𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙁𝙄𝙑𝙀 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟭
❝ 𝗙𝗨𝗖𝗞 𝖬𝖸 𝖫𝖨𝖥𝖤 ❞
❪ 𝙏𝘼𝙋𝙀 𝙊𝙉𝙀, 𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌 𝘉 ❫

𝟢𝟧. ╱ ✷ ❝ friendship. it's 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 ❞

"𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝘼 𝙒𝙃𝙄𝙇𝙀, we were the kind of friends you wish you had. We did disgusting things like shopping together, and comparing what we bought, with Riley joining us when we went for hot chocolate and she was working."

"This top is perfect for you."

Hannah looked up from her phone to the lavender colored top that Jessica had bought.

"It shows too much of my arms. They're so fat." Jessica tells the two girls.

Riley scoffed, "They're not."

"I have substitute teacher arms." Jessica said as the blonde stood up.

"And talk about boys."

"I will see you ladies later." Riley tells them, "I have a busy schedule."

"Oh, you mean with that guy you were texting the whole time?" Jessica asked with a smirk.

"When are we going to meet this mystery man?"Hannah raised an eyebrow.

"When my ass can cough up the courage to tell my aunt and uncle that it's been going on for a long time." Riley tells her as she grabs her bag, sliding her phone into the back pocket of her jeans, "Besides, he's not really a mystery, Hannah. You just have to pay attention to those around me." She sends her a wink, blowing the two girls a kiss as she walks away, "You both have a stalker, by the way!"

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 𝙇𝙄𝙆𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝘼𝙏 that, two became three and a half. And like before you know it, you're best friends. There is nothing two hot chocolates, Riley's work schedule, and Alex's drink du jour couldn't fix."

"Here you go."Riley sits the drinks on the table in front of the two females and the bleach blonde male, "And I'm on a break, so what's up?"

"Do you even get breaks?" Alex asked her.

"Yes. But I'll make my own breaks, when I want to." She tells him, "They haven't fired me yet."

"F.M.L."

"Why? What happened?" Jessica asked.

"I got put in remedial math because my math from my old school is not the same they have here." Alex tells them, "Who knew there was different math?"

"But I bet there's a hot troubled bad boy in remedial math." Jessica smirked.

"He broods, he wears leather, he's got a past he doesn't talk about and trouble with long division." Riley smirked.

"There are a couple pregnant girls."

"Will your parents freak?" Hannah asked him, "My dad would freak."

"Mine wouldn't." Riley raises her hand with a smirk, popping a fry into her mouth, "Mine's dead."

"Love the dark humor." Alex chuckled at the blonde girl.

"Yeah, my mom might, but my dad's a cop, so as long as I stand up straight and pass PE, go shooting with
him-,"

"Wait, you're dad's a cop? And you go shooting with him? With guns?" Jessica questioned, "How did I not know about this?"

"You never asked, I guess." Alex shrugged with a confused look on his face.

"I love a man in uniform." Jessica tells him, "I would like to meet your father."

"Ew."

"Your dad wears a uniform." Alex looks at Jessica.

"Oh, yeah." Jessica realized that her father did, in fact, wear a uniform. "I never thought about that."

"I like a man in uniform also." Riley grinned, "A baseball uniform especially."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙉𝙀𝙀𝘿 𝙁𝙍𝙄𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙎. Even just hot chocolate friends. Especially when your life goes to shit. Day after day, drink after drink, work shift after work shift, we lifted our mugs and we lifted each other."

"F.M.L." Jessica sat her hand on top of Hannah's.

"F.M.L." ALex followed.

Jessica pulled her hand back, "Ew. Cappuccino fingers."

"Sorry, sorry."

"Fuck Justin." Jessica says as Riley walks over to them.

"I'll strangle him for you." Riley says.

"You don't even have to talk about it." Alex tells the Baker girl.

"Ever."

"Okay."

"Okay." Jessica leans back in her seat, "Oh, my God. Did you guys take that Vocational Interest Aptitude test? We got our results back today, and I'm suited to be a....,"

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙄𝙉 𝙎𝙋𝙄𝙏𝙀 𝙊𝙁 our differences, we were what we needed at that moment in time. Three drinks. a barista against the world. Two hot chocolates, self taking breaks and whatever the hell Alex was drinking."

"What the hell is that?" Jessica asked, looking down at the drink that Alex had ordered.

"I'm working my way through the menu." Alex stated. "I'm committed to this."

"God, you're weird."

"No, I'm a searcher." Alex says.

