•Chapter 2•
I slam my calculus textbook close as the incessant sound of the school bell rings in my ears. I gather all my books before getting up and exiting my classroom.
I walk down the hallway, passing by all the other people who went to Pacific Bell High School in the process. I pick up my pace as I make my way to my locker, making sure I wasn't late to my next class.
When I'm finally in reach of my locker, I stop in my tracks and shake my head when I see what was in front of my locker. And it wasn't exactly about what was in front of my locker, it was about who was in front of my locker.
Ethan Farrell and his girlfriend, Regan Hues stand in front of my locker, making out, swapping spit, sucking face, whatever you wanted to call it, like they were in private and there was absolutely not a school full of students walking around them. I just knew it definitely wasn't going to continue in front of my locker.
I then decide to take my hand and slap it hard on the nearest locker, causing a loud clanging noise to erupt and they both separate from each other. They look at me with disturbance etched across their face and and I smile. "I wouldn't mind if you two took your face sucking else where." I mention.
Regan looks at me for a moment with an incoherent expression before looking up at Ethan. "Come on, Ethan." She says, grabbing him by the wrist.
"I'll be right there," he says. Regan then nods and walks away to some other part of the junior hallway.
I cross my arms over my chest and turn towards Ethan. "Are you that much of an asshole that you felt the need to kiss your girlfriend in front of my locker?" I ask, shooting him a cold glare.
"I didn't even know this was your locker," he informed.
I let out a small laugh and plaster a fake smile on my face. "Sure you didn't," I say, looking away from Ethan and beginning to enter my locker combination.
Ethan lets out an aggravated sigh and shakes his head. "You are such a smart ass,"
"I've been called worse," I state, opening my locker and grabbing the book I need for my next class.
"Yeah? Like what?"
I slam my locker and turn to face Ethan. "Your girlfriend," I deadpan before walking away.
Your eyes are not deceiving you and you read it right. I was Ethan's girlfriend back in tenth grade, when I was still kind of new to high school and had no brain.
This was something I didn't mention earlier, because I'm not proud of it, and don't like to talk about it.
At the time, Ethan was a pretty nice guy, and we dated for about five months before he cheated on me with Regan. And of course, like any other teenage girl, I cried for a little while, but then I got over it and realized he wasn't worth the tears.
And a little after that day, he became friends with Natalie and them, and became even more of an asshole than he already was.
Dismissing the topic my mind, I continue to walk to my next class. But all of a sudden, quickly and unexpectedly, someone's foot sticks out in the middle of the hallway, and without realizing it, I trip on it and fall, dropping all my books and landing flat on the floor.
I cringe at the pain and place the palms of my hands on the floor to get up, gathering my books from the floor. I then hear someone bust out into a fit of laughter, and I turn my head to the right to see Layla Dawson, holding her stomach from the amount of laughter she was doing.
"Why are you laughing? I'd rather see the floor than your face." I truthfully mutter before walking off to my class, being more careful of my surroundings this time.
It was crazy. I had one member of the FFF Squad attacking me at one time of the day, and then the next minute, another member is making my day a living hell. It never ends and they will never go away!
•••
•that afternoon•
I smile before handing the cone of strawberry ice cream to the customer. "Enjoy," I say taking the money from her hand and putting it in the cash register.
"Thank you," the customer says, adding a warm smile before she leaves the shop.
A little while after that customer left, I take a look at the counter and noticed it was looking kind of dusty. I grimace, and being the best freak that I am, I decide to take out the cleaning spray and a rag to clean it off.
After a few seconds of me wiping down the counter, I heard the door open, which meant a customer was coming in. "Welcome to Cherry On Top. I'll be right with you," I say, still keeping my eyes on the counter.
"Riley," the all-too familiar voice speaks, which makes me suddenly fume up inside.
I put my spray bottle and rag down before looking up at Ryder. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Ryder lets out an amusing laugh and shoves his hands in his jean pockets. "What if I'm just here to buy ice cream?"
"What the hell are you doing here?" I repeat for a second time, knowing that he wasn't "just here to buy ice cream"
"Look, I told you I needed a huge favor," Ryder states, stepping closer to the counter.
