I had never been able to keep anything from my mother.

I just couldn’t. Ever since I was a kid, I just told her pretty much absolutely everything. That was why we were so close to each other. Well, we were close before I moved to New York. But now, after all the distance that was put between us, it put distance in our relationship.

When I had started getting notes, I told her almost immediately, after they really started to scare me. Back then, I just knew that I wouldn’t be able to hide it from her. But now, as I sat in River’s room thousands of miles away from her, I wished that I could keep a secret from her.

Because I knew she wasn’t going to be happy about this.

She was probably going to be horrified.

Sure, she was excited when I told her River and I were planning on getting married, but that was when we were going to wait until after college, when we were really adults. But now, we had to do it right after we graduated from high school. Not college, high school!

It was scary, but exciting. And I honestly couldn’t wait to marry River.

I was her daughter, and the little baby at that. It wasn’t like I had a younger brother or sister or anything… She almost started crying when she had to send me off to Bentwood, far away from her. I knew she wasn’t going to be happy that I was going to get married at eighteen…

Hell, I wouldn’t have been happy about it either. Just imagining my unborn daughter marrying right when she turned eighteen made me sick to my stomach.

Was that how my mother felt right then?

I sure hoped not…

“You’re kidding, right?”

I was kind of expecting this to come from my mother’s mouth. I knew that she wasn’t going to believe me at first, but after she would see that I wasn’t just joking around with her. And why would I in the first place? That would be really cruel of me…

“No,” I murmured, staring down at my feet, almost ashamed. I really didn’t want to be the one that had to tell her this… Why couldn’t I just tell my dad, or Nick what was going on? Definitely not Jake… He’d take it worse than my mom would.

I knew that she would be upset, maybe even disappointed, but this was what River’s dad wanted. Even though River’s father hadn’t done anything good for River or me so far…

“There’s no way you’re seriously going to marry him right after graduation,” my mother told me, as if it was up to her. Right then I guess it was up to her, since I was seventeen, but I’d be eighteen in February, four months before we got married.

“We are, Mom,” I sighed, shaking my head as I crossed my legs. “River’s dad wants us to get married after graduation, so we are.”

“You’re supposed to wait until you go to college and have a job! Delilah, this is completely irresponsible!” she proclaimed, and I could just tell that Nick and Jake were probably in the house, watching as she pretty much exploded. “You can’t do this!”

“Mom,” was all I could think of to say. “I’m sorry, but we are. You can’t stop me. I’ll be eighteen when the time comes, a legal adult. I want to spend the rest of my life with River, and if you don’t like that then too bad and I’m sorry. I’m going to hang up before I get upset. Goodbye, Mom.”

Before my mother could say anything else to me, I hit the end call button and slammed my phone against River’s dresser.

Even though that phone call was short, it was still enough to get both my mother and me angry or upset. And when we were across the country from each other, that definitely wasn’t a good thing…

River smirked at me, obviously amused. “I’ve noticed you like to throw your phone around a lot.”

I only stared at him flatly, not really in the mood for anything funny. I didn’t even get why I was so upset. I knew that my mother was going to react this way somehow, but it still made me angry. So what if River and I were going to get married young? It was our lives, not hers!

Before River or I could say anything else, my phone started to ring and I let out a loud groan. You’re kidding me, right? Was she calling me again to yell at me? I was so not looking forward to this…

I reached over and picked up the phone, not even checking the caller ID because I already knew who it was anyway, so there was no point.

“What now, Mom?” I asked flatly, crossing my legs now. “Are you going to forbid me or something? Because you can’t. Like I said before, I’ll be eighteen when this is all happening.”

“Delilah,” a new voice said, and my eyes widened when I recognize the fuming voice.

Jake.

I was screwed.

“Hello, brother,” I said, trying m y best to be formal and calm. But this was absolutely terrifying… Jake could kill River if he wanted to! And I was sure that he did want to! “How’s your Thanksgiving?”

