Chapter Ten: The Truth Is A Commodity

"You're drifting."

"Sorry." Max jerked on the steering wheel, pulling the car back into a straight line. Pulled a little too hard toward the left and had to jerk it back to the right. Against the sound of a horn honking around them, Bailey, Riley, Rhuben, and Crystal all cried out in surprise, holding tightly onto their phones as they threatened to fly form their hands. "Sorry!"

"Who decided to let you drive again?" Crystal asked, lifting her chin to look at the road racing along before them.

"None of us did," Bailey said. "Max was the one who decided to drive. And basically threatened us if we didn't let her."

Max snorted. "That's because the rest of you suck at listening to directions," she pointed out. Max lifted her chin and looked in the rearview mirror, taking in Riley, who started to grin, turning to press her mouth into her palm. "Who was the one who sent us down to Florida when we were trying to get to New York last year?"

"It's not my fault that you said 'right' when I asked which exit was the one I was supposed to be taking," Riley pointed out, quickly defending herself. She wasn't offended by the accusation, it was something they could laugh about a lot. "And, you were the one who said it was one of the best vacations you'd ever taken, yeah? So, you're welcome."

"I was saying 'right' as in 'you're right' when you were asking me," Max replied. She bobbed her head back and forth. "But you're right, that trip to Florida was even better than what we could've had in New York."

"Yeah, 'cause it was warm."

"And cause you didn't leave the beach for more than a few hours at a time," Crystal pointed out to her cousin. "Not even when we wanted to go to Disney World." Riley smiled and shrugged, snuggling deeper into her sweatshirt. "And you're being real pathetic right now, it's not cold."

"New York is always cold unless it's summer," Rhuben declared, to the laughter of all the girls. "It's a conspiracy, I swear."

"Aww." Bailey mimed a pout, running her hands through her hair. "Poor Cody. He'll have to miss out on all those romantic gestures that New York has to offer." Bailey's eyes widened as the rest of the girls groaned. "What? New York is, like, one of the romantic places in New York! Not to mention one of the tourist capitals of the world, there's so much to see; Harlem, Brooklyn, the Statue of Liberty—"

"—You clearly are a tourist," Max murmured. She shook her head. "New York is filled with people and trash and those that have an idealistic view of the city."

"So, why are we going again?"

"Because we're part of that group that has an idealistic view of the city and I'm not afraid to admit it." Max laughed. "Besides, the sooner we get our college visits out of the way, the sooner we can have some fun." She cleared her throat. "And not destroy my house any further than it already was."

"The damage wasn't that bad was it?" Riley asked.

She couldn't quite remember what'd happened the rest of the night. She'd become too focused on how easily Ian had gotten to her. Again. How he always got to her. All because he knew the buttons to push. Knew exactly what would…potentially destroy her life, really.

Too many memories of things she'd told him. Of the days and nights where they'd have vulnerable conversations that…that he'd skillfully weasel his way out of saying anything meaningful and getting her to open up. He'd taken advantage of her in the worst way, in hindsight. Giving her attention—positive attention—she'd craved while Robert had been around. He was smart, and she was stupid. And now it was coming back to bite her in the ass.

Why?

She wasn't quite sure. She couldn't tell what Ian really wanted out of everything. Couldn't tell what he was gaining form it, other than watching her squirm. Having that sickening smirk on his face, that dark flash in his dark eyes that no one else noticed. He played his role perfectly; model son, model athlete, a model citizen in every sense of the word.

There were only a few people that knew the truth about him—her and her family—and it frustrated her to know how easily people were able to be fooled by him. His presence, to that extent, simply put her in a bad mood whenever he was around.

Had Zack noticed—she was sure he did—he didn't say anything. Simply stuck by her side and made her laugh with his silly dancing, off-key singing, and heated argument with Cody, Tapeworm, and members of the basketball team over who was the better character to use in Super Smash Bros.

The thought made Riley smile, slightly jolting back to attention when Bailey changed the radios to a 90s and 90s station, causing Bon Jovi to burst through the speakers. The girls sang along with song after song—stopping every few miles to yell at Max for drifting into other lanes because she'd get too into dancing her in seat—as they drifted further and further into New York.

As they went along, passing them through the tunnel that led them into New York, everything around them changed. The buildings were much taller, on an even grander scale than what Boston boasted. The Statue of Liberty posed in the distance, the allure of Times Square pulled the girls forward, the feeling that in New York, anything could happen.

You could follow your dreams.

Do whatever you wanted.

