No One's P.O.V.
Years ago Riley Matthews was abandoned by her best friends. After that she never trusted anyone. After that she never looked back.
Riley's P.O.V. (10 years in the past when she was 16.)
Today is a perfect day. Nothing in the world could possibly ruin my mood. I decided to go with a subtle look for today. I pick out a black tank top with gray and black striped leggings. I straighten my hair and put on some light makeup. I walk out to see my wonderful family sitting at the table.
"Good morning, Riley. Would you like some breakfast?" My mother asked.
"No thanks, mom. Maya will be here any minute." I say as I slip on my cheer team jacket and I tie up my white converse. I sit there and wait for Maya, but she didn't show up. I shrug and walk to school myself. Once I get to school, I see Farkle by his locker.
"Farkle, have you seen Maya?" I ask him. He looks at me, then closes his locker door and walks away.
"Farkle?!" I exclaim down the hall. Suddenly Zay was walking down the stairs with a group of people.
"Yeah. Riley Matthews is way too happy. She is also really clingy. Maya, Farkle, Lucas and myself, were talking about how we were in middle school. We were all wondering the same thing. Why on earth were we friends with her?" Zay explains and the group laughs. I get a feeling of betrayal. I look and I see Maya talking to Missy Bradford. I realize that I've lost three of my four real friends. All that was left was Lucas. I hear the basketball team charging through the hallways. Now I've lost all of my friends. I give up and walk to my first hour class which I have with all four of them. I sit down in my normal spot and soon the class fills up with other students. Maya sits in the back with Missy, Zay and Lucas sit on the left side with the athletes, and Farkle sits in the front with the debate team. I sit alone for the first time ever. My father walks in and the room quiets down.
"Now before we get started I have a message for Riley Matthews." My father walks over to me and hands me note. I read and am shocked at what it says. My shock must be visible because my father asked me what was wrong.
"I have to go see the principal." I say. I stand up and walk out the door. The halls were silent and I could hear my own footsteps. Once I get to the office the principal greets me.
"Hello Riley." I sit down in a chair. "I have some great news."
"What is the good news?" I am now very interested.
"According to records, you have enough credits to graduate. You say the word and you could graduate tomorrow." Principal Martin says with a smile on her face.
"Absolutely! I would love to graduate. I have actually been accepted to Harvard." I have been accepted to several schools but Harvard is the one that I wanted to go to.
"That is great. So when would you like to graduate?" Principal Martin asks.
"As soon as possible." I simply say.
"Ok. We can schedule you for tomorrow. Does that work?" She asks me looking up from her computer.
"It works great. I'm going to go clean out my locker." I say standing up.
"Of course. We are all proud of you Miss Matthews." She says as she stands up and opens the door for me. When I walk out, the secretary gives me a hug and a small cupcake. I text my dad and tell him what's going on. He texts back in all caps saying he was so proud of me and stuff of that nature. I get to my locker and open it as the bell went off signaling the end of class. Soon the halls were filled with students and no one even notices me. I go to the gym because the cheer team got out of periods 2,3 and 4 to practice for the game tonight. I've been on the cheer team since 8th grade. The girls on that team are so supportive. Like my frie… ex-friends. I walk into the gym only to be tackled in a hug from my entire team.
"We heard you were leaving." Samantha says.
"Yeah I'm graduating tomorrow." I reply.
"Well then tonight we are going to celebrate at the game." Jenkins squeals.
"Ok but for now let's practice." I throw my stuff onto the bleachers and we start to stretch.
"By the way we will be performing with the team during half-time." Abby says as we all work on flexibility.
"Great." I say sarcastically.
"What wrong? You love performing with the guys, especially Lucas." Samantha asks as she puts a hand on my shoulder.
"Let's just say, I'm not really on speaking terms with him or any of my other friends." I say. I can feel the tears rimming my eyes.
"What happened?" Samantha takes me over to the bleachers and we both sit down and start talking.
"Well it started with Maya not showing up to take me to school this morning, then Farkle completely ignored me, then I heard Zay talking to this group of people saying that he wondered why he was ever friends with me in middle school, and now Lucas won't even look at me." I explain. Now I'm on the verge of tears. Samantha hugs me the same way Maya did when we were in middle school.
"Everything will work out. Don't worry. Come on, the guys are going to be here any minute." Samantha holds out her hand and we walk to the center of the gym and talk with the rest of the girls while we wait for the guys to show up. After about ten minutes, the guys show up with their coach.
"You girls know what to do?" Coach Stone asks my team. We all nod as a reply. We continue to work on our part of the routine when Maya, Farkle, Zay, and Missy walk into the gym and sit on the bleachers. I stiffen and Samantha notices. She puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. I mouth 'Thanks' to her and she mouths 'Anytime' back to me. We finish our part of the routine and we decide to take a break, then everyone breaks into small groups and start their own conversations. I am talking to Samantha and Katie when I see, out of the corner of my eye, Lucas and Maya kissing. That drove me to tears and Samantha takes to the locker room so that way I can get myself together before we start practice again.
"I don't know why this is affecting me so much." I say in a trembling voice.
"Maybe it's because you still like Lucas and seeing your former best friend and your crush kiss. It will get to you." Samantha says as she hugs me. "We can stay in here if you want."
"No. I'm good. Let's go." We walk out of the locker room and back to the gym. The next three hours were complete hell. After practice was over Samantha and I went to get some coffee because the teams got an early release.
"You know I'm really proud of you for getting into Harvard." Samantha says as we still in our usual spot in the cafe'.
"Thanks Sammy." I say as I take a sip of my coffee.
"For real Riles. It's not everyday this kind of thing happens. Just do me a favor." Samantha says.
"Anything." I am now a little worried that she gonna say something like 'You should fix your relationship with your friends.'
"Don't forget your team here and come visit us when you can." Samantha says with tears in her eyes. I am touched and now I have tears in my eyes. I nod and we both stand up and hug each other. "I'm gonna miss you."
"I'm gonna miss you too." We grab our coffees and walk out of the cafe' to run right into the people I was trying to avoid.