𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔 𝙀𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟮
❝ 𝗔𝗦𝗦 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗘 ❞
❪ 𝘛𝘞𝘖 𝙂𝙄𝙍𝙇𝙎 𝙆𝙄𝙎𝙎𝙄𝙉𝙂 ❫

𝟤𝟪. ╱ ✷ ❝ i 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂, lee ❞

𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗝𝗨𝗠𝗣𝗦 up from her bed as Scott tumbled through her bedroom window tripping over the bag she had laying on the floor with a loud thump, "What the hell?! Scott, be more quiet."

"That went over a hell of a lot smoother in my head." Scott groaned as he got up and moved to sit on her bed.

"Scott, seriously. Shouldn't you be at school already?"

"I should be-,"

"Riley! Are you okay?!" Lainie's voice traveled throughout the hallway, getting closer to the bedroom.

"Shit, shit. Hide!" She quickly pulled the boy off of her bed and shoved him into her closet just as the door flew open, "I'm fine, Lainie! God, do you ever knock?!"

"I thought-,"

"It was nothing! I just dropped a book." She rolls her eyes, "Can you get out? I need to get ready for school or I'll be late."

"Riley-,"

"Aunt Lainie."

Lainie let out a sigh before she walked out of her niece's room, closing the door behind her.

Scott comes out of the closet, wrapping his arms around her waist, "That was close." He chuckled.

"Scott." Riley gives her boyfriend a serious look.

He shrugs his shoulders, moving to sit on the edge of her bed, "Monty texted me this morning. He's gonna be late to school, so he sent me to pick you up."

Riley rolls her eyes, "I think you and Monty forget that I have my own car. That I'm going to drive to school today. I told him that last night."

"Why do you have to be so fucking complicated?" Scott groaned, pulling her to stand between his legs, running his hands up the back of her legs and grabbing a handful of her ass, squeezing.

"Stop that." She laughs, slapping his shoulder.

"What?" Scott let out a quiet laugh before he stood from the bed and leaned down to kiss her, "I'll see you at school."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗔𝗥𝗘 not going to fucking believe this." Zach rushed up to Riley as she grabbed her books out of her locker. "Barry called my mom. Bryce is trying to get me to use his lawyer and mom is all up for it."

"She just wants the best for you, Zachy." Riley cooed, reaching up to pinch his cheeks.

Zach slapped her hand away, "Stop doing that."

Riley laughed before someone slammed into her, knocking her straight onto her ass, "Fucking hell!

"Dude, fucking really?" Zach held his hands out for the blonde to grab onto, letting him haul her up from the floor, "Watch what you're doing."

"Sorry." Scott chuckles, handing the blonde her books that she dropped, "Monty fucking pushed me."

"You want me to kiss it better, Lee?" Monty smirked from behind Scott.

"You know what you can do? You can take your small dick-,"

"Okay!" Zach quickly wraps his arms around her head, one hand covering her mouth as he smiles innocently at the teacher that walked by the four of them, "Keep walking. Le'ts get to class, Lee."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗪𝗘'𝗩𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 talking about how do you control your impulses." Porter spoke as Tyler walked into the classroom.

Riley gets his attention by moving her hand and moving her bag from the seat she had saved for him right between her and Cyrus.

"Today, we're going to do an exercise that will help you think before you ask." Porter says, "Because you're gonna do the thinking for someone else. You're gonna be someone else's eyes and their ears, and you're gonna guide them around the room."

"Or out of a window." Cyrus spoke.

"Maybe, Cyrus." Porter said, "But you'll be switching blindfolds halfway through, so don't do anything you don't want done to you. Okay? That means, find a partner. Or I'll find you one. Riley, pair up with someone that has two people since there's an odd number."

"I think I'd rather be the one to go out of the window." She gave him a sarcastic smile.

"You'd think they'd run these class names by a focus group first." Tyler spoke, leaning towards Cyrus. "Ass Class. You're a pretty good artist."

"Kind words from the master photographer." Cyrus says, causing Tyler to grow quiet. "That was you, right? You won that photo contest with that night vision picture of the dogs pissing last year?"

Tyler nodded his head.

"Punk rock, dude."

Tyler held up the blindfold, "Should we?"

"Why the hell not." Cyrus took it from his hands, "Kinky."

Riley giggled, pointing towards the boy next to Tyler, "I like you. I think I'm going to keep you."

Cyrus grinned, "I think I'll keep you as well."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗛𝗘𝗬." 𝗝𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔 walked over to Alex and Riley where the two were standing at Alex's locker.

"Hey. Where were you this morning?" Alex asked.

"I was avoiding Chloe, and like, everyone else." Jessica answered him.

"What's wrong?" Riley asked her, knowing something was wrong with the Davis girl.

"Someone's trying to keep my quiet." Jessica lowered her voice.

