“You girls are going to be late for class.”

At the sound of this voice, Alice and I both jumped. We whipped around, expecting to see an angry teacher or Headmistress Pease, but the person that was really standing there was the last person we were expecting.

“Don’t you need to be in class?” Alice demanded, her arms crossing over her chest as she glared at the boy who stood before us. “Just because you’re famous doesn’t mean that you can get out of everything.”

“You forgot handsome and rich,” Jay smirked smugly, pulling at the collar of his jacket. “And yes, that is what it means.”

I rolled my eyes as Alice continued to glare at him. Jay then looked over at me to see the very questionable position that I was in. “Did you get in a fight or something?”

“Something like that,” I grumbled, standing up and brushing myself off. I didn’t know how he’d react if he found out I just pummeled his sister. Even though it was obvious that they weren’t really close, I’d still get angry if someone had beat up Jake. Even if we were in a fight right now…

Just the thought of Jake and Arianna together made a shiver shoot up my spine, which I definitely didn’t need at that moment. I quickly shook my head and tried my best to forget about problems that I didn’t have to deal with right then. I could deal with them later.

“Really now?” Jay asked, looking rather impressed. “I never would have thought Delilah Shafer actually got into a fight.”

“Well, believe it,” Alice snapped. “Because it was with your sister.”

Way to go, Alice… Way to go…

Jay’s eyes went wide for a moment, but quickly went away when they were replaced with a smirk. “Really?” he asked. “You finally snapped and beat up my sister?”

“She deserved it,” I spat, not even meaning to. But just thinking about Kendra made my blood boil. Just seeing my ring on her finger made me want to rip all of her hair out…

“What did she do to deserve it?” Jay asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I could think of a few things, but I’d like to hear the actual reason from you.”

“You know she’s apparently engaged to River,” I glowered, crossing my arms over my chest tightly now. “She stole him from me because she was there when he woke up with amnesia. Your bitchy sister is a slutty tramp who needs to keep her hands off other girls’ fiancés.”

Jay blinked, obviously not expecting this to come out of my mouth. Before he could say anything, Alice beat him to it. “Wait… Didn’t she like Gabe for a while? He was actually afraid to come here for a while because she’d always tackle him or something.”

“She was faking,” Jay informed us before I could say anything, causing both Alice and I to turn toward him in confusion.  He rolled his eyes, obviously thinking we were the two slowest people on the planet. “She was pretending to like Gabe so you guys wouldn’t suspect anything. She just wanted you guys to think she was over River. Honestly, she’s been trying to come up with a plan to get River back ever since she got here. Opportunity just came knocking on her door this time, I guess.”

“That stupid whore!” Alice and I shouted in unison, not even caring if it was her brother that was standing before us. “Who does she think she is?”

“You guys are really good at that,” Jay blinked, as if he hadn’t ever heard people talk at the same time or something. “You two sure you weren’t separated at birth?”

Rolling my eyes, I turned away from him and started away, grabbing onto Alice’s arm and pulling her with me. “We have to get to class,” I told Jay, not even looking back at him. “Bye.”

I didn’t let him respond, because I quickly sped up until Alice and I were all the way to our classroom. I thought that we’d get in huge trouble for being late to class, but the teacher actually let us off. I wish I knew why…

Alice refused to tell me her plan until we were with Rex and Seth, which I didn’t understand. So we had to wait until school was over before we all hid out in our dorm room.

“You have a plan?” Rex asked, his arms crossed over his chest. “Does it involve breaking into the zoo and stealing their animals?”

“One time,” Alice started moodily, crossing her arms over her chest as well. “One time I asked Delilah to get me a zebra, and I don’t hear the end of it!”

“What’s your plan?” I asked quickly, waving my hand back and forth to get her attention. I didn’t want her zoning out thinking about zebras or anything. “How am I supposed to get River and my ring back?”

“Well, it’s actually really simple,” Alice nodded, sitting on my bed next to me as Rex and Seth continued to stand. “I kept trying to think of a plan after River threw you to the ground, and it finally came when--”

“Wait,” Seth interjected, holding a hand up to stop Alice from talking any further. I looked over to him to see he looked pissed, which scared me just a little. “What did River do?”

