Changing Harper

Chapter Three

Riley decided she was going to walk home after she had gotten into that mess. It was on her mind all day, who would've thought the goodie two shoes could stand up for herself? As Riley began to think about the days events, a familiar thought popped into her head, Leah. She let out a sigh and took in her surroundings. If she thought too much she'd start crying. Harper walked in front of her, barely ten feet away. Riley wasn't in the mood to get into another altercation with the girl and crossed the street, walking at a slower pace. Groups of seniors and juniors walked past her towards a house that began to blare music. Riley figured it was a first day party, and looked across the street again, Harper walked inside of a house that had flowers planted in the front yard. Through the window, Riley saw the girl embrace a boy that had the same dark hair color. Riley crossed the street once more, causing horns to honk at her for crossing so randomly.

"Hey! New kid! Actually, your name is Riley right?" A boy hollered after Riley. She whipped her head around, her blue hair falling onto her shoulders. The boy running after her was easily six feet tall. His hair appeared brown/dirty blonde and his eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses.

"Yeah. My name's Riley. Who are you?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and stopping. The boy finally caught up and leaned on Riley as if they were good friends. Riley stepped to the side and he stumbled.

"Man, you walk pretty fast. Are you on steroids?" He asked, huffing and letting out a chuckle. Riley was visibly not amused so the boy ceased his laughter.

"What do you want?" She asked, hand in her pocket, grasping a pocket knife she carried around. Riley didn't trust a lot of people, and certainly not walking around alone, so she decided this was the best way to insure that she wouldn't be messed with.

"Calm down, also the weapon is unnecessary. Anyways, my name is Harry Potter." He spoke, an amused smile on his face. Riley was confused as to how he knew she had a knife in her pocket, but turned around and continued walking, "Hey! Wait! I'm sorry! My real name is Luke. Luke Potter. Hence, why I made the Harry joke, eh? Clever right? Anyways, we ride the same bus, I don't live too far from you, so I decided I'd ask if you wanted me to walk you home?"

"Fine, whatever. I'll walk with you, but just so you don't try anything, I'm gay." She stated, waiting for that to creep him away. It obviously didn't work, because he just kept walking alongside Riley. She glared at him. Why did he even want to try and approach her? She beat Harper's ass, most kids would be intimidated.

"Same." He responded, surprising Riley. Most of the responses she got were ones of disgust, displeasure, and discomfort, "I don't really know you Riley, but since we're both gay, we're gay buddies now. So, now that we're buddies... I have a problem, I like this senior guy, his name is Joseph, but for whatever reason he goes by Kyle, and I want to talk to him and become his friend, but the problem, his friends are homophobic..."

Riley was about to retort with something mean, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Luke was her gay buddy now she guessed. Maybe he could give her advice about Leah. She just shook her head and talked about basic things with him like birthdays, and colors.

Meanwhile, Harper and her brother were at home talking about the day's events, when Harper dropped a bombshell on her brother.

"She punched me, and I just fought back...-" Harper trailed off, causing her brother's eyes to go wide as he stopped her mid-sentence.

"Wait, you fought back!?" He exclaimed. Harper furrowed her eyebrows. Was it so surprising that she had defended herself?

"I did. Why is it so surprising?" Harper asked, looking up at her brother. People had seemed to be surprised when she had fought Riley, she even felt like people liked her. Was fighting the key to friendship? Harper wanted to know what was. The feeling he had while fighting Riley... She craved it.

"Harper... it's just... You're too good for me to imagine it. I mean, Harper. You fold your socks and wash your shoes. It's a little unusual." Her brother expressed, scratching the back of his neck and he waited for Harper's reaction.

"Oh." Harper simply said, tears welling in her eyes. Even her brother called her weird. She hadn't changed anything she'd done since she was a tot. When she was little she was praised and given candy, but now she was nothing but teased and ridiculed.

"Harp-." Her brother began to say before Harper ran off into her room, shutting the doors. Everything was how she left it, absolutely nothing on the floor, her clothes folded neatly inside her dresser. Harper hung her backpack on a hook in the wall and laid down in her bed, taking out her phone. She began to turn on a documentary and watched it as she thought about her lifestyle.

On the other hand, Riley had walked through the door of her house and was greeted with the smell of cigarette smoke drifting through the air. She took a deep breath of the world outside, holding the door open.

"Rosalie Miranda Knocker! You close that door now, we ain't paying to air condition the whole neighborhood!" Her mother's familiar rough voice yelled out. Riley rolled her eyes and closed the door at her mother's request.

"Mom, please. It's Riley." Riley answered back, throwing her bag on the floor next to a pile of shoes. Riley and her mom had never gotten along well. She never accepted her, she hated her colored hair, she hated that Riley liked girls, and when she found out about Leah? Riley had a hell of a beating. She walked past her mother, who had been chain smoking, and wandered down the hallway towards her room. She ignored the rat scurrying under her bed and turned on her laptop. She needed to get her phone back, and there was no way her mother would get it for her.