The Struggles Of Teenagers

First Day Back

"I'm coming mom!" Riley yelled grabbing her signature jacket and applying the finishing touches to her makeup. "Here goes nothing." She whispers to herself before strolling down the stairs to greet the older woman who she's calls mom, but to others, she's Diane. "Finally. Go get your stuff we have to go." Her mom demanded in a hurry. "Hey mom don't worry about taking me today the girls are getting me." Riley smiles as she comforts her mother who breathes out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now I can do some work and relax." Diane kisses Riley on the forehead and slips away to her office. "Bye Riles love you" Riley whispers sarcastically. Truthfully she knows her mom loves her but she worries about her often. Her younger sister passed away last month so the house has been in complete chaos and her friends are the only normal she has right now. As Riley grabs her lunch on the way out a familiar laugh catches her attention. "Get in bitch we've got classes to get to." Tamara (or Tammy) yells out making Riley giggle to herself. "Okay okay i'm coming. If you guys weren't late then we wouldn't be in this situation." She smirks at Capri knowing that they're not late. "What do you mean we're late?!" Naomi shouts rushing her eyeliner in the car mirror. The girls start laughing as Tamara turns up the radio. Riley catches a glance from Mila and smiles lightly gaining a short smile from the brunette just before she turns her head back to the window. "Why are you two being so awkward?" Natasha (Nat) presses the girls, earning a light slap from Capri. "NAT!" She scolds. "We're not I'm just tired." Mila responds coldly, Riley and the other girls share a look of concern before they arrive at the parking lot. As usual the boyfriends wait for them at their designated parking spot and hug their girlfriends leaving Riley and Capri to make fun of them playfully. "Just because you two are lonely." Natasha replies poking her tongue out. "Who says we have no one we're actually lesbian lovers." Capri responds jokingly, putting her arm around the older girl, earning a jealous glare from Mila. Riley laughs it off and pulls Capri back, as she waits for the other girls to be out of earshot she starts to explain why Mila is being so cold. "Capri promise you won't tell anyone okay..." Capri looks worried and nods holding out her pinky for Riley to link. "We kissed. But that's it nothing else happened I swear." Capri looks shocked for a minute and dramatically shouts, "RILEY ASPARI?! YOU KISSED WHO?!" She immediately puts her hand to her mouth in regret. "You're such an idiot." Riley whisper yelled giggling. Capri looks impressed and starts smirking, "so how was it...was she as good as Caiden always says?" She wiggles her eyebrows mockingly laughing at herself. "Shut up i'm going to class." Riley rolls her eyes as she wanders into class greeting people and taking her seat. Luckily for her the first lesson of the day was english and unbelievably the teacher of this class just happened to be Riley's older sister. So many perks came with that such as never being in serious trouble, getting to sit wherever she wanted, extra lunch money and the best of all she had secured her sister's classroom for lunchtime gossip with the girls. English had always been Riley's favourite not because of the perks but because she loved writing and Natasha and Naomi accompanied her in this class. "Girls guess what Sam got me..." Naomi bursts excitedly, Natasha laughs and replies "I don't know a diamond ring?" Riley laughed at the response and shrugged. "He got me this necklace." Naomi shows the whole table the locket with a S and a N entangled in hearts. "That's cute." Riley smiles as she writes only looking up for a split second to see the locket. She could feel a pair of eyes watching her and she knew exactly who those eyes belonged to. "Oooo Riley look at who's totally checking you out right now." Both Nat and Naomi tease her. "Do I have to? I really don't like him guys and I just want to finish this work." She replies a little frustrated. "Why do you even do the work...your sister is literally the teacher like you could pass anyway." Naomi questions. Riley sighs and responds, "I love this subject and they need some proof i'm an A student unlike you losers who are sitting on D's" She laughs to herself maybe a little too loud as the two girls act offended but soon erupt in a fit of laughter too. "Girls can we focus on the task please." Riley's sister, Dina gently scolded. The truth is Dina didn't want to stop them because it was the first time, since their little sister passing, that she had seen Riley smile and laugh and that made her happy too. The girls smiled at each other before collectively apologising, "Sorry miss Aspari." The lesson continued for another hour with the girls just laughing and joking about their usual topics of conversations until the bell rang and people started leaving for lunch. "YES. Lunchtime my favourite!" Natasha fist pumped the air making Naomi and Riley share a smile and follow her on the way out of class. "Hey Riles can you stay back for a minute please?" Dina asks quietly. "Yeah for sure." She turns to the girls and waves them on, "i'll meet you on the quad in a minute." Riley takes a seat and waits for her sister to speak first, "it was nice seeing you happy today." Dina starts showing the younger girl a smile. "I am trying...one day at a time. Did you hear how quiet it was this morning?" Riley's face drops slightly as she looks at her sister to see a reaction. There's a pause before she answers, then after a while she swears she saw a tear slide down the older girl's cheek. "How could I not...it was weird. And mom wasn't even there to say goodbye she was in the office before i left." Dina projects a sad smile onto her face as she looks at Riley sympathetically. "She'll get better though right? This will all get better?" She asks begging for reassurance instead the older girl just hugs her and kisses her head. "I'm gonna go meet the girls, text me if you need me." Riley interrupts after a while. "Yeah okay i'll see you later for the 'family pool party'" Dina rolls her eyes as she mocks the tradition. Riley laughs and nods her head then turns and stares out onto the quad where the girls are seated with their boyfriends. She takes a breath preparing herself before a hand touches her shoulder making her jump. "Woah Capri jeez what was that for?" Riley struggles to catch her breath as the latino girl doubles over in laughter. "I'm...i'm sorry. that shit was hilarious." She barely manages to get out. "Whatever let's go meet the others." Riley starts giggling waiting for Capri. "Race you" she smirks making a run for it.