𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋. 𝙁𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙔 𝙎𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙉 ─── 𝖲𝖤𝖠𝖲𝖮𝖭 𝟰
❝ 𝖸𝖮𝖴 𝖪𝖭𝖮𝖶 𝖶𝖧𝖠𝖳? 𝗙𝗨𝗖𝗞 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 ❞
❪ 𝙑𝘼𝙇𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙀'𝙎     𝘋𝘈𝘠 ❫

𝟱𝟳. ╱ ✷ ❝ 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗁𝖺𝗌 𝗈𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝗳𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱
𝗎𝗉 𝗺𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲. ❞
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

           "𝙎𝙊, 𝙔𝙀𝘼𝙃, it's Valentine's Day. They're calling the dance "love is love", which like. . . here's the things about love in high school. Love does not thrive in an atmosphere of complete paranoia. So anyone who thinks Valentine's Day at high school is a genuine show of love probably also thinks that airport security actually has anything to do with security."

"What the fuck with all the cameras? They're everywhere." Clay catches up with Justin and Riley. "Look." He points.

"It's probably just the vandalism, right?"

Riley shrugged, "They didn't put any up after Tyler and Cyrus spray painted 'Rapists' on the baseball field. That was worse."

"Dude, most schools have security cameras now." Justin tells his brother.

"This is different. Something's up." Clay says, his paranoia slipping up, "They know something."

"Dude, you have been spiraling for weeks." Justin says, Riley nodding her head at the boy as she answered a text message from Scott and one from Eddie, "You gotta stop."

"No, the two of you have been ignoring shit in your little "I'm happy" and "I'm healthy" bubble, but shit is wrong." Clay started, looking around them just as his phone starts to buzz.

"This is the third time this morning." Riley raised an eyebrow at her cousin, "Gonna answer it?"

"It's just a robocall."

"Why don't you block the num—,"

Clay cuts Justin off, "They're calling from different numbers."

"Why is a robocall freaking you out?"

"I gotta get to class."

Riley and Justin watch Clay walk away from them, worried for the boy.

"We seriously need to figure out what the hell is going on with him." Justin shakes his head.

"You don't think. . . ,"

Justin hesitated, already know what the Jensen girl was going to say, "I'm not sure. We're just going to have to keep our eye on him."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

          "𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗥𝗘 absolutely sure they wouldn't let you off? It's one night, Scott." Riley holds her phone against her ear as she walked around the courtyard, looking for Alex since the two of them decided to eat lunch together.

"I've tired talking to the coach more than once, baby. And it isn't just one-night because you'll beg me to stay for a few days, and I'll give in." Scott laughed from the other end of the phone call.

"Yeah, but I want to dance with my fiancé at a stupid high school dance." She pouts, sitting at the table and smiling at Alex, who sends her a smile back, sliding a pudding cup towards her as he grabbed the small bag of Sour Patch kids she held out to him. "It's not fair."

"I'm going to make it up to you, I promise. I just can't do this weekend." He tells her.

Riley sighed, "Alright. I guess. I'm at lunch with Alex so I'll let you get back to your thing."

"I love you. Okay? I'm sorry again that I can't make it."

"I guess I can forgive you just this one time." She rolled her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me. They might get stuck like that one day." Scott jokes with a laugh, "I love you."

"I love you."

"That Scott?" Alex questioned as she hung up, sitting the phone down next to her.

"Yeah, I've been trying to convince him to drive up and go to the dance with me, but his freaking baseball coach says that he's missed too many practices." She pouts, opening the bag of carrots she brought just as Jessica sat down next to Alex.

Jessica sends a smile to the Jensen girl before she's turning her body to look at Alex, "I think we should go to the dance tonight, together."

Alex looks at her for a minute, "Nope, sorry, hard pass."

"What, even as friends?" She looks at him in disbelief.

"Who literally never speak until you need something." Alex told her.

Riley's eyes grow wide as she's looking down at the table, trying not to pry into their conversation, thought it was hard to do with the two sitting across from her.

"You're really calling me out today." Jessica scoffed, "Look, you're the one who stopped talking to me, and we had, like, one week of Monet's after Thanksgiving, and then you just completely dropped me."

"I did not drop you. I just . . . I can't think about it too much, or I freak out." Alex tells her.

Riley nods her head, "Yeah, panic attacks are a fucking bitch."

Alex smiles.

"Look, I get that. Of all people?"

"I know." Alex looks off before turning to Jessica, "I'm still not going to the dance with you."

"Even as friends?" Jessica asked, moving back a little, "Do you already have a date?"

"No, and thanks for seeming shocked at the possibility."