Have a good time.

And, Riley realized with a start, it was probably going to be some of the last few times she'd have with her friends. They'd all be going their separate ways soon. Crystal would be going to college back in Canada, Riley and Rhuben were planning on going back to Australia for university. Bailey was going to Yale. And Max…who still hadn't decided where she was going to go, at least knew she wanted to study sports management and event planning—merging two points of her life together; sports and having a good time.

Riley was never one who became too emotional when it came to leaving people. She was used to them leaving her, found that the more it happened she continued to become more and more numb to it. But that was before.

Before realizing how much she enjoyed having them around. Before realizing how much her friends were there for each other when things got rough. At one point or another, something was going on that they helped each other through; they helped Bailey and Moose get acclimated to city life, helped Tapeworm when he was being bullied throughout middle school, helped out Zack with his school work multiple times—and every other trouble he'd gotten himself into as of late—they helped her and Rhuben when things with Robert came to light, and and and…

So many things over the years that strengthened their relationships with each other. So much so that when Riley sent off the response that she would indeed be going to school in Australia, she'd wanted to cry. What was the point of going through a big turning point in your life if you didn't have your friends to experience it with you. Not to mention the potential prospect of long distance dating. (Of which she and Zack never seemed to talk about).

Riley sighed, running her hands over her face, suddenly feeling a little anxious. Who wouldn't be when they knew the only thing stopping everything from ending up in total disaster was her, when all she had to do was open her mouth and tell the truth.

Unlike what most people thought—that telling the truth was the best way to go about life—Riley understood telling the truth was a commodity. There were people who couldn't handle it, let alone those that deluded themselves into thinking their version of the truth was all that mattered.

In her experience, fi she told the truth about anything, it just brought problems. Every time she told the truth about Robert—before something was finally done—she'd be beaten so hard she was out of school for days. Other times she told the truth, people simply didn't believe her. Why continue to tell people the truth if you could see through their eyes, their mind wandering to anything else that needed their attention?

Then there was the truth finally coming out. Once people found out about Robert, her world imploded. She was pulled from school by the police, separated from her siblings, questioned for hours, whispers of potentially being sent back to Australia—and probably back into foster care. Separated from her siblings even further. Then there were the pitying looks, the whispers. They may have been too young to have their names published in the newspaper when the news broke, but it was easy to put a name to a face, especially when a reputation proceeded their arrival at the school.

It became worse, when people were just being nice. Riley hated Cody at one point, hated that he cared so damn much about what was happening to them. Had a soft spot for Zack who ignored it and continued to act normally—maybe, if she were being honest, that was when she'd started to like him. When he treated her normally compared to acting like she'd shatter into a million pieces once something was sharply said her way.

Things moved quickly after that, Christian found them, moved his family to Boston to stay with them, things got better.

And with the arrival of one person from Australia, it started to crash down again.

"What's wrong?"

Riley looked up at Crystal's question, noticing that Max had flicked on the turn signal and was looking over her shoulder to merge to the side of the road. Max frowned down at the steering wheel, as if it'd explain everything to her. "The car's shaking funny, I want to pull over and check if anything's wrong."

Rhuben, sitting directly next to her twin sister, glanced at Riley, and lightly rolled her eyes. "That's Riles." She reached out and grabbed Riley's knee, digging her fingers into the sides to hold her still. "She's bouncing her leg." Rhuben then lifted her gaze to meet Riley's. She twitched her eyebrows upwards. You okay

A silent question.

Riley barely shook her head in response. No.

A silent reply.

A leftover from a life they used to lead. What used to be a language only the two of them understood when they were babies and toddlers, then shifted to silent communication so not to draw Robert's ire, and make faces behind teachers' backs.

Rhuben twisted her mouth to the side. You're going to tell them. A statement, not a question. Riley nodded. Crystal glanced at her cousins but didn't say anything. As if sensing the decision that'd been made. Finally, Rhuben nodded and squeezed her sister's knee once more, before dropping her hand.

Riley smiled a little.

In any movie or TV show, the audience would've expected a sisterly hug, or a declaration that they'd always be there for each other. Cue the sappy music. Cue the waterworks. Cue the audience being prompted to 'aww' in that canned, artificial way that audiences ate up.

That was the problem with the media; they acted like everything they showed was the truth. Riley and Rhuben hardly ever hugged, hardly held hands, hardly acted the way 'twins were supposed to' and felt relieved when they found Zack and Cody were the same way. Though, truth be told, as with Zack and Cody, they used to be that way.

