I was kind of surprised that there wasn’t anyone around. Everyone was probably in their dorms, since it was almost like a ghost town in the hallway.

“This place is so much bigger than Eden! I’m so jealous!” Marnie announced, her voice echoing off the walls as we made our way through the school to get to River’s dorm. “And not to mention you guys have Jay Harris attending school and living here! Man, why can’t I have a special talent?”

“Hey, Rex got in,” Alice informed her with a shrug. “So it’s not that hard to get in, apparently.”

Marnie looked at Alice with a grin. “The way you talk about your boyfriend is just hilarious. I know that you guys love each other, but you sure don’t talk like you do.”

Alice shrugged once again. “Eh, it’s different for us, I guess. With you and Seth, it’s obvious that you guys are going out and love each other, but it’s obvious that you like to keep things private. With Delilah and River, it’s so freaking obvious that they’re head over heels in love with each other and that they’re together, especially when it comes to River. Jeez, Delilah, whenever you’re mentioned his mood just gets so much better. And it’s like the whole world pretty much knows that you two are going out.”

I felt my cheeks heat up slightly, but I didn’t say anything as Marnie giggled, “That’s so true! They were on the news, weren’t they?”

At the mention of this, my cheeks entire face turned white, no longer having the warm blush that I kind of missed. River and I had been on the news before, but it was because of Mr. Higginson. River was on the news when he was shot, and then both of us were after Mr. Higginson was caught. I didn’t want to remember that at all.

“Oops,” Marnie blinked, obviously remembering now. “I’m sorry, Delilah! I didn’t mean to! I totally forgot what the reason you guys were on the news for! Sorry!”

I shook my head, waving a hand in front of my face to try to get the color back. “It’s fine,” I sighed, breathing in and out. I hated how easily remembering what had happened could freak me out, but I just had to stay calm and forget. Mr. Higginson was in jail, far away from me. He wasn’t ever going to bother me again. I wasn’t ever going to see him again.

Except in my nightmares and hallucinations. I’d always see him there.

I continued to wonder if Mr. Higginson would ever get out of my mind. With what was going on now, I didn’t think he ever would. He had sort of gotten what he wanted. I was definitely never going to forget, and that was what he wanted. Well, he wanted me for himself more than that, but…

It was just so creepy.

At this time the year before, I was dreading going back to school. I knew what I was going back to, and I knew that he was there waiting for me. It was only a few months after that when I got sent away to Bentwood and met my two best friends, a brotherly figure, and a fiancé.

I couldn’t wait to marry River. That’s all I wanted. I wanted to marry him and finally forget about Mr. Higginson. But was the last part even possible? I didn’t really think it was. How was I ever going to forget what had happened with Mr. Higginson that chilly night in April?

It was August now, and I could still remember what his lips felt like on mine, and it still felt like I was trapped in his van whenever I closed my eyes. All those pictures of me… My favorite sweater that I never even got back…

I didn’t realize that I was shaking until Marnie stopped walking and grabbed my arm. “Are you alright, Delilah?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “You’re shaking…”

Alice stopped walking as well now, and she turned toward me. “Are you thinking about that bastard again?”

“It’s kind of hard not to,” I told her, crossing my arms over my stomach as I let out a shaky breath, closing my eyes. I felt my eyes moisten. Scolding myself in my mind, I told myself that I couldn’t cry. If I showed up to River’s dorm with tears down my face, I was just going to worry him. And I definitely didn’t want that.

“It’s alright,” Marnie smiled slightly, patting my shoulder reassuringly. “He’s not going to hurt you… He can’t hurt you anymore…”

“I know,” I breathed, shaking my head. “I know he can’t hurt me anymore, and yet… I’m still so terrified. Every time I close my eyes, I’m either in his van that's covered with thousands of pictures of me, or I’m in the house of mirrors with him in every mirror, or I feel the cold of the wind that hit me when I fell from the second floor…”

Alice now put her hand on my shoulder, smiling as well. “You’re safe,” she told me. “He’s in jail, and you’re safe. He can’t do anything to you now, and he’ll be in jail for the rest of his life. You just have to remember that everything you see or hear about him is fake. He’s not really here.”

