Bitter Fate

Chapter One

Riley's POV

"Uh, this can be so frustrating." I mutter under my breath as I drop my rifle for the third time in a row, attempting a triple.

Colorguard practice feels harder today, we are all tired having just woken up. Fifteen minutes later, our captain pulls us in and decides to end practice ten minutes early, so we can take our time changing clothes for school. I'm slipping on my shoes as my best friend, Zoe, calls me over and greets me with a mischievous smile.

"You ready to talk to him?" She asks, clearly wanting to do this more than I do. I feel my stomach churn with regret, I knew I should have never given her this idea. I pause and think for a minute. Should I talk to him now? Or just forget him altogether?

"Come on. You are not backing out this one, not today." Zoe demands. Ugh...she doesn't understand how hard this is. Just seeing his face brings back so many memories that haunt me.

"Bu-" I start, then I stop knowing that I can't get out of this. Zoe smiles at me knowing I give up.We start to walk down the hall, I look towards the clock: 9:50 a.m. I have ten minutes before having to talk to him.

"You know where you're going right?" I ask, not knowing where the new health science building is.

"Yeah, it's down here." She points to the main hallway and I follow her around the school. I glance up at the clock seeing that it's 9:58. I notice her looking at the clock, turning around and taking us back the way we came.

"Oops, I forgot it's this way." She says apologetically not sounding really sorry. I shoot her a suspicious look. Not even caring, Zoe walks outside to a side building and we enter the class as the bell rings. As we walk in everyone turns their head, and I feel my cheeks flush pink.

"Thanks for joining us, please take a seat." Our teacher says. I'm so embarrassed, but I know teachers are more lenient the first day. I look for open seats, yet there are only a couple left. Zoe signals me over to some seats in the corner. I glance over and see that the last pair of seats happen to fall right next to Zach. Zoe goes ahead and takes the window seat causing me to have to sit with Zach. I walk over giving him a smile of recognition, avoiding eye contact. Man he's cute...no focus, you are here to fix problems not like him.

"Okay now that everybody is situated, let us begin our assignment. Today we will be doing a group worksheet, you will work with the people at your table. The assignment is to record everything you learn about each other. Ask questions. The people at your table will sit with you for the whole semester." Mr. Rowland says. What did he just say? The whole semester. I look over and see Zoe already talking to our fourth member. I know him from last year, I think his name is Jason.

I ask my first question on the sheet. "Zach, what are you looking for the most in this class?"

"This is medical terminology, I guess I want it to teach me terms?" He answers questionably. "What about you?"

"Um, I think I want to know all the muscles and bones." I say. He nods and we look at the paper for what feels like hours until I break the silence asking the next question. The class passes by with Zach and I being silent to each other, while Zoe and Jason learn about each other getting deeper and deeper with every question. Why can't he just forgive me? He was in the wrong as well. The bells rings dismissing the class, I start to grab my things as quickly as I can. Zoe is already done packing up and waits for me.

When I have my stuff together Zach taps me on the shoulder, I turn around thinking it was Zoe.

"Yeah Zo..." I answer

"Umm... it's me Zach can I talk to you in the hall?" he asks

"Sure." I look at Zoe, but she is no help, smiling with hopefulness. I know I am alone on this one. I mean, what can he really tell me in 5 minutes. I follow him into the hall.

"What class are you going to, I don't want to get you late." he says.

"I'm heading to Geometry. You?" I question.

"Good our classes are next to each other we can walk and talk." he suggests. We begin to make our way upstairs slowly getting closer to our next class.

"I wanted to ask if everything is okay between us? Since class was really quiet; I am really sorry for what happened over the summer." he explains.

"I'm fine if you're fine. During the summer I just let things slip out of my hands."

"So, we friends now?" he asks smiling.

"I thought we were always friends." I smile back. He nods in approval and the bell rings, breaking our smiles. We end it there and walk into class. During class I zoned out not really paying attention to what the teacher was saying. I grabbed my notebook and started to doodle, nothing really just a flower and patterns. By the time I knew it my teacher dismissed us, five minutes early to lunch.

"Riley, over here," Zoe yells across the cafeteria. "I got us a table." I walk over and put my bag down.

"I'm going to go get lunch." I tell her. She nods and pulls out her lunch box. I go into a line and get pepperoni pizza, an apple and some milk. When I start heading towards the table I see more familiar faces from last year. As I sit down Zoe's the first to talk.

"Spill," Zoe says, "That is what I'm supposed to say right?" she asks when a confused look pops onto my face.

"Oh you mean in the hall?" I question. "He just apologized about the summer and asked if we were still friends. I said 'I was fine, and that I thought we were always friends'. Then the bell rang."

"That's good. He apologized. You guys made up in less than five minutes, woah." She says happy for us.

"But you have to tell me, what was going on between you and Jason."I ask. I'm really curious if she likes him.

Zoe just smiled at me. "Oh, it was nothing. I was just talking to him about the band marching show and stuff..." She trails off. I give her an uncertain look and she broke. "Fine, I might, might like him, just a little." I smile. I had a thought she did.

"Ooooh... Zoey you have a crush." Brandon coos. Zoey faces turns into a tomato, I start to smile knowing the truth.

"Nooooo. " Zoey replies.

"Yeah you do I just heard you."

"Fine I do, but it's a tiny tiny crush. It might not even fully mature into a huge crush. So don't get to excited." she reassures him. Brandon takes a seat and opens his lunch. We begin to eat, I see people from the halls still flushing into the cafeteria.

"How many people do you think are going to be in this cafeteria?" I question.

"I heard from one of my classmates, freshman through seniors are having lunch at the same time." Zoe answers. As time passes, we talk about how summer is going and what we plan to do for the year.

"I am so ready to rock Psychology." I say.

"Well I am ready to try Chemistry. I really hope I like it, so it can be part of my career. " Zoe says.

"I'm really looking forward to band. I take this really serious. Saxophone all the way."

As we talk I look around to see anybody else in the "use to be squad". I spot Gabby, Peyton, and Zach sitting together close to the lunch line. Zach scoots closer to Gabby, I want to look away but I can't. Just when I was about to turn around Zach looks up. He smiles then touches arms with Gabby. They talk all lunch and then they go to the library together. Peyton lags behind as a third wheel. I stop staring and go back to my friends.

We are all laughing and having a good time when Tori shows up. She's a good friend of mine. 

"Hey guys, I'm throwing a party this Friday night. It's to congratulate our first week back! Go sophomore year! Hope you all can make it!" She exclaims. She hands our table a flyer and moves on to her next set of friends. Seeing Zach and Gabby together like their relationship was healthy made my stomach churn. How come they could have a good relationship, when all we can do is put on a fake smile?

"Hey, uh, I gotta go real quick. I'll be back." I interrupt. They all nod their heads in approval, and I head to the bathroom.