I shouldn’t have been surprise that someone was listening in. It was just my luck. But at least it was one of my friends and not some nosy blabbermouth like Colin Bay, a boy from Bentwood. He had been the one that told everyone that Seth and I were going out, even though we actually weren’t.

And I was definitely glad that it wasn’t River. If River had heard… Jay would have been dead. I didn’t know how good of a fighter Jay was, but River was pretty good and he’d have Rex and Seth on his side as well. And Seth had killed three people before…

Even if I didn’t like Jay, I still didn’t want him to die or anything. Death was horrible.

As I stood there frozen, trying to think, I realized that there were many things I could do at that moment.

I could have feigned ignorance, or just acted plain dumb. But I knew that that wasn’t going to work with Marnie. She may not look like it, but she was definitely smarter than me.

Marnie had heard everything. It was too late to go back now, no matter how much I wanted to.

Stupid Jay Harris. Why did he have to act like such a jerk? Hadn’t I had enough problems in my life so far? I definitely thought I did. Couldn’t I just have a break for once? I just wanted marry River and go on with my life! But why did something bad have to happen all the time?

Her voice almost made me jump. “Delilah?”

“You didn’t hear that!”

“Yeah, I did,” Marnie blinked, looking like she was trying to process what she had just heard. I really hope she didn’t tell River… Even if I hadn’t done anything wrong, River would have beat the crap out of Jay, and that was the last thing that we needed right then. “Jay Harris just confessed his love to you!”

“It wasn’t love!”

“But still!” Marnie giggled, grabbing onto my shoulders and shaking me a little. “One of the most famous people on this planet just confessed his love to you! Why aren’t you excited? It’s amazing! It’s Jay Harris! How can you not be excited?”

“Because I’m engaged and in love with River,” I told her sternly, removing her hands from my shoulders. “And I highly doubt Jay Harris wants a serious relationship with anyone, even me. I’ve never thought he was that great anyway, so I don’t really care. I love River.”

“But if you weren’t with River, would you go out with Jay?” Marnie inquired, an eyebrow rising.

“Probably not,” I answered, shaking my head as I did so. “I told you, I never thought he was that great or anything. I don’t get what people see in that guy. He’s just an arrogant egomaniac.”

“Alright, whatever you say. I just thought it was exciting… I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” Marnie shrugged, pulling her bag onto her shoulder a little more.

But before she could say anything else, an annoying voice cut her off, “Delilah, Marnie! Hi!”

Oh, come on.

“Hi, Kendra,” both Marnie and I said flatly in unison, turning toward the annoying girl, even though we really didn’t want to.

Kendra giggled. “Hi! What are you two doing out here when it’s your lunchtime? And I thought you go to Eden, Marnie…”

I didn’t want her to know that I had been talking to her brother, who had just confessed that he liked me. I didn’t want her knowing anything, because then she would probably go blab it to River and everyone else. And I definitely wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Bathroom,” I excused, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I’m visiting,” Marnie explained with a nod, pulling on the strap of her bag a little.

Kendra nodded, smiling brightly. “Oh, okay! I’m going to the bathroom, too!”

Marnie and I nodded before she turned toward me. “Oh, yeah! Eden wasn’t the only one with a short day today, Bentwood was also! Look who I brought along! They were in the office to get visiting slips, but they should be out any--”

When I felt arms wrap around my shoulders, I almost jumped, but this person was familiar. I rolled my eyes as Gabe squeezed me tighter, and I knew that he was just mocking Rex.

“Okay, idiot, you can let go of me.”

“But I haven’t seen you in forever!” he cried, sounding almost exactly like Rex. It was almost scary how good he was… How did he do it that well? It was kind of creepy… “I’ve missed you, Delilah!”

A swift smack to the back of his head made him let go, and he smirked back at the person that had hit him. My eyes widened when I saw Mr. Ridgeway, Ms. Vierra smiling brightly from behind him.

