Then I Found You

Chapter 6

Picture of Emily >>>>

So Riley’s personality is coming out a bit more. Just pointing that out. It’s unintentional on her part though.

Everyone stared at Riley as she walked through the school. She knew she looked horrible. She had a black eye and she was limping, not to mention there was a huge gash on her cheek. She sighed and walked to her locker where she saw Ethan and Emily chatting. Emily saw her first and gasped.

“What happened?” Emily asked touching Riley’s bruised eye gently. Riley shook her head and opened her locker, throwing a few books in messily and pulling her English book out.

“You okay Riley?” Ethan asked, staring at her cautiously. She nodded her head quickly. She felt a few tears in her eyes but she blinked them back.

“No you’re not” Emily stated boldly. “Something’s wrong.”

“I’m fine” Riley said, softly. She was feeling fed up right now. She was fed up of hiding her personality and she was tired of pushing Ethan and Emily away because of her own inconveniences but she felt that she had no choice.

“Okay” Emily said, stretching out the word. She gave Riley a look that said ‘we’ll talk later’ written all over it. She sighed and nodded at Emily.

Riley spun on her heel, stumbling a bit in the process and headed out the school, she felt Ethan and Emily’s stares on her back the whole time. She made it outside and sat down, leaning against the tree. Silent tears trickled down her cheeks. She refused to cry in front of people so she came outside to cry. She rested her head between her knees and wrapped her arms around her knees securely and sobbed.

She didn’t notice when a presence sat next to her until they poked her shoulder roughly. She looked up and saw Jayden sitting down next to her, giving her a curious look.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, sounding annoyed. She shrunk back at his tone and moved away from him slightly. She shrugged and stood up.

“I didn’t mean to move. I just want to know” he said, taking his hat off and playing with it idly in his hands. She stared at him for a second. He looked good as he was wearing a white vest and dark jeans. She didn’t want to talk so she pulled out a notebook and wrote her response down.

‘I was just leaving’ she wrote her hand was trembling and she felt like an idiot. He read her response, nodded and rested his head against the tree, closing his eyes. She opened her mouth and closed it a few times before speaking.

“Don’t you have a class now?” she asked softly but he seemed to hear her as his eyes snapped open. He nodded and shrugged.

“I don’t care. I just came to clear my head” he grunted, looking angry all of a sudden. She nodded and hurried away from him, going through the school doors. She rushed to her English class, glancing over her shoulders a few times in the process. By the time she reached to English, her face was flushed and she was sweaty. The teacher gave her a strange look but didn’t comment on her appearance.

A few students snickered as she made her way to her seat. She slumped in the seat next to a worried looking Ethan and slouched down to avoid the stares.

“Thank you for gracing us with your presence Ms Moore” the teacher said sarcastically causing the class to roar with laughter except for Ethan who looked annoyed and Riley who slouched even further down in her seat.

“Ignore him” Ethan said, resting her comforting hand on her shoulder. She gasped and shrugged it off quickly. He gave her a strange look. She sighed and ran out the classroom, leaving her startled classmates behind although she heard some people snickering. A few tears escaped her eyes as she ran down the hallway. She leaned against the wall and sobbed silently with her head buried in her hands.