Chapter 1

In the woods walking home…

Megan POV

Riker had been carrying me for almost 15 minutes now. My knee was still in a ton of pain from my fall, and it was still thunder storming.

"Riker?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how we're like boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

"Yeah?"

"Well… When we get back, I don't think we should tell anyone."

"Why not!?"

"Because Toby might… kill you…"

My older brother was always way too overprotective.

"So we're going to date in secret?"

"Yeah."

"I guess we can make that work…"

"I mean that's not how it's always going to be. I just need to find the right time to tell him."

"Ok. Did anyone even care that I was missing?"

"Yeah. Everyone. Rydel was crying."

"Awww, really?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't mean to make her upset."

"I know. But that was still pretty stupid what you did."

"What?"

"Going out into the woods at night, during a storm, without your cell phone."

"I have my cell phone."

"No you don't. That's how I found you. I found your phone near the edge of the woods, so I figured you would be in here somewhere. Speaking of which, do you even know if you're going the right way?"

"Uh…"

Rydel POV

I was sitting on the couch next to Ellington. He had his arm wrapped around me, and I was leaning against him, thinking about my brother.

"Ok, where could Megan be?" Toby asked.

"She went out to look for Riker. She said she was just going to walk down the road," said Ross.

"Yeah, exactly. How long could that possibly take!? Something isn't right. She should've been back by now. I'm going to go look for her," Toby said.

"Wait. The storm is really bad right now. Just wait like 10 minutes until it calms down a little," said Rocky.

"Fine."

Megan POV

"UGH!"

"What?" Riker asked.

"My knee is stinging. It just hurts really bad. How far are we from home?"

"I don't know. Actually I think I see lights. I think we're almost there."

Riker kept carrying me, and walking.

"Ok, we're back on our road. We're almost there."

"We're soaking wet. What are your parents going to say about this?"

"My parents aren't even home. They're looking at recording studios in a different state."

"Oh."

Riker finally made it back to his house. He walked through the door, and almost instantly, everyone crowded around us.

"RIKER YOU'RE OK!" Rydel shouted, hugging Riker.

"Careful. Megan's hurt."

My brother Toby stepped around Ross, and found his way to us.

"What did you do?" Toby asked accusingly of Riker.

"I didn't do anything! She fell!"

"Give me my sister."

Riker handed me over to Toby.

"We're going home," Toby said, angrily.

Toby carried me back out into the pouring rain, and back to our house. When we got to our house, he brought me to the bathroom, and set me down on the sink counter.

"What on earth happened to you!?" Toby asked, starting to clean my knee up.

"What Riker said. I fell. Now tell me why you acted like that in front of everyone! You sounded so mean, and you looked like you wanted to kill Riker. He didn't even do anything wrong! He carried me back because I got hurt!"

"If it weren't for him going missing, you would have never gone out looking for him, and never fallen, therefore, it's Riker's fault."

Now was definitely not the time to tell him about my new boyfriend…

"There. How's that?" Toby asked, stepping back to look at what he had done to fix my knee.

"Well it feels a little better. But it still hurts when I try to walk," I said, stepping down from the counter.

"You just need a good night sleep. I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning."

Toby led me upstairs to my bedroom.

"Goodnight," said Toby.

"Wait. What about Riker?"

"Oh, we'll talk all about him in the morning."

"Toby!"

"Goodnight, Megan."

The next day…

Megan POV

I came downstairs to find Toby playing videogames in the living room. I sat down on the couch next to him.

"Toby."

"What?"

"You said we'd talk today. Why were you such a jerk to Riker?"

Toby paused his game, took my hand, and led me out to the kitchen.

"Megan, it's his fault you got hurt."

"Toby, my knee feels so much better today."

"That's not my point. I really don't want you going back over there. And I don't want you talking to him."

"What's so bad about him? He cares about me, Toby!"

