Author's note: I really appreciate the reviews
l-dizzle- I see you and yeah I appreciate your review!
Paige1292- lol she's biracial – half black, half white- the next chapter is probably going to explain about her parents.
to the readers- the beginning is a continuation from the last chapter.
Riley Freeman- POV
I sat in my desk waiting for Zoey to arrive. I had her desk already next to mine so we could work on our project as soon as she came in. She finally made it to class six minutes later. *I'm usually the late one* I thought to myself as she walked towards me. She looked much more sadder than she usually did.
"I see you took my advice.." I said while touching her face. She nodded her head silently, giving me no response.
"What's wrong with you?—it's that time of the month?"
"—not funny Riley" She replied sadly.
"Well, I got you to say something, didn't I? – tell Reezy what's up"
" I don't want to talk about it-I don't want to talk about anything, not even this stupid Art assignment" – she replied, turning her head away from me.
"Is your mom still working late at the hospital?" I asked. Her head was still turned away from me.
" Yeah—why?"
"Because I wanna come over..we could catch the bus together"
She turned her head back to me "My mom would freak if I had a guy in the house"
"Well don't tell her-she ain't gotta know"
"-it does get lonely catching the bus by yourself sometimes"
"Exactly-so can I come over or not?"
"yeah- just meet me at the bus stop and don't be late"
Zoey Anderson- POV
After school Riley and I caught the bus to my house. I was so nervous about him coming over. I definitely planned on staying in the living room the whole time. If he were to see my room, he would probably think I was more weirder than what I already am. - When we made it to the house, I threw my bag on the couch and walked into the kitchen. Riley followed behind me as I walked towards the kitchen cabinet and got my favorite coffee mug.
"I just need to get some coffee right quick, you can take a seat on the couch"
"Nah, I'm waiting for us to go upstairs, to your room"
"Who said we were going to my room?" I asked while pouring my coffee. My back was facing him.
"Aw come on Zoey, that's some bullshit. How you bring a nigga over and then say I gotta stay in the living room—that's fucked up"
"Well, my room is not the normal 15 year old girl's room okay?"
It was quiet for a while. I didn't get a response from Riley, so I decided to look back and to my surprise, he wasn't in the room. " –Riley?" I called while leaving the kitchen. When I didn't see him in the living room, I knew exactly where he was. I went up the stairs and opened my bedroom door and saw Riley sitting on my bed with a smile on his face, but I didn't find anything funny.
"I don't appreciate you going into my room like that"
He made a slight laugh. "My bad Zoey, I just –couldn't help it. I don't even know why you tried to hide this room. This shit is nice- I like the dark grey walls and those two human size skeletons in the corner—and this queen size bed feel good as fuck, but wassup with all the white candles sitting on the dresser?"
"I use it for spells- White candles for witchcraft represents purification, protection, and positive energy"
"-You fuck with witchcraft?" he asked with one eyebrow raised.
"Yeah- There's nothing evil about witchcraft. It's actually great for spiritual healing"
"So, you don't put curses on people and shit?"
I rolled my eyes at his question. I couldn't believe that people automatically assumed that someone who practices witchcraft was evil. If only they knew that witchcraft is something that is learned, it takes practice and years of studying. It wasn't the fake stuff you see on TV. I walked towards my bookcase and got out one of my favorite books called The Inner Temple of Witchcraft . I took a seat next to Riley to explain how great the book was.
"You should read this- it's one of my favorites and it tells you the truth about witchcraft. I think I read this book at least three times"
He took the book from my hand and threw it on the floor.
"Why would you do that?" I asked in an irritated tone. I got off the bed to retrieve my book.
"No offense Zoey, but you really don't have shit better to do than study witchcraft?"
"OFFENSE TAKEN" I replied with my arms crossed. He got off the bed and walk towards me, putting his hand on my shoulder. "I'm not trying to be mean Zoey, but I just think it's crazy that you're 15 and all you do is sit in your house and read books about witchcraft.."
"Well, what do you want me to do? This my life –This is all I know " I responded in a low tone.
"Get out and have fun-you're wasting your good teenage years on lame shit like this- It's pathetic and you're gonna end up regretting it in the future "
I put my head down in shame. I felt so embarrassed of myself. "Oh Riley, you sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself" I said sarcastically.
He lightly lifted my chin up and kissed me. "Don't take it personal" he replied while pushing back the hair from my face. He kissed me again and it lasted for a few minutes until I pulled away.
"I'm so not used to this stuff-Am I a bad kisser?" I asked
He nodded his head and laughed. "kinda, but you'll get better" he replied, taking a seat on my bed again. "You wanna sit with me and my friends at lunch?" he asked. I stood there quietly for a few minutes. I was so awkward with meeting just one person and now he wants me to sit with him and his friends at lunch. I never stepped foot in that cafeteria since the day arrived at the school. I would probably have an anxiety attack..
" I don't know Riley-I'm not good with hanging in groups."
"Zoey, stop trippin and just give them a chance. They real coo when you get to know em"
Of course, I gave in and agreed, but I wasn't looking forward to it.
Riley later on left the house around 8:00pm. I was still at home by myself, which meant I had a lot of time to think about what I would wear tomorrow, and most importantly "what the hell was I going to bring to lunch?" Because I sure as hell wasn't going to eat the greasy high calorie processed junk they called food in that place.
