Chapter 9

Megan POV

"Come on Megan! Mom says it's time for dinner!" Toby shouted from my doorway.

"Shh! I'm right here! Not so loud!" I said.

"Well then come on!"

I walked downstairs with Toby and had dinner. After dinner I went back up to my room. My mom came up to talk to me shortly after.

"Hey, Megan. Can I talk to you for a minute?" My mom asked, closing my door.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked.

"Are you ok? You were really quiet at dinner. I guess you just didn't really seem like yourself."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just kind of tired I guess."

"Ok. Well you know you can always talk to me if something's bothering you, right?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm fine though. Really."

"Ok," said my mom, getting up and leaving.

Funny how mothers always seem to know when things aren't right…

The Next Day…

Rocky POV

"Come on Riker! It's 1:00 in the afternoon! You need to get up!" I shouted, pushing Riker's shoulder.

"Leave me alone," Riker mumbled into his pillow.

I got up, shut the bedroom door, and sat down on Riker's bed.

"Come on Riker. Seriously, what's bothering you?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Riker mumbled again.

"Riker… Did something happen with Megan or Toby? What happened yesterday?"

"Nothing."

"You're obviously not ok, so something had to have happened."

"I'm fine," said Riker, finally getting up and grabbing his clothes.

Riker walked out of our room, and down the hall. I knew it was no use to keep prying. If Riker didn't want to tell me, he wasn't going to.

Megan POV

"Do you want to come over and hang out?" My best friend Kayla texted me.

"Yeah sure. Be right over," I texted back.

20 Minutes Later…

"Hey, I'm glad you could come!" Said Kayla.

"I'm actually really glad you invited me. I really needed to get away from everything. I'm just exhausted," I said, walking with Kayla up to her bedroom.

"So what's going on with you and Riker?"

"What was the last thing I emailed you?"

"You told me about your sleepover."

I sighed.

"Well actually, that's what I'm kind of exhausted about. Not really as in tired, more as in mentally exhausted of thinking about it."

"Wait, wait, wait. Slow down. Start from the end of the sleepover. Something obviously happened because he's practically the love of your life!"

"Oh stop. He's not the love of my life!"

"Megan, you're in love with the guy!"

"I don't know if I'm in love with him that way though. I mean, I just met him. And besides, why would he even want to date a fan?"

"Because you're ADORABLE! Isn't that why your last boyfriend dated you?"

"No. You know, just because you date guys based on good looks, doesn't mean everyone else does! You have to consider intelligence, personality-"

"Blah blah blah…"

"Kayla, I'm serious."

"I know, I know. So are you going to tell me what happened or not?"

"Ok fine…"

Toby POV

"Hey, do you want to come over and play videogames?" Ross texted me.

An opportunity to make Riker feel worse about what he did to my sister? YES! I was not letting anything happen to her again! If intimidating Riker was what I had to do, then I was going to do it, even if it meant messing up my relationships with the Lynch's and Ellington.

"Sure, I'll be right over," I texted back.

A few minutes later, I was at their house.

"Great, now we have even teams! It's going to be you, me and Rocky, against Ellington, Rydel, and Ryland," said Ross.

"Wait, what about Riker?" I asked.

"Oh, he didn't want to play for some reason. I don't know… He's in his room."

"Oh…"

Well that pretty much just killed my plan…

Ross led me to their living room, and I played videogames with them for the rest of the afternoon.

Later that night…

Megan POV

"Thanks for sleeping over," I said to Kayla, once we were back at my house.

"No problem! Tell me why again it was so important…?"

"Because Toby's just driving me crazy! Whenever you're here, he usually leaves me alone."

"Why?"

"You know why! You and he argue like brother and sister about EVERYTHING!"

"Oh yeah, right," said Kayla laughing.

I rolled my eyes.

"You shouldn't be proud of that!" I said.

"I'm not, I just think it's funny!"

"You know, I worry about your future. I don't know how you're going to find a man that wants to deal with all this every day!"

"Oh, stop. You know you love me!"

"You're lucky I do!"

As Kayla and I got her sleeping bag set up next to my bed, she started talking about Riker again.

"So do you think Riker likes you back?"

"What do you mean back?"

"You like him!"

"I don't know if I would actually date him though! I mean, he's like my favorite celebrity, but… I just don't know…"

"Well what do you think he thinks about you?"

"I don't know! How would I know that!? He probably doesn't even think about me."

"Well does he look at you that way?"

"I don't know!"

"Why aren't you paying attention to these things!?"

"Because I'm not completely boy crazy like someone!"

"Oh calm down! It's not a completely bad thing. I know when someone likes me!"

"Except for that guy last summer-"

"I told you never to bring him up!"

"I know, I know. Come on, let's go to sleep before Toby comes back."

"From where?"

"He's at Riker's."

"Ooh."

"Oh shut up."

"Well why's he there?"

"Ross invited him over to play videogames or something."

"Interesting…"

The Next Day…

Riker POV

"Come on Riker! Get up!" Rocky was shaking me.

"Why?" I groaned.

"Because."

"That's not a good reason."

"I don't care. Now get up!"

Rocky grabbed my arms and started pulling me out of bed. I almost fell on the ground, still being half asleep.

"What's your problem?" I asked Rocky.

