•Chapter 1•
"Is your arm getting tired yet?" I ask, boring my eyes into best friend, Alec's soul as I tightly squeezed his hand, using all my muscle force to push his arm down.
"Hell no, is your arm getting tired?" He asks, raising an eyebrow inquisitively at me.
"Absolutely not," I state, pushing his arm down a little further.
"You're not gonna win. There isn't a shred of strength in that blonde little body of yours." Alec says, using his free hand to tap me on the noise.
I put a fake, innocent smile on my face and shake my head in disapproval. "Just because I'm blonde doesn't mean I'm not strong." I stated, the smile never leaving my face in the process.
"Prove it,"
"Okay," I simply reply before using more force in my body, suddenly slamming Alec's arm down hard on the table, causing a loud thud to erupt through the building.
"Ow!" Alec yells, lifting his arm up and rubbing it in pain.
I let out a mirthful laugh as my best friend cringes in pain. This was about the twentieth time I've beat Alec at an arm wrestle, and it never seems gets old.
"Riley! Would you get off your ass and start working!" I suddenly hear the voice of my pesky twin brother, Ryan yell in an agitated manner.
I whip around to see Ryan standing behind the counter, shooting me a glare. I roll my eyes and turn back to face Alec. "Duty calls," I say before standing up from the chair I was sitting in and walking behind the ice cream counter. "Hey, you should order some ice cream while you're here." I suggest to Alec, resting my elbows on top of the marble counter.
"I only came here to beat you at arm wrestling." Alec points out, and I shrug my shoulders.
"And since you failed to do so, you have to buy ice cream."
Alec laughs and stands up from his chair, walking over to the ice cream counter. "Fine," he gives in, ordering his usual, double chocolate fudge ice cream.
Okay, to properly introduce myself, my name is Riley Simmons. My parents own this ice cream shop called Cherry On Top, and it's basically my whole life. I've been coming to place eating ice cream every since had teeth to eat it with, and I practically started working here with my twin brother when I was ten.
This shop is like my happy place, my second home. I actually probably spend more time in this shop than I do in my actual home.
I was born 90 seconds after my trash excuse of a twin brother, Ryan. We're obviously fraternal. He has shaggy, light brown hair that he never seems to manage as well as other conceited teenage boys do, gray eyes and he was about three inches taller than me. We didn't get along too often, but we had those times where we both realized we were brother and sister and had no other choice but to love each other... Blah, blah, enough about Ryan.
As for me, I have long, blonde hair, which I inherited from my mom, and gray-brown eyes, which were a mixture of gray which I inherited from my mother and brown which I inherited from my dad.
I'm sixteen years old, and I'm in the eleventh grade at Pacific Bell High School.
Now, you would naturally expect for the pretty blonde to be the popular girl in school. But, that's actually the complete opposite in my case.
I was nowhere near popular. The so called "popular" people hated me for some reason, but I honestly and quiet frankly didn't care. They had a little nickname for me, "Ri-Loser" which, in my opinion is very lame and every time they called me that, it just made me laugh.
These people consist of Natalie Jones, Layla Dawson, Ethan Farrell, and worst of all, Ryder Martinez. I usually called them the FFF Squad. It stands for Four Fuck Faces...
I wouldn't necessarily say I get bullied by them, but they do bring out a fair amount of nicknames, and pointing, and laughing. But the fact was, I didn't care at all. It's just funny that they take time out of their lives to pay extra attention to me.
So aside from my school life, I have one best friend named Alec, who you already witnessed lose a match of arm wrestle with me. My parents are always telling me I need to "expand my friendships", basically meaning I need to find more friends. But I was perfectly fine with the one best friend I already had.
I made Alec's ice cream which contained chocolate ice cream, fudge brownies, and chocolate syrup. I put Alec's ice cream into a cup and handed it to him with a smile. "Five dollars," I say, reminding him of the price, although he already knew what it was, since that was the only flavor of ice cream he's ever gotten here.
Alec shoves his hands in his jean pocket and hands me a crinkled up ten dollar bill. I take the dollar and give Alec his change. "Thanks, Riley. I'll see you at school tomorrow." Alec says before turning on his heel and exiting the shop.
I sighed and looked at the few people who were eating their ice cream in the shop.
The walls of the shop were painted with light blue paint, and the floor was a white, marble floor. Four wood tables spread across the shop for people to sit and eat their ice cream. Most of the people who came here got their ice creams to go, but there were a few customers who just liked to sit and enjoy the atmosphere while they ate.
The shop had pretty good business, judging by the fact that this shop has been in existence before Ryan and I were even born.
But like I said, the shop was like my second home and it was my happy place. The costumers were happy, and I was happy.
But then...there was my school life. And instead of it being my happy place. It was more like my frustrated, agonizing, excruciating, tortuous, harrowing place.
•••
•Next day•
I slam my locker close and turn on my heel to walk to my first period.
Today was a Tuesday, and it was only the second day of the week, and I felt like the week couldn't go by slow enough.
It wasn't like I didn't like learning. I was a pretty good student, and the school lunch actually didn't taste like shit, unlike most schools. But it was just that certain group of people that always made school a living hell for you.
"Good morning Ri-Loser," Natalie Jones says as she suddenly pops up in front of me with the rest of her friends.
And speak of the devil... in Prada.
I've known Natalie ever since the first grade. And the truth is, she hasn't changed one bit. She's still the stuck up bitch she always was.
Her and her friends always find some unknown reason to mess with me everyday. And I did not care what they thought of me, or what they said about me, however, they were so annoying, I just wanted to choke the breath out of every single one of them.
Natalie had long, stupidly shiny, light brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin, although I highly think that's just spray tan. She was the definition of slut, judging by the fact that she chose to wear the smallest pieces of clothing she could possibly find in that huge, walk-in closet of hers.
The next member of the FFF Squad was Layla Dawson. She had long, dark brown hair, and hazel eyes. She wasn't as tan as Natalie, but I think she had her fair share of spray tan.
Now onto the boys. Ethan Farrell was a tall guy with light brown hair and gray eyes. He was the captain of the boys basketball team, and basically, all the girls droll over him. I honestly didn't see what was so good about him. All he is is just a muscular boy, with pretty blonde hair, whose the captain of the basketball team. I didn't see the big deal...
And last but not least, Ryder Martinez. I've known Ryder since the first grade also. And all he's done for all the years I've known him is act like a total dickhead towards me.
Ryder has dark—almost black—hair and hazel-blue eyes, not that I pay attention... Every time I saw him, this feeling of disgust just took over me. That was how much I hated the boy.
"Are you still trying to get revenge on me for shoving dirt up your mouth in first grade?" Ryder asks, adding an amusing laugh, looking at all his stupid friends to acknowledge them along with him.
"Revenge?" I ask, looking up into the air and stroking my chin like I was in deep thought. "Nah, I'm too lazy. I'll just let karma fuck you up." I state, adding an assuring nod.
You might be wondering what Ryder was talking about. I'll enlighten you on this very moment in the first grade, when I first met Ryder... which is a moment I'll always regret.
•1st grade•
I skipped around the playground, my curly blonde pigtails bouncing with my movement. I was on a mission for finding new friends, since the only friend I had was Alec, and even then, my parents told me I needed to "expand my friendship." So that's what I was trying to do.
And then my eyes landed on one boy, who was sitting alone on the ground. He looked like a marginally nice kid, so I decided to give him a try. I smiled and skipped over to that particular boy. "Hi, what's your name?" I asked, sitting across from him.
"Ryder, please leave me alone." Ryder mumbled in an unamused tone.
"But, don't you wanna be friends?" I asked curiously.
"No! I said leave me alone, before I tell the teacher!" Ryder warned.
I stared at Ryder for a couple more seconds before slowly shaking my head and putting a smirk on my face. And all of a sudden, just like that, Ryder scooped up a handful of dirt and quickly shoved it up my mouth.
I instantly let out a loud scream, but it came out muffled since there was a pile of dirt in my mouth. I quickly spit out all the dirt from my mouth and slapped Ryder hard upside the head before running away.
•present•
Natalie lets out a huge fit of laughter, and I shoot her a cold glare. "That was like, ten years ago, and it never gets old." Natalie states between laughs.
"Where's your off button?" I ask, obviously getting tired of her talking.
Natalie's laugh fades away before she rolls her eyes. "I'm going to class," she says before walking off with Layla. Ethan quickly follows behind them, but Ryder stays back and continues to stare at me.
I raise an eyebrow at him, wondering why the hell he was still in my presence. "Go on, follow behind your little puppies." I say to Ryder, shooing him in the direction everyone else went.
Ryder purses his lips before stepping closer to me. I back up with every step closer he takes towards me until my back hits the lockers. I look up at Ryder as he takes a few more steps towards me. "Look, Riley. I'm gonna need a huge favor from you." He whispered, looking down at me in a serious matter.
"No," I bluntly state, before putting both my hands on his unbelievably broad chest and pushing him away from me with full force.
Ryder stumbles back and I quickly make my way down the hallway to my next class.
_
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