“She was beating the crap out of Kendra, and River pushed her to the ground to stop her,” Alice informed him bitterly as she glared at the floor. “And then the bastard kissed her in front of Delilah! If she wasn’t on the floor crying, I would have punched the memories back into River!”

Seth was suddenly by my side seconds later, startling me a little. “Are you okay?” he asked, placing a hand on my shoulder gently. “Are you hurt at all?”

I could see Alice grinning out of the corner of my eye, confusing me greatly. Why would she be grinning about Seth asking if I was alright? She was so strange sometimes…

“I’m fine,” I assured, forcing a smile on my face. But I definitely was not fine. Not because I was feeling any pain from River pushing me down, but because of the whole situation we were in. How could Kendra go off and do something so horrible and then deny it like nothing had even happened?

“Anyway,” Alice continued to grin, now standing over both Seth and me, Rex by her side in a second. “Do you want to hear the plan or just continue to make googly eyes at each other all day?”

Rex snickered behind her, but all I could do was blush as my eyes went wide. Seth and I weren’t looking at each other that way! The whole reason we were all hear right then was because I was in love with River! I wasn’t looking at Seth in any kind of way…

“What’s your plan?” Rex now asked, plopping down in my desk chair.

“Well, Delilah was saying how she hadn’t called her parents to tell her that River and her had broken up,” Alice began to explain, a smug smile plastered onto her face. “She said that they’d be happy because they would rather her go out with someone else…”

“So?” I asked, just wanting her to get to the point. I was there for that conversation; I was the other half of it! Where was she going with this?

“So…” Alice continued on. “That’s my plan! You go out with someone else and River’s going to have to feel something like jealousy! He might have lost his memory and completely changed his appearance, but that doesn’t mean he’s a different person! He’s still the same easily jealous guy that he was before!”

“But I don’t like anyone enough to go out with them,” I informed her, crossing my arms over my chest and looking at her as if she was crazy, which was totally possible. “And I can’t just start a new relationship all of a sudden. I don’t talk to any boys besides River, Rex, Seth, and Gabe.”

“But here’s the thing,” Alice continued to smile smugly. “You’ll go out with someone that you’ve already gone out with! River might get déjà vu and remember if you do!”

My eyes went wide and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Avery? You want me to go back out with Avery? No way! He’s your cousin, Alice! You know he’s a jerk! And he’s going out with Bekka now!”

She really wanted me to go back out with Avery? Was she completely insane? Avery hated me now! There was no way he would do anything to help me out, especially since he had a girlfriend that hated me as much as he did! There was no way that I could ever go back out with Avery…

Alice smirked at me, her hands now on her hips. She let out a sigh, shaking her head as she did so. “No, not Avery,” she told me with that smug smirk of hers. Her face was going to get stuck that way… She then looked over at the boy who continued to sit next to me. “Seth.”

“What?” I snapped, not even meaning to. “Seth? I never went out with Seth!”

“You pretended to,” Alice informed me, as if I didn’t know. “To get Marnie jealous, right?”

“How do you even know?” I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest in frustration now. All of this happened when Seth and I were still in Bentwood! That was before she was going out with Seth!

“This guy right here,” Alice chuckled, jabbing her thumb in the direction of her blonde boyfriend. “He’s told me everything. How Seth used you to get Marnie jealous, how everything between you was fake, and how everyone in the school besides River and Rex thought that you two were really going out. So, if River sees you together again, maybe he’ll remember!”

“This is ridiculous,” I scoffed, rolling my eyes and standing up from my bed. “That would never work! River doesn’t even remember ever meeting Seth and Rex! His memory stops when he’s nine, so he remembers Kendra perfectly fine. He didn’t meet Seth and Rex until sixth grade!”

“We should still try it,” Alice insisted, her hands going back to her hips. “It might work! Don’t you want to get River back? So you kiss Seth a few times. Who cares, you’ve already done it!”

“What about Marnie?” I demanded, my hands going to my hips as well. “You know, Seth’s girlfriend? Do you really think she’d be okay with the fact that her boyfriend’s fooling around with one of her best friends?”

