“Delilah! It’s so great to see you again! How was your summer?”

That was pretty much all I was hearing as River and I made our way downstairs to see what the commotion was about, hand-in-hand. I hadn’t expected people to even acknowledge me when I got back to school, let alone pretty much speak to me like I was a queen or something.

“Hi, River! I like your hair!”

“Delilah, your dress is so cute!”

“Delilah, do you want to eat lunch with me today?”

“You two are such a cute couple!”

As shocking as this was, I didn’t stop walking. I gave them all small waves and short answers to their questions, but I was too concerned with why more than half the school was gathered outside in the parking lot for. It had to be something really important, and I really wanted to find out what it was.

“Someone’s popular,” River smirked from next to me, still following after me as we continued walking.

I rolled my eyes, but didn’t even glance at him. “They were talking to you, too. All the girls gawk at you like you’re the most handsome person on the planet. Even though you are…”

River smirked smugly, and I rolled my eyes. His ego needed some boosting, and I was sure that that was what I had just done. It wasn’t like he was egotistical or narcissistic or anything, he was the exact opposite. And I knew that it was true when I said that all the girls thought he was handsome.

I thought I was going to come back to school and everything was going to be normal. I was used to being the friend to the most popular girl in school, and then I was used to being the only girl in school, but I never thought that I was ever going to actually be the popular girl. But as I continued to walk through the school to get outside, almost every kid said hello.

When we finally got outside, my eyes went wide when I saw the gigantic mass of girls surrounded by a limo. What the heck was going on?

“What could possibly be going on that causes this many girls to go haywire?”

River shrugged from next to me, and I made sure to hang onto his hand so I wouldn’t lose him. I was pretty sure that almost every girl in the school was surrounding the limo, and I really wanted to know the reason why. Who could possibly be inside the limo?

It had to be someone famous, right? Why else would everyone be going so crazy? No one would be acting like this if it was just some normal person. And this was a performing arts academy, so maybe someone famous even had a reason to be here.

Girls were screaming and shouting and trying their best to get to the front of the crowd. I found myself pulling River closer to the front of the crowd and through the mob simply out of curiosity, saying, “Excuse me,” over and over again as I tried to get through. And much to my surprise, before I knew it, we were actually the ones that were in the front, right by the door of the limo.

That surprised me, since I didn’t think it would be that easy to get through. But the underclassmen that I had passed were now looking at me in admiration and called out, “It’s Delilah! Delilah! Hi!”

Was I really that popular? Was that even that possible? I had always just been the friend of the popular girl, but I had never been the popular girl.

I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do. Was I supposed to greet them or not? It would be rude not to, but I didn’t know if they were going to continue on if I acknowledged them.

“Um, hi,” I said slowly, glancing at them all quickly. Most of them were freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, since the seniors were pretty much in the back of the mob, and they were staring up at me as if I had just offered them food after starving them for weeks.

Before any of them could say anything, the chauffeur got out of the front of the limo and quickly went over to the back of the limo, opening the door quickly. Only a second later, Mr. Higginson emerged from the limo. My eyes widened, and I jumped back as far as I could, knocking into a sophomore. But I didn’t even care. I had to get away, and I had to get away right then before he saw me.

“Are you okay?” River asked, squeezing my hand tightly. “What’s wrong, Delilah?”

“Y--you don’t s--see?” I stuttered, shaking slightly. “It’s M--Mr. Higginson!”

River’s eyebrow furrowed, and he looked back toward the limo in confusion. He looked between the limo and me for a few moments before letting out a sigh.

“That isn’t Higginson, Delilah,” he said soothingly, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. “You’re seeing things again.”

I blinked, not expecting him to say this. I should have known that it was just a hallucination and that I wasn’t actually seeing him. I had had so many hallucinations that I should have been used to it by now, but I wasn’t. I didn’t think I would ever get used to it.

I let out a long breath, looking back over at the limo to see a beautiful girl with long black hair bouncily step out, looking around. She looked like she was a little younger than me, but I couldn’t have been sure. I didn’t have any idea who she was, but she didn’t seem to be the one that everyone was waiting for.

