I should have known this moment was going to be ruined somehow, but I didn’t expect it to be this. I actually expected Seth and Rex to show up and crash the party, but I would have preferred them compared to who really stepped through the front door.

Everything always seemed to be interrupted, especially the good things. It didn’t matter if it was Rex or someone else; we always managed to get interrupted. I just didn’t understand it.

“Where’s the red marker when I need it?” I found myself grumbling, spinning the spaghetti on my fork, doing my best not to look up at my ex-boyfriend and River’s ex-girlfriend. I really wished I could have slashed red X’s in their faces right then, but I knew that it was impossible when it came to real life.

If people thought that River and I were a surprising couple, they never saw Bekka and Avery before. Avery was like me, a total prep. And Bekka was like River, they were emo.

“What a coincidence,” Bekka sneered, coming up to our table without a second thought. I felt myself roll my eyes as I saw Avery follow after her, a glare on his face. I could still remember how it was like when he would smile at me like I was the only person in the world, but now he was glaring at me like he wished I was dead. “What’s the special occasion? Probably nothing important, right?”

I gave her a flat look, and I felt my eye twitch slightly. I was sure that she knew that it was River’s birthday just by the way she was saying how unimportant it was. I didn’t get how she could act like such an uncaring bitch, but still have someone like Avery like her.

“Actually,” I started sharply, placing my napkin down on the table as nicely as I could, even though I felt like suffocating her with it, “it’s a very important day. It’s River’s birthday.”

She only smirked. “So I was right. Not important.”

I stood up from the table abruptly, as if I was going to jump her or something. She took a step back, and Avery now stepped in front of her. Wow. He never protected me or anything like that when we were going out. But I couldn’t really think of a time he had to.

But it wasn’t like I was actually going to hurt her or anything, no matter how much I wanted to. Even if I did attack her, she would probably be able to beat me no matter what. I wasn’t a fighter.

“You’re not cheating on poor River, are you?” Avery asked, and eyebrow raising in amusement. Now he was just saying things to get us pissed off, I knew it. “I’d hate to see him go through what I had to go through. You didn’t seem like a slut when I met you.”

“Hey, asshole,” River said, standing up himself. “Back off. You don’t know anything about her.”

Avery looked away from River and back at me. “You got that right.”

“I didn’t cheat on you,” I snapped, my hands balling into fists at my sides as I continued to glare at them. “What happened between Seth and me was fake. River and I didn’t even get together until after we broke up. And nothing happened between Rex and me at all.”

I wasn’t about to mention about how I had lost my first kiss to Rex, since it didn’t even matter anymore. He had kissed me for a prank, but there were no feelings behind it. He was going out with Avery’s cousin anyway.

“You still lived with all boys and didn’t tell him,” Bekka piped up from behind Avery, sticking her tongue out at me. “What kind of girlfriend lies to her boyfriend?”

“At least I didn’t use him,” I snapped once again, crossing my arms over my chest. “I love River. I don’t care if you believe me or not, but I do. And honestly, I don’t care what you think. I stopped caring what people think a long time ago.”

Bekka glared at me, and Avery did as well. I didn’t expect anything different from them, since they seemed to hate us so much. I really didn’t care about what they thought about me, so they could think that I was the sluttiest or the bitchiest girl out there, but I knew that I wasn’t. That position was already filled by Arianna Devon.

“Um, Miss,” a voice said from behind them, causing us to all turn to look at a waitress who looked actually pretty scared. “Y--you two have to wait back there until you get s--seated.”

Bekka turned back to me, scowling. “Guess we’ll see you around then.”

I glared right back at her. “Hopefully not.”

She rolled her eyes, turning away from me and following the waitress with Avery back toward the door. I sighed, and both River and I sat back down. I had lost my appetite, and I really didn’t feel like eating anymore, and I was sure that River felt the same way.

“Come on,” he said, taking my hand after tossing money onto the table. “Let’s go.”

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

I let out a deep breath, continuing to flip through the photo album as I snuggled into River’s side even more, one of his arms around me as his other held the album open. There were plenty of empty pages for the future, and I couldn’t wait to fill them in with wedding and baby pictures.