I nodded, letting out a shaky breath. “Thanks, you guys.”

They both smiled and said in unison, “No problem.”   

We continued on walking, but as we were passing toward the entrance of the school, we were stopped by a familiar girl with black hair. I felt my stomach drop when I saw her coming closer, and all I wanted to do was go crawl into a hole. I didn’t want to be anywhere near her.

Alice glared at the girl who stood before us while Marnie looked confused, since she didn’t know who she was and everything, and I looked absolutely terrified. I wasn’t good with confrontations. I had never been good with them. The only person I had ever really confronted was Arianna, but I was so fed up with her that I didn’t even care anymore. She deserved that slap to the face, anyway.

“Is there something you need?” Alice demanded, crossing her arms over her chest as she stepped in front of me. I didn’t really understand why she was acting so angry, but then I realized that she was only defended me. Wow. Alice really was a good friend.

Even though she had absolutely no idea who she was, Marnie stepped in front of me as well, crossing her arms over her chest just like Alice. Even though Marnie was beautiful and kind of small, she could definitely look tough when she wanted to. And it was the same with Alice. Even though she looked like the kind of girl that you didn’t want to mess with, she could look innocent and kind if she wanted. But not right then. Right then she looked like she was going to pounce.

“I want to talk to… uh… Is Delilah your name?” Kendra asked me, ignoring the two girls that stood in front of me and blocked me from her. She didn’t even remember my name? Are you serious? How could she have not remembered my name? I remembered hers!

“Yeah, my name’s Delilah,” I told her, trying my best to sound tough. I hoped more than anything that it sounded believable, but it never really worked before. “What do you want?”

Kendra rubbed at her eyes, obviously still upset. I really hoped she wasn’t trying to make me feel guilty, because it wasn’t working. I wasn’t about to feel guilty for her anytime soon. Even if what happened (if anything even did happen) between her and River was ten years ago, I couldn’t help but feel jealous.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, continuing to rub her eyes as the three of us stared at her, completely stunned. “I didn’t know that you were engaged to River… I just thought--I just thought…”

Oh, no. Now she’s going to start crying! I was never good around people who cried… I’d always break down and forgive them. I’m too nice!

My face softened at first, but a quick poke to my side from Alice put me back to where I was before. Kendra wasn’t going to make me feel bad for her. River was my fiancé, not hers. There was nothing she could do about that. It wasn’t my fault that she moved when she was little. And it wasn’t River’s fault either.

“Don’t get all teary with us,” Alice snapped, her eyes narrowing. “You’re not getting any sympathy from us.”

I still didn’t think that we had to be so harsh on her. They were kids when the promised to marry each other, and it was before I even met him. And it wasn’t like she had kissed him or anything when she had seen him earlier that day. I was just… ugh, jealous.

“I’m sorry,” Kendra apologized again, and I didn’t know if it was for what had happened earlier that day or for crying. I didn’t feel like thinking about it as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. “I didn’t even think that River would find someone else… I’ve been searching for him for ten years.”

“Again,” Alice snapped, giving her a sharp look, “no sympathy.”

Kendra nodded, removing her hands from her face. “Right, right… Sorry again…”

I didn’t say anything, and an awkward silence filled the air. Another awkward silence, huh? Why wasn’t I surprised? I was the queen of awkwardness, wasn’t I? No matter where I was or who I was with, there would always be an awkward silence. I was a pro when it came to awkward silences.

“It’s just that… River was my only friend when we were little. I got picked on a lot, and my brother was always the one that started it… He was always so much more popular than me, and he got everyone to make fun of me…”

I thought I heard Alice growl. “No sympathy!”