“Cut the crap, Delilah,” Jake snapped, and I shut my eyes and just imagined how angry and hurt he must have been. Not to mention disappointed… But it wasn’t like I was calling them after River and I had gotten married! We weren’t running away together or eloping! We were giving them heads up months before we were planning on getting married!

“No, I don’t think I will,” I snapped right back at him, not even knowing what I was really saying. Jake and I had never fought before, at least not over something like this. We would fight when we were little over stupid things, but not over the fact that I was getting married at such a young age. “I happen to like the crap I’m pulling.”

“This isn’t like you,” Jake told me, and I could just picture him rubbing his forehead. “You wouldn’t go off and marry some guy at your age. You’re not that stupid, Delilah!”

“We’re waiting until I’m eighteen,” I informed him. Did my mother not tell him that? Did they somehow think that River and I were already married? I would never do that to my family! “We’re waiting until we’re out of high school. What’s your problem?”

“My problem is that you’re my baby sister and I won’t allow you to go off and marry some emo freak that probably doesn’t even really give a damn about you!”

“Take that back,” I spat at him, my blood boiling now. He could call me stupid, he could call me whatever the hell he wanted, but he could not insult River like that! “You know nothing, Jake!”

“I know enough to tell you that you’re not marrying that guy,” Jake told me. “Not now, not ever.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” I sneered at him, trying my best to ignore that River was in the room with me. This would have been so much easier for me if he wasn’t here… I wanted to yell and scream at my brother; I wanted to completely lose my cool and lash out at him. But I couldn’t, not in front of River. I had to stay somewhat calm in front of River… “You’re not my father. You’re my brother. And I’m turning eighteen in February, Jake. I can make my own decisions then.”

“You’re ruining your life,” Jake spat at me now. “This is a mistake, Delilah, and by the time you realize it, it’ll be too late. He probably just wants money or sex or something.”

“He’s filthy stinking rich!” I informed him with a roll of my eyes. “And I don’t care. He could live in a box on the street and I wouldn’t care. Because I love him, Jake. I seriously do! And he loves me, even though you don’t believe it. You don’t even know what love is! You’ve never been in love before!”

“Yes I have,” Jake informed me, and I could only imagine his face all scrunched up. He was probably glaring at the wall. “You’ve been gone for so long, D. You don’t know anything anymore.”

The way he sneered as he said his nickname for me made me upset, like I didn’t even know my brother anymore. He had always been overprotective, but not like this… Had I really been gone for that long?

But then I thought of something else…

My brother had been in love?

“Who are you in love with then, Jake?” I demanded, looking over to see River twiddling his thumbs awkwardly as he waited for me to finish. It was super cute and I would have laughed if I wasn’t so upset over what Jake was saying to me. “Do I know her?”

“You do,” Jake informed me bitterly. “You know her well, actually.”

“Well, spit it out,” I demanded sourly. “It’s eleven over here, so I know that it’s only eight for you. So hurry up and tell me so I can go to sleep.”

“Are you going to sleep with your fiancé?” he sneered, only causing me to roll my eyes.

“Yes,” I answered simply. “Now tell me.”

“An old friend of yours,” Jake informed me, and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was teasing me by pretty much making me guess. “An old good friend of yours…”

I had only been friends with three other people back in Washington besides Julie, but there was no way that Jake could have been in love with any of them…

“Red hair,” he continued on, and I felt my eyes widen in shock and disgust.

“You better be kidding me, Jake!” I shouted now, infuriated. There was no way in hell Jake could ever do something like this! Falling in love with the one person that had caused me so much pain besides Mr. Higginson! There was just no way!

“Nope, I’m not kidding,” Jake smirked. “I’m head over heels in love with Arianna Nicole Devon.”

I felt sick to my stomach. I didn’t even know her middle name, and I had been her friend since freshman year. So if Jake hadn’t gotten it from me, he had to have gotten it from her…

“You disgust me,” I told him truthfully, not even caring if I hurt his feelings anymore. He knew what Arianna had done to me and what she had put me through! “I can’t believe you, Jake.”

