Riley's Story: Betrayal by Kaitlyn Rose Hathaway (great books for teens .TXT) 📕

I got dressed and brushed my teeth. By the time I was in the kitchen the school bus was already gone and my father told me that he would drive me to school.

At the school Caroline came and hugged me.
"Morning, Riley! Why weren't you in the bus?", she asked worried.
"I kinda overslept and thus my father had to drive me", I said and tried to sound happy, but even though we didn't know each other that long, she knew that something was wrong.
In concern she asked: "You okay? You know that you can tell me anything, don't you?"
I gave her a small smile and told her that I knew, but I still wasn't ready to talk about it and since I wanted to forget, I would try to not think about it.
I really wanted to forget. But was it possible when I had to see her? It was a question which would remain unsolved till I met them.
“Riley. Riley! Riley!”, Caroline yelled. I startled.
“Damn, Riley… you are definitely not alright. C’mon you can tell me anything”, she tried to convince me. To which I sighed and surrendered.
“You know that Macy, Lesh and I went to my cousins, don’t you?” She nodded. “Well, after that we also went to an event together and it seemed like a lot happened. I never realized how they thought about each other. I mean Lesh and Kai, you know? They seem to have something.” I couldn’t hold up my voice anymore. My eyes filled with tears and thus Care hugged me tight.
“Ssshh, everything is going to be alright. Kai wouldn’t do that and the same goes for Lesh. It’s a unwritten promise between friends that you wouldn’t touch a family member of your friend.”
I really wanted to believe her, but my heart didn’t let me overlook the truth.
The bell rang and I tried to smile at her. “Thanks, but you don’t have to console me. I know that you care about me and I really I appreciate it. You’re a great friend, a better friend than she ever could be, but I will have to cope with it either way. Let’s go or else we’ll be late.”
Even though Care still looked concerned she nodded and we went to class while I thought: “That’s just the beginning. I still haven’t seen them. How will it be if I see her or him? And what if everything becomes official? But I can’t worry the people who care about me. Not because of a person who should have rather not met. I won’t let her break me!”

The first two lessons passed and the whole day I felt the presence of Care’s glance. She sat right beside me and even though I tried to concentrate on the thing the teacher was talking about, I felt her eyes on me. Whenever she thought I would see it, she would turn her head lightly in my direction.

The bell rang to the end of the third lesson. I sighed and turned round to face Caroline.

“Care, I’m okay. Really. I won’t suddenly start crying or anything. I…” I tried to explain myself to her, but she shook her head.

“You’re not okay at all. Nobody would be. Just be honest with yourself. It’s not a shame to feel like this. The one that should be ashamed about this whole situation should be Lesh. I mean, really?! She hit on your cousin. It’s the same as if she would hit on the brother of Macy. The family member of a friend is a no go!” Her voice got from consoling to furious.

I knew that she was really worried about me and I really appreciated it. Really! I had many friends and some were my friends for years, but none of them seemed to understand me as Caroline did. Even though we just knew each other for less than half a year, it was like having a sister. We were meant to become friends.

I tried to give a little smile, but instead of calming her, it made her even more furious.

“Damn it Riley! You don’t have to keep smiling!” Then she edited a bit softer: “It’s okay not to smile if you don’t feel like it.”

My smile faded away and fight against the urge to cry.  I was a total crybaby… But tears didn’t have to flow. Care knew how I felt and hugged me. She held me really tight.

The next lessons passed and didn’t push myself to smile. Not having to smile calmed me, because having to smile while I was about to break down needed the very last energy I saved.

I didn’t talk much the whole day and nearly forgot the whole things, since Care tried really hard to distract me.

Without think and out of the habit I went into the common room for high school students who had no course and saw them sitting there. Macy and Lesh. Both of them were sitting in front of their laptop and watched a movie.

I took a deep breath and greeted both of them with a smile which made Care glare at me, but she didn’t say a word and sat down in the other end of the room.

“Hey Macy, hey Lesh.”

Their heads turned my way and they greeted me as well: “Hey Riley.”

“You’re cousin is amazing!”, said Macy which made me irritated.

“Ehm… okay, yeah… I think so. But why do you suddenly come up with this?”

“He borrowed Lesh DVDs.”

“What DVDs?”

“Not sure. But they seem quite interesting. Some Animes and some movies.”

Then I knew what DVDs she meant. It was the ones I begged him for. The ones that I always wanted to watch, but which he didn’t want to lend me. Those DVDs were lent to Lesh at the very moment. I saw my chance and asked: “Hey Lesh, mind borrowing them to me if you’re finished?”

I expected anything, but I didn’t expect that! She looked at me, something in her look was sneaky and she answered: “No, I can’t.” Then she turned back to the movie.

It felt like she slapped me right into my face. Macy who looked at me had a strange smile on her face which said: “I also have no idea. Just ignore it.”

That was the time I learned that nothing what is alive will last forever. Nothing you seemed to trust is really trustworthy.  Nothing is what it seems to be.

Publication Date: 01-11-2013

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