𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙍𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟭
❝ 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗣𝗜𝗗, 𝗙𝗨𝗖𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝖨𝖣𝖨𝖮𝖳 ❞
❪ 𝙏𝘼𝙋𝙀 𝙏𝙃𝙍𝙀𝙀, 𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘌 𝘉 ❫

𝟣𝟥. ╱ ✷ ❝ you 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗱, fucking 𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗼𝘁 ❞

"𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙄 𝙅𝙐𝙎𝙏 keep thinking, if only someone else could have had me on their list. Then maybe - maybe - it could have all been different."

"Yo, Picasso." Hannah spoke as Clay drew a bunny on the piece of paper in front of him while leaning against the counter in the Crestmont, "You resting up for a big date tonight or something?"

"Me? No." Clay closes the book he was writing in.

"What about Dollar Valentine?" Hannah asked him.

"I, uh, I didn't really do it." Clay lies to the Baker girl.

"Couldn't afford it, huh?"

Clay laughed, "Yeah. What, uh, what about you? Did you?"

"Yep. Well, uh, you know my motto - no cheerleader left behind." Hannah joked, "What surprised me though, was Riley doing it."

"Riley always helps out the cheerleaders and she does it every year. She also gets the same people every year, too." Clay shrugged before he paused, "You get any good matches?"

"Not one." Hannah tells him, "I got Bryce Walker."

"Holy shit, really?" The Jensen boy asked in disbelief, "Either you made a serious error in the "who I'm looking for" section, or that algorithm is messed up."

"Probably both." Laughs Hannah, "I'm always looking for the wrong person. I did get a call from Marcus Cole. He said I was on his list."

"Are you gonna go out with him?" Clay asked curiously.

"Well, he's not my first choice. But, ummmm.....,"

"Jensen." Jeff walks into the lobby, dressed in sweatpants along with Leah, Riley and Scott Reed which earned a confused look from Riley's cousin as he took notice of the arm Scott had around Riley's shoulders, "What's up, Clay?"

"Hey, Jeff. Let me guess - you guys are seeing 'Never Say Goodbye' for Valentine's Day." Clay turned around to fix some popcorn.

"No, we're seeing 'Thirty Ways to Die'." Jeff corrected him.

"You're a classy date." Hannah jokes.

"Yeah, yeah, I am." Jeff laughs with a nod of his head.

"Actually, Leah and I are on a date for Valentine's Day." Riley got out of Scott's hold, ignoring the look her cousin sent her, and moved to wrap her arm around Leah's shoulder, "Bert and Ernie are just here to pay for everything."

"Why do I actually know who is who?" Scott scoffed at his girlfriend.

"What's up with you, man?" Jeff pushes the blonde away from his girlfriend playfully, who holds her hands up in surrender as she moves to stand back next to Scott, "How'd that Dollar Valentine work out?"

Hannah looks at Clay, "I thought you said you didn't do it."

Riley and Jeff turn to each other wide eyed.

"I thought you were gonna....you told us - we're gonna see our movie." Jeff trailed off, walking away with the three he had come with.

"Nice going, loudmouth." Riley pushes her best friend.

"He told us he was going to do it!" Jeff exclaimed, "I didn't know that he backed out! You're supposed to tell me these things!"

"I didn't even know he didn't do it!" Riley shrugged, letting Scott wrap his arm back around her shoulders, intertwining their fingers.

"When are you guys going to tell people that you're together?" Jeff eyed the couple, "You've been together for almost three years now."

"We'll tell people eventually." Riley says, "I just need to figure out how I'm going to tell my aunt and uncle."

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"𝗢𝗞𝗔𝗬, 𝗦𝗢 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗚𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗬, it is the decision of the Honor Board that you are to be suspended from Liberty High school for three consecutive school days, starting tomorrow." Marcus tells the boy, which causes Riley to tense up.

"That's fucking bullshit." Monty shook his head.

"That is fucking bullshit." Alex agrees with him.

"You're both fucking bullshit." Riley snapped at the two.

"Alright. That is enough, or all three of you are goin." Porter tells the three teenagers.

"And, uh....Alex, you're gonna be let off with a warning." Says Marcus.

"What?"

"Oh, come on!"

"How is that any fucking fair?!" Riley throws her hands up in the air.

"With a warning this time."

"Fucking hypocrites." Alex says, standing up and leaving the library.

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"𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗙𝗨𝗖𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗗𝗜𝗢𝗧!" Riley harsly shoves Monty as the two walked down the hallway, the blonde fuming with anger, "You stupid, fucking, idiot!" She kept shoving him.

"Hey! Hey, Riley! Hey!" Monty turns around and grabs her arms, pulling her into his chest as he feels her body tremble with anger, "Calm down! Calm down, Lee."

"Calm down?! You want me to calm down?!" She started to thrash around in his arms, trying to pull herself away from him but it was no use because the more she struggled, the tighter his grip got, "Do know what your dad is going to fucking do to you?! Huh?! Do you have any idea?!"

"I will be fine!" Monty loosens his grip, trying to pull her much closer to him than she already was, "I'm going to be fine. It's nothing that I can't handle already."

"Yeah? What about what I can handle?" Riley hisses, eyes pooling with tears. "Because I won't be able to handle it! I don't want another late night phone call where I have to drive your ass to the fucking hospital because your dad beat your fucking ass!"

"Shh. Shh." The De La Cruz boy places one hand on the back of her head as she rested her forehead against his chest, letting the tears fall from her eyes, "I'm going to be fine. Everything is gonna be fine."

"Nothing is ever fine, Monty." The blonde cries.

Monty stands with her in silence, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

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"𝙈𝙔 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙎 𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙀 high school sweethearts. So shoot me, I believe in romance."