"I don't care. I don't do favors for dirty, rotten scumbags."
Ryder gives me a blank stare before continuing to speak. "Will you at least let me tell you what I need?"
"Fine," I say, although it's probably not going to alter my decision.
Ryder sighs before resting his hands on the counter and looking me straight in the face. "I need a job here."
It took a little while for me to process what he'd just said, and when it finally registers in my head, I let out a huge fit of laughter. "There's no way in hell I'm giving you a job here."
Cherry On Top has and will always be like the family shop. The only employees were my parents, my brother and I. And I wasn't going to let Ryder, of all people ruin that.
"Come on, can't you do this one thing for me?"
I furrow my eyebrows at what he'd just said and look at him with incredulity. "What have you ever done for me?! Called me names? Insulted me? Yeah, so there's no fucking way I'm giving you this job."
Ryder throws his head back and lets out a long sigh. "Riley, I need this."
"Why can't you get a job someplace else?" I ask curiously.
"I've tried to get other jobs, but they looked at my 'files and records'," Ryder says, putting air quotes around files and records. "and they all said I don't fit the qualifications of an employee."
I didn't blame those people for rejecting him. Keying the principals car, and getting drunk underaged does not look good on your record, and unfortunately, Ryder had both of those things on his.
"That sounds like a personal problem," I state, going back to wiping down the counter.
"Riley, please," Ryder begs again. I couldn't believe he was trying this hard to get a job at the ice cream shop.
I pause what I'm doing and look up at Ryder. "Why do you want a job so bad?" I asked curiously, and in a serious matter.
Ryder looks around the shop before sighing. "I haven't talked about this to anyone before." I gave Ryder my full attention as he continued to speak. "My little sister is sick. Really sick, and she's in the hospital. My dad left a long time ago and we don't really have the money like that to pay for all of her medical expenses." I looked down for a moment, then back up at Ryder as he continued. "I'm trying to help with the money. All I need...is money for my sister."
I look into Ryder's eyes hazel-blue eyes as he finishes and I could see the hurt in his eyes just talking about his sister. Ryder might have been a complete asshole, but aside from that, he did have a life at home that was pretty rough. And I would honestly be a monster if I didn't help him.
"Pretty please," Ryder says, adding a smirk. "With a cherry on top,"
I roll my eyes at his stupid joke and nod my head. "You can have the job."
"Yes!" Ryder yells in victory. "Thank you, Riley. I'm so happy. I could take you out on a date, but I don't like to take out the trash."
I let out a fake laugh while shooting him a glare. "I just gave you the job, don't make me change my freaking mind." I say through gritted teeth.
Ryder looks at what I was wearing and raises his eyebrows. "So I'm guessing I don't have to wear a uniform," Ryder assumes.
"No, Ryan and I can wear whatever we want because we're the owners children. You have to wear this," I say before running to the back storage closet and digging out the uniform from a random cardboard box. I run back to the front and display the uniform to Ryder.
The uniform was a red polo shirt with the words "Cherry On Top" embroidered in white letters at the top corner of the shirt. The other part was just a pair of black pants.
Ryder stares at the uniform and shakes his head. "If you don't have to wear it, I'm not wearing it."
I then use my left hand to cup my hear and turn my ear to face Ryder. "What's that? You don't want the job?"
"Fine! I'll wear it!" Ryder yells, snatching the uniform from my hands. "And this better be my size,"
I roll my eyes at his words, waiting to see if he'll say anything else before he left.
"Oh, can I get the Cookie Blitz ice cream while I'm here?"
"Whatever," I mumble before making his ice cream, which contained cookie dough ice cream, and crushed up chocolate chip cookie.
"Hurry up, I gotta go." Ryder states, waving his hand in a circular motion to gesture me to pick up my pace.
"Aw, why do you have to leave so soon? I was just about to poison your ice cream," I state, stabbing a spoon in his ice cream and shoving the cup in his face. Ryder glares at me before handing me the money and turning on his heel to exit the shop.
Ryder turns around and looks at me before completely leaving. "Thanks again," he thanks before leaving the shop.
I watched him until he was completely out of sight range before sighing and lying my head on the counter.
_
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