"The fact that you just called yourself a searcher is weird." Riley tells the boy.

Alex looked over at Jessica who didn't look as happy as he usually was, "Something's up with you today."

"My dad's being deployed again." Jessica said.

"Oh, man. I'm so sorry, Jess." Hannah says as Riley puts her hand on the Davis girl's shoulder in comfort.

"Wow, that sucks."

"He'll be in the Middle East somewhere, he can't tell us where, probably because it's some country we're not supposed to be at war with." Jessica explained to her friends.

"FML forever."

"FML forever."

"FML forever." Riley gave Jessica a sloppy kiss on the check, causing her to laugh loudly as she fought Riley away from her, "Now, I have to get back to work. I mean, who else is going to pay for my car to keep running?"

"I'm not great at math, but here's one thing I learned for sure - one plus one, plus one, plus a half...is not a simple equation. Alex was the first to stop coming. He found some other friends. He traded up. We were still friendly in the halls, but that's it."

"Then it was down to Riley, Jessica and I. Riley got more busy at work and hanging out with Jeff so she stopped coming. We talked occasionally, but not as often as we used to. But then, Jessica stopped coming, too. We all went our separate ways. Or so I thought."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗡'𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 out there, Riley?" Bryce smirked, leaning back to look at the blonde that sat next to Monty and Scott, the later with his arm around around her waist.

"Oh, Brycey. I may be a natural blonde, which is the typical hair color for a preppy, stuck up, flat chested cheerleader with a push-up bra, but you will never find me in a cheer uniform."

"You can be my personal cheerleader, Lee." Monty smirked as he threw his arm over the blonde's shoulders, "Just come without the uniform."

Riley scoffed, playfully shoving the boy away from him. "In your fucking dreams, De La Cruz."

"Every night, sweet girl."

Principal Bolan stood behind the podium on the gym floor, "Hey there, Liberty Tigers, it's an exciting day at Liberty High. Our varsity basketball team is kicking off its pre-season today, the first to step on the road to returning to the state finals!"

Everyone cheers.

"I am so glad you play baseball." Riley mumbled as she leaned against her boyfriend.

Scott chuckles, kissing the side of her head.

"By Liberty tradition, I'm happy to welcome to the podium, the winner of this year's Captain's Award to introduce the varsity squad."

"Walker!"

"Now, this season's winner is co-captain of the football team and the baseball team, and was called "an insperation to his entire team, friend to all....a touch mother bleep...,"

"More like dumb mother fucker." Riley says.

Bryce playfully shoves her, "I'm feeling the love, Lee. Feeling the love."

"...and a true born leader", and I am delighted to bestow the Liberty High Captain's award on Bryce Walker!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Bryce now stands at the podium, "Ah, it's an honor, and I'm proud to be a Liberty student athlete. Go Tigers! Now, this year's starting lineup....Willem Barclay! Zach Dempsey!"

"Yeah, Zachy!" Riley stands up and cheers loudly for her friend, who blew a kiss in her direction.

"Justin Foley!"

Riley frowns as Jessica comes out, with no Justin behind her, "Oh, Justin."

"Where are you going?" Monty and Scott questions as she stands up, making her way down the bleachers.

"To go and see where the hell Justin is at." Riley tells them before she jogs across the gym and over to Bryce, who uses his hand to cover the mic and leans down to talk to her without it picking up.

"What's wrong?"

"I need the key to your house. I'm gonna go check on Justin."

Bryce pulls his car keys from his jacket pocket, taking his house key off the key ring and giving it to her, "Just leave it on the counter when you go into the main house."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡'𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 been to school?" Riley questioned the boy as he opened the door to the pool house, letting her slip inside before he closed the door back, "Not only is it suspicious to Clay and has him going around asking questions, but Jessica is royally pissed off that you weren't at the pep rally for the stupid basketball team."

"Can you not yell at me for half an hour? Just play a video game with me, maybe drink a beer. Actually, forget the beer." Justin held out a controller for the blonde, who just stared up at him, "Please, Lee?"

Riley sighed, taking the controller from his hand, "Fine."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙉 𝙅𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙄𝘾𝘼 𝙃𝘼𝘿 something on her mind, she let you know."

Jessica walks over to Hannah, grabbing her arm, "We need to talk."

"And I knew what she wanted to talk about. Alex's list. Don't you remember that list, Riley?"

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝙎𝙀𝙀, 𝙏𝙃𝘼𝙏'𝙎 just how it works in high school. Boys talk, girls listen.....and everything gets messed up. Or at least that's how it was with us. Right, Jess?"