“I don’t mind it,” a new voice said, almost scaring me out of my skin. I whipped toward the door to see Marnie smiling at me, looking satisfied that she actually was able to startle me. “It’s really no problem at all.”

“You don’t mind?” I asked in disbelief. “How don’t you mind?”

“I know you two are only friends,” she giggled, walking over and sitting on Alice’s bed. “So as long as there isn’t any real romance between you two, it’s fine.”

Seth looked uncomfortable, but I didn’t blame him. I was pretty uncomfortable, too. Our friends were practically forcing us to get together! And Seth’s girlfriend didn’t even care!

“Um…” was all I could say, looking back at Seth to see if he was alright with it. If he was okay with doing it, I guess I was okay with it as well. I did want to get River back…

“Whatever,” Seth shrugged, looking like he didn’t even care anymore. “Whatever gets River’s memory back and that psycho bitch out of the picture.”

“Wow,” Rex voiced from where he was sitting. “We’re actually going through with a plan formed by Alice. I’m shocked!”

She smiled wryly before forcefully plopping down on top of Rex, knocking the wind out of him for a moment. Marnie giggled and Seth smirked, but I didn’t seem to have enough energy to do either. I knew that the next day, I wasn’t going to be the future Mrs. River Daniels.

I was going to be the girlfriend of his best friend.

Again.

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

“Doesn’t this bring back memories?” Rex asked cheekily as he walked behind Seth and me with Alice the next morning. I looked over my shoulder to glare at him, my hand connected with Seth’s.

“No,” Seth and I both responded flatly, which caused Alice to start laughing.

“Well, I’ve got to get my homeroom,” Alice began, turning toward Rex and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll see you in second period.”

Rex winked at her. “You got it.”

“Ew,” I complained, just like Rex did whenever I did anything with River in front of him. Just thinking that I was now with Seth and not River made my stomach twist, but I had to pretend that I was happy with my new… boyfriend. Man, it was weird to call him that.

As Rex, Seth, and I came closer and closer to our homeroom, my heart completely plummeted into my stomach when I saw River and Kendra both leaning against the wall, laughing and giggling with each other in such a flirty way that I wanted to bash her face in.

My grip on Seth’s hand tightened, and he looked over at me as if to make sure I was okay. I let out a breath, trying to calm myself now. I smiled to myself a little when I saw Kendra’s black eye and swollen face.

But the bitch still didn’t get what she deserved.

Not yet.

Kendra’s eyes suddenly trailed away from River and found Seth and my hands, causing her jaw to drop. Her eyes widened as well, and River’s eyebrows furrowed for a second before following her gaze as well.

What was I supposed to do? What was I supposed to do?

“Kiss me,” I demanded, not even knowing what I was doing I stopped Seth and I from walking, causing Rex to knock into Seth’s shoulder.

“What?” he asked, his eyes going wide.

“Just kiss me.”

Had River ever seen Seth and I kiss before? He knew that we had, but he hadn’t ever seen us… I felt like I was betraying him, even though we technically weren’t going out anymore. The old River was still buried inside of him somewhere, and acting like a couple with Seth in front of him was going to bring the old him out.

Seth’s arm suddenly wrapped around my waist, pulling me to him before crashing his lips down to mine. It had been so long since I had kissed him last, and I couldn’t help but think that it was a little weird. He was a great kisser, but just kissing him again brought back so many memories.

The last time we had kissed was under the bridge when Avery had caught us and broke up with me. Even though I was angry at him for it then, I couldn’t have been more thankful for it now. Who knew what would have happened if he didn’t make Avery break up with me? I might have never gotten together with River, and I would have been in a relationship full of lies with my best friend’s enemy…

I didn’t notice how pretty much everyone in the hallway was staring, not only Kendra and River. When we finally pulled away, I quickly glanced over at them to see Kendra looking absolutely shocked and for River to look almost… confused?

Oh, my gosh… Was it working?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw River shrug before turning back to Kendra, giving her a quick peck on the lips before making his way into our homeroom class.

