“I want to beat her up. Can I beat her up?” Alice asked excitedly, causing me to roll my eyes at her.

Even though I’d love to let Alice at her, I knew that it wasn’t a good idea. If she got in a fight, then she’d get into a lot of trouble with Headmistress Pease. Alice had been at the school longer than any of us, and she had somehow not gotten in trouble at all in the four years she had been there. It was pretty shocking for Alice, but she had somehow managed to do it.

“I’d let you, but then you’d just get in trouble. I’m surprised that I didn’t get in trouble when I beat her up last time,” I admitted angrily as I crossed my arms over my chest and continued to lean against Kendra’s locker. I knew that River wasn’t going to be with her at this time because his class was all the way across campus, so we would be safe from him interfering.

“The only reason you didn’t get in trouble last time was because Kendra was way too scared to tell on you, because she knew Headmistress Pease knew about you and River,” Alice informed me, as if she knew absolutely everything there was to know. “She probably talked River out of snitching on you, too.”

“I can’t believe she thought of every single way to get out of someone telling River the truth,” I breathed, shaking my head as I started to get annoyed with waiting for the stupid bitch. “It’s like she had this planned out from the start. But there’s no way that she could have known that this was going to happen.”

“She’s a pretty crazy bitch,” Alice shrugged, leaning against the locker that was next to Kendra’s. “Maybe she does some weird type of black magic and she can see into the future or something.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Of course I am.”

I smiled at my friend, and she smiled right back at me. I forgot what we were doing for a moment, but I quickly remembered when I saw the girl that we had been looking for coming our way.

She didn’t notice us at first, but soon she did and her eyes went wide almost with fear. I didn’t know if she was scared of me or Alice. Even though I had hit her the last time I had really spoken to her, I wasn’t about to do it again and risk getting in trouble. Alice, however, really didn’t give a damn about getting in trouble or not, and that was something I loved about her.

“Excuse me,” Kendra blinked, trying to sound all cute and innocent as usual. “I need to get into my locker.”

“I don’t think so,” Alice snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. “We need to have a little chat, if you don’t mind.”

“I do mind,” Kendra informed us forcefully, and I could tell that she bit her tongue when she realized that that didn’t sound all innocent “I mean… please move. I’m going to be late for biology.”

Alice took a step in front of me and Kendra’s locker. “Then you’re going to be late.”

By this time, there weren’t many kids passing by in the hallway. None of them noticed that this was a total confrontation, and I was glad that they didn’t. I didn’t want anyone’s attention on us as we… spoke to each other about what was going on.

When Kendra looked around to see that no one else was around, she dropped her little innocent cute act. She gripped the books she was holding to her chest even tighter, which made my ring twinkle from the lights that lit above us. I felt my hand twitch, but I kept my arms crossed over my chest.

“You need to get out of my way,” Kendra told us threateningly, but neither Alice nor I were scared of her. She was a small girl, and I knew she couldn’t do much to even one of us, let alone both. “I can’t be late to biology.”

“That’s just too bad,” Alice smiled sweetly, but I knew she was doing this to be obnoxious. “I think you can live with one tardy.”

Kendra’s eyes glowed with anger, and I couldn’t help but smile at her. I hadn’t ever seen her look like this, but I knew that this was how she really was. I knew she was really an angry bitch who always needed to get what she wanted or else people had to suffer the consequences.

“You know, Delilah,” Kendra smiled evilly, and I definitely wasn’t expecting that look to be on her face. “I can’t believe you actually let me take River away from me. I thought you’d fight just a little bit harder, but now you’re going out with his own best friend. That’s so low that it isn’t even funny. I didn’t know you were such a slut.”

I advanced toward her, getting ready to yank all her black hair out of her head, but she took a step back away from me. I knew she was scared, but that was a good thing. Kendra hadn’t ever acted this way before, but it wasn’t like I was surprised or anything.

