Her Sister's Boyfriend

21

Riley's POV:

"Em," I choke out, shaking my head violently as I get out of the pool to walk over towards her. A look of pure hatred fills her face as she steps away from me like I'm some sort of disease. She scrunches up her face, wrinkling her nose and eyes bloodshot but no tears threatening to fall. I know that she's keeping them inside for the good of herself, or so she thinks. I gulp, looking behind me at James who had only just now jumped out of the pool. I face my sister once again as she cups her face in her hands, hiding herself from me as she takes it as an opportunity to swat the water in her eyes away.

"You know, Michelle told me you two had something going on," she says, nodding. "But I didn't believe her. I didn't want to believe her because I believed that you would never do such a thing! I fucking stood up for you and discontinued the relationship I was starting with her for you! And then I find you sitting by the edge of a pool, kissing?!" she exclaims. I shake my head violently.

"No, Em, no..." I let out.

"Yes. That's what happened-"

"No, it's not!" I shout. My face floods with tears as I try and look around for someone to stick up for me but no one does. There's no one there to say anything and James is standing there obliviously. I can tell he doesn't know what to say, just as much as I don't. I look around us where people began to gather around at the sudden amusement of this whole commotion and then out of the corner of my eye, I see Ella with her arms folded and grinning. I roll my eyes at her before looking at Emily once again. "Please, Em..." I whisper. "Just listen to me..."

"I don't need to. I don't want to hear what you have to say." She looks behind me at James who was stood slightly to the side and she scoffs. "Let me guess... You're the dad, huh?" she inquires. I hang my head in shame and embarrassment, thinking he wouldn't own up to it and that this would be the end of us. The end of whatever we had. But instead, he walks over and wraps one arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I want to resist it. I want to talk to my sister about all of this. I don't want to lose her because of James. But I don't find myself leaving his arms.

"Yes. And I love her," he says. She rolls her eyes, laughing sarcastically at the two of us. I feel humiliated. I feel the worst I've ever felt. I can't even focus any longer as I spot Michelle out of the corner of my eyes, followed by the rest of A-Troupe. I open my mouth ajar, looking at them all as they begin to walk over. Cierra is first to make eye contact with me and she sighs, mouthing the words 'she knows?'. I don't even bother to respond as I push James' arms from off of me and Emily continues to watch me with complete repugnance. 

"What the hell is going on?!" Giselle shouts, taking up on her role as dance captain. James looks at me, hurt and perplexed by my sudden actions but all I do is look back at him. All I can do is look between him and Emily and as I do, I realize what I broke. I realize just how much of a monster I am. I deserve to be looked at in disgust and repulsion. I've ruined two things now but the worst thing is that I'm still pregnant with his baby.

"It's her. Riley. My sister. With him." She gestures towards James and then he hangs his head, looking down. He told me that we'd be fine. He told me he doesn't want me to get hurt and yet he's not even doing anything. I trusted him and thought that he would stick up for us and yet he isn't. He's only making the two of us look like fools. 

I'm about to walk away until I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Whoa, okay, I get that your mad Em, but just hear Riley out," Thalia says. I smile at her. No matter what, she's always going to stick up for me and I love her for it. Even right now, when I've done the worst thing possible, she proves that she's still my best friend and it means so much. "How long has this been going on for, Ri?" she whispers to me. I shake my head.

"Eight weeks," I tell her quietly but loud enough for clearly everyone to hear as Steph opens her mouth, agog, and Max whistles whilst Giselle gasps. Thalia, however, sighs and then hugs me, pulling me closer to her as she places her hand on the back of my head and I cry into her shoulder.

"It's okay, Ri, don't worry. I'll always stick up for you," she whispers. Pulling back, I use my index finger to wipe my tears away before facing James again. He looks at me then and we just continue to stare at each other with the same darn look of guilt in our eyes. I still do love him and I can't help that. I can't change my feelings with the flick of a switch. That's just not how it works.

"You're seriously going to continue to stick up for her after everything she did?" Michelle asks, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. It hurts because me and her used to be best friends but then suddenly I've been replaced by Emily. And that's something I never thought would have happened since they hated each other not so long ago.

"Yeah, this is out of hand," West states, shaking his head. It shocks me that he wouldn't take James' side. They're meant to be bros and yet I've ruined that too. James is meant to be my boyfriend but I'm breaking the relationships he has with pretty much everyone.

"Hey, no it's not! If anything, shouldn't we be blaming James for this? He was the one who cheated on Em in the first place," Cierra adds in, moving to stand by my side.

"Nah, that's so wrong. Riley, I know you and this probably wasn't entirely your fault but she's your sister," Steph says, shaking her head and then placing a hand on Em's shoulder. My bottom lip quivers as everyone soon starts taking sides, the only person who hadn't was Amanda. James was still standing there looking helpless as everyone started shouting, including Emily but I just stood there, petrified, worried and broken. I'm falling apart inside because I knew that things could end up getting this bad but I didn't do anything to stop it. I could have prevented this from happening but I didn't and now everything's back-firing on me.

"Just leave Riley alone, okay! She did nothing wrong-" Eldon tries to persist but then gets cut off by Michelle who starts shouting as many hurtful things that you could possibly hear, like knives being thrown straight at me. You're a disgrace, she said. You should feel shameful right now. You deserve it. 

I tried to swallow back the lump in my throat as Cierra, Thalia and Eldon tried to argue my side but it was no use. It might not have been clear but I could tell that this wasn't going to get anywhere. Giselle was trying to stop everyone from arguing whilst Max stood there whistling and Amanda was eating nachos, enjoying the whole scenery as it panned out. Noah was stood beside James trying to talk to him about whatever whilst Steph, Michelle, West and Em kept shooting glares, painful words and even curse words were sprawled. 

"What are you even talking about?! James and Emily broke up!" Thalia screams, clearly growing annoyed. I look up at her and she looks into my eyes, trying to figure out what I was thinking but then I shake my head before looking down and pushing past everyone, wanting nothing but to get away.

"Hey, anyone want a nacho?" Amanda asks absent-mindedly whilst I walked past her. I looked up for a slight second with a confused look and then she pushed the paper box towards me. "No?" she questions. 

I roll my eyes before snatching the entire thing off of her and finally getting away from everyone, listening carefully as it suddenly falls silent and none of their familiar voices could be heard.