Taylor

Dropping onto my back, I close my eyes and let out a rough exhale. Ryder's hand rests on my knee then slowly travels up my thigh until it reaches the hem of my skirt where he stops. My body heats up and my insides tighten causing me to press my legs together.

Ryder chuckles. "Let's do some more."

"Let's not." I open my eyes and glare at Ryder who is sitting next to me on his bed.

"Are you not enjoying this?" Ryder smirks as his hand restarts its torturous journey upwards.

"If when you say 'this' you mean you turning me on, yes. But if 'this' means the psychology revision we've been doing for almost two hours, no, I really am not enjoying it."

"The other day you said you were falling behind in Psychology and as I aced it last year I thought I could help you." Ryder's hand reaches my underwear and he brushes over my sensitive spot. I inhale sharply and my eyelids start to lower however I quickly groan when his hand moves away and down the other leg.

"More like you aced psychological torture." I squirm as the sensation of his skin against mine sends an electrical current right to the place I really want his hand to be. Yet, it's not only his touch having an effect; a warmth has rushed through me over the fact he took note of what I said to him on the phone about struggling in Psychology. "When you said we were going to yours this is not what I had in mind."

"That was a bit presumptuous of you."

I roll my eyes, reach my hand out and brush my fingers over the noticeable hard bulge in the crotch of his jeans. "I don't think I was the only one thinking along my line of thought."

Ryder leans forward to kiss me, and I roll onto my front which prevents him from getting anywhere near my lips. Focusing on the textbooks spread out in front of us, I say, "You're right though, let's keep studying. Exams start next week."

Ryder chuckles and lays on his side next to me, supporting his head in his hand. "OK, describe the phonological loop component of the working memory model."

"Easy." I grin. "It deals with auditory and sound information..." I taper off as Ryder places his hand on the back of my leg and his fingers trail upwards.

"Yes, keep going," he says quietly.

"The capacity of... the loop is what can... be said ...in... two seconds," I whimper as his hand cups my one butt cheek.

"I thought you said this was easy?" Ryder smirks.

It's not easy when Ryder's hand is moving down between my legs; short-circuiting every neuron in my brain and turning it into mush. What am I describing? Phonological loop. I think.

"The... phonological... store... stores... words...you... hear...in... speech....form..." I gasp as his fingers push aside my underwear.

I arch up to give him better access and he growls. Tilting my head, our mouths join and he swallows my loud moan as his fingers start to circle.

A knock on the door doesn't stop Ryder as he continues building the tingling sensation into an intense throbbing which is rapidly sending me towards the edge while his mouth continues to swallow my increasingly loud moans.

"Ryder, you need to stop whatever you're doing and call Ariel now. Because Ariel called Riley who called me at work to say I had to come home and tell you she's at the hospital. Ariel that is."

Ryder jumps out of bed and I clamber after him. He waits for me to pull my skirt down, opens the door and Ryder's brother stands in the doorway.

"She's at Saint Guys," his brother says.

I grab my phone and see too many missed calls from Kayla and Ariel. Shit, I forgot to take my phone off silent.

"I've got to go," Ryder says to me tying his laces.

"I'm coming," I say, pulling my shoes on.

Ryder nods and I follow him outside. Ryder slips the helmet on my head, secures it and does the same with his. Jumping on the back, Ryder accelerates off with both of us completely clueless about what we're going to find when we arrive.

***

Ariel is talking to Ryder while me and Kayla sit on the chairs in the hospital waiting room. It's different to the one I waited in for Miles's but I'm hit with deja vu as Kayla explains what happened and a ball of dread wedges itself into my stomach. I can't believe I ever believed Jay when he said prescription pills were safe for everyone to take.

"But the twins are OK?" I whisper.

"Yes, they seem to be. The doctors are doing lots of checks. But fuck, Taylor, they could have died. They're so lucky Ariel found them before they ate too many." Kayla glances at Ariel who has started waving her hands around dramatically as she talks to Ryder. He looks angry as he responds and Ariel wraps her arms around herself saying something which he shakes his head at and hisses something in return. They are both really upset which is understandable, but why are they arguing?

"So you and Ryder?" Kayla asks drawing my attention back to her.

"Yeah."

"Is it serious?"

"I have no idea." I lean back in the hard plastic chair and arch an eyebrow at Kayla. "You and Ariel?"

Kayla frowns, opens her mouth, closes it again before opening it and saying, "How could you tell?"