“Mr. Ridgeway, Ms. Vierra!” I cried out in surprised, a smile breaking out onto my face as I had done so. “I haven’t seen you guys in so long! I was going to visit you, but I haven’t have time yet… It’s been so long, I’ve missed you guys so much!”

“Who’s the one that sounds like Rex now?” Gabe muttered in amusement as he leaned closer to me and away from Kendra.

“Shut up,” I laughed, elbowing him in the stomach quickly before hugging both Mr. Ridgeway and Ms. Vierra tightly. They were engaged, just like River and me, but they could have gotten married whenever they wanted. I guessed that River and I could have done that, too, but we had to get through high school. I really just wanted to marry him already.

“Is today, like, hit Gabe day or something?” he asked, rubbing his side.

I ignored him, smiling up at my two old teachers. Usually you wouldn’t want to see your old teachers, right? But they were way more like friends than they were teachers. And I had missed them a lot. They were definitely the best teachers I had ever had.

And the worst?

Well, you could figure that out on your own pretty easily.

I had forgotten that Kendra was there for a moment, but when I did, I felt my stomach drop. She had a class to be in, didn’t she? Why was she still here? Didn’t she have to go to the bathroom or something? Couldn’t she just leave me alone for once?

“Hi, Gabe!” she cried, clutching onto his arm. “I haven’t seen you in weeks!”

It made me chuckle, because every time Gabe had come to visit, he had made sure to stay clear of Kendra. If he heard her voice or saw that she was coming, he would run and hide. He even hid in a janitor’s closet for like an hour while she was right outside it, talking to Rex, who was leaning against the door until the cost was clear.

That girl did not know when she was not wanted.

No wonder she didn’t have any friends when she was little, she was insane!

“How’s school?” Mr. Ridgeway asked me, giving the black haired girl next to me a small glance.

“Fine,” I shrugged, glancing at Marnie and giving her a look that told her not to say anything. She had said that she wasn’t going to tell anyone, but she had the tendency of letting things slip at times. She smiled sheepishly at me, slipping away from the group and toward the cafeteria.

“I’ll just tell everyone that you’re out here visiting,” Marnie informed me, still looking sheepish as she slipped through the cafeteria doors.

Of course she was leaving me with Kendra. I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Alice would have told Kendra to go away. Ugh, where was Alice when I needed her?

Oh, yeah. Eating crème brûlée with our friends in the cafeteria.

Where I wished I could have been.

“Kendra, don’t you have class?” I asked, hoping she would get the hint. She obviously didn’t, because she only snuggled into Gabe’s arm even more, much to his dislike.

“Yeah, but I’d much rather ditch and spend time with Gabey!”

Gabey?

Oh, man. Now that’s priceless.

“Go back to class, Kendra,” I told her, trying not to smile from the nickname she had given my friend. “I don’t want you missing anything important. Neither does Gabe. Right, Gabe?”

“Yeah,” he blurted.

Kendra sighed, dropping his arm. “Okay. Bye, Delilah. Bye, Gabey!”

She skipped away then, and no one said anything until we heard a classroom door shut.

“Gabey?” Mr. Ridgeway asking, sounding amused.

I couldn’t help myself anymore. I burst out laughing so hard that I had to grab my stomach because it hurt so much. That nickname was just too funny!

Gabe scowled, only causing me to laugh harder. “That girl is so annoying.”

“I know, right?” I asked between laughs.

“We came because we wanted to give you these,” Ms. Vierra giggled excitedly once I had finally stopped laughing, pushing pieces of paper into my hands. I looked down at the wedding invitations and smiled brightly. Ms. Vierra looked like she was about to burst from all her excitement, but that wasn’t surprising. She was always so excited over little things, so I was sure she was just going crazy over this.

“You guys finally picked a date?” I exclaimed, my smile widening even more. I had been waiting for this ever since River had told me that they were engaged. I couldn’t wait for their wedding. Their engagement kind of came as a shock for me, but still. “That’s great! I can’t wait! These are invitations for Seth, Rex, River, Alice, and me, right? Did you already get one, Gabe?”

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

“I can’t wait!”

“We also came because I wanted to hear you sing again,” Ms. Vierra giggled, clutching onto Mr. Ridgeway’s arm. “What period do you have music?”

“Last period,” I informed her with a nod. It made me wish that we were in seventh period now. Even though I used to dread singing in front of Ms. Vierra, or anyone, for that matter, I really wanted to. She was the one that had gotten me into singing, and she was the one that had gotten me into Arkwright, even though she tricked me into doing it. “There’s only one more period until then, so it won’t be that long of a wait, I guess.”

I had sung for so many people, I was starting to get out of the habit of being scared. And I was glad for that, since it was a good thing. I hated having stage fright.

“It’s okay, we’ll wait!” Ms. Vierra giggled, ignoring Mr. Ridgeway and Gabe’s protests.

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

“Cynthia!” Ms. Vierra cried, hugging Mrs. Davis tightly. “It’s been so long! I haven’t seen you since college! You’ve gotten married! How have you been?”

“I’ve been great!” Mrs. Davis giggled. “But what about you? I heard you’re the one getting married now! Is this the lucky guy right here?” She turned toward Mr. Ridgeway, extending her hand and introducing herself. He introduced himself right back, and the rest of the class just sat there and waited for them to finish the exchange.

River, Rex, and Seth were all in this class with me, but unfortunately Jay was as well. A bunch of girls were glaring at Marnie because she was so close to Seth. Yeah, Seth was attractive and everything, but I didn’t think he was attractive enough to have pretty much every girl go gaga over him. It was kind of ridiculous.

“Hey, River,” a flirtatious voice said from behind us. I turned to see Trevor, and I tried my best not to glare at him. Mountain said next to him, a sheepish look on his face. I knew he was Trevor’s best friend, but I knew that he had no idea what he was supposed to do. “Why don’t you and me go and ditch this lame party and go make one of our own?”

I could see River cringe in disgust, and even though I shouldn’t have, I burst out laughing. River had said the same thing to me a few months ago when we were at his family’s country club, but it wasn’t very funny then. But seeing the look on River’s face just made me explode. Ah, so funny…

It seemed like Trevor was joking, but I couldn’t really be sure. River just looked disgusted as he said, “Sorry, Trevor. I’m straight.”

“That can be changed,” Trevor sing-songed, much like how he did the first time.

River scooted his chair up, grabbing mine and doing the same. This caused me to giggle, placing a hand on his knee to calm him down. “That’s so funny…”

“It’s not funny.”

“Yeah, it kind of is.”

River rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from me. “Shouldn’t you be worried? Aren’t you afraid Trevor’s going to steal your man?”

I tapped my chin, pretending to think about it for a moment. “Nope. You said so yourself, you’re straight.”

“Maybe I was lying.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re straight. You’re too good in bed. So unless I’m a guy, you’re straight.”

“Mind if I have a try?” Trevor asked, suddenly in between us. I let out a shriek, pushing myself backwards and almost toppling my chair over. I landed on the ground with a thud, and River was up in a matter of seconds to help me up. I glared at Trevor, who only smirked and sat back down in his seat, Mountain looking almost ashamed.

“Why doesn’t he just go after Seth?” River groaned, running a hand through his hair. I scooted my chair closer to him, wanting to be as close to him as possible. After learning about Kendra and what had happened with Jay, I just wanted to be close to him. “I’m not nearly as good looking as Seth or Rex.”

“Yes you are,” I insisted, shaking my head. “You’re a lot better looking than Seth and Rex, and they’re really handsome, so that’s saying something. You always think so bad of yourself when you don’t have to. You’re amazing, River. Absolutely amazing.”

River shrugged. “Okay.”

I stared at him flatly for a moment, but let him go when I heard my name. “You used to teach Delilah? And Rex, Seth, and River? That’s amazing! Delilah and River are my best students!”

