Danny and Riley: Childhood Stories-A Baby Daddy Fanfiction

Chapter 7: Age 12

You taught me the courage of stars before you left

How light carries on endlessly, even after death

With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite

How rare and beautiful it is to even exist

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It's one of those inspiring days. The type that can make event he laziest couch potato leave the house just to watch the bright sky. Maybe it's caused by the melodic chirping of the birds or the rays of the light. Honestly, these perfects days are a mystery to even the brightest of minds.

Riley isn't immune to the powers of the day. Although she has practically a mountain of homework, she couldn't resit leaving her family's house to sit in the Wheeler's treehouse. So now she sits, listening to the rustling of the leaves and trying to remember what all the organelles in a cell do.

Yes, even the most perfect of days can't stop Riley from studying.

To tell the truth, school is all that she has. She isn't popular like Ben nor is she talented at a sport like Danny. She's always felt unaccomplished next to the two of them, looking for her own defining talents. She has tried the choir, which ended in disaster, and about ten other clubs, which all ended even worse than choir.

She used to be just Riley, but at least now she's Riley the nerd.

At least being a brainiac is better than being nothing at all.

She flips through the pages of her biology textbook, sighing loudly. 'Why does being good at something have to be so hard,'  she thinks to herself, resenting all the kids who are good at everything without even trying.

As the clock ticks away, she makes several sloppy drawn diagrams of a plant cell, messing up at least one label each time. Around the third time she looks back at the diagram in her book and notices that she confused cytoplasm for the cell wall she gives up.

A cold gust of wind rushed through her long blonde hair, weaving the strands of her hair into intricate knots. The day becomes darker with each minute, yet she's still waiting for Danny to come.

Come to think of it, Riley has absolutely no idea where her best friend is. He should have been back from hockey practice an hour ago. She considers walking into the Wheeler's house and asking for Danny, but the thought of seeing Ben in the hallway makes her reconsider. She's been avoiding him every since their last meeting, where she dropped her lunch tray and stained her white dress with pasta sauce.

When it comes to dinner time she packs up her textbooks, sighing at her failed attempt to study, and begins to designed the ladder. Just as she reaches the second step, she hears a bubbly voice from beneath her, "leaving just as I show up? I didn't know you're avoiding me."

"Danny!" she practically shrieks.

Forgetting she's on a ladder, Riley holds her hands out as if running towards him for a hug, but her legs aren't enough to balance her on the step and she comes tumbling down the ladder.

If this was a perfect world, Danny would have caught her in his arms right before she touches the ground with a large goofy grin on his face, but alas the world isn't prefect. Riley hits the hard ground sideways, feeling the crash through her toes to her head. The pain starts as a sharp throb all around her, and then she feels dull aches from different parts of her body.

"Are you okay?" Danny asks, lending a hand to her.

Although she hasn't felt this type of pain for years, Riley doesn't cry. She just lies on the ground, trying to wrap her head around the idea she just fell out of the treehouse. As she gets up off the ground, she feels her heart beat faster than usual and her head spins slightly.