Once this girl was out of the way, another person stepped out of the limo. The girls in the mob screamed once they saw this person, and my eyes went wide. What we he doing here?

“It’s Jay Harris! I can’t believe it! It’s really Jay Harris!” some of the girls shouted from behind me, almost blasting out my ear drums. Jay Harris, the Jay Harris, was actually at our school? What was the world’s most popular singer and actor doing at our--

Wait. This was a performing arts school! It shouldn’t have been a surprise that he was here!

I was suddenly pushed forward as the girls behind me tried to get closer, and I found my hand being torn away from River’s as I fell forward.

Before I could fall face first into the ground, I felt arms wrap around my waist to catch me, and my face collided into a rock-hard chest. I knew that this person wasn’t River, since he was behind me, so I panicked for a few seconds as I tried to think of the best way to see who it was.

It wasn’t like it was Mr. Higginson that had caught me, I knew that it couldn’t have been, but there was always a possibility in my mind. Mr. Higginson was always going to be on my mind, no matter what I did, and I couldn’t help but feel like that was what he had intended.

“You must be a clumsy girl,” the person that had caught me said, and I found my eyes widening when I noticed that the voice was familiar. The only difference about it was that it wasn’t singing.

I ripped away from him, my cheeks bright red. “S--sorry!” I cried, taking a step back. What a nice first impression I just had with Jay Harris! He was probably going to think that I was some stupid idiot now! Ugh, just my luck!

I felt River’s grasp on my arm, pulling me to him when Jay looked me up and down curiously. “Are you alright?” he asked, steadying me slightly. “You okay?”

I nodded, blinking slightly. “I--I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

River looked at me like he didn’t believe me, but quickly let it go. I turned away from Jay and the girl with the black hair that had gotten out of the limo before him, and I made my way back toward the school when Headmistress Pease made her way over to greet them.

River followed after me, and I felt a lot better after we had gotten away from all those people. After thinking that I had seen Mr. Higginson and falling face first into Jay Harris’s chest in front of everyone, I was suddenly very tired. I didn’t want to have to go to class, but I knew that I had to.

“Delilah!” Alice cried, coming up to me with Seth and Rex behind her. “Can you believe it? Jay Harris is actually here, at this school! Headmistress Pease told us that he was going to be attending here now! Isn’t that awesome? We’re going to have an actual celebrity here!”

I nodded, still trying to recover. I had gotten over the fact that I had been pushed into Jay Harris, that wasn’t even that big of a deal since it wasn’t even my fault, but I found it hard to forget that I saw Mr. Higginson. Even if it was only my mind playing tricks on me, I couldn’t help it. This time it seemed to be a lot more realistic than usual.

“Delilah!” I heard, almost causing me to jump out of my skin. My four friends and I turned to see a smiling Headmistress Pease, Jay Harris and the girl with black hair along with her. I blinked, not knowing what I was supposed to say.

That seemed to happen a lot.

“Um… Hi, Headmistress Pease,” I said, looking between the three of them. The mob was obviously left outside, but there were a few kids that were inside the halls that were staring. “Is there something you need?”

“You’re friends with these two new boys, right?” she asked, gesturing to Seth and Rex. I nodded, glancing at them quickly. What did Seth and Rex have to do with anything?

“Yeah, they’re my best friends,” I informed her, blinking as I did so. I could see Jay smirk from behind her, confusing me a little. Why was he smirking at me?

“Well, since you’re showing them around, I was wondering if you could show them around as well. It was be very helpful if you did,” she smiled hopefully, sounding like she was out of options.

I blinked. “Um… Sure, Headmistress Pease.”

She smiled brightly at me. “Thank you, Delilah! As I thought, I knew I could come to you!”

She turned away then, making her way toward her office. I turned to Jay and the girl that was with him, still not knowing who she was, and I smiled. “Um… hi.”

“You’re going to show four kids around?” Rex asked in an amused voice from behind me, causing me to look back at him and give me a flat look.