I really didn’t want to think of the growing attraction I was having for Seth, because it just reminded me of how I was technically betraying River. Even though he was going out with another girl, that was what he was told. I knew the truth, and yet I was still harboring feelings for another guy.

“Delilah isn’t a slut,” Alice defended before I could do it. “You’re the slut.”

“I’ve been devoted to the same guy for almost ten years,” she smiled too sweetly as she placed a hand over her chest, and I really felt like punching her and knocking out some teeth. Doesn’t that sound like fun? It sounded like fun to me.

I didn’t bother asking about Gabe, because Jay had already told me how she was only pretending to like him so she could throw me off guard. This made me think about how I hadn’t seen Gabe in forever, and also how he didn’t know what was going on at all…

“Isn’t it more like you’ve been obsessed with the same guy for ten years?” I challenged, finally speaking up for myself as I glared right at her. “Because that’s what you’ve been doing, you fame sucking leech.”

Kendra’s eyes widened with rage, and her grip on her books tightened even more. She knew that I hit her where it hurt, but that was what I was aiming for. This bitch was getting what she deserved.

“Excuse me?” she demanded, her voice an octave too high. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah you do,” I grinned evilly, taking another step toward her. “I know how you wanted to be the famous one, Kendra. I know that you’re the one that had dragged your family to L.A., not Jay. You blamed him the day I had met you so I’d feel bad for you, but it didn’t work. You’ve always wanted to be famous, and you moved to L.A. hoping that your dream would come true. But it didn’t; it happened to your brother. And you’ve just been sucking off him for the past few years.”

“You know, River’s great in bed,” she shot back furiously, causing my whole body to stiffen. Now she was hitting me where it hurt. I knew that they were kissing, but I didn’t think that they would… But why wouldn’t they? They were supposedly going out. I shouldn’t have been surprised with the fact that they were probably sleeping together. But that didn’t stop me from wanting to fall onto the ground and sob my eyes out until I was satisfied.

“You know what?” I spat right back at her. “So is Seth. Seth’s amazing. I should have left River a long time ago for him. I shouldn’t have even been with River to begin with! Because Seth is just so much better. So have fun with my leftovers, because even though River doesn’t know the truth, you do. You’ll always know that deep down inside, River knows the truth. You know that deep down inside he wishes that you were me.”

“Just shut your mouth, you stupid bitch!” Kendra shouted, dropping her books and letting them crash onto the floor. Alice’s eyes went wide when Kendra reached out and latched onto my hair, and she was about to jump in to help me before I stopped her with a wave of my hand, which Kendra didn’t notice.

“River has always loved me!” Kendra screamed, yanking on my hair. “It’s always been me, not you! You’ve put him through so much pain, but I’ve been healing him! He doesn’t need you! All he needs is me! Me, me, me!”

This girl was completely delusional and crazy. I wasn’t just saying this because I hated her or because I was mean, but I seriously thought that she was insane. Like, legitimately insane. I really thought that she should go to a mental hospital for insanity.

Just as I had been hoping for, I heard footsteps coming down the hall. Kendra was too busy screaming at me to notice, but Alice had heard them as well and was now stuffing herself into an open locker to stop herself from looking like an accomplice to Kendra. That also gave me a great idea.

"Miss Harris!" I heard the familiar voice boom, causing me to grin under my messy hair. "You know fighting is prohibited!"

Kendra immediately let go of me and I sunk to the ground, pretending to be a lot more hurt than I actually was. The more trouble Kendra got in, the better. You could have been expelled for fighting.

“She started it!” Kendra defended, even though the evidence said differently. I was on the ground, my hair all messy, and Kendra had been caught yanking it.

Peeking out from under my hair, I could see two pairs of feet. One of them were the familiar high heels of Headmistress Pease, but I couldn’t make out the other ones. They were obviously boy shoes, but I didn’t know who they belonged to.  

