~Chapter 18~ Hiya! Here's Chapter 18! This one isn't going to be as short as the last 2! This one is going to be extra long to make up for the 2 really short chapters..actually 3 really short chapters! Is that good or bad? Anyway..umm..Y'all know who I own and who not. So lets just get this story started!
(****Riley's POV****)
I stumbled over a rock as I walked closer and closer to Soda and Steve. I needed someone to talk to. I wanted to talk to one of them. They would understand my problems, because they have problems too and they don't think that us Socs, are perfect like Dallas does.
My heart skipped a beat a little once I saw Soda. He looked so damn cute, eventhough his eye was black and blue and it looked like it was swelled. I just figured it wasn't anything new. It was probably just some Soc who tried to jump him. Most likely Bob or Randy. They were the Socs that loved to jump greasers just for the fun of it. I didn't like them much. Randy always pinched my ass, eventhough he was going out with another Socy cheerleader named Marcia.
Then I glanced at Steve. His lip was bleeding and he had a bruise on his face. This got me curious. Why were they both hurt? I knew they both saw me when they grinned a little. I tried to smile back but that didn't happen. I couldn't smile when I felt as lousy as I did right then.
"Hey Riley!" They both called to me when I got in earshot. I just walked over to them immediately waiting for them to ask me what was wrong. As if on cue Soda asked me what was wrong and then I noticed he shot a glare at Steve. I sighed. Were they having a fight?
I reached up and touched Soda's shoulder. "Nothing honey. Nothing's wrong." I sighed again. Suddenly I didn't want to tell anyone what was wrong. I wanted to find out what was going on with Soda and Steve.
Steve grinned at me a little and when I didn't smile or grin back he looked at me. "Riley. Sorry about the other night. I.." I cut him off in midsentence. I didn't want to hear any of his bullshit.
"Shut up. I don't want to hear it. But whats up with you two? How'd you get hurt?" They both shot each other glances and then glanced back at me. Soda wiped a tear and some of the mascara off my face while Steve just stood there frowning because he knew I was still mad at him. Suddenly it dawned on me. "You guys fought each other?" I burst out and then looked at them. Why would they fight each other? Neither one of them said anything but they just nodded. What the hell was up with that? Usually they were both loud and talked instead of nodding!
"Why?" I heard myself asking eventhough it wasn't really any of my business. They shrugged and then looked at me. Me? They looked at me.Then it dawned on me. Were they fighting over me. "Me?" I whispered quietly. They didn't hear me and just glanced at me. "I uhh..I gotta go!" I said in such a hurry that it came out as a blur of words.
"Riley! Wait!" I heard Soda yell after me as I ran off. Then I heard Steve grumble something. I'm not sure what it was. I just ran, not knowing where I was going. Finally, I found myself in an ice cream parlor.
I oredered myself a chocolate cone and then I sat down at a table. My arms looked horrible. I couldn't find one spot that didn't have a cut on it. Suddenly I felt like I had to cut myself. I was still confused about the night before and the morning for that fact. I asked the guy at the counter if I could have a knife. It was plastic but it would still work. So I went into the bathroom and started rubbing the pointed parts up and down against my skin. It felt so satisfying, especially to watch the blood come out.
I was doing all of this is one of the little stalls and when I heard the bathroom door open I got a little worried. What if it was someone I knew? And of course, it just happened to of course, be someone I knew. "So Carm, have you heard from Riley?" I couldn't believe my ears. That voice, it belonged to Sandy and she was talking to Carmen!
"Nope. Not since her sister disappeared, have you?" That was Carmen's voice.
"No, she's to pissed off at me for doing that to Soda." Sandy sounded sad. Does she really regret doing that to Soda? I wondered. I stepped out of the stall, crying and my arms had blood on them from the cuts.
"Riley!" Carmen suddenly turned around from looking in the mirror and took one look at me before she was over by my side. "Honey, what are you doing?" She sounded really upset. I tried to give her a tearful smile, but it didn't work. I wiped a tear off my face and then glanced at Sandy whose mouth was just hanging wide open.
"Riley, baby, how could you do this?" Carmen said for the second time. I shrugged and didn't say anything. "Come on. Lets go out there and talk. Sandy do you mind?" Sandy just smiled and shook her head no. Carmen grabbed my hand and drug me out of the bathroom and over to one of the tables that was setting in the corner of the place.
"Riley Cheyenne!" She shrieked and used my middle name. "What is wrong with you?" I cried.
"Carm," I sobbed. "I just don't know. I can't, I can't do this anymore." Carmen smiled at me.
"Oh Riley. Don't give me this stuff. You can do this. Everything is going to be ok. What can be so bad that you want to kill yourself?" She glanced at my arms and then she gave me a stern look. "Ri, I'm sure Daphne'll come back."
I sobbed and shook my head while Carmen stuck a napkin over my cut and wiped the blood off. "Carm." I breathed in. "Its not that easy. Its not just Daphne. Everything in my life is wrong." Carmen looked at me awed.
"What is so wrong? You've got the perfect life."
