From Dance To A Different Dimension (The next step/jiley fanfiction) ~Book 1~

Chapter 21: Lies

James' POV

"Riley?" I called from the basement. I fell asleep again after waking up from a nightmare I had last night, and when I woke up, Riley was gone. I figured she just went upstairs to get breakfast.

I walked up the stairs and into the kitchen, finding my mother eating eggs that I assume she just cooked herself.

"Mom? Where's Riley?"

"Oh, she left ages ago. We were just in the kitchen for a few minutes and she started talking about your father. Next thing I know she stormed out"

"Wait, what?" Oh my god.  She knows.

"No, no, no..." I started to panic. 

"I have to talk to her!" I quickly ran to the basement ignoring my mothers reply and threw on a shirt. I grabbed my cell phone and headed out the door.

I quickly started to dial Riley's number while speed walking down the sidewalk on my way to her house.

"C'mon, c'mon, answer me..." I mumbled as the phone continued to ring.

.......

I looked down at my phone. The call was connected.

"Riley, listen to me-"

"James, don't"

"Riley please, I-"

"Is anything else you're lying to me about??"

"No Riley, you have to listen to me. I was trying to protect you, that's the only reason I didn't tell you about what my father said"

It was silent.

"Just give me a chance to explain it all. Please, meet me at the diner in 10 minutes, and I'll tell you everything"

Silence.

"Alright....."

"Thank y-" She hung up before i could finish. With that, I turned around and headed for the diner.

..................................................

I sat at the booth, waitiing for Riley to get here. I have to explain to her everything. All the things I've been keeping from her. 

 I finally saw Riley walk into the shop. She was far from sad, she was angry.

"Ri..." I started. I leaned in to take her hand but she immediately moved it away.

"Sit" she said blankly. We both took a seat on the opposite sides of the booth.

I looked down at my intertwined hands and rested my head on them for a second, thinking about how much of a mess I've made.

"I only came here to get answers.  You owe me the truth." she said bitterly.

I took a breath.

"When I was 10, my dad and I were best friends. We always hung out with eachother, played sports, you know what I mean. Everything was normal. I had the perfect family and life. One day, out of the blue, my dad started....screaming these two sentances, and I got terrified. He was going insane. He kept repeating, 'The portal lies destiny in the other dimension. The supernatural will be unraveled', and I remember it to this day.  Before the police got to talk to him, he disappeared. But that wasen't the last time I saw him..."

I stopped for a moment to make sure Riley was ok. I looked into her eyes and I felt like she wanted to hear more. She wanted to hear the rest of the truth.

"A few days after he disappeared, I was asleep in bed, and suddenly, I woke up in this...weird place full of trees and mountains, it was different from what I've ever seen before, but....I didn't freak out because....I saw my dad infront of me.  I asked him where we were, and he told me it was my home.  He told me I had supernatural abilites, and this was the place I was supposed to live in, in 7 years.  I was shocked, and I wanted to leave, but he kept telling me that I was connected to the world, the other dimension.  He said the day I turn 18, I'll be reminded of the other dimension, and I'll have to learn how to control my abilities."

"We fell in a day after your birthday...." she mumbled while looking down. She was still trying to process everything that I was telling her.

"When we fell in there....I instantly remembered the night I last saw my dad.  I was shocked.  I didn't want to tell you anything because you were already so freaked out, I didn't want you to freak out even more.  While we were there, weird things were happening.  I know you didn't see it, but sometimes I would somehow run extremely fast from place to place, or carry things that a normal person wouldn't be able to carry, and....I even started hearing voices that sounded like they were coming from your head. I could read your mind, but I could immediately stop doing it too.  I was freaked out. I wanted to get out just as much as you did.  So, I tried so hard to get us both out, and I was constantly afraid at some point you would get hurt, or that whatever was going on with me, it would do something to hurt you. When we were finished with all of the dimension stuff and we were both out, I tried to distract you from what happened. I didn't want tot tell you that....I had some sort of connection with the other dimension. I didn't want you to get involved. It was my own problem and I knew that if I told you there was something wrong you would want to help me..... and I don't want you to get hurt Riley.  This whole time, I was just trying to protect you, you have to understand that"

She took a second to process everything. There was a long moment of silence before she finally snapped.

"I had a right to know James" she yelled quietly, so no one else in the store could hear her. "I was apart of this whole thing. You had no right to keep this from me."

"But you know the truth now and-"

"How can I even believe you?? The only thing I can believe is the article, which was actual proof. That article is the thing that's making me believe that something crazy is going on and you're apart of it. I don't even know it's safe to be around you"

I felt a knife rip into my heart the minute she said that last sentance.

"Riley, baby...."

"Stop."

She started to grab her things, but stayed seated in the booth. My heart was racing. I was loosing the girl I loved.

"I don't know what the heck you are! For all I know, you could've been the one trying to keep me in that other dimension to get killed. You woul've planned this whole thing. After reading that article James, I can't trust you"

I felt tears coming out of my burning eyes but I tried to help them in. It killed me knowing that she thought I would ever hurt her.

"You know I would never hurt a single hair on your body Riles. Please, you have to believe me"

I watched her eyes go red as tears began to fall down her face.

"Then prove it to me" she stated.

There was a long bit of silence.

"But for now...." she started. I looked deep into her eyes....

"Just stay away from me" 

She grabbed her bag and stormed out the door, wiping the tears off her face. 

I felt like breaking every object there was in this room. 

I lost her.