"Again!" Molly screamed
"Shhh" I hushed
"Sorry" she whispered
I told Molly about me and Riley's kiss last night. It really felt good telling someone about the things that went on in my life.
"This time he didn't pull away" I swooned
"Or tell you to get out" she teased
I laughed
"You really like him, don't you?" She asked
"I won't say I like him because I barely know him. I can say I'm attracted to him. Yeah, attraction is the word"
"Which could turn to 'like' right?"
"Yes. I would like him more if only he let me in. From what I saw yesterday, he's really nice and can be fun too but he's not making this easy"
"I can't believe it. You fucking kissed Riley Darren and you've only been around for like a month. Girls have been trying to do that since the third grade"
I was surprised. Riley hasn't kissed anyone in this school?
"Really?" I asked
"Yes. No one has succeeded. No one has even held a proper conversation with the guy. He's closed off"
"To be honest. The kiss yesterday was just a spur of the moment"
"And you liked it?"
"Of course, I did"
My head turned when I heard the cafeteria door open. I secretly hoped it was Riley since I haven't seen him all day. I was starting to think he was avoiding me.
To my dismay, it wasn't Riley. It was Lucas. Molly hadn't noticed. She was busy eating her fries like a kangaroo.
"Lucas just came in" I told her
"What?!" She shrieked
"Don't turn around. You have sauce on your lips"
"Okay"
"Fix your face now"
I almost laughed out loud at how fast she arranged her hair and face in less than ten seconds.
"Ready" she said
"Hey Lucas" I called waving "Remember me?"
"Oh hey" he said walking over to our table "Jade, right?"
"That's me" I said "He's coming over in fifteen seconds. Pretend to be doing something" I whispered to Molly.
She quickly grabbed a book from her bag and started reading it. I closed my mouth trying not to chuckle. The book was upside down
"The book is upside down Molly" I giggled
"Oh"
She quickly arranged it
"Oh hey, Molly" he said sitting down
She turned to him non-chalantly like she hadn't known he was coming.
"Oh hey Lucas, didn't see you there"
"You know Molly" I said "whenever she's reading, she gets so lost in it"
I've never seen Molly read a book in my entire life but I had to hype her to make her seem very smart.
"If there's something I love about a person, its someone who reads" Lucas said "what you reading?"
"Uh, The street lawyer" she responded
"You into suspense?"
"Yeah. I'm into any kind of thing as long as it's good"
He smiled at her in admiration
"I like that"
"You should" I said without thinking
"Well, Since you're into books, how about you help me out with my literature assignment. I mean we could figure it out together. I'll even take you to dinner after" Lucas said
Molly looked dumbfounded
"Uh......" She was at a loss for words
I fake coughed "say *cough* yes *cough*"
That was when she snapped out of her trance.
"Uh.. yeah, sure. I'd love to" she replied
"Cool. I'll let you know when"
"No problem"
"Jade" he nodded at me
"Lucas"
"Bye Molly " he said before he stood up and left
"What just happened" Molly squealed
"Did you hear that?" I squealed "He said 'bye Molly'. Not just 'bye'. He even added your name"
"Thank you so much Jade. I'm confused though. I hate reading books. I don't even know how this got into my bag. How am I going to help him?"
"Well, I say you should get the name of the book beforehand then work on it. You can always use Google"
"Thanks a lot"
"You're welcome"
"Come on. Let's get to class"
We carried our things and left the cafeteria. As we walked down the corridor, I spotted Christopher. I waved and he waved back. He even came over to talk to me
"Hey Jade. Hey Molly" he greeted
"Hey Chris. I'll see you later J" Molly said before walking away
"Hi" I spoke
"I just came to tell you that I'm really excited about our date. I wanna get to know you more"
"The feeling is mutual"
I couldn't help but think I may like Christopher too. He seems sweet and good with words.
I lost interest in our conversation when I saw Riley walking in our direction. I smiled at him and he smiled back but frowned when he saw Christopher. He shook his head then walked the opposite direction. What's wrong? Did they have a fight again?