"No Carm. You think I have the prefect life?" She nodded. "Well then you better just try me."
"What's wrong?"
"Daphne's missing, my dad hits me, I cut myself, Soda doesn't like me or atleast I didn't think he did and now I'm confused, Steve likes me, everybody thinks I'm perfect, Sandy cheats on Soda and now I don't know what to do, Oh Carmen, I can't go on like this." I started shaking and tried rubbing my arm against the edge of the table which happened to be middle. Nothing happened. It wasn't sharp enough. Carmen looked at me and almost looked like she was going to cry.
"Riley. Promise me that you won't do anything stupid." I couldn't promise. I didn't know if I'd do anything stupid or not.
"No." I whispered and shook my head. "I can't promise you." Carmen's shoulders dropped and she looked at me with disgust. "I'm sorry, Carm."
"Well then I'm not leaving you." That was all Carmen said.
"No. Carmen you go do whatever you were going to do. Please. I want and need to be alone to figure all this out." She sighed a minute and then gave in.
"Ok. But call me later otherwise I will hunt you down." I laughed a tiny bit eventhough I knew she was being dead serious. She walked out of the ice cream parlor with her head down. I still didn't understand how all this could be happening to me? My life was such a screwed up mess right now. There was nothing worth living for. I decided that I needed to end my life.
"Excuse me,miss, we're closing now." I looked over at the person who had spoke. It was the cashier guy. Then I glanced at the clock. It said seven pm. I had been sitting there for a very long time. It was already night.
I didn't say anything to the guy but just got up and walked out. I was walking in the wrong direction, not even toward my house. I didn't care though. I found a piece of glass sitting against a fence and I picked it up. Slowly but steadily I ran it right across my wrist. The blood seeped out and instantly turned from the bright red to a brownish/red. I looked at it and then attemped to walk some more. Suddenly I had a pain in my ankle and I started to get dizzy. I couldn't see straight and then I fell down. As I fell down I hit my head on the fence that was still there. But by the time I hit the ground I couldn't feel the pain, I had passed out.
I felt an odd sensation that someone was carrying me and then I felt a warm soft hand under me. I woke up but I was woozy and tired and I didn't know what was going on. "Huh?" I glanced at the ground,it was moving, and realized that someone really was carrying me. Then I glanced up and Soda was there. Of course, Soda. Why couldn't I have guessed that? He was the only one who hadn't rescued me in a while. The night before Steve did and just what seemed like a couple hours ago Carmen talked to me and basically resuced me for as I was about to kill myself right there in the bathroom. My wrist hurt and it was still bleeding. My ankle hurt too.
"Riley." Soda looked at me and sighed. He took out his handkerchief and wrapped it around my wrist. It was almost pitch black outside. "What the hell were you trying to do?" I looked over and suddenly noticed that we were in front of a house and he was trying to open the door while holding me. This must have been his home.
When we got in nobody was there but he gently layed me down on the couch and then he sat at the foot of it, gently rubbing my akle. It felt really good when he rubbed it. "Riley," He said suddenly. "There is something really wrong with your ankle. It's like all twisted and your bone is sticking out in a funny way. Your head," He touched it gently. "Is bleeding. I'll be right back." I longed to tell him to stay but the words wouldn't come out of my mouth.
When he came back he put a cold rag on my head, he dumped some alcohol on it first and it hurt like hell. Then he put another cold washcloth on my ankle and he wrapped my wrist in a bandage. "Riley, please, talk to me." He patted my leg and smiled a little. Soda actually cared about me otherwise he wouldn't be going through all this trouble to help me.
"Soda," I wiped another tear away from my eye. "I hurt. I mean my body aches everywhere."
"Its ok, sweetie. Everything will be fine. Are you cutting yourself?" He seemed like it was the worst thing in the world. Like I shouldn't be cutting myself.
I nodded.
"Riley! Why?" He was upset.
"Soda. Look at me. I have the worst life. That's why. I mean, my dad hits me, everyone thinks I have the perfect life, you don't like me and Steve likes me. And my little sister is missing.Soda I tried to kill myself and I would have too, if you wouldn't have had to come along and save me!" I was upset now too.
"Me?" Soda questioned. "I don't like you?" He grinned and rubbed my ankle some more. "Where did you ever get that idea from?"
I sighed and released some more tears from my eyes. "Soda, why would you like me? I mean you have Sandy. Perfect little Sandy. She's perfect. I'm not. Everyone thinks I am, but I promise I'm not. I know you don't like me Soda." He didn't say anything. "Soda, why is it that you guys think all us Socs have perfect lives?"
Soda smiled at me and then he leaned in toward me, gently. He pressed his lips against mine and I didn't pull away. I had been waiting for this for a long time. Right that minute I heard the door open and I pulled away long enough to see who it was at the door. Steve and Sandy were standing there looking pissed off.
~A/N~ Hiya! Ok..this chapter was long! But what do you guy think? Good? Bad? What? Did I leave you guys hanging in a good spot? REVIEW!! Wow this is 2200 words! That's long for me! Go me!