The Amazing Tragedy of the Girl Next Door By Elizabeth Anderson

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Me and Brody had made up in a three minute conversation and were now acting like we had never drifted apart. And as he promised Brody had talked to Ridge and they weren't really friends anymore. Ridge was mad that Brody was hanging out with me. But the strange thing was that Ridge now wanted to hang out with me a ton. I know I don't get it either. So except for that everything was normal. Even Eris came back.

Eris is my boyfriend at this point we have been dating for 7 months and things were great. He had gone on a family vacation and had came back a week after me and Brody made up, you could say Eris was a little surprised. See I had told Eris about how me and Brody use to be friends and he also knew, like me, that there was a small chance that Brody and I would be close friends again. So it didn't make any sense to him that we were close. Not that he was complaining. He was happy that one of his best friends and his girlfriend were getting along well.

You could say that I was happy too, for the most part. I had many friends, a boyfriend who adored me, and my best friend from when I was little back. Things couldn't get much better than that, right? Wrong. I still hadn't heard from Ian Border if I had won the contest or not. So one day I decided to check the website. The contest had ended two weeks before hand and it just said results would be shown soon, so I checked to see what exactly you would win. This is what it said

Win A Day With Ian Border!

Click here to enter

Win a day with Ian Border. One lucky lady will win an entire day with Ian Border. Ian will hang out with you and do whatever you want! Go to the movies, the zoo, anywhere you name it.

TO WIN

Submit an essay stating why you should win and what you want to do with Ian. The best essay submitted will win a day with Ian.

A Winner Will Be Announced on December 19!

Ok so I knew all that. It did stress that it was just one person and in my essay I had said that I wanted to just talk with him about music (gotta work in my dream right?) and that I wanted him to hang out with me and my friends (the fan club). And they were gonna announce the winner later this week. That would explain why it felt like it was taking forever to hear if I had won or not. I really hope I did. This could my only chance to reach my dream of being a singer. I had to win. But maybe I didn't win. It had stressed that he was only going to meet with one person so having him meet the fan club was going to cause me to lose. Oh gosh I'm scared.

Eris was being so supportive of me and I loved it. So was Brody, and Ridge had found out from someone what was happening and he kept telling me that he believed in me too, Ridge is a strange kid, ok I'm just putting that out there. Ridge would walk over to me or stop me in the cafeteria in the morning and talk to me, stop by my locker for a chat, and quite frankly it was downright annoying.

Not that I would tell Eris or Brody that Ridge was annoying me, but Eris being Eris happened to notice that something was wrong one day.

"Alright out with it. What's on your mind?" Eris asked one day at lunch.

"Nothing Eri. Why would anything be wrong?" I asked him.

"Nothing has to be wrong, it's just that you seem really annoyed and I want to know why," Eris said. Just then Ridge walked up and I know I had a completely discussed look on my face and despite me trying to hide it Brody noticed.

"Ridge get out of here. You know as well as I do that you shouldn't be here, so why don't you just keep on walking," Brody said standing up so he could be face to face with Ridge, even though Ridge is a few inches taller than Brody it's close enough that when Brody stood tall and acted strong in front of Ridge that they were almost the same height.

"I am able to be anywhere I want Brody. I was just gonna tell Aria good luck since you know the results are being posted tomorrow," Ridge said smugly totally ignoring Brody who was still directly in front of him blocking us.

"Thanks Ridge, but you already told me this remember?" I told him. I then looked away fast and didn't say anything else. I didn't want this to turn into anything big, I was just going to sit there and focus on my sandwich which was really, really good at this exact second.

"So that's the reason she's been annoyed lately, it's you," Eris said in a stern voice.

"Ridge just leave her alone from now on," Brody said to him in a somewhat gentle way.

"Again Brody I can do whatever I want," Ridge said in a harsh way.

"Alright man so let's not make this ugly and why don't you just leave." Brody said. Eris had sat down again and I knew without even looking at him what his expression was. It was mixed with anger, confusion, and compassion. Eris angry at Ridge for bothering me, confused by what I had said, and had compassion for what I was going through with him.

"Fine dude, Aria I'll talk to you later," Ridge said point blank.

"No you won't Ridge," Eris called after him as he went to the other side of the cafeteria.

"Hey guys... What did I miss?" Leah said as she sat down.

"Nothing," I told her then I went back to picking at my sandwich. For the rest of lunch no one said anything else. All I could think about was what Ridge wanted to talk about. I can tell that he is having an effect on everyone. I mean I know Eris is friends with Ridge and even with everything that has happened between Brody and Ridge, Eris still likes Ridge. But Eris knows that if it's bothering me then he doesn't want to end up making it worse so he and Ridge might end up like Brody and Ridge which is the exact opposite of what I want.

The bell rang then and Leah and Brody got up and Eris slowly stood up, but I gave him a look that said wait and he sat back down.

"You guys go ahead we'll catch up later," Eris told them and they left so it was just him and me and the people walking by.

"Where do you want to talk?" I finally asked.

"How 'bout the secret hallway?"

"Perfect."

So we started walking, in silence of course, towards the hallway. He slowed down and came to a stop towards the middle but I walked a little farther and stopped and he followed.

"O.k. I know that its bothering you that me and Ridge aren't getting along. And I want you to still be friends with him and I'm not telling you that you can't talk to him or anything I just don't want you to talk about me."

"Alright, besides me and Ridge aren't that great of friends. I just want you to be happy. And if by me hanging out with Ridge will make you unhappy I won't hang out with him ok?"

"Alright Eri, I love you." I gave him a hug and we just stood there for a moment.

"I love you too, Ari." He grabbed my hand and while I was still hugging he started to walk me to class. It was probably two minutes before we got to my class but it felt like thirty seconds.

"Noooooooo," I complained," just a few minutes more," and I hugged him harder.

"We still have a minute or so before I have to go, and we aren't even totally at your class yet." He said in a very sweet loving voice and he gave me a tight hug back and this time we stood there for at least a minute, just standing there in each other's arms till Eris was going to be to be really late and we let go of each other.

He gave me a quick kiss said "I love you" then left but not before I told him "I love you, too." I then walked back to class only to be stopped in my tracks by Ridge who was standing right in front of me.

"Well wasn't that sweet," he said in a rude tone.

"I'm not in the mood Ridge." I said as I walked around him and continued to class.

"Just hear me out Aria, I just want to talk."

"Maybe another time Ridge I'm going to be late."

"Meet me after school then," he said as he jogged over to me, grabbed my arm, and spun me towards him.

"Yeah, sure. I really have to go. Good-bye Ridge." And I walked through the door to class.