“And a cute couple, too,” Ms. Vierra winked in our direction, causing my cheeks to heat up and for me to move away from River just a tiny bit. I glanced over at Jay quickly, just enough to see the disapproving look on his face. He didn’t look hurt or anything a rejected guy should be feeling, but he did look a little angry. But then again, he looked smug as well. The whole thing made me feel very uncomfortable.

“Delilah, could you sing please?” Mrs. Davis now asked, walking over to the piano. “Show Courtney--I mean, Ms. Vierra, how much you’ve improved!”

I nodded, standing up. I sure hoped Ms. Vierra thought I was good. She was the one that had started everything for me… I really didn’t want to let her down.

“Rex, could you open the door and finally let the kids that want to hear Delilah in please?” Mrs. Davis now asked, turning toward Rex and motioning toward the door. I rolled my eyes and Ms. Vierra looked surprised, along with Mr. Ridgeway and Gabe. Oh, yeah. They didn’t know how popular I had gotten…

When Rex opened the door, he almost got run over but the huge group of kids practically running into the room.

“Rabid fan girls!” he cried. “Run for your life!”

I rolled my eyes once again at my best friend’s childishness, since they weren’t all just girls, and I only stood by the piano and waited for Mrs. Davis to show me the sheet music so I knew what I’d have to sing. She had the habit of just playing and expecting me to know, so I sure hoped that she didn’t do it this time.

I glanced at the sheet music as she showed me, and I nodded at her. This song wasn’t hard at all. It showed off my voice, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as opera, like I usually had sung with Ms. Vierra. Actually, everything I had sung with Ms. Vierra was opera. I hadn’t sung anything else with her.

Mrs. Davis started playing the piano and I swallowed, getting ready. This was the biggest audience I had ever had, besides the night River and I had sun All I Ask of You for our audition to get into this school. I had to admit I was a little nervous, so I didn’t even look into the audience as I sang.

“As long as he needs me,” I sang smoothly. “Oh, yes, he does need me… In spite of what you see, I’m sure that he needs me…”

As Long as He Needs Me was my favorite dong from Oliver!, even though I didn’t really like the musical very much to begin with. I just really liked the song, so Mrs. Davis let me sing it.

As I closed my eyes, I remembered the first time I sang in front of Ms. Vierra, River, Seth, and Rex. Ms. Vierra was the one playing the piano, and there weren’t as many people as there were now. They were all guys, not one girl besides Ms. Vierra and me in the room, and I felt so much more comfortable now. Even though there were so many people in the room, they had all come to watch me.

Nearing the end of the song, I wasn’t scared at all anymore. This was what I was at this school for; I shouldn’t have been nervous. It wasn’t like Ms. Vierra or Mrs. Davis had forced them all to show up. They had waited outside the classroom to be able to hear me sing.

“I’ve got to stay true, just… as long as he needs me!”

The second I finished, the girls in the room started clapping like crazy. I laughed, scratching the back of my head. I didn’t think they’d like it that much… The guys clapped, but definitely nowhere near as enthusiastically as the girls, which I guess was kind of a good thing.

“Delilah!” Ms. Vierra cried, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and squeezing me tightly. “You’ve gotten even better! I’m so happy, I knew this was going to happen! It’s amazing!”

When she finally let go of me, I only shrugged. I still didn’t think I was anything special, but apparently I was. So I could sing, but I didn’t find it that big of a deal. A lot of people could sing, right? River could sing beautifully, but no one was gushing over him.

I looked over at my fiancé to see him smiling at me as girls decided to crowd around me. I suddenly felt like a celebrity as everyone asked me to sing again, as if it was a concert and they were asking for an encore. They were kind of overwhelming, but I guess I was just going to have to get used to it…

Was this how Jay felt whenever he was surrounded? If it was, then I felt kind of bad for--

No. I didn’t feel bad for Jay. Jay was a jerk, an arrogant egomaniac. He wanted me to leave River! There was no way that that was about to happen. Jay thought he could have gone out with anyone he wanted, but he couldn’t because he couldn’t have me. Even though I was supposedly the only girl that he ever “felt this way about”, or whatever. Total crap. He just wanted to get into my pants, I’m sure.