"Can we talk later" I told him
"Sure"
I went after Riley
"Hey" I called tapping his shoulder. He faced me with a scowl on his face
"What do you want?" He said
What's his problem? We were fine yesterday but then I remembered this was his usual character
"What's up?" I asked "I haven't seen you all day"
"How would you? You've been all up under Christopher"
"If I didn't know you any better, I'd say you were jealous"
"Jealous of what? Someone who doesn't like you?"
"He asked me out on a date. Of course, he likes me"
Riley face palmed himself shaking his head
"I swear to God you're so fucking naïve. Can't you see he's using you?"
"What is up with you?"
I'm really getting tired of this cycle Riley has created. We're fine at first and then we fight. I'm getting sick of it
"Are you that dumb?" He asked
"The last time I checked, you were the dumb one"
I regretted those words immediately they left my mouth.
Riley's face turned from angry to hurt. What have I done?
"I'm sorry"
"Save it" he snapped
He walked away for a few steps then turned back
"You know how it feels?" He asked "You kissed me yesterday and then I see you with him like last night didn't mean anything to you"
"It's not that deep Riley. I can talk to whoever I want. Last night just happened. We didn't plan it"
After all, it was just a kiss. I didn't even think he would care
"Yeah. I guess so. Just like you didn't plan to take my first kiss away from me"
Those were his last words before he walked away
*
After school, I decided to stop at a diner to get some ice cream
"Chocolate flavor on a cone please " I told the guy at the counter
"Coming right up"
I waited as he made it. When he was done, he handed it to me and I paid him before leaving the store.
People walked busily on the side walk. I had to lick my ice cream and walk carefully at the same time to avoid being knocked over.
"Samantha!" I heard someone call.
My body froze. That person called my real name and the voice sounded very familiar.
I decided to keep walking. My plan worked until the person ran to my front, blocking me. It was exactly who I thought it was; my ex boyfriend, Danny
"Yes?" I answered angrily, pretending not to know him. My heart was beating very fast
He looked at me in confusion.
"Sorry. You look like a friend of mine" he said
I laughed in my head. I wouldn't describe us as friends. I'm sure he found out about the thousands of pounds and debit cards I stole from him before I ran away from London
" I don't think I know you"
"No, you don't. You guys look so much alike, only you have different hair colour and eyes"
"Okay? Can you move out of my way now"
He moved away, giving me space to pass.
"Sorry again" he shouted
I walked back home so fast that my legs ached. I have to tell Jasmine about this.
I shook my head and redirected my thoughts.
I thought about Riley on my way. He indirectly said I was his first kiss. That made me feel bad. I shouldn't have made that comment about him being dumb, that was wrong. I'll have to apologize so I'll stop by his house before I go to mine.
When I got home, I knocked on his door
"Who is it? Come in" a female voice said. I raised an eyebrow. That wasn't Emma
I entered the house which was surprisingly in a perfectly good condition. My mouth hung open. I never knew the living room could look this good.
A girl was sitting on the couch
"Hello" she said "Are you a friend of Riley?" She had an American accent and was fucking gorgeous
She had dark long hair and beautiful blue eyes. She looked like she walked straight out of a magazine.
I recognized her from somewhere. She was the girl that was in the picture with Riley
Before I could answer her, Riley entered the room holding two bowls of popcorn in his hands
"Oh hey" he told me. He handed a bowl to her and sat beside her
"Hi. I came to talk to you" I told him
The girl laid her head on his lap and stretched her legs on the couch.
I was boiling on the inside. Who is she?
Now I understand why Riley felt bad when he saw me talking to Christopher. I had the same feeling too
"Jade this is Carly. Carly this is Jade" Riley introduced
So this is the Carly that guy talked about?
"We're about to watch a movie, wanna join us?" She asked politely. The fact that she was nice made it all worse. I badly wanted to hate her
"No. I have homework" I lied "I'll talk to you tomorrow Riley"
'Okay" he said. She threw a popcorn in the air and he caught it with his mouth
"Score! " he said
"Oh shut up. That was easy, even I can do it"
I left the house. The next thing I heard when I closed the door was laughter.