•Chapter 16•
My Aunt Taryn's funeral was a couple days ago...
I'm not even going to go into that much detail about it. It was your average funeral, you show up, you sing, you cry, to give some speeches, and you cry some more.
Losing my Aunt was pretty painful, and still is. But losing people is apart of life. I just had to realize that the accident wouldn't have happened if it weren't meant to happen... And I just have to accept that even thought she won't be in my life anymore.
And Ryder was there, sitting right beside me, momentarily trying to comfort me by grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers. It was definitely immensely awkward, but I'm not even gonna hold back saying that it felt kind of nice... I still hate him though.
So basically, to sum it all up. Things have been really changing in the past couple months. Ryder's been more nice to me, I got into a huge car accident, my favorite Aunt passed away, I got into a fight with Natalie, I made the soccer team, I got mixed up in a couple situations with Ryder's dad... Everything has been crazy.
But this particular day was a little different. Something happened that I never would've expected to happen in a million years. Not that I'd expected any of the other crazy crap that's happened to me in the past couple months, but the events that took place this day were... what's the word... unforeseen.
So, let me just rewind it for you
•••
"Happy Birthday, Ryan and Riley!" I hear my mom and dad yell in unison as Ryan and I trudge downstairs.
Ryan and I slowly walk into the kitchen to see my mom and dad looking at us with the brightest smiles on their faces. I cast my eyes down to the dining table to see that it's covered with plates of steaming pancakes, crispy bacon, and buttery toast. I force a small smile onto my face, although I'm not really in the smiling mood.
It's Ryan and I's seventeenth birthday, and I'm just going to come to the conclusion that it's going to be the worst birthday in all history of birthdays. I don't know about Ryan, but I'm not exactly in a celebratory mood. Aunt Taryn's funeral was literally three days ago... How could I be in the mood to celebrate when it was gonna be my first official birthday without Aunt Taryn being here to experience it?
I mean, she was still experiencing it... just not from earth...
And to add on to it, I still had to go to school, which I despised. Even though it was a Friday, I still didn't want to be bothered with The FFF Squad, or Mrs. Bennett, or anymore of my annoying peers and staff.
So basically, I'm not looking forward to a fantastic birthday today.
"Thanks mom and dad," Ryan says, putting a small smile on his face and walking over to the dining table.
"Yeah, thanks," I add, following behind Ryan and going over to give each of my parents a light hug.
"You two are very welcome," my dad replies before looking at both Ryan and I, and observing our appearances. My dad raises his eyebrows in confusion as he scans his eyes over the pajamas we're wearing. "Why aren't you two dressed?" My dad asks curiously.
"Well..." I begin, turning on my innocent smile and clasping my hands together. "Ryan and I were thinking —since today's our birthday — that we shouldn't have to go to school today."
Knowing my parents, they were still probably gonna make us go to school, but it's worth a try.
"You're going to school," my mom says just as I'd expected. I roll my eyes in disappointment, even though I wasn't the least bit surprised at her answer. "Now you two need to hurry up and get ready before your birthday breakfast gets cold." My mom says before placing one of her hands on Ryan and I's back, shoving us toward the staircase.
Ryan and I trudge up the stairs and walk our separate ways into our individual bedrooms.
Since I took a shower the night before, I decide to skip one for the morning and begin to brush my teeth. I squirt my minty green toothpaste on my soft toothbrush and quickly brush my teeth before spitting it out into the sink and gurgling down some mouth wash.
Once I was done brushing my teeth, I grab my hair brush and begin brushing all the tangles from my blonde hair. I look in the mirror and debate on whether I should keep it down or put it into a ponytail. After a brief controversy with my myself, I decide on leaving my hair down.
I aimlessly throw my hair brush back on the bathroom counter and walk out.
I walk back into my room and swing open my closet door. I scan my eyes over all of my clothes before deciding to wear a dark blue, short sleeved top, maroon high waisted shorts, and a pair of black Vans.
I put the outfit on and quickly throw on a black sweater before grabbing my back pack and slinging it onto my back.
I walk downstairs and my mouth waters when I still smell the aroma of pancakes and bacon, which meant the food thankfully hasn't gotten cold.
I walk into the kitchen to be met with Ryan, and my mom and dad, who are all sat in a seat at the dining table.