"Yeah, a little too much!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"He's already put you under his spell. Soon enough, you guys will be dating, he'll lead you on to believe that you guys are meant for each other, and then BAM! He'll break your heart."

"Uh… I don't think so…"

"Riley, it's already obvious that he likes you. Do you, or do you not like him back?"

"I don't like him back. He's just a friend. I promise."

I know lying to him seems kind of bad. But I love Riker, and I'm not going to let Toby ruin this for me.

"Toby, I think that's really unfair."

"What?"

"I think I should be able to talk to them and see them. Rydel's still my friend. You can't possibly say anything mean about her, can you?"

"I guess not. Fine, I guess you can still go over there and stuff, but if Riker does anything, call me."

"You know I would Toby, but he's not going to do anything, so I won't have to."

"We'll see about that."

Later…

Riker POV

"We should play manhunt tonight," said Rocky.

"Yeah, but let's invite Toby and Megan. We had so much fun with them last time," said Ross.

"Ok, let me text Megan," I said.

"And we could do the same teams as last time," said Ross.

"Actually, can we switch them up a little?" Asked Ellington.

"Why?" Ross asked.

"I don't know. I just want to. Like we could do Riker and Megan, Ryland and Toby, Ross and Rocky, and Rydel and I," said Ellington.

Something's going on between him and my sister…

"Ok, sounds good," said Ross.

"Megan says they'll both be over when it gets dark," I said.

"Great!" Said Ross.

Later…

Megan POV

"Are you sure you're ok with playing manhunt tonight?" Toby asked.

"Yeah. I played it a few weeks ago, and I was fine."

"Alright. Just making sure."

"And if I get paired with Riker, you better not say anything!"

"You're not dating him right?"

"No."

"Well then why would I need to say something?"

"Ok…"

"Well it's getting dark. We should probably go over there now."

"Ok."

Toby and I walked over to the Lynch's house. We were divided into teams of 2. I was paired with Riker again. Toby and Ryland were the ones hunting us first, so we all took off into the woods in different directions. I followed closely behind Riker.

"Megan, I have an idea."

"What?"

"Let's hide in a tree."

"A tree!?"

"Yeah."

"I can't climb trees!"

"Have you ever tried?"

"Yeah. I can't climb trees!"

"I'll help you. Come on, this tree looks like a good one."

Riker and I walked over to his selected tree. It had big branches, and it was really tall.

"Ok, stand on my knee, then pull yourself onto that branch."

"Are you crazy!?"

"Just try it. I'll help you."

"Fine…"

Riker got down on one knee so I could stand on it. I wasn't very strong, so I was dangling in the tree with the branch under my stomach.

"Riker, this isn't very comfortable."

"Hold on. I'll help you get up."

I felt the branch shake under me, and then I felt Riker sitting next to me.

"Ok, slowly turn to me. Now swing one of your legs over the branch so you're straddling it. Ok, good. Now we're going to go up a branch so they can't see us."

"We're going to go higher!?"

"Yes! Shhh!"

"How!?"

"We'll stand up-"

"Stand!? On the branch!?"

"Yeah. And then we can pull ourselves up higher."

"Maybe you can, but I don't know about me."

"I'll help you."

Somehow, Riker ended up getting us both onto a higher branch.

"See, that wasn't so hard, right?"

I looked down, and immediately held onto the branch tighter.

"Riker, we're so high up! What if we fall!?"

"Shhh! We'll be fine."

"Oh my gosh…"

"What?"

"This is terrifying!"

"Shhh! Megan, I'm right here. You're fine. Ok?"

I felt like I was going to fall any minute.

"Riker?"

"Yeah?"

"Toby asked me if I was dating you, and if I was in love with you."

"What did you say?"

"I said no."

"But you are, right?"

"Yeah. But I just feel really bad about lying to him. I lied to his face. I just feel really guilty."

"Well then do you think you should tell him?"

"No. Not yet. He… doesn't like you… a lot…"

"Oh…"

"But I'm working on that."

"Shhh! I hear something!"