whisper | rilaya

ten

Danielle paused for a second, noticing how I went from a freak with anger issues to a girl who was about to break into tears. "I'm sorry, for everything Maya. I didn't mean that." She stuttered nervously as she continued to speak.

"I know everything is new to you right now, and your dad is a sensitive issue. I've been through the same thing, and I want to be here for you but you keep shutting me out before I can try. Can we start over?"

The girl in front of me has been hurt before. She was vulnerable. As easy as it would have been for me to say no and leave her, I decided to take Riley's advice, and break down my walls. I hesitated briefly before answering her. "Okay, we can try."

Danielle smiled so wide that I wanted to compare it to Riley's tooth-full expression. But I couldn't, It didn't even come close to how Riley's smile made me feel.

She took me out of my thoughts. "Listen, about Riley. I didn't mean what I said back there. I was just-"

"Save it. It's fine, we were both thinking it anyways. If we're going to be friends, you don't have to lie to me." I cut her off, surprising her with my bluntness.

There was still 10 minutes left until class started and according to our schedules, we had home room together.

Danielle took a deep breath and cautiously asked. "Why does Riley live in your basement?"

"She told you that?"

"Well, we were exploring together for like, 3 hours."

I still haven't gotten over the fact that Riley left without warning to explore with someone she didn't know. We definitely needed to have a talk about stranger danger once I got home.

"She's a family friend from California. Riley is only visiting for a couple weeks." I lied, impressed with how naturally I came up with the excuse. If Dani was allowed to lie about how ended up in my backyard, I was allowed to lie about the girl I was protecting.

Dani frowned and tilted her head in confusion. "She told me that she lost her memory and you found her one night and took her in."

My heart raced, she knew the truth. I cleared my throat, embarrassed that I was caught in my well constructed lie. It was hard not to be a little jealous that Riley confided so easily in Danielle. "Sorry for lying. I didn't think Riley wanted anyone to know." I apologized.

"It's okay." Dani smiled. "I would've done the same."

I opened my mouth to reply to her, only to be cut off by two familiar boys.

Lucas and Farkle came up to us, with surprisingly joyful expressions and waved.

"Glad you two met!" Lucas greeted. "I assume Danielle has already told you we dating?" He inquired.

I nodded silently, with a faint smile in my face. "Yeah she has."

Lucas wrapped an arm around her proudly and continued the conversation. Everyone else in the circle nodded and hummed accordingly, like they were used to being forced to listen to him.

I tried my best to follow along with what he was saying. His mouth moved with each word but I couldn't hear any sounds. My mind tended to tune out irrelevant things when it was worried. I guess Lucas has been deemed irrelevant.