“It sure doesn’t seem like she started it,” Headmistress Pease snapped, and I could tell her hands were on her hips. When I heard a banging on the locker that Alice stuffed herself in, I grinned under my hair once again. What a perfect plan.

The person with the mystery shoes walked over to the locker and pulled it open, stepping back when Alice fell out. I peeked out from my hair once again to see her makeup running, her hair messy, and her clothes wrinkled. Wow, she did well on such a short notice. No wonder she was at the top of her drama class.

“Alice?” Headmistress Bistro squawked, her eyebrows rising on her forehead. “What are you doing in that locker?”

“Kendra stuffed me inside!” she wailed, sobbing into her hands after she had done so. “Delilah was just trying to get me out when Kendra started yanking on her hair!”

Wow, what a believable actress. Why wasn’t she in any movies? How was Jay famous and not her?

Headmistress Pease knelt down next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I recoiled a little, just to make it believable. “Is this true, Delilah?”

I nodded, forcing myself to whimper a little. This was so going to get Kendra in trouble! Even if she didn’t get expelled, she’d get suspended at the least! And that was all I was looking for right then.

Headmistress Pease stood back up, turning around and back toward Kendra, her hands on her hips. “My office. Now.”

Kendra looked completely outraged, and I couldn’t help but grin. This bitch was getting what she deserved.

After Headmistress Pease and Kendra took off toward her office, I let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground. Acting was a lot more tiring than I thought, especially since I just wanted to burst out laughing the entire time it was going on.

“Something tells me that that wasn’t the whole truth.”

The familiar voice startled me, and I moved my hair out of my face but didn’t get up as I stared at Gabe, who was looming over my in confusion. Alice had now taken out a mirror and was fixing and applying more makeup, so I knew she was in her own little world.

“I didn’t hit her first,” I defended, shutting my eyes as I continued to lay in the middle of the hallway. “I just confronted her about how what she was doing to River was wrong. I was only talking to her; I was actually using words. She’s the one that went and attacked me.”

“What is she doing to River?”

I spend the next five minutes explaining what had been happening for the past few weeks. By the end of it, Gabe looked so outraged that I thought his head was going to burst or something.

“You okay?” I asked, forcing myself to sit up.

Gabe crossed his arms over his chest. “The bitch. I don’t like being used.”

“Yeah, well none of us do,” Alice sighed, hopping up from where she was sitting as she brushed off her skirt. “What are you doing here, anyway? Isn’t Bentwood in session or something?”

“We had a short day today,” Gabe informed us, waving it away as if it was no big deal. “Some kind of teacher’s conference or something. Doesn’t really matter to me really much. I was going to just hang out in your dorm and surprise you until you guys finally came back to your dorm.”

“Are you back together with Anna?” I asked, hoping for the answer that I was looking for.

“Yeah,” Gabe shrugged with a nod, and I couldn’t help but smile. I was glad that he was back with Anna, because she really was a sweet girl. If he had gone out with someone like Kendra, then I would have been hoping that he had said no to that question.

“Well, I haven’t seen you in forever,” I sighed, finally standing up and hugging him. “A lot of things have changed since I saw you last.”

Gabe stared at the chunk of my hair that was on the floor from Kendra’s yanking. “Yeah, a lot has.”

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

“I’m so not looking forward to this,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring at the ground.

“Well, that’s obvious,” Alice grinned, moving up in line and pulling me so I couldn’t run away. “But you need to have fun, Delilah! So what if River and Kendra are inside right now? They’re not important right now. You have Seth with you!”

“I don’t want Seth,” I snapped, even though I wasn’t sure if that was even the truth anymore. Seth had been one of my best friends for about a year, and I didn’t want to screw that up by having feelings for him. Especially if River could have gotten his memory back at any time…

“Delilah,” Alice sighed, moving up in the line once again, “you shouldn’t be denying your feelings. He’s not going out with Marnie anymore, and you’re not going out with River anymore.”

