Chapter 16

Friday Afternoon

Kat POV

"What are you waiting for?" Cody asked.

"What makes you think I'm waiting for something?"

"You're standing by the door, with shoes on, holding a bag, holding a sweatshirt, holding-"

"Ok I get it!"

"So what are you waiting for?"

"Ross is taking me to some amusement park."

"You're going to an amusement park?"

"Yeah…?"

"Aren't you scared of them?"

"Look, I can't really get out of it. Just drop it already."

"So you're being forced to go?"

"No. Not exactly. It's my choice."

"Yeah right."

"Cody, just drop it already."

*Knock Knock Knock

I opened the door and found Ross standing outside.

"Hey!" Said Ross.

"Hey, let's go," I said, walking out the door.

Ross drove me to the amusement park. By the time we got there, it was dark.

"So what do you want to do first?" Ross asked.

"Um I don't know. You pick, I guess."

"I don't know what you're willing to do."

"Fine. How about we play a game then."

Ross POV

Our plan was working perfectly. I texted Rocky to see when we needed to start the next step.

"Hey, did you get Riker here yet?" I texted.

"We're just arriving. I had to call backup. Riker was being difficult. I called Ellington, and we practically dragged him out of the house," Rocky texted.

"Ok good. Text me when you guys get here."

"So what do you want to do now?" I asked Kat.

"I don't know."

"Do you want to go on a ride?"

"I don't know. I'm not much of a ride person."

"Oh come on. It'll be fun. I promise."

"DO NOT PICK A SCARY ONE!"

"I won't."

I convinced Kat to go on the scrambler. After that, I bought her some cotton candy.

"We're here. Step 2. Where do you want to meet?" Rocky texted.

"Let's meet at the bathrooms."

"Sounds good. See you in a few."

"Kat?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"Ok, let's go."

Kat and I walked over to the bathrooms. I told her I wanted to sit for a minute, so we could wait for Rocky, Riker, and Ellington to show up.

"Oh, hey guys. I didn't know you guys were going to be here," said Rocky.

Could he be any more obvious?

"Hey. You guys want to go on some rides?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's go," said Rocky.

I grabbed Kat's hand and we headed off to one of the biggest roller coasters in the amusement park.

"So Kat. Do you think you'd go on a roller coaster?" I asked.

"I guess so. Why?"

"Because we're heading to our favorite."

"Uh… Ok…? It just better not be too crazy."

Rocky had told me how Kat didn't really like rollercoasters. Riker had told him about what she had said. We had it all planned out how we were going to make Kat and Riker ride together. Would it work though? We could only hope…

Riker POV

We had to stand in a really long line. It was really boring and I didn't even want to be here. Rocky gave me my car keys, saying he didn't want to hold onto them. I would have to be careful not to lose them. Now I had to stand here in this stupid line, for a stupid ride, in a stupid park, that I didn't even want to be at! We must have waited close to 30 minutes by the time we were finally to the front!

"We have 2 more spots!" Called the person in charge of the roller coaster.

Immediately Rocky and Ross pushed Kat and I forward. The guy in charge closed the gate behind us, and we were forced to ride together. Someone helped us into the last spot, and we pulled the bar down over ourselves.

"Wait, this thing goes upside down!?" Kat asked.

"Yeah. We'll be fine," I said, not looking at her.

"Riker? I'm… terrified."

The ride started, and we slowly ascended as Kat started freaking out.

"Kat, we're going to be fine," I said.

"Riker-!"

I put my arm around her waist just as we got to the very top. Kat scooched closer to me, and we got ready for it to really begin.

We flew down the track. Kat screamed all the way. But I noticed it wasn't "this is awesome" screaming. She was seriously scared.

When we got off the ride, I still had my arm around Kat. The guy in charge of the exit gate gave me a strange look as we left. I glared at Rocky, Ross, and Ellington as we walked over to a bench and sat down. Just like when we were at the hospital, Kat put her head in my lap. I wanted to comfort her so bad, but I didn't know if I should! She wanted me to stay away from her. This was just so awkward! People gave me strange looks as they walked by. I didn't blame them. I probably looked like a bad boyfriend who had made his girlfriend go on a scary ride, and now she was sobbing. I wasn't even doing anything but sitting there with my arm awkwardly hanging around her waist as she cried. I'm totally going to kill Ellington and my bros. Strangely, I was more upset about them doing this to Kat, than I was about them doing it to me too. I mean, sure they forced me to ride with her, and now it was embarrassing just sitting here without comforting her. But I was furious they made Kat get on the scariest roller coaster here! I knew she didn't like rides, especially roller coasters, from what she'd told me about her past.

Rocky, Ross and Ellington all came walking up to us. Kat immediately stood up.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME!?" Kat shouted.

My eyes widened when she slapped Ross across the face, and walked away sobbing. Ross was pretty shocked too. He just stood there trying to comprehend what just happened…

I ran after Kat. Stupid, I know, but something made me feel like I needed to go after her. I was realizing that maybe she wasn't mad at me. She hadn't yelled at me or anything. She cried into my lap. If she were mad, she probably would've walked away or something.

"Kat! Wait up!" I called.

Kat continued running until she was out of the park. She ran over to my car, which Rocky had driven here, and stopped.

"Take me home," Kat said, obviously furious.

"Ok."

I unlocked my car, and got in. As I drove home, Kat looked out her window.

"Kat?" I asked, softly.

"What?" Kat asked, angrily.

"I… I didn't have anything to do with this. I didn't know they were going to do that. But I'm sorry for what they did. That was ridiculous."

"I know."

"What?"

"I know you didn't have anything to do with it. You looked just as surprised as I was."

"So you're not mad?"

"Not at you…"

"Well… Yeah… I'll talk to Ross, Rocky, and Ellington tonight. They shouldn't have done that."

"I just can't believe I slapped him. I've never done anything like that before… It just felt like I had no control…"

"If you hadn't slapped him, I would've done much worse to him."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That was downright mean. He deserved worse than just a slap to the face."

"I'm surprised you feel that way."

"Why?"

"He's your brother. I always thought you sided with him on like everything."

"Well usually. But what he did was wrong. Especially with your past and everything. I know you were absolutely terrified, and that was not ok."

For the next 5 minutes, neither of us spoke. I pulled into Kat's driveway and shut off my car. I got a text, and saw it was from Rocky. I ignored it and walked Kat to the door. Her house was strangely dark.

"There's a note…?" Kat said, her voice still a little weird from crying.

"What's it say?"

"Something went wrong at the hospital! Something's wrong with my mom! We need to meet them there!"

"Ok, I'll drive you. But can I use your bathroom first?"

"Riker, this is no time for bathroom breaks!"

Kat POV

"Kat-"

I grabbed Riker's hand before he could say anything else, and dragged him back to his car.

"Come on! Let's go!" I shouted.

Riker sped down the road, and got on the highway towards the hospital. I was shaking in my seat the whole time. Boys were so bad at leaving notes! They didn't even say what was wrong! They didn't say how serious it was or anything! She could be dead by now, and they probably wouldn't even have texted me!

We arrived at the hospital, and we practically sprinted to the entrance. The doors flew open, and I pulled Riker straight over to my dad and Cody.

"What happened to mom!?"