They used to hold hands and run around the house, giggling at whatever was making them laugh. Doing whatever it was that made Julius deem them 'monsters' when they were young knowing they were cute enough to get away with almost everything despite wanting to be the one to follow them around making sure they weren't getting in too much trouble.

Then life happened, the harshest version of life that no one should ever experience, and it stopped. Presenting the girls with an opportunity to be prepared for the time that they would be inevitably split up, turning their attention towards their brothers instead. Turning their attention towards the parts of life they couldn't control that ultimately wreaked havoc on their way of life later.

"What's wrong?" Max immediately demanded. She flicked her gaze to the rearview mirror, aggressive stare cutting into Riley's. "Do I have to beat someone up?"

Riley gave a startled laugh. It started that way. Then she started to laugh for real. "No, but I wish you would," she said.

Bailey faked a gasp. She placed a hand to her chest, whipped around in her seat and fluttered her eyelashes in surprise. "You don't want to beat someone up? I must be talking to the wrong person. Who are you and what have you done with Riley?"

"I'm fine," Riley said quickly. "Just…if I were the one to beat him up, it'd probably bring me more trouble than anything else I've already been through." Silence stretched through the car. "It's about Ian," she said slowly.

Bailey moved her hand from her chest. A concerned look came to her face. "Is something going on?"

"Yeah, I always said the guy was weird, but if there is anything—"

Riley lifted her hand, cutting Max off. "He hasn't done anything—"

"—yet—"Rhuben broke in.

Riley nodded in agreement. "But…there's some stuff he's done back home. And I thought I was able to move past it, but I realized I didn't. And probably won't."

"What'd he do to you? He didn't…?"

"No!" Riley said quickly. "No. I wouldn't let him come close to touching me like that." Riley lowered her chin, letting out a sigh of shame. Not because of what happened, but because of how stupid she felt saying it out loud. Because of how stupid she felt when everything happened, having to relive it was almost torture. "He was dating someone, made me think he was going to break up her with, strung me along for a long time."

Max's fast screwed up in confusion. "But what does that have to do with—"

"There were a lot of things he held over my head," Riley continued, knowing how dumb it sounded. She could tell from the expression on Max's face. So, she got led on by a boy. So, what? Zack had to have done that to more than half of Boston by that point. "I told him a lot about some of the things I'd do for fun. Some of the things I'd do that got me in trouble," she said slowly, watching everyone's face.

Rhuben then spoke up. "We used to be friends with some pretty bad people and we'd get into a lot of things."

"What'd you do?" Bailey asked. She and Max exchanged a glance. "We won't tell anyone. Promise."

"We'd steal," Riley said. She smiled a humorless smile. Something short of a horrified one, that couldn't even come close to what she felt about it. "Vandalize. Take things. Cause a right ruckus because we could, yeah? It was fun…until people got hurt." Enough for them to get the point, but still enough.

There were things she'd never tell anyone, let alone allow herself to think about it.

"And he's holding that over your head?" Bailey asked. Riley nodded. "Can't you call the police or something?"

"We said the same thing," Crystal pointed out. "There's not much they can do about it if he hasn't done anything. Dad says it'd a good idea to start a file on him, just in case, but…" she trailed off with a shrug.

"Are we the only ones who know?" Bailey asked.

"Yep."

Bailey hummed. She sat back in her seat, pursing her lips, the same way she always did when she was mentally working out a problem. She shifted back and forth a few times, but still didn't say anything. Max drummed her fingers against the steering wheel to the beat of the song.

Finally, Max sucked in a deep breath. "If you really don't want us to do anything," Max said slowly. She shrugged, cursing under her breath when the car shifted with her movement once more. "Then we won't. But, if you need help, you know we're here for you."

"Yeah, whatever you need, we'll be glad to help," Bailey agreed.

"I know," Riley agreed. And, intuitively, she did know it. Knew that the second she said something they'd be on her side. Nevertheless, it was hard to talk about anything like that, to be that vulnerable knowing how much it'd blown up in her face before. "Thanks, you're both legends."

Max and Bailey nodded.

Silence stretched through the car.

"So…Are you sure you don't want me to beat him up?" Max asked.

The girls laughed.

A/N: As usual, sorry for the wait on the chapter. But now you know what's keeping Riley from saying anything about what Ian's been doing. And why she may be hesitant to tell Zack, and explains how Ian's not Riley's boyfriend. Anywho, there's plenty more where this came from. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy.

Cheers,

-Riles