The Struggles Of Teenagers

The Fight

"Ha beat you...bitch." Riley taunts Capri out of breath. "You two are such kids honestly." Natasha laughs before throwing them both a bottle of water. A text alert goes off and Riley checks her phone, "oh cool, my mom said you guys can come to the family party." She high fives Capri and Naomi. "What about us?" Caiden, Mila's boyfriend, interrupts. "My mom said no boys...sorry." Riley states apologetically. "We all know why you don't want him there." Capri whispers winking at her. She nudges her laughing and starts to eat her lunch. Whilst the girls are talking about Harry Styles Riley starts to zone out thinking about her sister and everything that happened over the summer. She starts to have a mini flashback.

~ 1st mini flashback~
"W-what do you mean she's gone?" Riley whispers through the phone in pain. "B-but I d-didn't get to s-say goodbye." She sobs. Dina scoops her up and just hugs her as she drops the phone and starts to scream. "It's okay Riley she's with Dad now." She whispers to the younger girl trying to comfort her whilst crying herself.

~2nd mini flashback~
"What do you mean you're going away?" Riley states looking at her older brother in disbelief. "I was offered a place in the army Riles I have to fight for my country, for you guys and for dad." He responds looking down. "DADS NOT HERE ANYMORE." Riley shouts coldly. "RILEY. That's enough." Diane stops her as she runs to her room. Her older brother, Sebastian had made a promise to their father that if he died then Seb would join the army. Of course they never thought their father would pass but he did.

~final mini flashback~
"This is so beautiful." Mila smiled at Riley as she examined the picnic the older girl had made for her. "Not as beautiful as you." Riley flirts sheepishly. Mila giggles flirtatiously, she slowly takes a seat right next to her best-friend. "Let's put some music on?" Riley suggests turning on her speaker and as Mila reaches for her hand Selfish by Nick Jonas plays in the background as the two girls lean in and-

"RILEY!" Capri snaps Riley out of her flashback she didn't realise that she'd actually been crying. "Are you okay?" Mila asks genuinely concerned. Riley looks up at her almost hurt, "not that you would care." She mutters under her breath and storms away from the group. "What was that about?" Caiden asks confused. "Um just stay here i'll be back." Mila replies already taking off following Riley. "Hey. I know you're hurting but you don't get to say that to me. Not when you know i'd do anything for you." She shouts after her. Riley turns around and stares her straight in the eyes, there's nothing there, no tears, no feeling. Nothing. "You don't just get to ignore me for the summer, when i needed you the most and now act like the hero. You weren't there for me but the others were." She spits out the words as if it was venom. "When wasn't I there Riley? When your dad died? Who was the one that slept with you every night just because of your nightmares? Or when your sister died and I took you to the hospital so you could see her before she went to the morgue. Or even when your brother left you all alone in that hallway. Who was it that came and checked on you everyday?! You never get to say that I wasn't there for you. I know you've lost a lot of people but guess what...I lost my best-friend this summer and I need her back." Riley scoffs and looks at the rest of the group who had finally caught up to them. "Friends don't look at each other that way and i'm not sure about the other girls but i've never kissed the other girls on a 'beautiful picnic'...sober and then left me sitting there like an idiot whilst you ran off to your boyfriend and played happy families. I'm so sorry Caiden." Riley apologises to Caiden before running away again. Capri follows her to make sure she's okay whilst the rest of the group are frozen, shocked at what they just witnessed. Mila can't look any of them in the eyes, Caiden walks round to talk to her, "Mila is it true? Did you cheat on me?" She nods with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry." She whispers, Caiden starts to get mad. "I bet you all knew she was fucking gay didn't you!" He shouts at the girls. "No we literally knew nothing about this...like at all." Natasha flinches. Caiden storms off to where the classrooms are. "Riley?! Where are you you bitch?!" He shouts down the corridor to be greeted by Dina, who gets pushed out of the way. "Caiden Frontera. Stop right now." She warns him. "Where is your sister?" He demands through gritted teeth. Riley sheepishly walks out of Dina's classroom with her head down and hands up in the air in surrender. "I'm sorry Caiden please do what you need to do." She pleads for him to calm down. "Are you in love with her?" He snapped, making Riley flinch. "Please don't make me say it." She becomes aware of Mila's presence and the growing amount of students in the hallway. "Caiden I think you should leave. Go to the principals office now." Dina mutters sternly. "You're lucky your sister's a teacher. Fuck you and fuck her i'll fucking find you bitch." He yells pointing at Riley and Mila then shoving students out of the way. Dina looks over at Riley who is now crying again. As Mila makes her way over to her the other girls follow to surround the oldest girl. "I hope you're happy." Riley whispers looking up at Mila showing all of the hurt in her eyes.  The car journey home is silent With Riley wanting to go home with Dina to avoid the girls and Mila. "They're your best-friends Riles you can't avoid them forever and they're supposed to be coming to the family pool party." It's evident that Riley had forgotten about the party just by her face palming. "Shit I forgot about that. What do I do Dina?" She looks over at the younger girl giving her a sympathetic smile, "just message them i'm sure they'll understand that you're just trying to cope with a lot. And if not then i'll be there." She says grinning causing to Riley to let out a little laugh. "Okay weirdo you know you should really make some friends of your own age..." She shoots back before bringing her phone out of her pocket. 'Hey guys i'm sorry about today i'm just really stressed and trying to cope with everything please come to the party tonight and we'll talk about everything.' And sent. Nervously waiting Riley starts biting her nails and not even 5 minutes later the responses come through. 'girl shut up we understand lol we'll be there boo don't worry about it❤️'  Riley breathes a sigh of relief looking out the window with a small smile on her face. "Told you so." Dina says teasing her. "Just drive idiot." She smiles at the older girl.