"I am not throwing away my shot! I am not throwing away my shot! Ayo I'm just like my country I'm young, scrappy and hungry and I'm not-" I quickly grab my phone and turned off my alarm which is still 'My Shot'. Yeah, now I should really change that before Lin hears it, because I would never hear the end of it. I sigh and look at the time; 6:45am. I groan, today is my first day back at school. It's been two weeks since the incident with Mr Brown and Lin and Vanessa had decided that as soon as I was better I would go back to school. Luckily I didn't have to switch schools because we lived decently close to my old one so good news was I would be able to see my friends, the bad news was Jake went there and I would have to deal with him. I try and push that to the back of my head and get out of bed to get ready for the day. I walk over to my closet which was now full of clothes thanks to Vanessa who had went and bought me clothes while I couldn't walk. Luckily she has a great sense of style and picked out things I never thought would look good until I tried them on, I scan over the hanging shirts and grab a red flannel. I then grab some white wash blue jeans and a black tank top to wear under my flannel. I struggle to put my pants on since the stab wound is still sore. Luckily I can walk on it now with just a little limp, which is progress since Lin had to carry me everywhere during the first week. After I get dressed I slip on some white converse and grab my backpack filled with all my missing assignments that I had to make up during the past week, which Alex had brought me. Alex was the only one I let come over because my friends still didn't know about Mr Brown and I really didn't feel like explaining it to them so I just told them all I was sick and didn't want to get them sick. But Alex offered, well, more like insisted, that he bring me my homework and class work everyday. He would come over after school and give me my work, catch me up on anything going on at school and would usually stay long enough and have dinner with us. Lin and Vanessa both really liked him and Sebastian would get super excited every time he came over. We grew really close over the last two weeks and basically told each other everything, well at least I knew he told me everything, there were still a few secrets I held on for myself, but other than that we knew everything about each other. And yet we still hadn't talked about the kiss we shared backstage at the Richard Rogers, to be honest it didn't seem like we needed to. Nothing was awkward between us, it was like he had forgotten all about it; almost like it had never happened. But the problem was I knew it happened, and I didn't forget, I didn't want to, I kinda wanted it to happen again. And by that I mean I really wanted it to happen again. But every time I almost got the courage to ask him I would stop myself, I mean if he really cared about it he would've said something about it by now right? I shake my head at the thought and continue getting ready, I go into the bathroom and brush my hair and my teeth and then head into the dining room to grab breakfast.
"There she is!" Lin says as he hugs me and kisses the top of my head, "You ready for your first day back?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," I laugh.
"Well I made you this," Lin says, holding out a brown lunch bag. I smile and take it placing in my bag and thanking him. I look at my phone and the time says 7:40, crap school starts at 8.
"Uh Lin, we gotta go," I said pointing at my phone. He eyes get wide and he grabs a banana and a paper towel with toast on it.
"Here's your breakfast, let's go," he says putting the stuff into my hands and pushing me out the door. I laugh and walk as quickly as I can into the elevator and down into the car. Once we're in the car and situated Lin takes off heading towards my school.
"You nervous?" Lin asks.
"No," I say, feeling my stomach do flip flops. Obviously Lin can tell I'm lying because he gives me a look of 'You expect me to believe that?' "I mean it's not like I'm super excited." I say trying to not think about the reason I'm really nervous; Jake.
"Ri come on somethings bothering you, what is it?" He asks, I can tell he's worried but I don't want to tell him about the Jake thing, that'll just worry him more.
"I'm just scared I'm gonna be lost and behind in classes," I say, trying my best to sound believable, and my acting that day must've been really good because Lin believed me.
"You'll be fine Ri, you're a smart kid and remember if there's anything you need help on just ask," he says keeping his eyes focused on the road but giving me a smile.
"Okay if I have problems in APUSH I'll make sure to consult you," I laugh.
"Hey just because I preform history eight times a week doesn't mean it's the only thing I'm good at!" Lin laughs as we pulled into the school parking lot.
"Oh you're right, but I don't have theater until next trimester," I laugh opening the door to get out of the car, feeling slightly better because Lin made me laugh.
"Hey," Lin says grabbing my arm as I'm about to get out, "I love you." I'm taken aback, I mean I knew he cared about me, he helped me when Mr Brown had me in that ally, he decided to foster me after only knowing me for a couple of hours, he spent 10 hours by my side in the hospital after I nearly died, he spent so much money on me for food and clothes and anything I needed and he spent the last two weeks making me laugh, taking care of me and being by my side through all my ups and downs. I look at Lin, one of the only people to care about me in my life and here he is telling me he loves me.
"I love you too," I say, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. He smiles and I smile back at him.