“Don’t remind me,” I murmured, moving up to now be next to her. “That just makes me think about how I have to call my mom and tell her I’m not going out with River anymore.”

“You still haven’t done that yet?”

“I don’t exactly want to hear my mom say I told you so over the phone.”

Alice smiled sadly, understanding where I was coming from. My mom would be happy about the fact that River and I weren’t together anymore. She liked him, sure she did, but she didn’t like the idea of us getting married so early. I knew she thought I was just throwing my life away for my high school boyfriend that I’d probably never talk to again after college, but I didn’t feel the same way as her. I still loved River with all my heart.

“Thanks for saving our spots,” I heard a new voice say now, and I looked to my right to see that it was Rex, Seth trailing behind him lazily. I knew he didn’t want to be there, and I couldn’t help but agree with him. He didn’t really like Jay very much, as did I.

But I couldn’t help but noticed how good he looked. He wore a plain white V-neck but managed to make it look amazing, but it was too dark outside to tell if he was wearing jeans or dress pants. He was probably wearing jeans, because I knew Seth wouldn’t wear something dressy to a party for Jay.

When he noticed that I was pretty much checking him out, Seth smirked at me. I quickly turned away from him, my cheeks going bright crimson as I bit my tongue to stop myself from speaking.

When Rex kissed Alice, I almost cringed. They were cute together, but I didn’t like seeing all the lovey-dovey romance when the love of my life was inside the building I was standing next to probably grinding against each other. Ugh, I didn’t even want to think about that.

When we got to the front of the line to the entrance, where there was a huge intimidating bouncer that wasn’t about to let anyone in without a pass or something, I felt myself gulp. This was such a bad idea. I was never a party person, and especially when it was a party like this, with alcohol.

“Name?” the bouncer asked, almost causing me to jump out of my skin. Man, his voice was super deep! Even deep for someone with a huge body like his!

“Um, Delilah Shafer,” I answered, biting the inside of my lip when I heard how scared I had sounded.

“And these three are?” he asked, eyeing my friends behind me.

“Rex Haynesworth, Alice Walters, and--” I began, until he swiftly cut me off.

“They’re not on the list,” the bouncer informed me, looking up and down the clipboard. “They’re not allowed inside.”

Did I seriously get all dressed up and came down to a stupid club for nothing? There was no way this was happening. The only reason I went to this stupid party was for Alice and Rex, and they weren’t even allowed in!

“Have you heard of Seth Haven?” Alice suddenly snapped, moving passed me so that she was so close to the bouncer that their chests were almost touching. “You know, the Seth Haven? The one that killed three men at the age of thirteen?”

Shockingly, I heard the bouncer gulp. “Yeah, I heard of him. So what?”

Alice stepped away from the bouncer and reached passed me, grabbing onto Seth and pulling him toward them. She grinned as she said, “Meet Seth Haven.”

The bouncer’s eyes widened, and he quickly unlatched the red rope that separated us from the huge double doors. “Go on ahead!”

Alice grinned as the four of us made our way past the bouncer and into the club. That was so ridiculous! That bouncer was three times the size of Seth, and yet he was still terrified of him!

“Sometimes being a convicted murderer has its perks,” Rex sang before the music we were approaching got too loud for us to hear him. Before I even knew it, he had disappeared with Alice somewhere into the dancing crowd.

I didn’t feel like dancing, so Seth and I headed toward the bar. My nose wrinkled in disgust when I saw that it was all alcohol and alcohol only. They couldn’t even have water? Or punch? Ugh, why did I even come here in the first place?

My eyes widened when I saw a couple dancing on the dance floor. It was River and Kendra of course, and they were doing some type of dance that really looked like it should have been forbidden.

Without even knowing what I was doing, I grabbed a tiny glass the bartender had put out and downed it. The liquid burned my throat, but I didn’t even care at the moment. I just didn’t want to see River and Kendra dancing like that, as if there wasn’t anyone around them at all.

“Um, Delilah,” Seth blinked with wide eyes when I downed another shot of the burning liquid. “You really shouldn’t be drinking that…”

“Who cares?” I inquired, grabbing another one that the bartender had handed out to me. “As long as I forget about River and Kendra and them dancing so sexually over there, I’ll be perfectly fine.”

Seth tried to stop me from drinking this one, but it was too late. “Well, Delilah, two more of those and I’m sure you’ll forget about them for a while.”

I blinked at him, holding the empty glass in my hand. “Really?”

He nodded. “Really.”

“Two more!”

By the time I was done, I was giggling like crazy and stumbling over my own feet. But the way I was feeling felt so good. River was far from my mind as Seth helped me stand up from the bar and stopped me from falling over. I fell into his chest, but it wasn’t like I complained.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, smiling up at him. This all just felt so good. Seth was holding me, and everything else in the world didn’t matter. I didn’t think about River or the bitch that he was dancing with; all I could think about was Seth.

“You’re so hot,” I blurted, not even knowing what I was saying. “Do you know that? You have to know that you’re hot, right?”

Seth stared down at me. “You’re drunk.”

“Drunk?” I questioned, blinking. “What’s drunk?”

“I’m going to kill River once he gets his memory back,” Seth grumbled under his breath before removing himself from my grasp and taking my hand. He led me away from the bar and toward the exit, but I stopped before he could pull me out. “What’s wrong?”

“I want to dance.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Come on, Sethers,” I whined, using Rex’s nickname for him that he hadn’t seemed to use in so long. “Just one dance. What’s wrong with dancing? Everyone else us dancing.”

“Yeah, well everyone isn’t drunk,” he muttered, and then made sure to finish with, “yet.”

Before I could yank him onto the dance floor, he pulled me out of the club and we were out in the parking lot. The cold night air made my whole body tingle, and I started giggling at the feeling. Maybe I’d come outside at night more often.

“That was so short, but so much fun,” I commented bubbly as Seth buckled me into the passenger’s seat. “I want to go have more fun like that again.”

“No you don’t.”

When Seth got into the driver’s seat, he just sat there for a few moments, as if he didn’t know what to do. I could tell he was thinking, but I just didn’t know what about. But right then, I didn’t really care. All I did was unbuckle my seatbelt and slip my way onto his lap so I was straddling him.

“Hello there,” I greeted, smiling happily as I looked down at him.

“Go sit down, Delilah,” Seth ordered, trying to push me off of him as lightly as he could. “I have to drive you back to Arkwright before you do something stupid.”

“Aw, you care about me,” I giggled, wrapping my arms around him and closing the space between our chests. “That so sweet of you. It doesn’t seem like anyone cares about me anymore.”

This was the alcohol talking, of course. I honestly had no idea what was spewing out of my mouth by now.

Seth rolled his eyes at me. “Don’t be ridiculous. You have Rex, Alice, and Gabe. You even have that one friend of yours back in Washington, Julie or whatever.”

“But none of them make me feel like you do,” I complained, tightening my grip around his neck.

Seth breathed in sharply, but he quickly looked away from me before saying, “Delilah, just stop talking. You’re drunk and you don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I’m not drunk,” I denied, even though it obviously wasn’t true. “And I know what I’m saying.”

“You had five shots of vodka, you idiot. You’re drunk and you’re going to have a hell of a fun time in the morning when your silly little attitude goes away,” he scolded, his eyebrows furrowing at me now.

“I know what I’m saying,” I continued, almost completely ignoring what he had just said. I leaned forward, resting my forehead against his. “I know how I feel.”

“You smell like vodka.”

“How do you feel?”

Seth stayed quiet on this one, and I was way too close to focus on only him, so I shut my eyes as my forehead continued to rest against his.

“I don’t… feel anything,” Seth answered.

“Don’t lie to me,” I whispered, removing my forehead from his as I lightly brushed my lips against his ear. “You can’t lie to me, Seth.”