I looked through my closet and picked out a black sweater. I could wear it with my black skinny jeans and my black platform boots. I also was tired of straightening my hair, so I decided that tomorrow I would wash it and just leave it in its natural curly state.
*The Next Day of School*
I leaned back on my locker, waiting for Riley. We had planned on meeting at the locker, so he could walk me to the Cafeteria, but as I sat there and waited, my mind began to flood with thoughts of *What If*. -I was thinking of bailing on him. He wasn't around and I had time to make my way to the girls restroom before being noticed. I started to walk off from my locker, picking up the speed to arrive at my destination, but it was too late. Riley had came from the other side of the hall and spotted me.
"You curled you hair?" He asked as he walked closer to me
"No, I just washed it and let it air dry..it's naturally curly"
"Well, you should wear it like this more often. It looks good"
I ignored his compliment. I was too busy thinking about making a fool of myself in front of his friends.
"I can't do this Riley-I feel like my heart is about to burst, that's how nervous I am"
"You'll never get out of your shyness if you keep avoiding people Zoey"
"Whatever, I don't care" I said walking off in the opposite direction
"Alright, go ahead and leave. Be a coward- you'll never make it in life with that kind of attitude."
I stopped walking and decided to turn around to respond, but he began to walk off, I had no intentions on stopping him. I know he wants me to change, but you can't help a person who doesn't want to be helped. I walked into the girls restroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Riley was right..I was a coward- I was a pathetic 15 year old girl slowly killing herself. I was trying to escape from the world because I felt like there was nothing to live for. "You still have time to change- you can do this" I told myself in silence. I picked up my bag and decided to make my way to the cafeteria.
My heart was beating so fast, but I ignored it as I looked for Riley. For some reason, it felt like everyone was staring at me and whether it was my imagination or not, I didn't like it at all. A few minutes later, I saw Riley sitting with his brother and some other friends at a table towards the back. I slowly walked over to the table. "-is this seat taken?" I asked nervously, pointing to the empty chair next to Riley. "It's all yours" he replied patting on the seat of the chair. I took a seat and put my small brown bag on table, preparing to take out my lunch. While everybody else had burgers, fries, and other high calorie foods, I had 6 baby carrots and a small cup of applesauce for lunch. I could see the two girls at the table eyeing me as I took a bite of my carrot.
"Wow, that sure looks delicious" The blonde Caucasian girl said in a sarcastic tone
"I'm kind of a health freak" I replied
"So you never eat candy, pizza, ice cream..no good shit like that?" she asked.
"Nope- I hate junk food"
"You hate junk food..or do you just hate food all together?" she asked with a smile on her face.
"Why you so worried about what she eats anyway?" Riley asked annoyed
"I'm not- I just think it's a little weird that she-.."
I quickly interrupted before the conversation got out of hand.
"It's okay- I'm used to being weird" I responded. I grabbed my lunch, putting it back into the bag. I couldn't deal with this lunch thing and I didn't want to cause any unnecessary drama, so I decided to leave.
"It was nice meeting you guys, but I have an essay to write, so I'll be in the library" I said, getting up from the seat. I walked out of the cafeteria and threw the lunch away. Once again, I failed. I honestly think my life was more easy when I didn't talk to anyone. Being a loner was much more simple- so that's what I had to do, I had to push myself away from others-or more like push myself away from a certain person.
RILEY POV
I planned on talking to Zoey in our 6th period Art class. I wanted to explain to her that Cindy meant no harm by her comments, but when I made it to 6th period, I noticed Zoey paired up with some girl on the other side of the classroom. I walked to Mrs. Abigail's desk to see what was up.
"Uh Mrs. Abigail—arn't we working on our Art assignment today?"
She nodded her head - " yes, but you will be working with Jonathan" she said pointing her finger to a boy in the back. *I don't even know who that nigga is*
" What was the reason for switching us though? We already started working on the assignment."
She shook her head from side to side " From what I heard, you guys barely got anything done, so just take a seat next to Jonathan and start talking about your Ideas- I'll give you guys a few extra days to work on it okay?"
"whatever.." I muttered as I walked to back of the class.
Zoey Anderson-POV
I sat on the couch, sipping my black coffee while watching project runway. I was physically tired, but couldn't go to sleep. Riley had called me at least 3 times, but I had been ignoring his calls. A few minutes later, my cell phone ringed again. It was Riley.
*Maybe I should answer..it could be something important* I thought to myself.
"Hello…" I said, answering the phone.
"Why did we switch partners Zoey? I know you had something to do with it."
"I asked her to switch us for our own good-I'm just a burden to you Riley. You deserve to enjoy your school year without having to worry about some fucked up girl."
"You're not fucked up"
"YES I am- I'm so fucked up in so many different ways- You probably wouldn't even look at me the same if you knew all my secrets"
"Well you'll never know if you don't give me a chance huh?.."
"No Riley, you gave ME a chance and I fucked that chance up- I'm just a disaster and better off by myself"
I hung up the phone after that last statement. It left me with sad thoughts, making me think about the beginning of the disaster that started the madness.
Author: okay, I have to stop here because I'm like brain dead, but please leave reviews. I truly appreciate them.