"When we arrived you were comforting her and it seemed like more than a friend sort of comforting." I tilt my head to the side and watch Kayla shuffle in her seat uncomfortably. She looks awkward and it makes me sad that she didn't feel comfortable enough to tell me. "Does Ariel make you happy?"

"Yes," Kayla says quietly.

I nudge my shoulder against hers and grin. "Good. You deserve to be happy."

"Thanks." Kayla smiles at me then frowns. "I haven't told Sydney."

"She wouldn't care."

"Maybe." Abruptly, Kayla's eyes widen. "Have you spoken to her this afternoon?"

"No."

"So you don't know about the photos?"

"Photos?" I frown.

"There's these photos of you at parties. I don't recognise any of the people in them so I'm guessing they're from your old school. There's also this video." Kayla swallows and lowers her voice. "It's blurry but it's of you or someone who looks like you having sex with two guys."

All the noises around me become muffled as I process her words. It's happening again. Only this time it's worse; they think it's me in the video.

"Show me," I croak.

"I don't think-"

"Show me the video now, Kayla," I shout.

Kayla flinches but quickly takes out her phone. Unlocking it, she opens Instagram and I'm hit with my past in the form of images. The photos are all ones my old friends uploaded and tagged me in before I deleted all my social media accounts. They aren't anything unusual. I'm dancing, wearing revealing clothes and obviously drunk. At the time, my old friends and me laughed about most of them when we saw them. The problem now, however, is combined with the video, the photos become twisted and make the video look believable. They make me look like I'm up for anything. And my sister's blurred face and us having the same colour hair means it could be me in the video. To be honest, it could be a lot of people but it could also be me. And everyone is being told it's me.

Humiliation and shame wash over me except I didn't do anything. I always thought I didn't care what people thought but six months ago I realised I did, and it turns out I still do now.

"She's seen enough," Ryder growls from beside me, bringing me back to the now. The sounds of the hospital flood back and I'm suddenly overwhelmed. School has been bad enough but now it's going to get even worse.

Kayla swiftly tucks her phone in her pocket and looks at me. I see the question in her eyes; she wants to know if it's me. I almost deny it until I realise it could fall back on my sister. She's suffered enough. She's still suffering. And I can't let her go through that again.

"If anyone asks don't say it wasn't me."

Kayla nods in surprise but she places an arm around my shoulder. "I don't care what you did, we'll always be friends."

"I won't blame you if you want to distance yourself," I say.

"Don't be stupid." Kayla smiles. "I'm going to check what's going on with Ariel. Message me if you want to walk to school and we can go in together. OK?"

"She's got a ride already. You're welcome to join," Ryder says.

Kayla nods and hugs me one last time before going over to Ariel who is talking to a tall man in a suit.

Ryder takes my hand and pulls me to standing. "Why didn't you tell her it wasn't you?"

"I can't do that to my sister again. I know she's almost finished school but she has exams to focus on and she still hasn't gotten over what they did to her at our last school. It's better if everyone thinks it's me."

Ryder's arms wrap around me and he pulls me into his chest. I bury myself into him and hold him tight. I'm surprised no tears come, but I'm aware of the nervous dread building inside me. I still have another year at school to survive. That's if I survive the next few weeks.

"I'm really not looking forward to school tomorrow," I mumble. "There was me hoping to have a forgettable birthday."

"It's your birthday tomorrow?" Ryder frowns.

"Yep. Looks like seventeen is going to be another shit year."

"You've got people who care about you and will stand by you no matter what. They are the ones who matter."

"Would you still be here if you thought it was me in that video?" I ask looking up at Ryder.

"Yes."

"Really? Would it honestly not bother you?"

"I'd be happy because it would mean you were more likely to say yes to the threesome I've always wanted." He winks.

I roll my eyes and push him in the chest. "No threesomes are happening with me."

He pulls me back towards him. "Good. I'm not sharing you with anyone."

I hold back the massive smile about to take over my face. "So we're exclusive?"

"Yes. And I'm not keeping us a secret anymore so you need to be prepared."

My stomach drops. "For?"

"To stop me from going further when I kiss you, because I won't be able to, no matter who is watching." Ryder kisses me causing my body to heat up and arch into him. I love kissing Ryder.

"I'd better get you home." Ryder takes my hand. "I don't want to be in your parent's bad books."

"You ride a motorbike and have sexual intentions towards their daughter; that automatically puts you in most parent's bad books."

Ryder laughs, squeezes my hand and starts to guide me out the hospital. For a moment everything feels right, then I remember the video and Jay, the fact his bags are still under my bed and I'm reminded nothing is right.