When I ran my hands down his chest and let them run under his shirt, he stiffened and let out a groan. I nibbled on his earlobe until he finally gave me the answer that I had been waited for:

“God, I love you.”

Though I would have normally frozen if I heard him say this to me, I wasn’t normal or sober at that moment. I was drunk and completely out of it as I grabbed the bottom of his shirt and through it over his head without a second thought, letting my hands run up and down his chest and his stomach.

Crashing my lips down on his, I didn’t stop him when his hands went under my dress. I didn’t stop him when he raised it over my head, along with the camisole I had worn under it so that I was now only in my bra and underwear.

When he started kissing and sucking up and down my neck, I couldn’t help but moan. “Hmm… River…”

When he suddenly stopped, I was confused. Why would he stop? We were having such a good time…

“Get dressed, Delilah.”

When he pushed me off of him and into the passenger’s seat, I didn’t reach for my dress. I could only stare at him as he reached into the back seat for his shirt, his muscles flexing even though he didn’t mean to do so.

“I said get dressed.”

“No,” I shook my head, leaning toward him again. “Why did you stop?”

Seth glared at me, and this caused me to pull back. There I was sitting, only in my bra and underwear, and he was still shirtless. What was happening?

“You called me River.”

I blinked, trying to process what had happened. I had called him River? I blinked some more until I finally really opened my eyes and realized that this wasn’t River I was kissing, but it was Seth. Seth was in love with me, Seth was who I was kissing, and Seth was who I cared about.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, moving forward toward him again. “I didn’t even realize what was happening. Sorry, it was a mistake.”

With my slurred words, I could barely understand myself. How was he able to catch every single word that came out of my mouth when I talked like I had some type of horrible lisp?

“It was a mistake for you?” Seth asked, his eyebrows furrowing and his eyes narrowing at me in anger. “Well, it was a mistake for me, too. And I hate to say that that’s the best I’ve felt in a long, long time.”

“Me, too,” I agreed, moving even closer to him.

“What’s my name?” he demanded, pushing my away from him.

I blinked, trying to process his question. His name? His name couldn’t be that hard to remember. I might have been drunk, but I had to remember his name…

I guess I took too long for his liking. He turned away from me and started the car, not even bothering with putting his shirt on or telling me to put my dress back on. “You’re drunk, Delilah. You need to go to bed and hopefully forget that this night ever happened.”

“But I don’t want to forget,” I whimpered, getting back on top of his lap once again so he couldn’t drive away. I knew that Seth wouldn’t drive with me on top of him, and I internally smiled when he let out a groan and stopped the car without moving an inch. “I don’t want to forget how you feel, Seth.”

“Oh, now you remember my name.”

“I love you, too.”

Seth’s eyes widened at me, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What?”

“I love you,” I repeated, wrapping my arms around his neck once again.

Seth shook his head, turning it away from me. “You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying. You probably think I’m River or something right now. I don’t believe you.”

Still half out of it, I didn’t really hear what he said. I just leaned into him more and rested my cheek on his shoulder, letting out a content smile. I never noticed how soft his body was before. His body always just looked so hard and rigid… But he was really soft.

He wrapped his arms around my waist, and we just sat there for a little while, just enjoying each other’s company. His bare chest against my bare stomach felt nice, and I felt like I could have stayed there forever and I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

Before I knew it, I was reaching up and kissing him again. The kisses soon turned to a make out session, and that make out session turned into us driving back to Arkwright and into my dorm to do things that I was sure we’d regret in the morning.

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Obviously, I suck at writing from a drunk person’s P.O.V., since I’m only fourteen and have never been drunk before. It’s also really late at night, I have school tomorrow, and I’m pretty much half passed out on my keyboard right now. :D?

I know how you guys feel about the whole Delilah/River/Seth thing. I’m reading a book and the girl is falling for another guy even though the guy she already has is absolutely perfect… >.< So I feel your pain.

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D