“She’s my girlfriend, too,” Jake now informed me, not sounding like he was regretting anything at all. “I was trying to find a nice way to tell you, but right now I don’t care about being nice. You’re running off and making your own decisions when you’re still a kid, and I’m making out with the person you despise the most.”

I couldn’t be that angry, not then. Because if I was angry, then I’d be angry with River after Jake hang up. And I didn’t want to be angry around River when he didn’t even have anything to do with it.

“Don’t call me ever again, unless it’s to tell me you’ve broken up with her,” I snapped at him. “Maybe we can reconcile from there.”

I didn’t let him respond; I hit the end call button so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if it broke. I slammed my phone down on River’s dresser again, harder this time, and I didn’t even care if it broke or not. I didn’t care about anything at all at that moment…

My own brother was a traitor. He had fallen for Arianna’s charms and betrayed his own sister.

What a traitor.

“What’s wrong?” River asked, placing hand on my back and rubbing. “Are you alright? What happened?”

“Jake is going out with Arianna,” I spat through clenched teeth, as if the words were poison against my tongue. They might as well have been. “And he claims that he’s in love with her.”

River frowned at me. “Wow, that’s really low of him.”

“I need to sleep,” I muttered, passing by River and making my way toward the pillows on his bed. I plopped down, not even bothering to change out of the dress that I was wearing.

“You’re not going to change?” River asked, now hovering over me.

“No,” I grumbled, not even looking up at him from the pillow that I continued to keep my face smashed into. “I just want to forget that phone call.”

“Your dress is going to get messed up if you don’t change,” River warned, sitting down on his bed beside me.

I popped one eye open, looking at him. “Do you want to undress me?”

“Hell yes.”

*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~*

“Happy anniversary, Deli Sandwich!”

I let out a groan, cracking my eyes open just a little bit to see the bright and smiling face of my blonde best friend. That was definitely not what I wanted to wake up to…

I moaned, rolling over and closing my eyes again. This was how I was going to be woken up? No thanks…

“Aw, Deli Sandwich, don’t make that sound when you see me or River’s going to start thinking things!” Rex teased, removing the covers that I was trying to get lost into.

I heard a smack, and Rex cried out, “Ow!” so I knew that River was in the room then and that he had smacked his best friend in the back of the head. I was glad that he had done it so I didn’t have to. I was way too tired to move right then.

“What time is it?” I groaned, covering my face with my arm.

“Six thirty in the morning,” Rex answered me casually, as if it was normal for a seventeen-year-old to get up that early. My eyes widened in shock, not really believing what I was hearing. Six thirty? He had to be kidding me! There was no way he was actually waking me up two hours before usual!

“You’re joking,” I stated, as if it was up to me. I sat up, rubbing my eyes as I tried to see what was happening around me. Rex was grinning with Seth and River on either side of him, both of them looking very uninterested in whatever was going on. I didn’t really blame them.

I looked to my right to see Alice dead asleep, and I couldn’t help but envy her. But this also confused me greatly. How could she sleep through this?

Obviously noticing my confusion, Rex grinned. Not much of a surprise there… “She’s wearing earplugs,” he informed me. “I told her I was going to bust in here bright and early to get you and I advised her to wear something that would drown us out.”

“Nothing could drown you out,” Seth muttered, but Rex either didn’t hear him or just didn’t care. It really could have been either…

“Why are you getting me up so early?” I demanded, my eyebrows furrowing at him. I then turned toward Seth and River. “And why did you two let him get you up this early?”

“He forced us,” Seth informed me flatly, his arms crossed over his chest unhappily. “He wouldn’t shut the hell up unless we got up.”

“We’re going to spend all day together!” Rex announced happily, flocking his arms around for a few moments. “We’re going to skip classes, too!”

“We can’t skip classes!” I cried out, my mouth agape as I stared at him. “We’ll get in trouble if we skip classes, you idiot!”