Just thinking about those things made my cheeks turn red, but I was glad that my face was in River’s chest so he wouldn’t see. He was used to me blushing, but if he saw that I was just suddenly blushing, I was sure he would know I was thinking of something.

I frowned a little when we passed a picture that was taken when River was in the hospital. I still felt guilty, since it was pretty much my fault, but River had made a full recovery and was perfectly fine now. He did have a scar, but the doctors said that it would go away on its own. I couldn’t wait for the day that it was finally gone. I didn’t want to be reminded that River had gotten shot because of me, and all because he told me he loved me out in the open.

Mr. Higginson didn’t go after Avery because even he could tell that there was nothing really going for us. He was watching, and he could see that I would lie and that if I continued doing so, Avery and I would get nowhere. So lying to Avery pretty much saved my life.

And even though Seth had confessed his feelings for me out in the open, I had pretty much rejected him. And that saved his life. But when he said I was in love with River, I had denied it and made it seem like I was lying. So when River confessed that he loved me, even though I was a total idiot and didn’t understand it, Mr. Higginson saw him as a threat and shot him.

All this processed through my mind after a while, and I was just glad that my actions had saved Avery and Seth’s lives. Even though Avery was now a complete bastard, he was my first boyfriend, and I did really like him when we went out. Seth was my best friend, so of course I was glad that he was okay.

And River? I couldn’t be more thankful that he survived being shot. If he had died, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I could have been brainwashed by Mr. Higginson for all I knew.

“That one’s my favorite,” River informed me, pointing to the picture that Seth had taken the day we had gotten together. We were sitting in the cafeteria, so close together that I almost thought we were one person, and Rex was sitting beside me with a hilarious disgusted look on his face.

“I think that’s my favorite, too,” I giggled, moving into his side even more. I was glad that we had the privacy of his apartment, because if we were still at Bentwood, I knew Rex would come barging in and interrupt us. And then he’d cover his eyes and make some comment about how we had to keep our hands off each other for at least three seconds. But we weren’t even doing anything then, we were only looking through photos.

When we got to the last of the photos, I found myself smiling sadly. I really did wish that I could have gone back to Bentwood, but I knew that that wasn’t possible. I wasn’t a boy, and I wasn’t bad enough to be sent to an all-boys school for delinquents. I had only been sent there in the first place to be safe from Mr. Higginson.

After he closed the album and set it down on the table, I turned slightly and kissed him. He reacted immediately, pulling me closer so that I was now on his lap, straddling him. Before I knew it, I was pushing him down so that he was lying on the couch but I was still straddling his waist.

I leaned forward, kissing up and down his neck as my hands snaked up his shirt and his hands snaked up mine.

And the rest is pretty self-explanatory, I think.

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

I used to hate school. Just the very thought of it made my skin crawl. Because before, school meant being watched all the time or learning with a school full of male delinquents. But now I was surrounded by boys and girls, and I was a senior, the oldest!

“Ah, it’s good to be back!” I announced as I got into my dorm, throwing my luggage onto my bed. It was a different form then what I had had when I first moved to Arkwright, but I didn’t really care. I was with River, and Seth and Rex were right down the street.

“Not really,” Alice said flatly, continuing to lay flat on her back on her bed as she flipped through a magazine. I still found it kind of strange that Alice and I were such good friends after what had happened, but it was like we had totally forgotten about everything that had happened.

Alice was at Arkwright because she was a dancer, and River and I were there because we sang. Even though we were kind of tricked into auditioning by our old music teacher Ms. Vierra, we had gotten into the school, passing with flying colors, apparently.

“Come on, Alice. You’re not excited at all?” I pressed, plopping down onto my own bed. The dorm was so much bigger than my old one, which I really liked a lot. But I didn’t share a dorm in junior year, since I was new, so of course it was going to be smaller.

Alice curled her black hair with her fingers, looking away from her magazine and at me for a quick second before shaking her head. “Nope. I’m going to miss sleeping in.”