“… But River helped me whenever anyone called me names or said I was ugly,” Kendra continued, completely ignoring Alice, who looked like she was going to explode. Was that steam coming from her ears? “So when he said he’d always be there to protect me, I believed him. When he said he wanted to marry me, I believed him. I can’t believe I was so stupid… I should have known I was going to get my heart broken…”

“You were six,” I snapped, shaking my head and pushing my way through Marnie and Alice. “And how could you complain? You’re beautiful and could have any guy you want. Sure, I’ve had other guys… interested in me before, but… not like River. No one’s ever loved me like he does.”

Kendra’s eyes were glassy as she stared at me, as if she had realized something. “You’re… Oh, my gosh! You’re Delilah Shafer, aren’t you?”

I blinked, not expecting this to come out of her mouth. I thought she was going to cry and whine so more, but now she was staring at me with wide eyes, scaring me just a little. What was with that look?

I only nodded my head, not knowing what else I was supposed to do. How did she know my name? Sure, I had been on the news a few times because of Mr. Higginson, but…

“I saw you on the news!” she cried, a hand shooting up to cover her mouth. “You were… Oh, I can’t even imagine what you’ve must have gone through with that John Higginson guy!”

I blinked, not knowing if I should speak or not. So she did see me on the news? And she felt bad for me? I definitely didn’t see that coming. I didn’t think people like her watched the news…

“What grade are you in?” Alice asked Kendra abruptly, ignoring what she had said to me about Mr. Higginson. But I definitely couldn’t ignore it. I couldn’t ignore anything when it came to Mr. Higginson.

“I’m a junior,” she answered with a wave of her hand. Her tears had now gone away, but it was still obvious that she had been crying. “And River’s a senior, right? That’s really too bad…”

“No it’s not,” Alice snapped, her hands now moving to her hips. “Because, even if he was a junior, you have no chance with him whatsoever. He is engaged to this girl right here!” She hooked her arm around my shoulder, pulling me in slightly as she poked me with her other hand.

Kendra shook her head. “I’m sorry, but…” she looked up at us, her eyes now dark. “River belongs to me.”

My eyes widened slightly, a little shocked at how she had changed so quickly. How did she go from being an innocent and crying girl to someone who looked like they wanted to rip my head off?

She then started giggling, so much that she had to cover her mouth. “I’m just kidding!” she teased, waving her hand in front of her face once she got control of herself. “It’s been ten years! I should have known that River wasn’t going to wait for me… Besides, you’re a very pretty girl, Delilah!”

I had never been called pretty by another girl before, besides Julie, Alice, or Marnie. But they didn’t count, because they were my best friends. But Kendra was a girl that seemed to be a rival, so I didn’t know if I could really trust her or not. You don’t call your rivals pretty, do you? Unless you want to mess with their heads… Right?

Alice still looked unconvinced, and Marnie looked like she had no idea what was going on. She didn’t even know who Kendra was, but I was sure that she realized that it was the girl that I had been jealous of. Jeez, I hated being jealous. It was just so stupid. I couldn’t believe this was what River had felt anytime a guy ever hit on me or something. It sucked.

“So, where are we going?” Kendra giggled once again, coming closer to us.

“We?” Alice scoffed, stepping back and pulling me with her. Marnie quickly followed. “We aren’t going anywhere. Delilah, Marnie, and I are going to go visit River. You’re going to go and jump off a cliff or something.”

“Alice,” I hissed, giving her a look. “Don’t.”

She rolled her eyes, letting go of me. “Whatever.”

Alice obviously didn’t trust Kendra, and Marnie obviously had no idea what to think, but I didn’t know how I felt. She seemed like she was coping with the fact that River wasn’t going to marry her, but she seemed like such a sweet person as well.

Before any of us could say anything else, we were cut off by giggles. I turned toward the sound of the noise to see that it was three girls, obviously underclassmen.