"What? What happened?"

"Not here. Come one." Jessica let the two of them down the hallway and into the cafeteria.

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 grabbed their lunch trays and went to sit down before she told the two of them about the blow up doll that was hung from her front porch the night before, and the note she had found in her locker that morning.

"Wow. That is seriously messed up." Alex stated.

"Yeah, somebody is fucking with my head." Jessica tells them, "And my head's already plenty fucked up all on its own."

Alex turned his head to look at the table where Chloe and Bryce sat, "Somehow I don't see Bryce walking into a sex shop."

"What do you guys think about Chloe?" Jessica asked.

"I don't know, she's in smart classes but she does stupid things." Alex tells her.

"I don't like her."

"I can't see her having any ideas." Alex said.

"It's gonna be someone."

"Well, whoever it is, it'll stop." Alex says, "If you just tell the truth tomorrow."

"How does that make any sense?" Jessica questioned him.

"Because they're doing it to protect Bryce, more than likely." Riley rolls her eyes.

"And if you tell the truth, then there's no more protecting him anymore." Alex said.

"Yeah, that should be easy and simple."

"Well, I think it's what you have to do." Alex tells her.

"I don't think you fucking get it, Alex." Says Jessica, "Every time I look at him, it's like - it's like it's happening all over again. Right now, like it's gonna keep happening for the rest of my life."

"Maybe this will make it stop."

"Clearly, I'm all alone in this." Jessica stood up.

"Jess....," Alex sighed as she walked away before he turned to Riley, "Do you think Clay could give me the tapes? Or can I use your set?"

Riley shrugged as her phone buzzed in her back pocket, "I don't know. You'd have to ask him. And I have my set of tapes hidden somewhere. I don't feel like digging them out."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬!" 𝗔 familiar voice calls out as the girl walked towards her next class, a voice she hadn't heard in six months. Turning around, she found Sheri walking towards her.

Everyone in the hallway stopped to watch the two girls stand face to face with each other. Clay tries to walk towards the two of them, but Zach holds him back as he shakes his head.

Seconds later, a sob leaves the blondes' lips as the girls pull each other into a hug, tightly holding onto one another.

"I'm sorry." Sheri mumbled into her shoulder, "I'm so fucking sorry for what I let happen to you and Jeff."

"I know. It's okay." Riley cried. "I forgive you. I forgave you months ago."

Sheri lets go after a few more seconds and walks away from her.

Clay then walks up to his cousin, along with Zach, both of them wrapping Riley in a tight hug as she cries in their arms.

"I fucking hate seeing her so sad." Monty frowned as he, Bryce and Scott watched the scene unfold.

Bryce frowned with a nod, "Hey, have you seen her wear her necklace? The one that she got from Jeff? I haven't seen her wear it in a while."

Monty and Scott glance at each other.

"She took it off a couple of months ago." Scott answered, "She told me and Monty that it was a way of her healing and moving on with life. Life Jeff would want her to."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗝𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗘𝗡 cousin's walk into their home, coming to a stop and looking at each other in confusion as they hear two voices in the kitchen, one being Matt's but the second not being Lainie's.

"Did you have someone coming over?" Clay asked the blonde in a whisper.

Riley shook her head, "No. Did you?"

"No. Uh, hello?" Clay called out, "Mom?"

"Hey, kiddo's!" Matt calls from the kitchen, "Your mom is still at work. We're in here."

"Guys, what's going on?" Clay asked as the two came into the kitchen, finding Skye next to the stove.

"We're making hand-rolled pasta." Skye answered her boyfriend, grabbing a string of pasta and throwing it.

"When it's done, it'll stick." Matt said.

"Okay."

"And why are we having hand-rolled pasta?" Questioned Riley, hands on her hips.

"Skye said she liked Italian." Matt looked at his niece and son, "Figured it's the least we could do. It's our first dinner together. You're mom's thrilled, by the way. Big points scored there."

"Our first dinner."

"Clay, this was your idea, remember?" Skye laughed, "We talked about it at lunch."

"Um, yeah, that's not exactly....,"

"Skye, I think this might be ready." Matt says.

"Yeah, this is all you, buddy." Riley pats her cousin on the shoulder, "I'll be in my room if you need me."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬 was in her bedroom and away from the awkwardness that was going on downstairs, the blonde walked over to her closet and pulled the door open. At the top, under a bunch of blankets, was a small black box that she pulled down.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, she pulls the lid off and frowns at the sight of the multiple polaroid photos that at one point had previously been tacked up on the walls of her room. Riley had taken them down not long ago, them being a reminder that her best friend was no longer living, but instead he was buried six feet under lying inside a coffin covered high in a pile of dirt.