“But school starts at nine, a lot later than other schools.”

She shrugged and went back to her magazine. “Same difference.”

I rolled my eyes, staring up at the ceiling now. River didn’t have anyone that he wanted to room with, so he was going to get paired with someone random. I really hoped that it wasn’t some freak or a weirdo, and there were plenty of those at this school. Someone actually got accepted because they could play the tambourine. The tambourine! I mean, come on. Are you serious?

Suddenly, the door burst open, causing the two of us to jump. I almost had a complete panic attack, but I felt myself calming down when I saw that it was only Rex, grinning at us. Seth was behind him, but I found it kind of hard to concentrate as I tried to calm down my breathing.

Rex should have known that he couldn’t do that sort of thing around me anymore. At least not for a while. After what had happened with Mr. Higginson, I got scared even more than I used to. I used to jump if someone snuck up on me, but now I almost passed out. Every now and then, I would see him in a hallucination, smiling at me the same way he had when I fell from the second floor of the abandoned building.

“Whoa, Deli Sandwich!” Rex called out, his eyes going wide when he saw that I was almost hyperventilating. Even though Mr. Higginson was in jail, he was still a part of me. I didn’t think he would ever go away. He would always be in my dreams and nightmares, sneaking up on me when I least expected it. It would never, ever go away, no matter how much I wanted it to. “Are you alright?”

“Idiot,” Seth snapped, smacking the back of Rex’s head. “Don’t you remember? You can’t scare her!”

Rex stared at me like he had now just remembered before he smacked himself in the forehead. “Oh, right! I forgot! Sorry, Deli Sandwich!”

I was used to Rex barging in and acting like an idiot, but I actually thought that it could have been a threat. I thought that Mr. Higginson had escaped from jail and was after me again. That was my biggest fear, and I was terrified that it might happen.

Seth came to my side, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Delilah, are you alright?”

I was getting scared for such a stupid reason, but what had happened months before had affected me. It was probably going to affect me for the rest of my life. But I knew I couldn’t just totally shut down when something popped out at me. I knew that I couldn’t live like that.

“I--I’m fine,” I sputtered, shaking my head. “I… I just need to calm down.”

“You need to stop doing that, Rex,” Seth said, turning away from me and toward the blonde, who nodded frantically.

Alice sat up from her bed, reaching her arms out towards Rex like a baby. “Rexy!” she cried, wiggling her fingers a little as a sign to tell him to get over her. Rex grinned, making his way over to his girlfriend happily.

Now that I was finally calming down, Seth sat down beside me. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

I nodded, letting out along breath. “I’m fine. I’m just overreacting.”

“After what you’ve been through, I wouldn’t call it overreacting,” Seth muttered with a shake of his head. “I remembered when you’d jump when Rex said your name and you just didn’t know he was there. Back then I didn’t know why, but now… I understand. It’s only been five months, Delilah. It’s going to take time to get over what happened with that John guy.”

Calling him John was so weird. He had been my teacher for two and a half years, and I still called him Mr. Higginson, even though he was in jail for stalking me. John Higginson was his name, but I wouldn’t know who you were talking about unless you called him Mr. Higginson.

“Wait…” I blinked, looking up at Seth in surprise. “How did you guys get in here? Shouldn’t you be in class at Bentwood now?”

Arms suddenly wrapped around my shoulders, but I wasn’t scared. I looked to the side to see the blonde mop, causing me to give him a flat look. Rex was always so touchy-touchy, and I had gotten used to it. But I still didn’t like it when he hugged me without my permission.

I heard Alice giggle as Rex almost shouted in my ear, “Surprise, Deli Sandwich!”

I pulled out of Rex’s grasp. “Surprise what? What are you talking about?”

Rex was grinning, Seth was smirking, and Alice was smiling. They definitely knew something I didn’t. What the heck was going on?

“What’s the surprise? Seth and I go here now!” Rex cried out loudly, almost jumping up and down next to Alice. “We don’t go to Bentwood anymore, we go here!”

