By the time Riley returned to the table, we had been joined by several people. She stowed her book away in her bag while Tom and Perrie went on and on about what they wanted to do in Paris. Every so often, Perrie's phone would buzz but she made a point of ignoring it. No doubt it was Mike, again.

Jessie, who I used to sit next to in GSCE English was talking animatedly to Riley about all the historical sights in Paris. I'd never seen two girls so excited by some old buildings before. Then again, I'd always known that Riley loved History. We'd been in the same class for History for years. She had been the one to always know the answer, even to the most obscure of questions.

When we were dating she would read constantly. Most mornings she would wake up before me, propped up in my bed with a large book about a bunch of dead Greek guys. She's tiptoe downstairs and make us coffee so I'd always wake up to the smell in my room. The times I'd stay at hers were no different. Mornings meant coffee and kisses and fights over the duvet, Riley's smile waking me up in the best way possible.

It had sucked when that all stopped. I could hardly slept nowadays because my bed felt empty without her in it.

While my mind was wandering, the ferry rose on a wave and my stomach jolted. Seriously, I was never getting on another goddamn ferry ever again. Every now and then I noticed Perrie smirking at me. I tried kicking her under the table but she moved every time. Damn, the girl was fast.

Finally, the ferry docked in Calais and we were slowly let off. The weather outside was blisteringly hot. Next to me, Tom was already complaining and taking off his hooded sweater. While Mrs Cooper was talking animatedly on her phone, Miss Kelly loaded us all back on the coach. Riley sat down next to me and almost instantly got her book back out. We'd barely sat down before Kirsty and Gemma had turned around and caught my attention.

"Best news ever." Kirsty said, more to me than to Riley. I had the feeling that Kristy and Riley had never really spoken before.

"This coach is magic and we'll be in Paris in five minutes?" Riley asked in a low voice, not even looking up from her book.

"No. Even better. Apparently, as soon as we got off the ferry Cooper's husband called and she has to go back to the U.K." Gemma said. "Her kids woke up with seriously bad chicken pox. They're sending a replacement teacher but until then it's just Miss Kelly."

"And guess who they are sending?" Kirsty said.

"Dumbledore?" I guessed. I was surprised when Riley snickered at that. She'd always said one of her favourite things about me was my secret nerdiness.

"No, you dumbass. Mr Hotty McFootball Shorts." Kirsty said while Gemma rolled her eyes at Riley.

"They're sending Mr Clayton? Four years older than us, ineffectual trainee gym teacher Mr Clayton?" Riley asked sceptically, finally looking up from her book. Gemma nodded.

"How awesome is that? It's basically an unsupervised trip now." Gemma said. "Plus, we get to ogle Clayton in his shorts."

"The itinerary is going to go to Hell now." Riley said with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh no, you wasted all that time laminating it for no reason." Gemma snipped. I narrowed my eyes at her. Was there really any need for her to say that to Riley?

"I did not laminate my itinerary." Riley snapped. "Perrie broke my laminator last week." She muttered to me so Kristy and Gemma wouldn't hear her.

"How did Perrie break it?"

"You don't want to know." Riley said with a shake of her head as she returned to her book.

The news of Mrs Cooper going back to England spread through the coach and everyone was talking about how much fun the whole trip would now be without her. Riley's phone kept buzzing, no doubt with text messages from Perrie.

Every now and then I tried to think of a way to strike up a conversation with Riley. There had to be one topic of conversation we both had an opinion on. Though, judging from Riley's extensive history book collection, I wasn't sure what that would be. Finally, I settled on the reason we were both on the trip.

"So...Paris..." I said loftily. Riley's brow furrowed as she looked at me.

"What about it?" She asked.

"You excited to go?" I asked.

"Why else would I be on this coach?" She replied.

"You really like coaches?" I said with a shrug. God, she was making this difficult.

"Was that a question or a statement?" She then asked.

"Are you determined to answer every question I ask with another question?" I questioned because I really was convinced that she was doing this to deliberately annoy me.

"Why? Is it irritating you?" She then asked. She was doing this on purpose, I knew it.

"Yes." I answered bluntly.

"Good." She shot back with a slightly smug look. "Now you know how I felt this morning on the way to Dover." She added, the smug look intensifying. Fucking hell. "Now you know how I've felt every single day I've had to see you since you cheated on me."

"For the last time Riley, that's not what happened."

"Dude, we all saw the photos of you and Maggie getting it on." Gemma said, turning back round to us. "Shit was hot." She added as Riley glared at both of us.

"That's not what happened." I said through gritted teeth.

"Whatever." Gemma replied.

"Wow." I muttered with a shake of my head. I sank lower into my seat and put my earphones in. Within seconds, I drowned everything out with music while Riley continued to read her damn book.

If she would just give me a chance to explain to her what had exactly happened that night, I knew she would forgive me. We could go back to how we were before. God, I really fucking missed Riley.

After about half an hour I noticed that Riley's head had drooped forwards and she'd gone to sleep. I moved her book, in case it fell off her lap, and marked the page she'd been reading with her bookmark. Of course, Riley Quin would have a bookmark from the Victoria and Albert Museum. She was such a freaking nerd. It actually made me smile.

Fuck, I missed her so much.