I was still in Seth’s arms when I saw that pretty much everyone was staring at us. Now completely embarrassed, I quickly broke away from him before clutching onto his hand once again and making my way into homeroom, Rex trailing behind us.

“Quite a show,” Rex smirked under his breath as he walked past us and made his way to his seat. Out of the corner of my eye once again, I could see River looking at us strangely. Hoping that this would work, I quickly propped up on my toes and planted a soft kiss on Seth’s lips.

“See you after class…” I whispered, trying to act as much as a couple as I could. Understanding, Seth forced a smirk and nodded, letting go of my hand and making his way toward his seat. I did the same, not even glancing in River’s direction as I sat down.

“So… you’re going out with that guy, are you?” River suddenly said, almost causing me to have a heart attack. I tried to breathe as well as I could through my nose without looking like I was insane, but how could I not act this way? It was so weird hearing River’s voice when he wasn’t angry… even though it almost looked like it was coming out of someone else’s body.

But was he trying to start a conversation with me? I thought he hated me! Why would he be talking to me if he hated me? That wasn’t like River!

“Yeah,” was all I said, not even glancing at him as I continued to look to the front of the classroom. I didn’t want him to think that he was killing me at all… I wanted him to think that I didn’t care about him anymore.

Which was a complete and total lie.

“Oh, good. Two crazy people are going out together…”

“Excuse me?” I spat, my head snapping in his direction a second later. “What did you just say?”

“You’re both crazy, insane. Loco,” River explained, as if I didn’t understand what the word actually meant.

“How could you say that?” I demanded, my fists clenching. I really wanted to throw something at him… Even if he didn’t remember who I was, what made him think that he could go off and say something like that to someone who was technically a complete stranger?

“It’s the truth,” he defended uncaringly with a shrug, now looking back to the front of the classroom. “You like to beat up the girlfriends of the guys you’re creepily obsessed with, and he likes to kill people.”

Before I even knew what I was doing, I grabbed onto my textbook and chucked it at his face. It his him in the temple, almost causing him to fly out of his chair.

Since we were in the back, no one saw what had happened. I was sure that I would have gotten sent to Headmistress Pease if anyone saw…

“What the hell?” River growled, clutching onto the side of his head. I didn’t know if it would swell or leave of bruise, but I honestly didn’t care. As long as it left a mark and it hurt, that was all l cared about.

“How could you say that about your best friend?” I demanded, fully turning toward him now. “Seth killed those men to save people!”

“Like I’ll believe that,” River sneered, still clutching onto the side of his face. “And that bastard? My best friend? You really are insane. I wouldn’t ever be friends with someone crazy like that. Or his other gay friend, the blonde one you hang around with.”

When River used to call Rex gay, it was hilarious because we all knew he was joking. Even Rex knew he was joking, yet he still got all defensive. And when Rex would joke around saying River was gay, it was the same way around. But now, it was different. River was saying it hatefully, like he wanted to hurt Rex’s feelings.

I stared at him in disbelief for a few moments, not believing that this was the love of my life I was staring at. How could Kendra change him to be like this? How could he forget who his real friends were, or how I was really the person he loved? He stopped himself from cutting because of me! I was the reason the scars on his wrists were fading and not reopening!

“How could you let her change you so much?” I asked, choking on my own words as my eyes filled with tears. “How could you forget everything and let her take you over like you’re her puppet or something? You’re not like that, River. This isn’t you. You’re independent and stick up for what you believe in. You’re willing to do anything for the people you love. The scar on your chest and the reason you can’t even remember anything are proof of it. She’s changed you into a completely different person… that I don’t even know anymore.”

I turned away from him then, ignoring his shocked face as I tried to focus on whatever Mrs. Dyas was saying now. I wiped at my eyes, wanting the tears to just completely disappear.

I wanted my River back. And I was willing to do anything to get him.

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I just put out a new story a few days ago called Off to Neverland. :D Could you please check it out if you haven't already? :3 I'll try to upload this sooner if I get some feedback on it!

Writing the fight scene between Delilah and River was kind of... fun. I was actually kind of happy when the book crashed into River's head.

That's not a good sign.

;) Just kidding.

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN!