New Rise

Better

I wake up to Griff snoring on my floor. I wake him up. "Good morning sleepy head," I say to him. He rubs his eyes and stretches.

"Morning," he says, sorta confused at first. I pick out some new clothes to wear to school. I put on a dark purple shirt, black jeggings and my new tan converse.

Griff had also gotten some new clothes yesterday because Sarah insisted. I walk out and he's wearing a tight fitting t-shirt, dark blue jeans and his sneakers. We walk down to the kitchen and no one else is home. I make us some pop-tarts.

When we finish, I grab my keys and we head to school. I park in the usual spot since he left. Last night though, was the first I haven't had a nightmare. My dad was probably happy.

"Are you two now an item?" Lyla asks from behind me. I shake my head and I see Griff blush.

"No, we're just friends," I tell her, making sure that he heard.

"Still not over him?" I shake my head again. She hugs me and we head to my locker.

2 Days Later

I head over to Griff's house, he found some used bikes the other day and he's gonna fix them up for us. He gets the gold bike and I get the blue one. I walk over to his garage where he has taken them completely apart.

"So, what parts do you need?" I ask him.

"A lot of it, I can still use but, the parts I need are expensive," he says wiping his hands clean with a rag.

"Well, I've got money and you've got the skill and knowledge. Let's go shopping."

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you if you run of money," he jokes. We get into his truck and I drive him to the auto parts shop in town. He doesn't waste time looking around, he grabs whatever he needs and I payed for it all. It was actually my idea to save them. The parts were expensive as he said.

I drive us back right up to the garage. He then starts putting the bikes back together. I sit on a box next to his tools and whenever he needs one I hand it to him. "Hey Griff," I hear someone say. I look at the entrance of the garage to see two teenage boys. The one was shorter than Griff and skinny. The other boy was a bit taller and had some muscles.

"Hey Tyler, Jack," Griff says to them.

"How's your girlfriend over there?" the skinny one says, gesturing to me.

"She's not my girlfriend Tyler, she's a friend who happens to be a girl," he tells Tyler. Now I know who's who.

"And how's your girlfriend?" I ask Tyler and Griff laughs.

"You got burned dude," Jack says to Tyler. I laugh at Tyler too.

"Ya,ya. Good one Kaitlyn," Tyler says to me, laughing too.

"Alright, well we gotta get going," Jack says and they head down to the beach.

"That was a good burn," Griff says still laughing. I laugh too because it was so contagious, his laugh was light and I loved it.

After a while of Griff fixing up the bikes, I hear my dad pull up to Mikes house. We head out of the garage and up to the house. Dad smiles when he sees me and I can't help but smile back. I have to admit, I feel better, not whole, when I'm with Griff.

"Hey sweetie," he calls to us.

"Hi dad," I say, grinning even more. He notices this and I think he's glad I'm happy again.
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I climb into my car and I drive back home. While driving, I realized that I haven't thought of him, in a couple of days. It felt like there was a pressure lifted off my chest and I could breath again.

For the next week, I went over to Griff's house, as he carefully reassembled the bikes. He finally finished them and we get to ride them today.

I hear his truck pull into my driveway and I rush downstairs, tripping a couple of times. I throw the door open and I hop into the passenger side.

"Ready to learn how to ride?" he asked, some enthusiasm in his voice. I nod my head ecstatically. I was glad to be hanging out with Griff more. I was also hoping to see him again.

He turns right, onto a little dirt road and parks. We get out and then he goes to get the bikes out. "Careful, they're heavy," I warn him. He rolls his eyes and picks up the first one effortlessly.

"Are you on steroids or something?" I ask him.

"I've been filling out Kaitlyn," he says like its no big deal. He gets out my bike and we walk them over to the side trail.

He tells me everything, how to start it, how to stop, how to steer, and so on. After he explains, he has me start the bike. It starts easy and it roars to life. "Alright, good. Now slowly release the clutch," he instructs. I slowly loosen my grip and sure enough, the bike moves forward.

I look back to see Griff jump on his bike. I turn back to the trail and I pick up a little speed and then, I see him right in front of me. "Kaitlyn, stop this reckless behaviour," I hear him say in his angelic voice and my chest swells a bit with pain.

"No, it's the only way I can see you," I mutter, knowing I'm not actually talking to him. As I focus back onto the trail, I see a sharp left ahead and I start to lose control.