I blinked, my eyes going wide as I stared at the two boys that stood before me. What were they talking about? How could they just attend Arkwright like it was the easiest thing ever? I was never going to understand these boys, was I? They just got more and more confusing as the time passed!

“Wait, you need a talent to go to school here,” I informed them, in case they didn’t know. But of course they knew, right? How could they not when they supposedly went to school here now?

“You’ve known me for almost a year, and you don’t know that I’ve been playing the drums since I was six-years-old?” Rex asked with a wide grin, almost looking smug for a reason. I shouldn’t have been surprised, right? Drums were loud, obnoxious, annoying, and that was just was Rex was.

“And you?” I found myself asking Seth now, turning toward him.

He shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets uncaringly. “Guitar,” he said with another shrug, almost causing me to roll my eyes. Of course Rex acted excited and Seth acted like he didn’t care at all. I kind of expected that.

But, wait… They were sent to Bentwood because they did something wrong. How did they get out? River had gotten out because he only went because he cut himself, but now that he stopped they let him leave. But Rex went to Bentwood because of his paranoid parents, and Seth went there because he killed three guys in self-defense but was found guilty for killing them for no reason.

“How did you get out of Bentwood?”

Rex grinned even more. “Well, even though my parents are still paranoid, they saw that I wasn’t doing anything and let me out,” he told me, rocking on his feet a little.

“And Marnie’s going to testify and say that I didn’t kill those three guys for no reason,” Seth informed me. “And she’s going to try and talk to Jenny to get her to testify, too. Jenny always really liked Marnie when we were young… So maybe it’ll work.”

I found myself smiling. “That’s so great! I’m sure you’ll be found innocent!”

Seth smirked and shrugged again. “We’ll see.”

“And I see that you two have arrived,” a new voice said from the doorway, and I found myself smiling even more when I saw my fiancé walking closer to me. Rex made a face when River kissed me, but I only rolled my eyes at him. He had been kissing his girlfriend minutes before and I didn’t say anything about it!

“Yeah, and we get to share a dorm,” Rex laughed, sticking his tongue out at River. “And you get to dorm with some weirdo!”

River shrugged, completely unfazed from Rex’s teasing. “Whatever. He’s not even that bad.”

“You’ve met him already?” I asked, pulling River down so he would sit next to me on the bed. I felt like a desperate child as I did this, but I didn’t really care. We were all together, except for Marnie. She still when to Eden with Bekka, but it wasn’t that far away from our school. “What’s his name?”

“Joseff Mountain,” he told me with a shrug.

My eyes widened. “The tambourine player? The guy that spells his name with two F’s? You’re roommate is Joseff Mountain?”

River blinked. “Is that a bad thing?”

I shook my head. “No, no, it’s not! I just thought he was sharing a dorm with some bassist or something. But whatever, I guess. So Mountain’s a good roommate?”

Joseff Mountain preferred going by his last name, for a reason I didn’t know. But Mountain seemed like a cooler name than Joseff. To me, at least.

River shrugged now. “I only talked to him for a few minutes, but I guess he’s okay. He’s a tambourine player, but I don’t know anything more than that. Oh, yeah. There’s a huge commotion downstairs for some reason. I was coming up here to get up here to get you guys when I was almost trampled.”

“Commotion?” Alice asked, her eyebrows furrowing. “A commotions about what?”

River shrugged. “I don’t know. I came up here before I saw anything. All I saw was a limo, and then it was swarmed.”

Alice was out the door in a matter of seconds, dragging Rex behind her. Seth rolled his eyes, lazily following them as well. My eyebrows rose as I turned toward River, who was holding out his hand.

“Want to go check it out?”

Even though I’d rather spend time with him alone in my dorm, I wasn’t going to refuse.

“Definitely.”

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My history teacher was wearing a shirt that was exactly like River would wear. Black, tight, long-sleeved... It was kind of weird, haha, since my history teacher's twenty-seven (Mr. Higginson's age), and he's my HISTORY teacher. (Like Mr. Higginson was to Delilah...)

Weird. Haha but my history teacher's awesome. :D He's my favorite teacher. :)

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D