I sit in the seat that is across from my mom, and next to Ryan and put a small smile on my face.
"Happy Birthday, guys." My mom says once gain before smiling. "I can't believe my babies are seventeen." My mom adds, putting her hand up to her chest.
Ryan and I roll our eyes in embarrassment before we begin to dig in on the breakfast.
So, the birthday hasn't started off too bad, but I'm not going to denying the fact that today might be a bad birthday. Just the thought of me going to school in a couple minutes was bad enough to ruin my day.
By the time my family and I were done eating the huge breakfast, the school bus was here to pick Ryan and I up.
Ryan and I say our goodbyes to our parents before exiting the house. Ryan and I step outside to be greeted by the burning hot weather of Miami and the sun shining in our eyes.
We walk down our driveway and step onto the bus. "Happy Birthday, Ryan!" We hear everyone yell the second we step foot onto the bus.
I shoot a glare of hatred to everyone on the bus. This is exactly why I didn't want to go to school today. My school was full of inconsiderate, ignorant, uncivilized, disrespectful, discourteous, rude people who thought I was invisible!
Ryan shakes his head and sighs, giving everyone on the bus a shameful glare. "You guys do know it's my sisters birthday too, right?"
The whole bus is silent for a few seconds before they finally say something. "Happy birthday, Riley." They all mumble in a less ecstatic tone before each of them go on to what they were doing before Ryan and I got on.
I raise my eyebrows before walking down the bus aisle. "Fuck all of you," I mumble under my breath.
I walk the rest of the way down the bus aisle and sit in my usual back seat next to Alec. "Happy birthday, Riley." Alec says with a smile on his face before holding out his arm to reveal a small birthday bag.
I look at Alec with a hopeful smile and take the bag from his hands. I open the small, yellow birthday bag and dig the small box that's inside of it out. I open the small box to reveal a fifty dollar gift card to my favorite store, Forever 21.
My smile widens and I look back up at Alec. "Thank you," I say before wrapping both my arms around his neck and squeezing him into a tight hug. "I will definitely be using this card this weekend." I mention.
Alec lets out a small laugh. "I'm glad you like it. And oh, I heard you made the soccer team!" Alec exclaims ecstatically.
I nod my head. "Yeah, and I didn't even have to go to the third day of tryouts." I mention.
"That's amazing. I told you that you would make the team." Alec says, playfully punching me in the arm.
"Ow..." I mumble, using my hand to rub the part of the part of my arms that Alec just punched. "My arms are still pretty sore..." I trail.
"Oh, sorry." Alec awkwardly mumbles, giving me an apologetic look.
"It's fine," I say with a small smile.
After this, Alec and I lapse into silence and stay like this for the remainder of the ride. When the bus finally parks at school, we all leave the bus and storm into the school.
Alec and I walk down the halls together, and once we reach the junior hall, we go our separate ways to our lockers. Once I reach my locker, I enter the combination and open it up. I shove my back pack into my locker and grab the books I need for my next couple classes.
I close my locker and turn around to walk to my first period, but before I can even take one step, someone suddenly steps in front of me.
I furrow my eyebrows as Natalie comes into my view. "Ugh," I mumble in disgust.
Natalie stands in front of me, plastering a fake smile on her face with her hands behind her back. I scan my eyes down her appearance, starting from the top of her body. She wears a sparkly tiara on top of her head and her stupidly shiny light brown hair cascades down to her forearms. My eyes cast down to her shirt, as I notice that there is a pink birthday ribbon and five dollars pinned to her light blue crop top.
Dammit! I completely forgot that Natalie had the same birthday as me. This is just the curse I was born with... having the same birthday as my enemy.
Every year, she tried to over shine me, but I didn't know why she tried so hard, because she over shined me on a daily basis anyway...
"Hey Riley!" She squeals, waving her manicured hand in my face.
"What do you want?" I snap, not having the patience to deal with her.
"Don't you have anything you'd like to say to me?" She asks, batting her mascara coated eyelashes.
"No," I deadpan in an uninterested tone. Natalie rolls her he's before walking away.
What was the point of that? Natalie bothers me in her free time even if it doesn't make any sense. And it's funny how I beat the crap out of her and she still hasn't changed. What will it take for this girl to become normal? Do I have to hit her upside the head with a big rock? Because I would happily do it.
