midnight rain
chapter five, someone told me stay away from things that aren't yours.
waterloo road, series 3 episode 5

Riley hated Chlo.

She never thought she would ever say she hated her sisters. This time it was different, it was real as opposed to the times when they would joke about hating each other. This time it was genuine and Riley hated that she hated her sister but what she hated most was the fact their eldest sister had no idea and Riley couldn't tell her and not being able to tell her hurt her because she didn't want Mika to hate her for not telling her.

When they eventually got to school, Riley trailed behind her sisters and Tom. Mika looked back to check that Riley was still following them, furrowing her eyebrows when she noticed her sister glaring at Chlo, who Riley had managed to avoid all morning. "Oh my god, it's Tom's birthday," Mika muttered, being reminded by a group of girls.

"Where's Donte?" Riley asked Chlo, knowing the girl was trying to get ahold of him but having no luck. "He's usually here by now."

"Chlo? What is it with you and Donte? Where was he last night?" Mika asked the girl, wrapping her hand around Riley's wrist so the girl didn't wander away from them.

"We had a row," Chlo replied, looking at the floor while Riley rolled her eyes.

Riley looked at Tom when he started talking, sending him a smile, "See you later then. I know you're holding out on me, I know you haven't forgotten."

"Course we haven't," Riley replied, rolling her eyes once again but this time it was in a teasing manner as the man walked backwards.

"Oh and Riles, make sure you actually go to lessons today. I don't want to be pulled out of class by Rimmer to convince you to go to lessons okay?"

"Yes, Tom. I'll go," she replied, waving him off before putting her hands back in her, well Mika's, jacket pockets.

Tom turned back with a smile, "See you later."

Brett came into the Grainger's view making Chlo's face drop slightly. Mika looked between her two younger sisters, "Look, I'll ask Brett if he'll go shopping for a prezzie in our free. Any ideas?"

The blonde raised her hands, "Do not look at me, I'm shit at picking presents."

"Is that we always get chocolate from you on every occasion?" Mika turned back.

"Can't go wrong with chocolate," she shrugged.

Mika chuckled as she dragged Riley with her, turning back to Chlo, "Look, we'll see you later. Will you sort it out with Donte! You're on another planet!"

"Ew," Riley grimaced when they, Mika met Brett. "I'm going to find Leesh or Dan or literally anyone to get away from you two."

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"Oh no," Riley groaned when she saw Donte swinging a bat around. The girl sped up her pace to get to him before he did something stupid.

"Where is he?" Donte yelled. "Brett!"

"Donte, no! Please, can we talk?" Chlo rushed out.

"Calm it, Donte."

"Donte," Riley grabbed his arm, pushing Lewis away from him. "Come on. They're not worth it." The boy seemed to look as though he wasn't going to do anything except glare at the girl's sister so she let him go which proved to be the wrong thing to do when he started swinging the baseball bat towards Mr Lawson's car.

"Donte!"

"Oi, that's my car," Mr Lawson yelled as he and Mr Rimmer ran to the scene unfolding.

"Donte, what are you doing?"

"Chlo, Riley! Get back!"

Riley ignored the teacher's instructions and walked towards the boy with the bat instead, "Donte, come on. Smashing Lawson's car isn't going to make this go away." She flinched when he knocked the wing mirror off, glaring at her sister since she and Brett were the root causes of this.

"Please, don't make this any worse," Chlo cried.

Donte pointed the bat towards Chlo while Riley stood in front of the two teachers in the hopes they'd let her deal with Donte. "Worse? How could this be worse, Chlo? I thought you loved me."

"I do."

"Yeah? Well, why'd you go shag someone else then?" Donte's voice broke while he pointed the bat at her again.

"Come on, mate just give us the bat and we'll go indoors, yeah?"

"No, I want to know! I want her to tell me why!"

"It was just a stupid mistake, it didn't mean anything," Chlo pathetically explained, causing Riley to scoff.

"Right, I want everyone to know that my wife is a dirty little slag."

"Okay!" Riley snapped, snatching the bat from Donte's grasp before he could go for Mr Lawson's car again. She then turned to Chlo, " "Will you shut up! You're making it worse. Just go away, Chlo."

"Don't ever come near me again."

"She gets it, Donte. Come on," Riley pushed him backwards, away from her sister and away from the bat that she wasn't going to let go of. "Let's go."

While Donte was being taken to Rimmer's office, Riley passed his bat to Mr Lawson. She watched as Lewis Seddon got in Chlo's face. "Get out of her face, Lewis," she pushed him backwards. "And no, just because I stuck up for you against Lewis that doesn't mean I like you, Chlo because right now I hate you." She pushed her way past Max and Janeece, leaving Chlo to deal with them by herself.

Riley walked down the corridor with Danielle and Aleesha to Mr Lawson's lesson when they were stopped by Bolton and his mates. "What do you want?" she asked while trying to get past them.

"Is it true about Chlo and Donte?" he asked.

"It's none of your business, Smilie," she tried to push past him again but was stopped when he blocked her path. She looked up at him, "My sister and her husband or ex husband now I think, I actually don't know, is nobody's business but their own but what is your business is the bruise that's on your cheek from me so if you want another one to match stay there but if not I suggest you and your mates get out of my way."

Danielle and Aleesha were watching the pair's interaction with smirks on their faces because they knew that the whole hating each other thing was just an act and they were going to do everything they could to get the pair together.

When Riley finally managed to get out of Bolton's way Danielle and Aleesha looked at her and carried on walking. "Shut up," she grumbled, her hands being shoved into her jacket pockets once again.

"We didn't say anything," Aleesha teased.

"Not with words but with your faces."

The blonde was sitting on the desk next to Aleesha and Danielle's daydreaming not listening to Mr Lawson droning on about consecutive integers with reciprocals. He then knew she wasn't listening so he picked on her to ask the question and the blonde replied with a shrug but left her off.

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Riley saw Donte walking down the corridor like a headless chicken. "Donte!" she called as he stopped walking and waited for her to catch up. "Stupid question but are you doing any better?"

"A bit," he shrugged. "Thank you, for stopping me from hitting Lawson's car even more."

"Yeah well, couldn't let you get into too much trouble could I?" He gave her a small smile and pulled her into a side hug and kissed her forehead and thanked her.

The duo walked down the corridor when they saw Chlo at the top of the stairs. "Oi, where's your boyfriend?" Donte shouted up at her.

Chlo stormed down the stairs towards the two of them, "He's not my flaming boyfriend."

The trio snapped their heads towards Mika who had walked through the doors from just getting back from buying Tom's present, "Chlo! Riley!"

"She doesn't know," Chlo told Donte.

"Well obviously Sherlock, if she did she wouldn't be speaking to you," Riley stated the obvious.

"Well, she's just about to find out then isn't she?"

"Donte, please..." Chlo begged.

Mika made her way over to the three of them, bag in hand, "I got Tom his present, it's rubbish though. I weren't really in the mood. Brett's just dumped me." Riley glared at Chlo from the middle of Mika and Donte.

"Now I wonder why that is?" Donte asked Chlo.

"Mika we need to talk."

Mika sniffled, looking between the couple, "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I know you two have got stuff. Riles, come on."

"I think she means you two need to talk. Not them," Riley clarifies. "Although they also need to talk."

"Riles is right. She does mean you two cos we," Donte pointed between him and Chlo. "We don't have nothing to say."

"Charles! Exit's that way, I believe you were on your way out," Mr Lawson pointed to the door.

"Go on," Riley pushed him towards the exit while her sister's made their way up the stairs.

He made it to the exit when he circled back shouting up at the two of them, "Oh and Mika try not to get too upset, you know, when she tells you she slept with Brett."

"Oh god," the youngest Grainger sister groaned.

Chlo began spilling out apologies. "If you were really sorry you wouldn't have done it in the first place," Riley chimed in. Mika tried to walk away from Chlo when she put her hand on her arm to try to stop her and Mika reacted by slapping her in the face.

Riley wasn't sure what happened next but she was sure that Mika hated Chlo. That's how the youngest of the Graingers was standing in the middle of her elder sisters trying to break up their fight when she got elbowed in the face by Chlo. The girl then stumbled back clutching her nose and hit her back on someone's chest.

It all happened so fast she didn't even know how she ended up in a classroom sitting on a desk with Bolton Smilie standing in between her legs cleaning the blood off her face. She didn't realise that Bolton was watching the fight and Riley's attempt to break it up but failed and started walking towards her to catch her when she stumbled backwards.

After, cleaning her face the boy put his hands on her waist and helped her down from the desk. The blonde thanked him and went to walk out of the classroom when she turned around and said to him, "Oh and I still hate you Smilie."

Bolton looked at her with a smirk and said, "The feelings mutual Grainger."

Riley was sitting with Danielle and Aleesha, "You'll never guess what."

The two looked at each other and then to her, "What?"

After finishing her story about the events that had led to her almost getting a black eye the pair looked at her with smiles on their faces. "That's cute," Danielle spoke up.

The blonde looked at them with furrowed brows, "You're joking right? It's awful I hate him."

Danielle and Aleesha looked at her with the same look as they did earlier, "Are you trying to convince us or yourself?"

"I'm not trying to convince anyone, I'm just saying, I hate him," she shrugged as she got up.

"Where are you going?"

"To check on Mika because if you've forgotten, Chlo slept with Brett behind her back and I knew about it but didn't tell her," Riley told them in a 'duh' tone.

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Riley was walking upstairs when she heard Mika crying. She walked into her sister's room and laid on her bed with her, "I wanted to tell you, I really did, I just didn't know how."

Mika looked at her, "Don't worry yourself about it, it wasn't your story to tell I'm not mad at you I'm mad and Chlo and Brett." The girl let out a sigh of relief because she didn't know what to do if Mika was mad at her.

Mika asked her about her day and the younger one told Mika what happened with Bolton which made her look at her funny, "Do you actually hate him or do you actually like him?"

Riley looked at her and shrugged, "Honestly I have no idea."

Mika pulled her sister into a hug, "Do what you think is right, follow your heart because I know for a fact your brain is telling you to hate him and your heart is telling you, you like him. The quicker you admit it to yourself the quicker you will be able to make a decision."

"You sound like mum," Riley laughed. "Either way what I do know is that he's a twat."

"And so are you," Mika gave her a pointed look. "Sometimes for no reason too."

"Shut up," she rolled her eyes.