The Knowing Secret

Chapter 11

I was terrified, and my mind was racing. What did this person want with me? I stood there perfectly still, reminding myself to keep breathing, and trying to figure out what to do next. The voice came again only it sounded more like a pled. "Please don't scream, ok?" I didn't know what else to do, so I nodded. He went on, "I'm going to turn the light on and then let you go, but please, Riley, don't scream." Again I nodded.

My mind was still racing when the light came on. As he promised, he let go of me, and I quickly turned around not knowing what to expect. When I saw who was standing behind me my feelings ranged from relief to being extremely pissed off. "Are you kidding me?" I snapped letting the angry part of me take over. "You scared me half to death!" Without a thought I slapped him across the face.

His hand went to his face, and he said, "I deserved that. I'm sorry. We just really need to talk."

"I believe I told you I didn't want to talk to you, Sam," I snapped, as I walked over to my window bench. When he didn't respond, I sighed. "How the heck did you even get in here?"

Sam pointed to the window behind me and said, "Your window was open."

"You climbed up to my window? Are you nuts? You could have fallen and killed yourself" I said, as I quickly turned behind me and closed the open window.

"Like I said we really need to talk." He shrugged.

"And you thought sneaking into my room, scaring me half to death, making me think you were some crazy physco killer was the best way to get me to talk to you?" I snapped again.

"Well I tried everything else," he said quietly, still standing where I had left him.

I sighed. "Fine since you almost killed yourself trying to talk to me, we'll talk. What do you want to talk about Sam?"

He walked over and sat next to me. The look in his eyes shocked me so much I almost gasped. He had the same longing look in his eyes that I had drawn. He just sat there for a little looking at me, and then finally he asked, "Why were you still nice to me?"

"What?" I asked. I couldn't believe this is what he so badly wanted to talk to me about.

"When I was such a jerk to you, you know about the whole Sara thing. You were still nice to me," He replied.

"You know what they say, keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer." I shrugged.

"Really?" he asked. "I didn't think that would piss you off that much. I don't want you to be my enemy." He said the last part so quietly I almost didn't hear him.

"Wait, you were trying to make me mad?" I asked angrily, as I stood up.

His gaze fell from me and was now on the floor. "After what you said... about my mom. No one knows about that. It made me angry."

"I know," I mumbled, and I did when he left Joe's that night I felt his anger for awhile.

He looked back up at me, but as if he didn't hear me, he went on, "So I had to get back at you," he shrugged, letting his gaze fall again.

"And you thought that messing around with Sara would upset me?" I forced a laugh trying to hide how much it had.

"It didn't?" He asked looking back at me. He had an almost sad look on his face, and I knew then that I couldn't lie to him.

I sighed and sat back down next to him. "No, it did," I said quietly, finally admitting it out loud.

We sat there for a moment in complete silence until Sam finally broke it. "There is something different about you, Riley, and it kinda freaks me out," he said looking away from me.