"What's wrong?" Scott mumbled as Riley laid on his bed, him sitting on the floor against the bed with textbooks open around both of them.

Riley lets out a sigh, letting her head hang down next to his, "I'm worried about Monty. He was suspended for three days, and we both know how much of a dick his dad can be."

"Baby, Monty is a big boy. And he's the toughest guy we know." Scott turned his head to look at her, "He can take care of himself. Now, will you help me pass this stupid math test?"

"Don't you wanna just take a break from studying math? Maybe study something else." Riley has a grin on her face.

Scott raises an eyebrow, "What else would I be studying?"

Riley leaned her head over just an inch so that she could brush her lips against his, "Me."

He barks out a laugh as he stands up from the ground while Riley moves to sit on her knees, hands resting on either side of his waist as he grabs the sides of her face as he kisses her.

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"𝙄 𝙒𝘼𝙄𝙏𝙀𝘿 𝙁𝙊𝙍 you, Marcus. And just had to sit there. Wondering, imagining, playing over all the different scenarios in my mind. And all the while thinking that they all knew - everyone in the whole place - that I'd been stood up on Valentine's Day. I decided to give you one more chance. Stupid Hannah."

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"𝗜 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗢 go." Riley laughs as Scott chases her down the stairs of his home, trying to talk her into staying longer, "My aunt has texted me a dozen times."

"Just tell her you're with a friend." Scott grabs her by the waist, pulling her flush against his shirtless figure, his jeans and socks being the only articles of clothing that he was wearing.

"I can't." She turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck, "I promise, I'll stay this weekend. But I have to get home."

"Fine." He groans, opening the front door of the house, "Be careful. Call me when you get home, please."

Riley leaned up to kiss him, "I promise."

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"𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙉 𝙔𝙊𝙐 finally showed up. Except, you weren't alone. And, again, you were funny, Marcus. And I thought maybe, just maybe, it was going to be alright."

"Clay, what are you thinking about?" Sheri asked the boy that lay on top of her, pulling away from the kiss between the two of them.

"I'm sorry." Clay moved to sit on his bed, "Shit. I'm sorry."

"What happened? Did I do something?" Sheri asked him.

"No, no. God, no. It's - I don't know." Clay tells her.

"Um.....," Sheri sits up right, pulling the end of her dress down, "Look, it's okay if you don't like me like that."

"No...I like you. I do. I...,"

"You were thinking of someone else." Remarked Sheri.

"No, Sheri, I wasn't-,"

Sheri cuts him off, "You were thinking of Hannah."

"I wasn't."

"That's okay. I wasn't...I wasn't thinking of anyone. But you." Clay stated, "I like you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You think I'm a good person?" She asked.

"Of course, I do. I always have."

"Well, you shouldn't."

Clay looks at her confused, "What? Why are you crying?"

"Look, Clay, I...," Sheri sniffled, "I thought that...that maybe if...if you didn't listen to my tape, you would still like me. You would see that I'm not that person."

"You're on the tapes?" Asked clay.

"You didn't know?"

Clay shook his head, "No, I haven't listened to them all."

"I..I did something, Hannah and I, but...I did it." Sheri cried, "And it's horrible, and I can't. Look, I can't tell you what it is, and I don't want you to look at me that way, and it would kill me if you heard what was on those tapes. Riley hates me because of them, that's why she's been ignoring me."

"What did you do?" Clay asked, knowing that his cousin didn't just drp her friends from her life without a serious reason to do so.

"Clay, please. It's over. The damage is done, and I...just wish
that-,"

"You wish that I'd give up the tapes." Clay realized, standing up from his bed, "You want me to pass them on, just like Marcus? Just like everyone?"

Sheri shook her head, "Clay."

"This is why you're here? Why you've been so nice to me? Why you kissed me?" Clay questioned.

"Oh, my God. Clay, no." Sher stood up.

"I think you should leave." Clay tells her.

"Clay, it-,"

"Just go!" Clay exclaimed, and Sheri did just that. "Jesus Christ."

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"𝙄 𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙇𝘿𝙉'𝙏 𝙈𝙊𝙑𝙀. I couldn't get up and leave, or scream. Anything would have been better than sitting there thinking that somehow this was my fault. Thinking I'd be alone for the rest of my life. But through it all...you want to believe there are good guys in this world. I knew there were. I believed it."

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"𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗘 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞?" Clay walked into his cousin's bedroom, finding her laying down and watching American Horror Story.

"I'm not getting out of my bed." She shrugged, lifting the covers up.

Clay smiled at her softly before her crawled into the bed next to her, letting her cuddle into his side as the blonde pulled the covers over the both of them, "Sheri was over here today, and she said something....,"

"Said what?" Riley asked, her eyes never leaving the TV screen.

"That she was on the tapes, and that she did something that made you stop being friends with her." Clay answered, lowering his voice, knowing that his mom liked to snoop outside of their doors lately, "What happened on her tape that was so bad?"

Riley shook her head, "I can't tell you, Clay. You have to listen to them for yourself."

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𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 anything from the two teens - or any movement from upstairs for that matter - Lainie decided to head up the stairs to check on her son and niece, making a stop at Riley's room first since her's was the closest to the stairs.

Looking inside the bedroom, she smiles softly as she notices the two fast asleep on Riley's bed with the TV playing quietly in the background. Lainie watches the two teens sleep peacefully before turning the bedroom lights off before walking away.

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"𝙁𝙐𝙉 𝙁𝘼𝘾𝙏. 𝙄 did some research on tombstones the other day. Or, more specifically, on epitaphs on tombstones. The best one I could find was by this writer called Harry Charles Burkowski, JR. Oh his tombstone, he has engraved the picture of a boxer, and beneath the boxer two simple words - "don't try".

"I wonder what will be on mine."