“Hi!” the blonde in the middle of the other two girls said. She was talking to me, and all I could do was blink. I told you, I’m no good with confrontations, good or bad. “I’m Madison, and these are my two friends Addie and Denise. We were just wondering… Well… We were just wondering if you could sing for us!”

I blinked once more, definitely not expecting this. They wanted me to sing for them? Even if that was the reason I was there, I still hated singing when I didn’t have to. I didn’t even think I had a good voice, but I was obviously wrong, since I was at a performing arts school.

“Please!” the brunette named Addie begged. “Everyone said your voice is amazing! We really, really want to hear it! Please? I’m sure you sound amazing!”

The black-haired one, Denise was her name, smiled up at me as if I was a goddess. I definitely wasn’t used to this kind of treatment, and I wondered if I ever would be. I was so used to being just the friend of the popular girl, but never the actual popular girl.

Arianna used to bask in the glory of being popular, but I would just hide behind her and let her do whatever she wanted. But after what she had done to me, I was done letting her do whatever the heck she wanted. If I still went to school with her, there was no way that she’d be the most popular girl now.

I really didn’t want to sing, but then I didn’t want to be rude to these girls. What was I supposed to do? The last time I was forced to sing, I had been made a part of some plan that my old music teacher came up with, and it got me sent here. Even though I loved Arkwright, nothing was ever going to beat Bentwood in my heart.

… Even if it was a school for delinquents…

“Um, well…” I said, looking at Alice and Marnie for help. They looked away, obviously not going to do anything. If I didn’t know what to do, they definitely weren’t going to know what to do, either. “Well… how about you swing by Mrs. Davis’s room after school tomorrow? I’ll be happy to sing for you then, when I’m all warmed up…”

Mrs. Davis was my new music teacher, and I had her for the last period of the day, just like I had had with Mrs. Vierra at Bentwood. She hadn’t made me sing yet, but I was sure that it was a matter of time. She’d probably make me sing the next day… Even though I really didn’t want to.

Their eyes shined as they continued to look up at me adoringly. Okay… a little creepy… “Alright!”

They ran off then, giggling like there was no tomorrow. I didn’t get how they could be so excited about only hearing me sing. It wasn’t that special…

I then noticed that Kendra was staring behind me with wide eyes, and it freaked me out for a moment. Who was behind me? Mr. Higginson? River? Some freak? Who could it be?

I spun around and let out a shriek when I ran into someone’s chest. I stepped back in surprise, and my eyes widened when I saw who now stood before me.

“Still as jumping as always, eh, Delilah?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying my best to catch my breath, and I believed that I was failing. “Aren’t you supposed to be at Bentwood?”

Gabe grinned at me, reaching over and ruffling my hair. “We just got out. I decided that I’d visit you, even though I just saw you yesterday…”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Well, alright then. How’s Anna?”

“We broke up.”

I blinked, not expecting this. Anna had been the girl at the movies behind the counter when Gabe and I went on our fake date. After summer started, they bumped into each other and started dating. They were completely inseparable, so why did they break up?

“Why?” I asked, almost choking on my own spit.

Gabe shrugged, placing his hands in his pockets. “Honestly, I don’t even know myself. I’m sure we’ll be back together in no time, though… I’m not worried.”

I gulped. “Are you sure?”

Gabe removed one of his hands from his pocket, waving it in front of his face. “Yep.”

I nodded, not sure if I believed him. He was head over heels for Anna, and I could tell he was upset. Gabe and I had a great relationship now, and he was just like a brother. It seemed like I had grown up with him all my life, just like how it felt with Jake, since he was my actual brother and everything.

“Well, where are you going?” Gabe asked, looking around. He then noticed Kendra, who was still staring at him with wide eyes. He looked at her for a moment in confusion, but then turned back toward me, waiting for me to answer his question.

“River’s room,” I answered, sounding a lot more confused than I should have.

