A/N: Happy Holidays! Enjoy!
Dislcaimer: I am not Ally Carter, and I do not own the Gallagher Girl Series.
I guess you could say the semester rolled on as normal as Gallagher Academy rolls on. Every senior was focused, ready, and waiting. Every senoir was laughing, having fun.
And you'd be surprised how many girls actually had a boyfriend or a love interest.
Anna Fretterman with a boy she met at a national science camp during the summer.
Tina Walters with a guy that worked with her as an intern at her mother's paper during the summer.
Kim Lee wrote letters to some mystery guy I highly suspected attended a military school near her home town.
Cammie often told me about Zach.
Liz is a computer genius, so yeah, she can hack into Jonas's e-mail.
Macey, well, according to several magazines, was dating a Hollywood star when really she was just interested in the sons of D.C. stars. Particularly one named Preston.
In her sleep, I heard Bex say Grant's name.
It was the first day of November. A Saturday. We were having girl talk, especially about boys. Suddenly Cammie, laying on my bed, turned to me and said, "Saniyah, why don't you have a boyfriend?"
The room felt all of a sudden very cold, as if the frost on the windows had seeped into my bones. "I'm not the kind of girl to fall in love," I answered realizing it was true.
"Why not?" demanded Liz.
Like all the world had stopped turning. "I don't believe in happy endings." And there it was, the truth about myself. I didn't believe in happily ever afters. Disney movies made me sick. Fairy tales were a joke. Those princesses that just waited for Prince Charming were a disgrace.
And I'm on a plane as I write all of this. On my way to Winter Break with Cammie and Macey, Liz and Bex. Bex is sleeping, snoring rather loudly. Liz is working on extra credit. Macey flipping through a magazine. Cammie is sitting next to me writing something of her own. And I wish, I wish, I did believe in happy endings. But I don't- I can't. I wish I could be like Liz, who if she didn't sleep with her text books would sleep with Snow White or Cinderella. But I'm not, I can't be. I've seen too much. I know too much.
"Then who's this?" demanded Macey on that November day, reaching underneath my pillow holding up the picture I kept there. "Looks like a boyfriend to me."
Riley. Riley Goode. His black hair and shocking blue eyes grinning with creamy skin. Built like Zach was. He was laughing as he held me for a piggy back ride, my wavy dark brown hair spilling over his strong shoulders, my green eyes sparkling against my honey colored skin as I too laughed. The Ferris wheel was in the background and the funnel cake stand beside us.
"He was," I answered. My breath short.
"Was?" asked Cammie puzzled. "You keep a picture of your ex?"
"He died," I said. So tired. "Car crash."
Bex opened her mouth to say something reassuring, but I had already turned to leave.
A/N: Review please! I really like this chapter, even though it's sad, but in the chapter with the list, there's a star by Riley's age as a weird little clue that he had died. Happier chapters will come I swear.