Not Set In Stone

Chapter 5

"Hey Ben, wait up!" I shouted as he walked past me as I was closing my locker, finally done with the day. I caught up to him, remembering I had the ring on, that Jay stole from him. "Looking for this?" I asked taking the ring off my hand as we were walking back to our dorms.

"Wh..where did you get that? You didn't steal if from me, did you?" He asked me, taking it back and placing it on his finger.

"I am insulted that you would even think that I stole it from you," I scoffed and then eventually laughing telling him that Jay took it for him. "He's kind of a kleptomaniac, sorry about all that," I explained to him as he took noticed of my necklace Jay gave to me.

"Let me guess, Jay gave that to you too?" He asked and I nodded. "I'm telling you, if you're not a siren then I don't know what to believe anymore. You're just attracting guys left and right," he stated as I looked up at him and I wasn't smiling too much at all.

"You don't think I'm naturally pretty enough to have guys attracted to me? You honestly think I have to be a siren that trances men?" I asked and immediately Ben freaked out thinking he insulted me.

"No, Ria, that's not what I meant... I meant..," he answered his voice shaking as I just giggled.

"Idiot, I'm joking with you, I know what you meant. Who knows maybe I'm secretly Ariel's daughter and I'm actually a mermaid that puts men in trances right before drowning them at sea," I remarked as we entered the front doors of the dormitory.

"Wow, way to darken the mood," he teased with a laughed.

"Hey, I'm just telling you what I've read, not everything in those fairy tales is unicorns and glitter. If you've actually read up on some things, you'll realize it's pretty twisted," I stated as we walked down the hallways as he told me Audrey and him were going out again.

"So you really like her huh?" I questioned as he shook his head.

"I know this might sound horrible but not as much as I did. It's just everyone else see us as this perfect couple and I honestly don't know how to get out of it," he explained to me and I realized he had expectations to live up to and they were a huge power couple in the school.

"I could do it for you," I told him and he just sighed.

"Come on Ria, please don't do anything. I know how much you don't like her but I don't want to break her heart. I trust you, please don't let her know," he said to me as we reached my door and he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I won't. I promise," I stated pretending to zip my lips and throw away the key. "You won't hear one peep out of me." I saw him sigh in relief as I opened the door and Audrey was on her bed doing homework. She just sighed seeing that it was me walking in the door first and then Ben walked through the door and her smile grew.

"Ready to go, let Ria have time to herself," Ben said putting out a hand to help Audrey up and the two of them exited shortly after.

I plopped down on my bed and just sat looking up at the canopy as I let my brain rest for a bit. School always took so much out of me since I struggled quite a bit. I may seem smarter than most, this is true, but it takes effort and I'm not nearly acknowledged enough for it. As I was just staring off daydreaming, Delta came crawling up my stomach and onto my chest. She finally stopped once she reached my necklace grabbing on to it with one of her feet.

"You want your boyfriend's necklace, huh?" I asked taking it off for the day and placing it around her neck as it rested on my chest since she hadn't moved. "Yeah, Jay is a sweetie, ain't he?" I told her picking her up as the necklace dangled and I placed her on the side of me. "You sure know how to pick then," I said giving her a slight pat on the head as she took interest in the necklace.