Gabe only nodded, and an awkward silence filled the room once again. Even though Gabe and River were friends now, I knew that it was always going to be a little awkward between them. After what Gabe had done to me, and after River beat the crap out of him, I didn’t really blame them. But they were still friends, which was a very good thing. I didn’t want my friend that was like a brother to me and my fiancé to hate each other.

“You’re cute,” Kendra suddenly blurted, still staring at Gabe with her wide blue eyes. She didn’t even seem bothered by the fact that she had just totally blurted what she felt right then. I didn’t even think that she cared that she just called Gabe cute.

Gabe was cute, I could tell you that, but nothing compared to River. I had always thought that he had been cute, but I never felt any romantic feelings for him. He had annoyed me almost every single day when I had attended Bentwood, and he thought that he could have gotten away with it since his father was the headmaster.

An awkward silence filled the hall once again, and none of us knew what to say. Gabe was obviously not used to being called cute, because he only stood there and stared at her for a moment.

“Well,” I coughed, not knowing what to say. “Should we go?”

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend, Delilah?” Kendra giggled in an annoying way, ignoring that I was trying to escape.

I stared at her flatly, not believing she was making me do this. Couldn’t she say her own dam name? “This is Kendra Harris, sister of Jay Harris,” I said, so flatly that I thought I sounded like a robot as I gestured to her lazily with my hands. “And this is Gabe Russo, son of Timothy Russo, headmaster of Bentwood Institute for Boys, which is right now the street.”

“Wow, nice introduction, Delilah,” Alice commented, smirking. I rolled my eyes, ignoring her.

“Well, then, let’s go,” I clapped quickly, motioning the way to River’s dorm room. “Let’s go! I’ll see you later, Kendra!”

“What?” she asked, sounding confused. “I’m coming with you!”

This girl just couldn’t take a hint, could she?

Where was Jay? Couldn’t he take his sister off our hands or something? Did she not understand that we didn’t want her anywhere near us? Yeah, she seemed sweet and kind, and even ditzy, but there was just something about her that I didn’t like, but I didn’t even know what it was.

Oh, yeah I did.

She said she was engaged to my fiancé!

She seemed like a complete ditz, but I couldn’t really complain about that. I was a complete ditz, too, so I couldn’t just judge her because of that. But she was annoying, too.

“Kendra, why don’t you show Gabe around the school?” I asked, sacrificing one of us just to get her away. Gabe looked at me like I was crazy, but when he saw the desperate look on my face, it quickly melted away. Even after everything that had happened between us, Gabe really did care about me.

Something flashed in Kendra’s eyes for a quick second before she smiled happily. Was I the only one that noticed that? “Alright! Come on, Gabe! Let’s go! I’ll show you my room first!”

She clutched onto his arm, pulling him away from us. Gabe looked back at us, a “help me” look evident on his face. This caused me to giggle, because it was actually pretty funny seeing such a small girl like Kendra pull such a big guy like Gabe away.

“Well, finally,” Alice grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. “I didn’t think she would ever leave. Man, she was just trying to get us to all feel bad for her! I don’t trust her… That chick is up to no good! No good!”

I didn’t really know if I agreed with her or not, but I guessed that I should have. There was no way that we could trust Kendra. I didn’t even think that we could trust Jay. There seemed to be something about him, too… And I didn’t like it. Not at all.

What happened to this year being the perfect year? Hadn’t Mr. Higginson and Arianna already ruin my high school experience. Lowering my self-esteem, scaring the crap out of me, and then getting me sent all the way across the country to an all-boys school for delinquents wasn’t enough?

It sure seemed like it wasn’t.

Alice grabbed onto my wrist, pulling me away into the direction of River’s dorm. He was all that I really needed right then. I just wanted to be in my fiancé’s arms, where I knew that I would always be safe no matter what happened. He had saved me once, he could save me again.

Now, off to those tambourines… 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gaaaabe! :D

I just... love Gabe. I don't even know why.

I want to thank you all so much for sticking up for me. <3 It means so much!

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D