"You need to get back into your normal routine of everything. You said you were fine, but I know you're not. I don't care if you tell me or not, but I'm not going to let you stay in bed all day looking so depressed!"

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Riker, seriously!"

"What? I'm up!"

Rocky grabbed my hand and pulled me downstairs for breakfast.

Ellington POV

As I left my bedroom, I followed Riker and Rocky down the stairs for breakfast. Rydel was already awake, eating pancakes when we came down.

"Good morning," said Rydel.

"Good morning," I said back.

Riker mumbled something and followed Rocky to the fridge. I grabbed an orange and started cutting it. I was paying close attention to how Rydel was helping Rocky find something in the fridge, when my hand slipped, and I cut my thumb with the knife.

"AHHH!" I screamed.

Rydel was the only one to turn around.

"What!?" She asked.

"I cut my thumb…"

I looked down. There was blood all over the place now, dripping from my thumb. Rydel took off up the stairs, and came back a few seconds later with a first aid kit. I thought she was just going to give it to me, but instead, she cleaned up my thumb.

"Thanks," I said.

Rydel gave me a side hug, and walked back upstairs with the first aid kit to return it.

Megan POV

"Hey, so Ross texted me, and he wants us to come over and hang out today," said Toby, standing in my doorway.

"Do I have to?" I asked.

"Megan, a few days ago, you would have almost died if R5 invited you over. I know you're mad at Riker, but he's not the only one over there."

"Ok, first of all, I'm not mad at Riker. He didn't know I couldn't swim! It wasn't his fault! And second, since when do you want me to hang out with them?"

"Since I really want to beat this level Ross and I were working on last night."

"And why can't you leave me home alone?"

"Because I won't know if you're actually alone or not."

"Fine. I'll be ready in 5 minutes."

Rocky POV

When Toby and Megan arrived, Riker immediately ran upstairs. I knew there could only be 2 reasons. 1, something had happened between him and Toby or Megan. Or 2, he really did have a crush on her, and didn't want her seeing him still looking like he just woke up.

I followed them into the living room, and got ready to try to beat the game. There was this one level we were working on last night for hours! We got too tired, so we quit for the night. This morning I had looked up cheats for how to beat it, and now we were all really determined to beat it. It was really frustrating though. We kept making careless mistakes, and then had to start all over again.

Megan POV

I was really annoyed, sitting on the edge of the couch next to my brother who kept elbowing me. Rocky, Ross, and Toby were all playing this particular level repeatedly and kept shouting every time someone did something wrong. I wasn't really a gamer, and I found it completely ridiculous.

A little while later, Rydel pulled me out of the room.

"I didn't think you wanted to be in there," said Rydel.

"I didn't."

"Do you want to help me make lunch?"

"Sure."

Ellington POV

"Riker? Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked, walking into Riker's bedroom.

"Yeah, what?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah…?"

"No, I mean like… Rocky told me something's been up with you. And you won't tell him."

"I don't really even know myself! I'm just confused, and I just… I don't know…"

"What happened?"

Riker sighed.

"I don't know… I made a mistake, and it might have ruined everything…"

"What do you mean? Was it something with one of our song recordings or something?"

"No."

"Well what was it?"

"It was just this girl. I really liked her, and I made a stupid mistake, and now she hates me."

"Hates you?"

"Probably. I don't know… I haven't even talked to her."

"Was she from California or around here?"

"Here."

"Who is it?"

Riker looked at the ceiling. This had to be good!

"Wait! Is it Megan!?"

"SHHH! She's downstairs!"

"Well is it her!? Riker come on! Answer me!"

"Fine, yes! It's Megan."

"I so knew it!"

"Shhh! She can't know about this!"

"Why? Wait, why is she mad at you?"

"I kind of…"

"What Riker!?"

"Pushed her in the pool…"

"Why?" I asked, laughing now.

"I thought it would be fun."

"So she's mad about being pushed in the pool? Riker, that's ridiculous. You need to get a girlfriend that doesn't get mad over the slightest things in life."

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"Well not anymore since you pushed her in the pool!"

"No she was never my girlfriend, and she doesn't get mad over the slightest things!"

"Riker, getting pushed in the pool isn't something to be mad about. It's something to be annoyed about, and then laugh about later."

"You don't understand."

"What?"

"She can't swim…"

"Oh… Well then yeah, she's probably mad…"

"See!?"

"No! I didn't mean it like that! When did this even happen?"

"The day you guys went out to see that historical thing. Megan came over and stuff."

"Wait. So you pushed her in the pool, and then what happened?"

"Well she said she couldn't swim as I pushed her off, so I basically fell off too, trying to grab her as she fell in. I brought her over to the side of the pool. She got out and went back to her house. I followed her and I just wanted to talk for a second and explain everything, but Toby sent me home before I could."

"Have you said anything to her since then?"

"No…"

"Riker, you need to go talk to her."

"I know, I know. I just…"

"What?"

"I really like her… The last thing I want is for her to be mad at me."

"The longer you put it off, the worse it gets. You know that right?"

"Yeah…"

"Come on. Go talk to her."

"After lunch."

"Hey guys! Lunch is ready!" Called Rydel.

"Perfect!" I said, smirking at Riker.

Later…

Riker POV

After lunch, I helped Rydel clean up while Rocky, Ross, and Toby went back to playing videogames.

"Hey Riker? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Megan asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said, my heart racing.