Moving the pictures around, Riley pulled out a small square velvet box and pulled the lid up, smiling sadly at the silver 'J' hanging from the chain that once rested around her neck, close to her heart.

"You know, I remember getting you that."

Riley gasped, jumping out of her skin as she turned around to find her best friend sitting in her desk chair with a smile on his face, "You're not real."

"I'm as real as you want me to be, Cole." Jeff chuckled, "You were nervous about your Freshman year of high school, even after I reassured you that nothing was going to go wrong because I was going to be by your side every step of the way. Nobody ever saw you without it around your neck."

The blonde lets out a sad chuckle, "Yeah. And then you died and everything seemed to get harder. Getting dressed and looking at myself in the mirror every time I changed got too much for me, so I took it off six months ago. After your funeral, way before that, I came home and had a fucking mental breakdown. Tore the room apart, took down every picture of you and I."

"Don't cry." Jeff watched a tear roll down her check as he stood up and moved to sit on her bed with her, "I'm fucking dead, and I still hate to see you cry. And I'm mad at myself that I can't be there for all the shit you've been going through - that you've all been going through."

"It took me weeks before I could even go to your grave, or even talk to your parents." Riley says, "It took a box of fucking cassette tapes, and a dead girls confession before I was even remotely stable and capable enough to go."

"But you did it. You went and you took it a step further, and you went inside my bedroom. You're slowly piecing yourself back together. And I couldn't be more proud of you, Riley Nicole."

"Riley." There was a knock on the door that made her quickly wipe her tears away, "It's time for dinner, honey."

"I'll be down in a minute, Aunt Lainie." She called, standing up and wiping at tears falling from her eyes vigorously.

"Hey." Jeff spoke as she went to leave the room, "It's okay to be sad that I'm gone. Nobody is going to be mad at you for that. And I think it's time your relationship with Scott finally came out."

Riley shot him a look.

Jeff chuckles, "I love you, Riley."

"I love you too, Jeff."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝙄'𝙈 𝙎𝙊 fucking nervous for tomorrow!" Riley groaned as she fell face first onto Jeff's bed as she walked into his bedroom.

"There's nothing to be nervous about." Jeff laughed at his best friend, moving away from his closet to throw himself down next to her, "It's just like every other first day of school that you've had."

"Yeah, but this is different. And you are two grades ahead of me, so we might not even see each other that much." She flips over so that she's laying on her back, "And you'll have your little baseball friends and that girl you started dating."

"Her name is Leah, and don't forget that you're friends with some of those baseball players, and football players, even though Walker, De La Cruz, and Foley are dicks." Jeff says, running his fingers through her blonde hair.

"That still doesn't make me feel better, J." Riley whined.

"Okay, give me a second." Jeff stands up from his bed and walks over to his computer desk, pulling a small black velvet box from one of the drawers, "I was going to wait until your birthday, but I guess now is as good a time as any."

"What is it?" She asked, sitting up and taking the box from his outreached hand.

"Just open it, Riley Nicole."

Riley rolls her eyes at the use of her first and middle name, smiling slightly at the sight of the silver 'J' laying in the box. "It's beautiful."

"This necklace is like a promise ring, but in necklace form for two best friends." Jeff takes it from her and hooks it around her neck before speaking again, "From here on out, I promise to be the greatest best friend a girl could possibly have. That means, no matter where we are in school, no matter where we are after school, no matter where we are in the world, that I will always be with you, even when we're long gone from this world and buried six feet under."

Riley grinned, turning around and wrapping her arms around his neck, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Jeff whispered, kissing the side of her head, "I love you, Lee."

"I love you."

ミ⛧ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⛧ﾐ

"𝗦𝗢, 𝗜𝗧'𝗦 graffiti?" Lainie asked Skye as they all sat around the table.

"It's a....it's a mural, Mom." Clay answered, swallowing the food in his mouth, "It's called Street Art."

"It's very popular." Matt laughed, "It's one of the oldest art forms. If you think about it, cave paintings were street art."

"Yeah. Yes." Skye grinned.

"That's - Thank you, Dad."

"And, um, how long have you two been making this art?" Lainie asked them.

Riley frowned down at her plate as she used her fork to push the food around, Jeff and that stupid polaroid circling around in her head.

"Couple months." Skye answered.

"Not long." Clay says at the same time.

"Months! This must be some mural."

"Honey, why are you so quiet?" Lainie asked her niece, noticing how she hadn't really said anything all dinner, unless she was asked a question.

"It's nothing." Riley mumbled, dropping her fork on the plate and standing up.

"Well, it has to be somethin-,"

"It's fucking nothing, so just drop it!" Riley exclaimed.

"Riley-,"

"Mom, let her cool off." Clay stopped her from going after his cousin as she walked out the house, slamming the front door closed behind her. "She just needs some time. Uh...Sheri, she came back to school today."