"Have a great day!" He says.
"Thanks, you too!" I say, as I close the door and walk into school. It feels weird to be back, so much has changed since the last time I saw this place. I'm looking around for my friends when I see him, Jake. We lock eyes and he starts to walk towards me with murder in his eyes, I'm frozen in place, waiting for him to strike when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I jump and turn around and see its Alex, I let out a sigh of relief and hug him.
"Hey, you're at school!" He says, hugging me back.
"Yep," I laugh and I turn around to see Jake gone, I'm relieved but I also know he's here so I still have a sick feeling in my stomach. The bell rings, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to Alex.
"Ready to go to choir?" He asks and I smile, nodding, and we start heading towards the choir classroom. "So what's the story we're going with?" He asks, knowing I'm not ready to tell people what really happened.
"I got really sick and moved into my new foster home. As we were moving I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle," I say, he nods and we reach the classroom door.
"You ready?" He asks, grabbing the door handle. I nod, knowing that on the other side of that door I'll be bombarded with questions since all my friends are in this class. He opens the door and I walk in and all talking stops. I look up and see all my friends looking at me with their mouths wide open, and then as if a bell went off, they all run to me at once.
"Riley!" They all scream as they envelope me in a big group hug. Like I expected they ask lots of questions and I give them the story Alex and I agreed on. They also don't know that my new foster family is Lin and Vanessa because if they did they'd freak out and Lin hasn't said anything about it so I wasn't sure if I should say anything. Choir went by pretty fast and second period was here before I knew it; Math. It was one of my least favorite classes, I suck at math and it's full of people I don't know and don't like, except for my friend Isaac. So as soon as the bell rings we take off to math together and Alex heads off to gym. I do wish Alex and I had more classes together but I'm glad we don't have that one together because watching me in gym is like watching Bambi try to walk on ice; except mine is more funny and not as cute as a small deer. So math drones on and after that is break, Isaac and I head out to our spot by the tree in the court yard to meet up with all our other friends. Slowly but surely everyone shows up and even Alex is hanging with us, and everyone quickly accepts him into the group. The bell rings too soon for my liking and I head off to Science with Jed. Class goes by slowly with me taking notes and Jed making me laugh all period about how the teacher's glasses make him look like a hamster. The bell rings and then I head off to gym, now it's not that I don't like running around and playing random sports for no reason and getting sweaty- oh wait, I do hate that. But it's not just that, I'm also very bad at sports and athletic things in general. So I head to gym with Jed, Conner and Penny since we all have that class together. Soon enough gym is over, and I'm a sweaty mess and my leg is throbbing. Yes, in hindsight I should've just had Lin write me a note and then I could've sat out and not have been sweaty and gross, but I didn't want to deal with people judging me, so I tried to tough it out but now I'm regretting it. I hobble to lunch and see Alex waiting by the tree for me, when he sees me his eyes get wide since I'm limping, and he runs over to me.
"Are you okay?" He asks, putting my arm around him so I can lean on him.
"Yeah I'm fine, let's just sit down," I say, hopping to the tree and sitting on the grass. He sits down next to me and looks at my leg, then back at me.
"What happened?" He asks.
"Gym," I say, rummaging through my backpack to get out Advil.
"Why didn't you sit out?" He asks. I just shrug my shoulders as I put one of the pills in my mouth and take a drink of water. He laughs and I look up at him confused as to why he's laughing.
"So stubborn, that's why I love you," he says, and then stops and looks away from me. Did he just say he loves me?! Or did I accidentally take acid instead of Advil and now I'm hallucinating.
"What?" I ask, not sure what gave me the courage to venture into this territory, but there was no turning back now.
"Nothing, so where's your other friends?" he asks, looking around nervously.
"They went off campus to go get lunch, did you just say you love me?" I ask, not exactly sure what's controlling my mouth because I sure as hell am not.
"Maybe," He responds, looking down at his lap playing with the grass.
"Why maybe?" I ask.
"Maybe because it would suck to say 'I love you' to someone and have them not feel the same way," he says, still looking down. I reach over, lifting up his chin, we lock eyes and all of sudden I'm not even thinking, words are just coming from my mouth.
"Well how will you ever know if they love you back, if you don't say so first," I say, not breaking his gaze.
"You're right," he says, and then he says something that changes my life forever, "Riley, I love you." I have no words of course, I should've been expecting it since he basically said it a minute ago but actually hearing it come from his lips and knowing he means it, it makes me forget to breathe.
"I love you too, Alex," I say breathlessly. He leans in and kisses me, and I kiss back. We kiss for what feels like forever and eventually Alex pulls away. He smiles at me and I smile back at him.