"Riley," I hear a familiar voice call from a few feet away.
I turn my head to the right to see Ryder looking and me, motioning for me to come to where he is standing.
I furrow my eyebrows in confusion before shrugging my shoulders and walking down to where Ryder is standing. When I get to where he is, Ryder unexpectedly grabs my by the wrist and drags me along with him further down the hallway.
I raise an eyebrow with marginal confusion. "Where are we going?" I ask.
Ryder doesn't respond, which caused me to roll my eyes in frustration. Ryder suddenly stops at the janitor closet door and opens it before pulling me inside. "What the hell?" I mumble as I watch Ryder close the door. "What are you doing?" I ask again, this time, hoping for an answer.
"I need to give you something." He says before removing his left arm from behind his back and revealing a birthday bag. "Happy Birthday,"
I put a shocking expression on my face, which quickly turns into a smile.
Ryder has officially broken the record of niceness.
He got me something... for my birthday?! I didn't even know he knew when my birthday was. Ryder is the last person I ever expected to give me a present. I'm so dumbfounded right now, I don't even know what to do.
I feel like there's a bomb in that bag. I feel like when I open it, it's going to blow up and explode in my face. Well, that's pretty unrealistic, but I can't seem to come to the conclusion that Ryder Martinez actually took his time and his money to get something for me.
"Y–you got me a present?" I ask, looking down at the blue birthday bag in his hand.
"Yeah," Ryder mumbles, nodding his head. "But, don't tell anyone it's from me."
"Why did you get me a present?" I ask, still amazingly shocked.
"Let's just call it a thank you birthday gift for giving me a job at the shop." He says, further extending his arm so I could grab the bag.
"I didn't even know you knew when my birthday was–"
"Will you just open the damn present!" Ryder snaps in annoyance.
I raise my eyebrows before opening up the bag and looking at the object inside. I put my hand inside the bag and pull out what turns out to be a book.
I smile and turn the book over to look at the cover. When I see the cover and the title, my jaw drops and I let out a huge gasp. "Are you kidding me!" I squeal in excitement. "You got me the seventh Harry Potter book!"
"Alec told me that you were obsessed with Harry Potter and that you've never read the last book of the series." Ryder states, looking down at the book. "I think it's quite lame, but yeah... I came across a book store and I decided to get it for you."
I ignore the comment he made about Harry Potter being lame and put a huge smile on my face. I'm pretty sure this is the most thoughtful thing Ryder has ever done in his entire life.
"Thank you," I squeal, suddenly wrapping my arms around Ryder's neck and giving him a tight hug.
Ryder lets out a small laugh before wrapping his arms around my waist and returning the hug. "You're welcome."
Ryder and I stayed in this hugging position for a few more seconds before I realize it's kind of awkward and quickly pull away. "Let's get out of here before were late." I say before walking to the door and tugging on the door knob to open the door.
I furrow my eyebrows when the door doesn't open. I tug on the knob a few more times and groan in aggravation when it the door still doesn't budge.
"Open the door," Ryder says with slight annoyance in his tone.
"I'm trying," I say, grunting as I continue to pull on the door knob.
Ryder sighs and lightly pushes me to the side. Ryder pulls on the door knob and of course, the door still won't open. Ryder tries s few more times before slapping his hands to him sides and throwing his head back in frustration. "Fuck," he mumbles, running his fingers through his hair. "We're locked in."
"What?!" I yell in disbelief. "What do you mean we're locked in?"
"We're locked in! It only has one meaning!" Ryder yells while stupidly glaring scowling at me.
"We're gonna miss class! We have to get out of here!" I yell in panic. If I miss class, my life will be officially over. My mom is gonna kill me if one of my teachers calls her, because she's gonna come to the conclusion that I'm skipping.
"Well, there's nothing else we can do, we'll just have to wait until someone opens the door."
I let out a deep breath in intentions of calming myself down, but it just wasn't working.
So this is how the day started, but I'm not done explaining the shocking events of the day. Oh, there's much more the come.
_
Keeeep reading!!!! Next chapter will be good!!! Remember to vote and comment! Love you guys!
Woah this was a long chapter!!