"Why do you wanna go so bad, anyway?" Riley asked, unlocking her phone to answer the text message that Lainie has send her about having grabbed her laundry to wash it for the teenager.

"Because. . . I'm student body president, and I should be there." She tells the two.

"So go alone." Alex shrugged.

"And I shouldn't have to go alone. You know, what good is it to have our lives back if we can't, you know, live?"

"Yeah. I hear you."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

          "𝙄𝙏'𝙎 𝙃𝙄𝙂𝙃 school, so somebody's always watching, waiting for you to fuck up. So, of course, you will.

"Dude. . . you flaked on us two weeks in a row." Tony spoke to Tyler as the two of them sat in class, Riley quickly walking back into the room after having gone to the bathroom. "So, what's going on?"

"Nothing." Tyler looks over at him, "I mean, just busy."

Riley leans forward to talk to him since Tony sat in the middle of the two of them, "Busy with what?"

"School. And my job."

Tony and Riley look at each other in confusion, either of them knowing that Tyler was working, "You have a job?"

"Okay, that was weird." Tyler laughs awkwardly, pointing between the two. "But, yes."

"Uh, where?"

"At the Ultimate Portrait Studio." Tyler's eyes flicked to each of them, "I have a life. I can't just be there whenever you need me."

"Yeah. Okay, of course."

"Tyler Down." The teacher calls out, "You're wanted in the office."

"Is everything okay, Ty?" Riley raised an eyebrow as he packed his stuff up.

"Yeah."

"Tyler."

"Just Dr. Singh, as always."

The two-remaining look at each other before turning towards the teacher, hands thrown up into the air, "Bathroom?"

"Tony, go. Riley, you just got back."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

          𝗥𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗬 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗘𝗗, her and Tony sitting in the mall plaza in front of the Ultimate Portrait Studio where Tyler said he was working but they had yet to actually see the boy come in.

"Clay, where the fuck have you been, man?" Tony stands up as he sees Clay, Riley following his lead.

"Look, I'm sorry, man. I got, er, held up. I, um. . . did you find Tyler?" Clay walked over to them.

"He's still not here." Riley crossed her arms, looking around her for any sign of the boy.

"His mom said his shift started at three-thirty. It's now after five."

"So he lied to her?" Clay asked.

"He's been lying to all of us, Clay." Riley shrugged, "Something is up with him."

"Standall knows something, I swear to God." Tony stated, having recalled the moment in the hallway where he was talking to Alex's dad. "Why would Tyler be talking to Bolan? Clay!"

"Sorry." He closes his eyes.

"What is up with you?" Tony questioned, "We have a problem here."

"I think we might have a few problems."

"Oh, shit." Riley curses, the three turning towards Tyler as he walked up to them.

"Hey. What are you guys doing here?" He asked, "My mom said you guys called the house."

"Yeah, well, we called you first, and you didn't answer."

"Okay, well, my phone was off."

"So where have you been since after school?" Clay questioned, "Are you late for work?"

"No, my shift's not even till five-thirty. What do you care?" He asked, "What's the big emergency?"

"I just needed to ask if you would help me DJ the dance tomorrow night." Tony comes up with an answer on the spot.

"Why would I help you DJ the dance?"

"Dude, you helped me set it all up on my computer, I don't—,"

"Okay, well, I can't." He shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry."

"Why not?" Riley jumped in, hoping that Tyler would at least tell her something.

"I need to get to work now." Tyler walks towards the store, turning to see the three still standing and watching them, "Where I'll be for the next five hours, just in case you guys are keeping track."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

           "𝗔𝗪𝗘, 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 pout, Lee." Justin teases the blonde as they walk into the school, "I'll be your date to the dance tonight."

"No, I'm probably not even gonna go." She sighed, tucking her hands into the pockets of her ripped blue jeans. "It's not the same without Scott."

"Are you still getting those calls?" Justin stepped in front of Clay as his phone buzzed.

"Uh. . . No, this is just. . . This is Ani." Clay says, "I should take this."

"Okay, I know Clay is normally really weird, but he's been acting even weirder because of those phone calls." Riley sighs, shaking her head as she and Justin walked down the hall.

"I'm worried about him."

"Yeah, me too."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

          "𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞 so beautiful, kid." Matt stands in the doorway of Riley's bedroom as she looked over herself in the mirror, her light pink dress that stopped just above her knee, complimenting her tanned skin perfectly. "I thought you weren't going?"

She shrugged, "Jessica and I decided that we were gonna share Charlie as our date. He's thrilled about it. . . though I'm sure he's just scared of Jessica. I just thought, after everything that's happened, we all need something normal."

