. “You’re right.” I nod.

  “So, what are you going to do?” she asks, raising her eyebrow.

  “To start things off, I’m going to continue talking to Aiden,” I tell her. I feel kind of nervous for this. I mean, I’ve never gone against my mom’s rules.

  This is going to be interesting.

  Aiden

  “See? It was nothing you did so calm down, bro,” Kelly says through the phone.

  “Step-bro.” I correct her. She replies with a quick whatever. “Is that all you guys talked about?” I ask curiously. I don’t want Kelly to make it obvious that I’m the one behind all of this.

  “Well, no.” I can practically see her rolling her eyes as she answers. “We talked about our dads too.”