“But we met a year ago today!” Rex whined, as if that was good enough excuse to just skip school. “We need to spend the entire day together, just us! Come on, Deli Sandwich, live on the wild side for once! Don’t be such a wimp! You’ve skipped classes before!”

I stared at him flatly. “Twice. I’ve only skipped classes twice. And one of them was because Paul lifted my skirt up in front of everyone and I was mortified, and then the other was to go see River in the hospital!”

River blinked at me, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “You never skipped school to go visit me…”

“You were already let out,” I informed him, waving a hand in front of my face to dismiss it. “It was the day we told each other we loved each other. Remember?”

River smiled slightly. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Okay, no more mushy love crap,” Rex told us, grabbing onto my wrist and pulling me up from my bed. “You have to get ready so we can get of here before anyone can see us. You need to go do your stupid girl stuff like your hair and makeup, so just hurry up.”

I scowled at him but went and did was he said anyway. There was no way I was going to get out of this, no matter how hard I tried… So I might as well go alone with it.

I scuffled into the bathroom, cursing Rex in my mind. I just wanted to go back to sleep… Six thirty in the morning? I was surprised Rex hadn’t gotten me up at twelve so we could really spend the entire day together. Ugh, the thought of that was just revolting. Not the thought of hanging out with him, but the thought of getting up so early. Or late, that is.

After I shut the bathroom door behind me, locking it to make sure Rex stayed out, I dragged myself over to the counter. I almost fell over on top of it, still just wanting to sleep, until I saw something that pretty much slapped me awake.

An envelope with a note attached. I picked up the note first to see it was from Alice, telling me that she probably wouldn’t see me all day because of Rex so she left this in the bathroom, where she knew I would go to get ready  before I went anywhere with anyone. It then said that the envelope was on the floor with my name on it, so she assumed that I had dropped it.

I held my breath as I dropped Alice’s note back down on the counter and picked up the envelope. I took a deep breath before tearing it open and pulling out whatever was inside.

My darling Delilah,

Have a fun time during your anniversary, darling. It doesn’t seem like a fun idea to me, but it may be fun to you. I can’t wait until we’re able to celebrate our anniversary together. It will be so amazing, just like you.

                                                                                                                  It’s What You Do to Me, Delilah

I clutched onto the note, trying my hardest to breathe normally so the boys outside didn’t think that there was anything wrong with me.

I was really starting to think that the first one was just a prank… But what if it wasn’t? What if this was real? No, it couldn’t have been… Mr. Higginson was in jail! And anyway, this wasn’t like Mr. Higginson at all!

This was just some sick twisted jerk that wanted me to suffer. It just had to be a joke…

“Come on, Deli Sandwich! You’re taking forever!” Rex called from the other side of the door, snapping me out of my trance as I continued to stare at the note. I shook my head, taking the note and the envelope and shoving it under the sink. I’d put it in the box with the others later…

It wasn’t ever going to end, was it? Was I going to be harassed over and over again through notes until I died? It sure seemed like it…

“I’ll be out in a few minutes,” I called back to him, quickly combing my hair before brushing on some make up. When I was finally finished with that, I went back into the dorm to get a change of clothes.

“Here,” Rex grinned once I opened the bathroom door. He was holding clothes out to me, perfectly neat and folded. “I took the honor of picking out your clothes for you.”

I eyed him suspiciously, and then the clothes themselves. Rex could dress himself perfectly fine, but what about a girl?

“I pick out Alice’s outfits when we go shopping together,” Rex informed me, as if sensing my uncertainty. “I have a knack for it, I think.”

I blinked in surprise. Alice’s clothes were always so cute. Rex picked them out for her? That was so… adorable and funny at the same time.

I let out a sigh before shutting the bathroom door and changing as quickly as I could so I wouldn’t have to keep them waiting any longer. I tried my best to forget about the note that I had just received as I tried to think of what a fun day I was going to have with my two best friends and my fiancé.

It was really hard to believe that we had met each other a year ago on that day.

And on that day, that one year ago, I had a feeling my life was never going to be the same.

And I was absolutely, positively, one hundred percent correct.

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