Matt smiled, "That's good. Though, I don't think Scott will be too happy that you're going with someone else."

"He said he couldn't make it." Riley frowned, grabbing her cellphone and purse from her bed, "Why would he—," Her eyes grow wide at the shit eating grin her uncle had on his face.

Matt's laughter is heard as he followed after his niece, "Please don't fall in those shoes!"

"Scott!" Riley happily cheered, rushing into her fiancé's arms.

"Hey, you look beautiful." Scott grinned, leaning down to kiss the blonde for a few minutes, pulling away to be respectful of the two adults that were in the room, Clay and Ani standing to the side since Lainie had wanted to get pictures of them before they left.

"You told me that you couldn't come!" She gently hits at his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck, her heels giving her a good height so that he didn't have to bend slightly like he usually did.

"I lied. Coach loves you so he said it was okay. I've been here since yesterday afternoon." Scott smiled, brushing his thumb gently across her cheek as he held her face in his hands.

"He also brought you some flowers, but I already put them in a vase." Lainie smiled at her niece, "I'll put both bouquets in your room."

Riley looks confused, "Both? You got me two things of flowers?"

"No, I got you the daisies, like you love. But Eddie says that you're his Valentine's from afar, so he sent me with lavender daisies too."

"Awe, that's so sweet of him."

"Okay, okay! Let's take pictures so that you guys can leave."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

          "𝗜'𝗠 𝗦𝗔𝗗 that you are only here for the dance." Riley sighs, hand intertwined with Scott's as they walk behind Clay and Ani towards the school. "I hate when you have to leave."

"I know, I hate it too. But I will be going on the Senior Camping trip with you guys." Scott smiled as her face lights up, "I talked to Bolan while everyone was in class yesterday, and he thought it would be a good idea for a Senior who isn't a Senior anymore to go on the Senior class camping trip to show the Seniors what it's all about." He paused, "There were too many seniors in that sentence.

She laughed.

"Scott! My man!" Tony greeted the Reed boy as he met then at the entrance, the two hugging each other, "Riley said you weren't coming."

Scott shrugged, "I decided to surprise her. You DJing again?"

"Always. You coming to help?" He joked.

"I don't think you want me up there." Scott laughs.

"You guys have fun."

"You know . . . we can leave early if we need too." Riley smirks as she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's.

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Cause I'm not wearing anything under this dress." She kisses his cheek before pulling away, calling over her shoulder as she walked way, "I'm going to find something to drink!"

Scott's eyes follow her figure, noticing the extra swing in her hips as she walked way. A groan leaves his lips as he tilts his head towards the sky, "She is seriously going to be what kills me."

˗ˏˋ 𖤐 ˎˊ˗

          "𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 serious about not having anything on underneath that dress?" Scott mumbled as the engaged couple slow danced to the song right next to Jess and Deigo, keeping his voice slow enough they were the only ones to hear it.

She tilted her head to the side with a teasing smirk on her lips, "Would you be disappointed if I had lied to you?"

"A little bit. It's just more layers that are in the way of getting to what's mine."

"Oh, what's yours?" Riley laughed, moving closer to him so their bodies were pressed up against each other.

"Mmhm." Scott nods, bumping his nose with hers, a smile playing on his lips as he leaned down to kiss her, "I love you."

"I love you."

"Hey, Riley, we have a problem." Tony rushes over to the two of them, "Like a serious problem."

Riley looks over at him in confusion, "What the hell are you talking about? What problem?"

"I just saw Tyler get into Standall's truck and the two of them drove off."

"Shit."

"The truth is, you're right, I have been in love before. I've done a lot of what I've done out of love, and where's it ever gotten me? Love has made me angry, paranoid, afraid. Love has made me a monster, more than once."

"Uh, guys, I think we have an even bigger problem." Scott spoke up, his eyes casted away from them.

The two look over, Riley's jaw dropping at the sight of her cousin covered in what she hoped to be red pain and a knife in his hand.

"Clay?" Ani rushed over to him, all of his friends rushing to his aid but staying far enough back, "What the fuck happened?"

"I don't know."

"Love has only fucked up my life, has made me question my relationships, my closest friends."

"Jesus, Clay." Ani shakes her head, beginning to back up as Scott pulled Riley out of her way and into his chest, "You're right. I can't fix this."

"And God knows, love has made my closest friends question me."

Tony turns around, looking up and Riley soon followed his sight, the two of them staring up at the security camera that had a perfectly good view of Clay.

"So, you know what? Fuck love."