"FML?" Hannah sat her hand on the table in Monet's, Riley standing behind the counter, talking to a light brown haired boy whose back was turned so the two girls couldn't see who she was talking to.

Jessica stayed silent for a few minutes, "I should have known. I know the rumors, Hannah."

"Well, you can't know rumors. You can hear them, but you can't know them." Hannah tells her.

"We were friends. How could you betray me like that?" Jessica questioned her.

"Like what? What did I do?" Inquired Hannah.

"Is it you and Alex now?"

"No!" Hannah exclaimed, "How could you even - of course not! He likes you, you like him. I'm the one who's out."

"Yeah, and that pissed you off, didn't it?" Jessica snapped.

"A little. I mean...it made me sad." Hannah tells her, "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Maybe I was afraid of something like this."

"Something like what?" Hannah asked.

Jessica slaps a piece of paper on the table, standing up.

"You needed it to be my fault...so it was my fault."

Hannah looked down at the paper, reading what was on it, "Jess, you know this doesn't mean anything."

"Don't act innocent."

"But I am." Hannah stands up also, "I had nothing to do with this, just like Riley didn't have anything to do with her name being on there. Alex did this on his own."

"Alex broke up with me on his own. And don't bring Riley into this." Jessica tells her.

"I didn't know he broke up with you."

"I'll just say this - enjoy it. 'Cause you will, won't you? 'Cause that's what sluts do!"

"Fuck you!" Hannah exclaimed, causing Jessica to slap her.

"Friendship. It's complicated."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗧 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚?" Clay asked, standing in front of Jessica, "The hot chocolate?"

Jessica sat her phone on the table, "No."

Clay took his backpack off, sitting in the seat and looking around before he looked back at Jessica, "Why did you and Hannah fight? I don't get it."

"Of course you don't. You're a guy."

"You guys were friends."

"We weren't friends. Friends tell the truth, friends don't turn on each other. Hannah's a user and a liar." Jessica shrugged her shoulders, "You can't believe anything she says. Not a thing. I mean, what she said on those tapes, about us and Monet's, she's the one who stopped coming. Not me. She's the one who ended our friendship, and she knew it. She's a liar. Was a liar."

"Why would she lie?" Questioned Clay.

"Why do you think?"

"I don't know." Clay scoffed with a shrug of his own, "I don't understand any of this. I mean, I know people talk. Relationships start. They end. I guess I always thought "how much does high school stuff really matter?" but you know it..," He sighs, "We're only here for four years."

Jessica shrugged, "If we live that long."

"Can I ask you something?" Clay asked her, "Zach and Marcus really wanted to vie me a ride just now at school."

"So?"

"So..that's never happened before." Clay tells her, "They even invited me to hang at Bryce's."

"At Bryce's?" Jessica asked, "Oh, my God. Of course they did." She stands up, grabbing her stuff.

"Any idea who I acquired these new friends?" Clay asked her.

"They're not your friends."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗 𝗜𝗦 he's not here." Bryce led Marcus and Zach through his house.

"Yeall, well, Coach is looking for him now, too. He's fucking pissed that he missed the assembly." Zach tells him.

"He's in the pool with Riley." Bryce opened the glass door that led out to the pool house, "Stoned off his gourd, by the way."

"He's been here all day?" Asked Marcus.

"Yeah, since last night." Bryce nodded, "What he'd do?"

"Who the fuck knows." Zach shook his head.

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗞𝗘𝗣𝗧 𝗛𝗘𝗥 eyes on the TV screen in front of her, trying not to die as the door behind them came open.

"Yo, man." Zach walked in, followed by Marcus, "You okay?"

"Fuck you, am I okay? What are you, my bitch now? Close the frickin' door." Justin tells him.

"Hey, Jessican's looking for you." Marcus said, "She's looking bad."

"Yeah, she has for a while." Justin says, earning a kick in the leg from the blonde next to him, "Besides, Riley already told me that she was looking for me."

"You gonna talk to her?" Asked Zach.

"And say what?"

"Tell her to get her shit together." Marcus ordered, "She's acting like a nut job, drawing attention to herself."

"And you." Zach adds.

"Not me. I ain't there."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗔 refill?" Tony asked, walking to the table that Clay sat it.

"You're parked in a loading zone." Clay tells the male.

Tony sat down, "I'm not staying long. That was the table, yeah?"

"Don't pretend you don't know." He responds, "You and Riley listened to the tapes. You had to. Who else has?"

"I'm not here to tell you that. And Riley isn't going to tell you anything either." Tony tells him, "We decided that we wouldn't say anything to you until you got through all of the tapes, and passed them on."

"Then what are you doing here?" Questioned Clay.

"Because Riley is doing damage control with the others." Tony said, pausing for a brief moment before asking a question that he and Riley wanted to know. "Clay, you're the slowest yet. What is taking so long?"

"It's hard. To listen."

"Of course it is. It's tapes from a dead girl." Tony says.

"Doesn't this affect you, or Riley, at all?" Clay asked him.

"More than I can tell you." He said.

"And what can you tell me?" Clay asked.

"You remember seventh grade? Those fucknuts stuck your head in the toilet and shit?" Tony asked him.

"Yes."

"And I told you, me and my brothers could fix it, and you said "sometimes a guys gotta get through things on his own"."

"I remember."

"This is one of those things." Tony said, causing Clay to sigh.

"I can't hear her voice...without thinking of her." Clay explained, "Without seeing her."

Tony looks up at him, "Seems like maybe that was the lie."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗗 𝗛𝗘𝗥 head back against the arm of the couch as her legs were thrown across Zach's lap, his elbows digging into her thighs as he held the controller to the XBox, him and Marcus now playing the game instead of Riley and Justin.

"It's all you, bro." Zach tells Justin as there's a knock on the door, all of them knowing that Jessica was the one on the other side of the door.

"You're such a fucking asshole!" Jessica exclaimed, pushing Justin as he opens the door.

"Hey! Come on! Hey!"

"How could you do that to me?" She shoves him again, "What did you tell him?"

"What did I tell who?" Justin asked his girlfriend.

"Mr. Porter! What did you tell him yesterday!? And why haven't you been at school?" Jessica hit him again.

"I just needed a day off to chill." Justin tells her.

"The day after you talk to Porter, you need a day off?" Jessica scoffed, "You're not telling me something."

"What would I not be telling you?" Asked Justin, going to sit down.

"Clay has the tapes now." Jessica tells everyone.

"I know. Riley told us. Don't worry about it."

"He's not like the rest of us. He could say something." Jessica stated.

"He won't. Riley's handling it." Justin motioned to the blonde.

Jessica scoffed as she rolled her eyes at the blonde, "Of course you're here."

"Hey, don't talk to her like that." Justin tells his girlfriend, "We'll make sure that Clay doesn't say anything."

"You could lose your shot at a scholarship."

"We'll deal with it, okay?!" Justin exclaimed, "Just - just chill! Lee, how far is he?"

"Should be finishing up Jessica's tape." She tells them as she stands up, gathering her stuff, "He's not there yet, if that's what you mean."

Jessica looked around the room with a frown, "Justin? If Hanna was lying...why are you here?"

The three teens on the couch look at each other.

"I gotta go, guys." Riley moved out of the way, leaning over to kiss the top of Justin's head, "Call me if you need anything."

"I will." He mumbled.

"Where are you going?" Zach asked her with a smirk on his face.

"I have plans." She gave him a look before walking out of the pool house.

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗜 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 an hour before Lainie or Matt calls and asks where I'm at." Riley tells Scott as he opens the front door of his house, neither of this parents cars in the driveway.

"Hmm, good. My parents are out of town for the rest of the week." Scott smirks as he quickly picks his girlfriend up by the back of her thighs, a squeal leaving her lips as her legs wrap around his waist.

A laugh leaves the blonde's lips as Scott turns them around, dropping both of their bodies onto the leather couch behind them, "Scott!"

Scott grins, placing his lips on hers as she brings her arms up to wrap around her neck. Their lips move in sync as his hands begin to roam her body, pushing her shirt up with his movements.

Riley quickly tugs on the ends of the t-shirt Scott wore, causing the boy to pull away from her lips and grab at the collar of his shirt, pulling the grey material over his head and throwing it somewhere in the living room.

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗘." A rough voice groans underneath Riley's naked body, both of them coming out of the deep slumber they were in just moments before, "That's the fifth fucking time that I've heard it ring."

"It's probably just my aunt." Riley mumbled, eyes still close as she kept her head on his chest, "She always calls and checks up on me when I stay somewhere."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗬 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘 of the Baker's house, watching as Tony hugged the woman in the yard before following her into the house, leaving the Jensen boy with a shocked expression on his face.

"Like I said...it's complicated."