“Yeah, but Alice and River are going to help me,” I said, cocking my head to the side a little in the direction of my boyfriend and good friend. I was informed by Rex, as he tried to act all serious and tough, that I wasn’t allowed to call River my fiancé in school. Even though I wasn’t planning on following his stupid rule that he had obviously been joking about, I decided on it anyway.

No one at the school besides Rex, Seth, and Alice knew that River and I were engaged. And saying fiancé while you’re in high school just sounds weird, and I was sure that people would probably think I was pregnant if they found out. I was going to call River my boyfriend out loud, but then fiancé to myself. There was no harm in that.

“River?” the black haired girl asked almost urgently. “Your name’s River?”

“Give it a rest, Kendra,” Jay said, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re never going to find him. Besides, he looks nothing like he did.”

“Shut up, Jay!” the girl named Kendra glared for a second, but then turned toward River. “Your name’s River?” she asked again, looking hopeful and excited at the same time. Why did she care about my boyfriend, fiancé, so much? What was so special about knowing his name?

River nodded. “Yeah… My name’s River.”

“What’s your last name?”

What was this, twenty questions? Why did she care so much?

“… Daniels.”

Kendra’s eyes went wide, and Jay even looked surprised. Kendra then started squealing, and she wrapped her arms around River’s neck and squeezed tightly. “It’s you! It’s actually you! I found you at last!”

… What?

I immediately felt a horrible feeling in my chest, but I didn’t know what it was. I hadn’t even felt it before, but it made me want to pull Kendra’s hair to get her away from my fiancé. I hated whatever this sinking feeling that I was having was, and I just wanted it to go away.

“Um…” River blinked, pulling away from the girl. “Sorry… but… who are you?”

Kendra didn’t even seem bothered by the fact that River had no idea who she was. But it did make me feel better, though. Maybe she had the wrong guy? But I had never heard of someone else with the name River, let alone the name River Daniels.

“It’s me, it’s Kendra!” she smiled brightly. “Remember? Kendra Harris! Your fiancée!”

“What?” I snapped, my eyebrows furrowing immediately. Alice stood next to me, her jaw dropped so low that I thought it could hit the floor, and Rex was almost the same way. Seth looked surprised, but I knew he was too “cool” to show his emotions in front of people he barely knew.

Kendra didn’t even seem fazed by my bloodthirsty expression or the shocked ones of my three friends that stood behind me, because she only giggled. “Ha-ha, yeah! River and I planned on getting married!”

I turned slightly toward my supposed fiancé, but all I saw on his face was shock and confusion. How did he not know what was going on? Who the hell was this girl? 

Since her last name was Harris, I was assuming that she was related to Jay, probably her sister. But that didn’t matter at all right then. All that mattered was why she was saying my fiancé was hers!

“Jeez, Kendra,” Jay said, placing a hand on his sister’s shoulder and yanking her back. She let out a squeak, but didn’t remove herself from his grasp. “You’re confusing them. And the Delilah girl looks like she’s about to rip your face off.”

I felt my face turn red, and I looked at the ground quickly. I hadn’t meant to make any faces or anything, but it seemed that I was anyway. But could you blame me? She had hugged my fiancé and called him her own!

Kendra blinked, looking between River and me. “I’m sorry… Is there something going on between you two or something?”

“We’re getting married!” I blurted before I could stop myself, and I bit my tongue after I had done so. There goes not letting anyone know. I was just glad that everyone had now left to go to class, and now it was only us that were in the hall. I was sure that it would be fine if we were late, since we were escorting four new students to their classrooms.

I found myself hoping that I had every class with Rex, Seth, and River, just like I had when we were at Bentwood. That would be a miracle if that happened, but it was possible, wasn’t it? I already knew that I had a few classes with Alice, but not all of them.

“What, are you pregnant?” Jay asked with an amused smirk, his head cocking to the side slightly.

“What?” Rex and I cried out simultaneously, which confused me a little. I shouldn’t have been confused, since it was just like Rex to do something like that.

