Three's a crowd

32

I would do absolutely anything to go back to the mountains and relive every single moment all over again. Sitting in history class was no where close to as exciting as the weekend I had just experienced, not by a long shot.

Of course I had already given Ava the general run down of the trip this morning. The hiking, the last night dinner, the surprise photography session Riley had organized on top of a beautiful lookout overlooking the mountains. The only thing I withheld was the sex part, that would have to wait until at the very least our parents knew.

When the bell rang for the end of period I grabbed my stuff and reluctantly made my way to one of the only classes that could bore me, biology. We had already covered all the interesting parts last year and now all that was left was anatomy and the schools desperate attempt at sex Ed. Of course they didn't realize they were too late in giving that talk to 98% of the seniors.

I took my seat beside Ava and Kyle in the middle of the classroom as the instructor walked in followed by no other than Carl. He took his seat at the table beside us as I avoided looking at him as usual.

Every class we had together I would feel him staring at me and I had made it my mission to completely ignore him. Sometimes I would even just stare at the designs on the teachers clothes.

Today was no different. I could feel his eyes on the side of my face. The teacher, Mr Hall, was a younger man, probably in his early thirties with short dark hair and a dark facial stubble. He reminded me of one of the teachers that girls would get all hot and bothered over before finding out they had a wife and kids at home.

"Good morning class, so today we are going to be going over reproduction." Hall said as the class groaned. "Now I know it may be a little late for some of you, but there may be a few of you that still need this lesson."
"Britt" some girl coughed from the back of the class while others chuckled.

I rolled my eyes as Ava and Kyle chuckled with them. I really hated always being the source of everyone virgin jokes so I nudged Ava as Mr hall continued to explain the course of the topics in the lesson.

"I don't need this class anymore either." I muttered to her, just quiet enough so that no one else could hear.
"Wait what?" she looked at me as I nodded. "No freaking way!"
"Yeah, It's not a big deal, we can talk about it later okay?"
"Fine, but I want to know everything."

We were interrupted when Mr hall called us out for talking.
"Do you ladies have something to share with the class?" He asked.
"No" I said as my cheeks flushed.
"Actually sir." I heard Carls creepy voice "Since it effects my education I am quite curious to know what was so important they couldn't wait?"
"I don't think that's nece" Mr hall began.
"Oh but it is, like you said, there may be someone who needs this class and they interrupted that, it only seems fair that we get to know why!"

I looked at Ava and mouthed the word 'seriously' to her as Mr Hall surrendered and focused on us.
"Girls?"

I took a deep breath knowing that Ava couldn't lie. It was one of the things I admired about her, how fitting that now it was the one thing I hated. I sat silently, refusing to answer the question.

"Ava?" Mr Hall said as she shifted nervously.
"Britt I..." She whispered.
"Its okay." I said, knowing that everyone was about to focus solely on me and Riley as the center of the gossip pot for the next few days.
"Mr hall, Britt was actually just reminding me, since someone else said she still needed this class, that she doesn't anymore, you know since she crossed the bridge into womanhood." Britt tried to cover.
"What like her period?" Kyle asked, as I buried my face in my hands.

Can I die, or get abducted by an alien? Why are boys so clueless?

"No!" Ava snapped at Kyle
"Then what do you mean?" Carl chirped in again, and honestly I was sick of hearing his voice.
"Its not really your business." Britt turned to him scowling.
"I'm pretty sure we just established it is!" He responded, probably smirking although I still refused to look at him.
"She had sex with Riley Dipshit!"

The room burst in to collective gasps and giggles, most likely less to do with the information given and more to do with Ava's cursing in class.

"You're a liar!" Carl yelled.

I had to make this stop. Mr hall looked like a deer in headlights, as if he had no clue that was our conversation and now he didn't know what to do. He almost looked like he regretted letting the conversation start. Kyle was motionless beside me, and everyone else was watching Ava and Carl like they watched Netflix on a rainy day.

"Actually she's not." I said "Not that It is your business or anyone else's, but yes I had sex with Riley, and for the record I don't care what any of you think!"

That's when all chaos broke out. Carl jumped up from his seat heading straight for me as he yelled about how I ruined our future. Thankfully Mr hall and Kyle were quick in getting ahold of him.

"Britt, your excused for the rest of class." Mr Hall announced as they tried to hold Carl.
"Britt, get your stuff NOW!" Kyle yelled as I hastily grabbed my things and ran out of the classroom.

"I'll get what I want one day!" Carl screamed as I ran down the stairs and over to the athletics department.

By the time I reached the locker rooms the guys were just walking out. I was definitely crying, actually I was hyperventilating as Riley's smile was instantly replaced with a frown before he pulled me into his chest.

He pulled me away from the rest of the team and outside under the bleachers as I struggled to breathe. I knew carl couldn't hurt me in class, not in front of the teachers at least, but it was the unknowns that terrified me, like when I had to walk alone, or go to the bathroom during class. I couldn't put anything past him, especially since he keeps reminding me that he is not done with tormenting me.

"Britt what happened? Britt you have to calm down! Breathe, Just breathe!" Riley held me to him tightly as I trembled against him.

I wondered if I would ever get over the incident with Carl or whether he would continue to harass me forever. Whether Riley would ever get tired of all the drama that follows me around.

When I had finally calmed down I chocked out Carls name. I knew Riley needed to know what was wrong, but I wasn't expecting his response.

"I will kill him!" He let go of me and started to walk away before I grabbed his hand, still sobbing.
"Riles please don't? I just need you to hold me right now!" I begged as tears continued to fall.

He softened and pulled me back to him, my face buried in his shirt, in the smell of him. I did need him, more than I needed anyone. He was my safe place, my escape. Here in his arms I felt safe and no one, not even Carl would take that away.

We stood for a while as he soothed and held me, until my eyes dried up and the silence outside was replaced with the bustling of the lunch crowd. I was ready for this day to be over, but as usual fate had other plans.

Ava and Kyle were the first to find us, and while Kyle had definitely reacted weirdly to Ava's announcement, he didn't say anything other than asking if I was okay. I was still very much hiding in Riley's shirt, so Riley had answered for me, telling them I would be as Ava so kindly filled him in on the biology debacle, not leaving out a single detail about Carl's reaction. In fact I think she purposely annunciated every word of him getting up and charging at me.

Just when I finally composed myself to turn around my day went from bad to worse as Carl made a beeline straight for us.

I looked up at Riley and whispered "He's not worth it." receiving a small nod in return as Kyle and Riley both moved me and Ava behind them both protectively. I couldn't stop it, I could only hope that Riley understood what I actually wanted.

Still I had a bad feeling about this, A very bad feeling.

Shit.