Note: There are only a few more days left until the Watty Awards are over. I'm behind by a lot, but I would still appreciate it if you would take your time to vote at www.wattpad.com/watty. My story "Don't Give Up" is under Teen Fiction, Undiscovered Gems. Thank you for those who voted already, and if you haven't, I would love it if you would take a minute to do so! If I do win, I will add a super long chapter to "Don't Give Up"! Thank you all! :)

Chapter 17

                “Hey, how come we haven’t been sitting with Cassandra and Max at lunch for the past week?” Maria asked, as I dragged her outside to the football field during our lunch hour. I made her sit down on the cold bleachers, as I fumbled in my bad to fish out my cheese sandwich.

                “No reason.” I lied. “I just thought it would be a great idea to give the newly wedded couple some time alone.”

                Maria shot me a look, before raising an eyebrow. “I know that sarcastic tongue of yours, Riley.” Maria smiled deviously before tilting her head to the side. “What haven’t you been telling me?”

                I didn’t feel like explaining myself to Maria at the moment, so I shoved a mouthful of cheese sandwich into my mouth. I shrugged innocently at Maria, before muffling, “Nothing.”

                Maria gave me an unsatisfied look, before rolling her brown eyes. “Okay, let me rephrase my question so it won’t sound like I’m giving you an option,” Maria paused, “tell me what you’ve been hiding from me for the past week.”

                I let out a sigh of defeat, before setting my sandwich back down on the plastic wrapper that was around it. I began to tell Maria the complete story from what happened last week, to until now.

After I stormed out of Max’s house last week, discovering that he had been forgetting about me while he was with Cassandra, he tried to call me nonstop. I ignored his phone calls out of anger, and he eventually did stop. Ever since then, none of us have made the effort to speak to each other. Every time I saw Max in school, he always looked extremely happy with his arms around Cassandra. It was like Max had forgotten all about me now that he had Cassandra.

                After I finished speaking, I let out a deep breath of air. I peeked over at Maria, who seemed much focused on the ground. “Maria?” I muttered. “I didn’t scare you away, did I?”

               Maria’s eyes snapped back up at mine, before she shook her head vigorously. “No, no,” she paused, licking her lips, “of course not.”

                “Then what’s wrong?” I asked, letting out a shaky laugh. “You have a look of deep concentration in you.”

                Maria seemed uneasy, as she rubbed her palms against her temples. “I know this idea might seem kind of bizarre.” She said slowly, before clearing her throat. “But, would you ever consider the fact that Cassandra might be manipulating Max?”

                My eyes widened, as I choked on my own saliva. “Cassandra’s manipulating Max?” I asked with disbelief. I let out a laugh, before shaking my head. “That’s impossible, Maria. Cassandra is our friend. She would never do that.”

                “You don’t know that.” Maria pointed out. “Ever since she and Max got together, she hasn’t been talking to us as much as she used to. Have you ever even noticed how she might be forgetting about you just as much as Max is?”

                Maria’s words pierced through my heart like a bullet. Everything that she’s just said was completely true, yet I was too oblivious to notice it. I didn’t want to believe that Cassandra might be the one who was driving Max away from me, but who knew? Cassandra and I haven’t been as close as before. I didn’t know her; I didn’t know what was going through her mind.

                “I’m not saying that you should end all ties with Cass, yet.” Maria said, giving me a soft smile. “I’m just suggesting that you should be more careful around her.”

                I nodded, before giving her a weak smile. “Got it.

                Five minutes before lunch ended, Maria and I went back into the school building. I waved her goodbye, before I went off to my next class of the day; biology. As I was making my way towards the science building of our school, I couldn’t help but notice someone unfamiliar, looking around at the numbers written on top of the classroom doors with confusion.

                Once the guy caught my eye, a wash of relief went over across his face. He gave me a soft smile, before approaching me with a new schedule in his hands. “Hey,” he said timidly, “could you help me find this room?”

                I nodded, before taking his schedule into my hands. “Room 324B,” I rehearsed, before smiling, “yeah. That’s the class I’m going to next anyways.”

                The guy let out a breath of air, before chuckling lightly. “Oh God, thanks.” He mumbled under his breath. “I left the lunch room ten minutes early just to try to find this room.”

                I laughed with him, before pursing my lips. “Are you new here?” I asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before.”

                “Oh, yeah.” He smiled sheepishly, before sticking his hand out for me to shake. “I’m Jared, by the way.”

                I shook his hand firmly, before smiling. “I’m Riley.”

                Jared’s eyes seemed to widen on cue, as he let out a laugh of disbelief. “You’re Riley?” he asked, as I nodded slowly. “Wow, from what I’ve heard, you don’t seem to be as pretty as you actually are.”

                I narrowed my eyes, feeling uncertain. “Is that a compliment?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

                Jared laughed, before grinning. “Yeah, it is.”

                I held back a smile, before tucking a strand of hair behind my ears. “So, who told you all those lies about me?” I asked, a grin stretching upon my lips. “Was it Katie?”

                Jared looked taken aback, before he nodded honestly. “Yeah, I think.” He paused, licking his lips. “She’s the blonde one, right? With the face covered in makeup?”

                I laughed, before nodding. “Yeah, that’s her.”

                “I knew something was off about her when I first met her earlier today.” Jared said, running a hand through his dark chocolate hair. We entered the classroom just as students began flooding in. “Hey, I can sit with you, right? There are no assigned seats or anything?”

                I shook my head, before offering the empty seat beside me. No one really liked sitting with me anyways, since I was a trouble magnet. If you were my friend, then you were automatically an enemy to Katie and her little crew. “I should warn you, though.” I turned to Jared, deciding to tell him for his own sake. “You might not be liked by some people if you sit with me.”

                Jared frowned curiously, before taking a seat. “Why?”

                I gave him a small smile, before biting on my lower lip. “Let’s just say, Katie and her friend’s poured beer on me at a party once upon a time.”

                Jared’s eyes widened with surprise, before he shook his head. “Wow,” he muttered, “that’s so messed up.”

                The late bell finally rang, as Everett entered the room before our teacher came. His eyes immediately landed on mine, before it shifted towards Jared. Everett’s eyes seemed to darken at the sight of him, as he approached the two of us. “Riley,” he mumbled, before eyeing Jared, “who’s your new friend?”

                Jared grinned over at Everett, who didn’t seem too friendly at the moment. “Hey man, I’m Jared.” He introduced himself. “I’m new here.”

                Everett clenched his fists, before nodding shortly. He turned back to me, before he leaned down at me, so that his lips were just brushing against my earlobe. I held in my breath, as I felt Everett’s lips slowly moving on my ear, tickling me while leaving tingles on my skin. “Can I talk to you after class?” he whispered, as shivers went shooting down my spine.

                I felt Jared’s eyes curiously lingering on Everett and I, as I chose to ignore his stares. Everett’s lips slowly moved away from the side of my head, as he hovered over me, waiting for an answer. I gave him a weak smile, before nodding slowly. “Sure.” I squeaked, hating how weak and tiny I sounded around him.

                Everett nodded in satisfaction, before turning towards the back of the class to take his seat. It seemed as if the entire class was staring at us until they slowly drifted back into their own conversations. Jared turned to me with a teasing grin, before he licked his lips. “So, who was that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Your boyfriend?”

                I glared at him, before punching his shoulder gently. “No, you idiot.” I bit my lower lip from smiling. “He’s just a friend.”

                Jared smirked, before leaning back against his chair. “It doesn’t seem like it, with the way his eyes were burning with anger and jealousy towards me.”

                My cheeks suddenly flushed, as I shrugged innocently. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Jared.”

                The teacher suddenly came bustling through the classroom doors just as Jared was about protest against his statement. “Sorry I’m late!” Mrs. Jamison panted, as she dropped a stack of papers onto her desk. “I was in the copying room printing out your worksheets for your next lab project, which will be on dissection.”

                A group of girls made a groan in the back, while a few of the guys chanted. Mrs. Jamison opened her mouth to explain our lab further, but stopped when her eyes met Jared’s. She squinted, as she picked up a sheet of paper from her desk, her eyes scanning over it. “Jared Wilfred,” she read out his name, raising an eyebrow at him, “are you a new student?”

                Jared nodded, as the entire class turned towards him, giving them their full attention- especially the girls. Mrs. Jamison gave Jared a warm smile, before nodding. “Well, welcome to our biology class.” She paused, before continuing. “So for tomorrow, we will be dissecting frogs. When you arrive to class, please take out lab equipment from the closets on your right. This will be a group project of pairs of threes, and the packets I will be giving you should be answered outside of class.”

                “Will we be picking our own partners?” a hopeful voice asked from the back.

                “No.” Mrs. Jamison answered bluntly, raising an eyebrow at two of the troublemakers who sat in the far back corner. “Not after what Jesse and Carl decided to do with our materials on our last lab project. I’ve already made a list of groups, and I will announce them once I hand out the worksheets.”

                As Mrs. Jamison handed out the worksheets, walking up and down the rows, I couldn’t help but bite my lips from nervousness. I never did like working in pairs, and since I didn’t have many friends in this class, I didn’t want to end up with someone who disliked me or slacks off. I looked over to Jared, who offered me a small grin. I smiled back, crossing my fingers and hoping that I would get paired up with him.

                “Okay,” Mrs. Jamison started off, holding a sheet with the names of groups on it, “the first group is Jesse, Trevor and Aria.” We all knew that Jesse has been trying to hook up with Aria for God knows how long, so it wasn’t a surprise when we heard Jesse’s friends chanting him on.

                “Stacy, Jonah and Victoria.” Lucky for Jonah, Stacy and Victoria were both whores. While they did their project together, he was probably going to receive some attention from both girls.

                “The next group is Jared, Everett and,” I turned my head around, as I watched a scowl appear on Everett’s face already. Jared, on the other hand, didn’t seem too bothered, as he stared up at Mrs. Jamison, waiting for her to announce the last name, “Riley.”

                Figures.

                I felt the entire population of girls in our class turn to glare at me, their eyes burning with jealousy onto my back. I wasn’t going to lie, Everett and Jared were both attractive looking people, and naturally, hormonal teenage girls wanted to be with attractive guys.

                “Hey, we’re going to be partners.” Jared stated the obvious, as Mrs. Jamison continued on with her list of groups. I nodded, before plastering a fake smile across my face. Everett was already showing signs of dislike towards Jared, so putting those two together isn’t going to be a walk in the park.

                The bell finally rang, as Jared quickly said goodbye to me. I waited behind outside the halls for Everett, who wanted to speak to me about something. He was one of the last people to come out of the classroom, so the halls were pretty much cleared, leaving the two of us alone. “What took you so long?” I asked, pushing myself off against the wall.

                “I was trying to get Mrs. Jamison to switch me to another group.” Everett mumbled, before running a hand through his hair. “That didn’t work out too well.”

                I frowned, raising an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with our group?”

                “I just don’t want to watch Jared flirt with you while we’re dissecting frogs.” Everett said, with a slight edge of sarcasm in his tone.

                I laughed bitterly, before smirking. “Everett, are you jealous?” I asked teasingly, punching his shoulder gently.

                Everett’s eyes flashed over to mine, as the grin I held on my face immediately fell. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach, as my palms suddenly felt moist. What if Everett was really jealous? Could he even be-?

                “Of course not.” Everett scoffed, letting out a weak chuckle. “What would I be jealous over?”

                And again, I brought my hopes up too high. Of course Everett couldn’t be jealous that Jared was talking to me. He’s had two years to get over me, while I still had feelings for him. I scoffed at myself, feeling completely and utterly pathetic. “R-right.” I forced a smile upon my face, feeling my heart shattering into pieces. I tucked the curtain of hair that was in my face, behind my ears. “So, what did you want to tell me?”

                Everett frowned at me with confusion, as if he had suddenly forgotten why he told me to wait for him outside. When he finally snapped back into reality, a tingle of pink blushed over his neck, as he ran a hand through his hair shyly. “Oh, right.” He cleared his throat. “My father wanted to know if you wanted to be a bridesmaid at his wedding.”

                I raised an eyebrow, blinking with surprise. “What?” I asked. “Me? Isn’t the decision for the bride to decide?”

                Everett shrugged, before smiling at me slightly. “It was Maria’s mother’s choice.” He paused, before scratching his head. “My father said something about how she wanted you to be a bridesmaid, since you meant a lot of my mother.”

                Mrs. Rosenfeld, Colette.

                Would Colette have wanted me to be a bridesmaid for a woman who her husband was marrying?

                Yes, an inner voice told me, she would’ve wanted you to be there to celebrate her lover’s happiness.

                “What do you say?” Everett cut into my thoughts, giving me a weak smile.

                I looked up at Everett, finding his green eyes to be staring down at my curiously. I licked my dry lips, rubbing my wrist hesitantly. I took in a deep breath, before uttering out the words, “Yes.”