“I’m not pregnant! No way!”

“Then why are you getting married?” Jay asked again, his head cocking to the side even more.

“Because we love each other!” I informed him in my duh voice, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. Why else would we get married, especially if we were in high school? If I wasn’t pregnant, what else would we get married for besides love?

“Married?” Kendra asked in disbelief, her mouth going agape. “But… but River and I--”

“That was ten years ago, Kendra,” Jay sighed, shaking his head at his sister, his hand still on her shoulder. “Did you really not expect him to find someone else?”

Kendra’s eyes filled with tears, and she shook her head, ripping away from her brother’s grasp. “It’s all you fault!” she accused, spinning on him and poking him in the chest. “If you didn’t want to become and stupid actor and singer, we wouldn’t have had to move and I would still be with him! But no, Mom and Dad always have to give you what you want, so we moved and you got famous while I got nothing!”

I tried to put the pieces together in my head, but I just couldn’t. River looked as confused as the rest of us did, so I wondered if it was even the same River that she was talking about. He didn’t even seem to remember her at all, which was a good thing.

Jay rolled his eyes, patting his sister on the top of her head. “Calm down,” he said, but he said it kind of uncaringly. I would think he would be a little nicer to her. “It’s not that big of a deal. You two promised to marry each other when he was eight and you were six. I can’t believe you thought he’d keep the promise. He doesn’t even seem to remember anything about it at all.”

Kendra spun around, placing her hands on River’s chest. “You remember, don’t you? Right? I remember! Your hair was a different color, it was brown, but your eyes are the same! They’re still blue! But you have to remember, right? We were at the park, and I was getting picked on and you saved me from the kids that were making fun of me. You said that you’d always protect me and that we’d get married! Remember?”

I felt that sinking, sickening feeling in my chest again, and I wanted to yank her away from him. What was this stupid feeling I was getting?

River’s eyes widened slightly, as if he remembered. I felt my heart sink into my stomach, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do if he somehow left me for her.

“I’m sorry, Kendra,” River apologized, removing her hands from his chest and grabbing onto my wrist in a matter of seconds, pulling me to his chest. “I’m in love with Delilah.”

Kendra looked between the two of us, and she sniffed. Tears then started rolling down her face and she ran in the opposite direction, letting her sobs run free.

Jay let out a breath, turning away and starting off in the direction his sister had gone. I only stood there, still in River’s arms, thinking about what had just happened.

As it all processed through my mind, I couldn’t believe that it had actually happened. It all happened to fast and suddenly, like a dream, and I couldn’t believe that River actually had someone that loved him before Bekka, not that Bekka loved him or anything.

“River’s more of a ladies man than we thought!” Rex finally called out, breaking the silence. I turned to glare at him, and he grinned sheepishly at me. “Sorry, Deli Sandwich…”

I hadn’t had a boyfriend before River besides Avery, and no one else showed me any interest until him. Seth had, but we didn’t get together or anything, besides the fake relationship that we had just to get Marnie jealous. But not only had River had Bekka, he also had Kendra, the sister to someone whose face was all across the world for being the hottest, youngest, most talented person on this planet.

How was I any competition for that? Kendra was beautiful, and Bekka was as well. Their beauty surpassed my own, along with Alice and Marnie as well. But even though River had had Bekka, and he was able to get Kendra back right then, he chose me. Boring, old me that didn’t have anything special about her.

Bekka and Kendra didn’t almost get him killed, and yet he still chose me. Why did he pick the girl that was less attractive and put him in danger? Sure, he told me I was beautiful all the time, but I would never think I was as pretty as Bekka or Kendra. It just wasn’t possible.

Why was I the one that River picked? Why was I blessed with being with someone like him, when he could have someone as beautiful as Kendra? I just didn’t understand it.

I never asked myself this question, but now I couldn’t help but wonder.

Why did River love me?

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Two new characters! :D Yay? Do you like them? :)

... I'm so glad the school year's almost over. :S Once summer starts, all my problems will be gone. >.<

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D