There's Something About Him (Complete)

Chapter Twenty Eight - Despicable Blackmail

"Are you still going on about that?" I whispered to River as we trudged down the school's corridor. Once we had finished watching movies and Mrs Daimon had ordered us all to bed since River and I had school the next day, I had said my goodnights and slipped into their spare bedroom. The morning had been an easy-going affair with Keira and Heath happily chattering about some sort of event that Heath had coming up, Marcus complaining that there appeared to be an issue with one of the garage doors and River and I trying to power through so that we didn't miss the bus.

He humphed, "I don't understand why we had to catch an over-crowded bus when you have a perfectly good vehicle sitting in my front yard."

I groaned, "Have I not explained to you, quite eloquently, that I do not want to have to deal with all the attention it would draw?" I peered up at him, "Why don't you have a car?"

He shrugged, "No way to afford it." He held up a hand, "And before you say that Heath could buy me one, I don't want him spending that kind of money on me when I haven't earned it."

I stayed quiet for a moment, thinking of how different our situations were, "Do you think I'm spoilt?"

River stopped in the middle of hallway, stopping the flow as he stared down at me, "What?"

I bit my lip and tugged him to the side of the hallway, uncaring of the fact that we would be late to class, "My family is wealthy and it's all I've ever known and although I respect you for wanting to earn what you own, I've never faced that." I blew out a breath, "Does that make me spoilt?"

His face remained serious as I strained to look him in the eye, "You're many things, RiRi but spoilt isn't one of them. Yes, you're lucky to have the parents that you do because of what they own but you don't flaunt it - in fact, you want to hide it so that no one can take advantage of your family." He gently grabbed my hands, "You're blessed in every way that counts, but no," he shook his head, "not spoilt."

I smiled, "Thanks." I pulled my hands away and slipped one around his elbow as we traversed the now empty hall, "Can I buy you a car, Lake Boy?"

He spluttered, "What?" He rocked me, "And what is with that nickname? Lake Boy?" He snorted.

I laughed, "You wanted a sugar mumma! I'm just trying to work out how much I should be spending on you. And as for calling you Lake Boy, your name is River...Lake, River." I smiled at his expression, "Yeah it doesn't really fit you." I tapped a finger against my chin before snapping my fingers together, "I know," I giggled, "You call me RiRi and I'll call you LaLa."

His face started to go red, "That's worse than Lake Boy! And wasn't that one of the Teletubbies?!"

I felt my face brighten even more, "Spelt differently but yeah, I think so." I looked him over just as we reached to door to our classroom, "You'd look cute in yellow."

"Ah, Mr Daimon and Miss Heath," Mrs Carlisle interrupted, "So glad that you could join us."

The class murmured as we stepped through the door with the intention of finding our usual seats.