What Lies Ahead

What Lies Ahead Chapter 8

The next few weeks go by quickly and now I’m only two weeks away from graduating.

“Finals are this week. Are you nervous?” Ricky asks.

“Not really,” I giggle.

“I know you’ll pass,” he says with a smile.

I grab Chloe and Leon and take them to my mom’s house. I hate Mondays.

 

“Ready for the math final today?” Paige smirks as I stand at my locker.

“Don’t remind me,” I groan.

“Well, we get to take it in 1st period. So Ezra will be the person giving the test to us,” Paige smiles.

“That’s a positive thing,” I grin.

We head to 1st period and take our seats. I take a deep breathe as Ezra passes out our math finals.

 

“That math final was fucking hard,” Luke complains, sitting down with his lunch.

“I’m scared for biology,” Chase frowns.

“That’s tomorrow, right?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Paige groans.

“At least the two hardest come first,” I say, trying to stay positive.

“I guess,” Paige frowns.

“We’ll celebrate when finals are over. Don’t worry,” I grin.

 

Ricky had to stay late after school to grade papers, so it’s just me home with the babies.

I pull out my phone and text Ricky.

Me: What do you want for dinner?

Ricky: I’m just gonna get something on the way home.

I make myself a sandwich and put the babies to sleep.

 

Ricky gets home around 10 while I’m laying in bed. He quietly gets in bed, thinking I’m asleep. I watch him as he pulls out his phone and starts texting away. I see a big smile on his face.

“Who are you texting?” I ask.

His eyes widen as he realizes I’m awake.

“Ezra,” he quickly says.

I don’t believe him, but I’m too tired to argue. I close my eyes, drifting off to sleep.

 

“Finals are finally done!” Paige grins as we sit down at lunch Friday.

“Yippee,” I say sarcastically.

Ricky has been distant this past week. He’s stayed at school late every single day. I catch him texting someone all the time. He won’t even kiss me anymore or tells me he loves me. He hasn’t kissed me since that night on the ferris wheel, and that was five weeks ago! He put a passcode on his phone so I couldn’t look, not that I wanted to. I even asked Ezra if that was him he had been texting, and Ezra said it wasn’t. I think Ricky might be texting another girl.

“Are you okay?” Luke asks.

“I think Ricky is interested in another girl,” I frown.

“Well, if he is then he’s a dipshit,” Chase says.

“Are we still coming over today?” Luke asks, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“Can we find somewhere else to go? I don’t want to be around Ricky right now,” I say.

“Hey, we graduate next week. To hell with him,” Luke says.

“I’ll ask Ezra if we can stay at his place,” Paige gives me a comforting smile.

“It’s kinda scary thinking that next week is the last week of high school,” Luke says.

“I’m gonna miss you guys,” I frown.

“We’re not going anywhere. We’ll always stay in touch,” Chase smiles.

 

That night we all crashed at Ezra’s. I texted Ricky inviting him, but he ignored me. The babies stayed at his mom’s house. Ezra has been trying to get Ricky to hint something about another girl but he hasn’t said anything.

“It’s just unlike Ricky to be this way,” Ezra frowns as we sit at the kitchen table drinking coffee.

Everyone else is asleep. We were up pretty late last night.

“I wish he would just tell me. I hate the feeling of not knowing,” I frown.

“He’s acting a lot different. The Ricky I knew wouldn’t do something like this,” Ezra frown.

“People change. That’s all I have to say.”