"So what dose this make us?" I ask, "Well besides in love?" Alex laughs, and I smile at him hoping he'll say what I thinking.
"Riley Renee James," he says using my real last name which sends shivers through my body. He's the only person I've ever told my real last name to, "Will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?" He grabs my hands and smiles at me and I smile back, squeezing his hands.
"Only if you, Alex Samuel Fitzgerald, will do me the honor of being my boyfriend," I say.
"Well it seems that we have a deal Miss James," He says, leaning in to kiss me.
"It seems we do Mr Fitz-" he cuts me off by connecting his lips with mine. We break the kiss after what feels like an eternity and the bell rings bringing me back into reality.
"Come on my love let's go to English," He says getting up and extending his hand down for me. I grab it and he pulls me up into his arms giving me one last quick kiss and grabbing my hand as we walk to English.It flies by and then Alex and I head to APUSH and meet up with Sam, Jed and Conner who are also in that class. By the time I know it that class is over and school is over, Alex and I walk out hand and hand to the front of the school.
"There's my dad, do you want me to wait with you?" Alex asks.
"No, Lin will be here soon," I say smiling at him, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll see you tomorrow and text me when you get home, okay?" He says. I nod my head and he leans down, kisses me and then runs over to his dads car and drives away. I sit down on a bench in front of the school and sigh, today was better then I thought it would be, I mean who knew I'd profess my love to the guy I've had a crush on since 6th grade. As I'm sitting there, finally feeling like my life is going right, I get a text from Lin.
Lin:
Hey could you walk to the theater? I'm kinda held up here.
Me:
Sure I'll be there soon :)
I take out my headphones and plug them in, and then start walking towards the Richard Rodgers, it's a lot faster walking than driving there from my school since traffic is so bad. I'm about a block away when I feel a hand grab me and pull me into an alleyway. Before I know what's happening I'm against a brick wall and a dark figure is looking at me. The figure pulls off its hood and I'm suddenly staring into Jake's face.He has the same anger and murderous look in his eyes that his father had the night I almost died.
"Hey little sis," he says, keeping his arms on either side of me so I can't leave. I try to stay calm and not look scared but on the inside I'm terrified.
"What do you want Jake?" I ask, trying not to let my voice quiver.
"It's not about what I want, it's about what you did," he spits at me.
"What did I do? Leave you and your asshole of a dad," I spit back, suddenly feeling some courage surge through me.
"Don't say that about him!" Jake yells, slapping me in the face. I'm taken aback because Jake was never the one to hit me, or anyone for that matter. Even though he seemed mean I knew he never wanted to hurt anybody, he just acted tough for his dad. This obviously surprised him as well, so I took the moment of shock to kick him where it hurts, and as he collapsed I took off running to the theater. When I got halfway down the block I glanced back and saw Jake running after me, so I started running faster, each impact on my left leg sent pain running through my body, but I kept running because I'd rather deal with a sore leg then what Jake might do. Finally I get to the stage door and try to open it but it's locked, I bang on it knowing that Jake is catching up to where I am and will be here soon. All of sudden I feel as if I've been hit by truck and am on the ground. Jake had ran straight into me and tackled me to the ground. He's holding my hands above my head and has his knees on my legs, which is extra painful since he's very close to the place where I was stabbed.
"You're gonna pay for what you did," He growls, each word dripping with anger and revenge.
"I didn't do anything!" I scream at him, hoping somebody from the theater will hear me.
"You know exactly what you did!" He yells back, suddenly he's being pulled off of me, I look up and see a random stranger. He's wearing jeans and a black sweatshirt and he has short brown hair.
"Now you kids break it up," He says, pushing Jake away from me. "What's this all about?" I look at Jake and he gives me the look of 'This isn't over'.
"Nothing," Jake says and he walks away. I look at the man, who looks very confused.
"Don't worry it was nothing, thank you," I say and pull out my phone to tell Lin I'm here. By the time I'm done I look up and the man is gone, I'm relieved because I really didn't feel like explaining that to a stranger. I hear the door open and I see Lin standing in the door way.
"Hey, how was school?" He asks as I walk into the theater.
"It was interesting," I say walking into Lin's dressing room and sitting down on the couch.
"Interesting?" He laughs. I nod my head, "Well was it bad interesting or good interesting?"
"It was just interesting," I say.
"Okay well I need to talk to you about something," Lin says becoming serious, it seems my day just got even more interesting.
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Hey guys! Hopefully you liked this chapter I know some of it was boring and some of it was interesting but I enjoyed writing it and I have so many ideas for the future, and I'm so excited to show them to you guys. Oh and on another note, 300 reads!?!?! Thats crazy! Thank you all so much for reading and I'll see you in chapter 13 :)