Ghosts {L.P.}

7:30

Ｇｈｏｓｔｓ Ｗｏｎ'ｔ
Ｒｕｉｎ Ｈｅｒ Ｎｉｇｈｔ

▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||||။၊|• 3:40

Riya ignored her buzzing phone for the rest of the afternoon until it finally quieted while the sun dipped in the background.

Before fully turning away, she had counted fifteen texts and seven unanswered calls from Julie, and twenty-six texts from Flynn with ten missed voice calls. Not one received an answer from Riya.

She didn't even change from her clothes, barely with enough energy to wipe off her make-up let alone undo the zipper of her dress. A special pointed effort Riya made was to not even glance at her desk where she could almost picture the happy sunflowers gently set in a vase filled with water, Luke's flowers.

The ones she wanted to throw out the window on to the busy streets so they got run over until they were just a mush of plants on the pavement. And also the very same flowers Riya couldn't bring herself to move with how each silly yellow petal withheld her delusions of a kiss she had jumped into head-first and expected some of her feelings being returned.

They weren't.

It was a good thing Riya's father had taken additional shifts throughout the night and morning, it made it so Riya didn't have to explain her puffy eyes before falling asleep in the very same clothes she had initially left the house in, or why she was dragging herself everywhere in the morning, not even having the energy to plug in her mother's music into her ears.

Adhira Williams' music was beautiful, it perked up anyone in the vicinity to be able to believe in the hope and love they had lost or never owned. However, Riya didn't want her hopes in love to be restored, she wanted to fit in with the cloudy sky above and dull buildings around her, just another hopeless soul trying to make it into the next day.

While sitting with her head being held up by the glass window of the bus, Riya came to the conclusion she'd have to push through her feelings, just because things would be clearly awkward between her and Luke it didn't mean she still wanted to quit the band, or she'd give up entirely on her friendships. Especially those who had spent an entire afternoon spamming her phone, fully worried about her actions.

Riya didn't owe anyone an explanation, but she still felt as if she would have to provide one, maybe Flynn and Julie had some sort of remedy to help her move on from Luke faster so she could stay firmly stuck in the friend zone without the constant pressure on her heart.

Hearing the bus screech to a stop in front of her school, Riya flew to her feet, careful to not let her army green unbuttoned flannel catch in anyone's dangling keychains before slipping past the doors onto the pavement towards the entrance.

She tugged her plain black tank top over the silver button of her black jeans before stomping onward towards the school, chin held up high with freshly combed hair waving behind her shoulders, feigning a confidence she didn't feel even in her best dreams.

A few students waved at Riya in passing, the fame of being known from Julie and the Phantoms and most importantly as Julie and Flynn's friend had gotten her a few more acquaintances throughout her classes, however not one of them had her number for anything other than asking what was for homework. Nevertheless, she still gave them a weak wave while her eyes scanned through the halls for Julie and Flynn, finally finding them by Julie's locker.

It was Flynn who saw Riya first, immediately waving her with a fully fallen face filled with worry. "Riya!"

She didn't wave nor speak, instead she just waited until Julie shut her locker before grabbing on to both their wrists and dragging them straight towards Ms Harrison's music classroom, the one she knew to be empty and soundproof enough to discuss her crush on a literal ghost openly.