I would never leave River.

Ever.

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

I was whistling to myself quietly as I made my way back to my dorm, my backpack slung over my shoulder. Alice was hanging out with Rex, so I was going to be alone for a while. After being surrounded for at least fifteen minutes in seventh period, I could appreciate the alone and quiet time.

I unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping on something almost immediately. I heard a crumpling sound and stared down at my foot to see a piece of folded paper. I rolled my eyes, tossing my backpack onto the ground and picking the paper up as I closed the door behind me. Alice must have dropped it or something when she was leaving that morning.

I took a soda out of the mini fridge (that Alice had forced the school to let us have in here) and I popped the top, taking a sip. I unfolded the piece of paper, surprised when I saw that it was addressed to me. I continue to drink the soda as I read it.

My darling Delilah,

You’re beautiful. Do you know that? You must know that. Your voice is beautiful, too, but I’m sure you know that as well. I look forward to seeing your beautiful face and beautiful face very soon, and I hope you look forward to seeing me as well. Just why do you have to be so amazing?

                                                                                                                  It’s What You Do to Me, Delilah

My eyes widened, and I immediately dropped the soda onto the carpet, it splattering out of the can everywhere. I didn’t even care; I’d clean it up later.

This had to be a hallucination, right? Some illusion? But why did it feel so real…? I was holding the piece of paper, so it couldn’t have been a figment off my imagination… It had to be real. But it couldn’t have really been… There was no way that…

Mr. Higginson was in jail! Who could have possibly been giving me notes?

It couldn’t have been Mr. Higginson, nothing was the same. Sure, it was written in cursive, but it was completely different and looked nothing like Mr. Higginson’s. And he couldn’t have gotten into the school without anyone knowing… And he didn’t head it like Mr. Higginson did. It wasn’t signed, but there was something at the end of it, which Mr. Higginson never did.

This couldn’t have been him… But then who could it be?

This had to be some kind of prank, right? Like what Gabe had done? That had to be it… A lot of people here knew about what had happened with Mr. Higginson, so there had to be someone like Gabe who just had to terrify me… So it had to just be some jerk that thought that this was funny… Even though it wasn’t funny at all. But who could it have been?

This was just a prank… That was all it was. It was nothing more than a prank.

Just like Gabe had been a prank, this was a prank. There was no point in worrying about it. Mr. Higginson was locked up in jail, far away from me. There was no way he could have gotten out. I was safe in Arkwright. I was safe anywhere. Because Mr. Higginson was locked up.

It couldn’t have been Mr. Higginson.

It was impossible.

Whoever this was must have slid it underneath the door. Mr. Higginson didn’t do that either.

When the door opened, I jumped slightly and shoved the note into my back pocket. I was shaking slightly, not knowing what I was supposed to do. When I saw River I felt better, but it still wasn’t good enough to fully calm me down.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, coming up closer to me. Obviously noticing that I was shaking and the spilled soda, he clutched onto my wrist and pulled me to his chest. “Delilah, what happened?”

“Sp--spider,” I lied, not even meaning to. “I saw a spider. A… huge spider.”

Why didn’t I just tell him the truth? He was my fiancé, I couldn’t lie to him! But I had gotten so use to keeping stalking a secret… But this time it had to be a prank. Maybe some girl that was jealous of my popularity? Or maybe it was some guy that was jealous as well…

River chuckled, kissing the top of my head. I loved it when he did that. “Don’t worry. I don’t see anything, so it’s gone. I’ll protect you from anything.”

I believed him, but… would he protect me from another stalker?

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Happy birthday to me! :D

Sorry this took so long. Dx I’ve been really busy… Hopefully I’ll be able to update more after my birthday and the concert passes. ^o^

Realize that this chapter is very similar to chapter eight of Hey There, Delilah… I did that on purpose. ^_^

Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :D