Just Keep Holding On

Chapter 9 - Friendzone

Tomorrow was supposed to be the day when Sportacus is going with Riley to her doctor's appointment, but he couldn't stop thinking about Riley calling him a friend. Why did it hurt him that much?

So he tried to think about something else. He saw some birds flying over his head. 'That's a good start,' he thought to himself, and began to think about the birds, in hope that will distract his mind from Riley.

The birds are flying. The birds are singing. Riley sings too. The way Riley was moving her lips when she sang. Riley's lips- NOOOO! No.

He wasn't supposed to think about her, like, at all! Definitely not in this way.

Luckily, Carolina interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey, Sportacus," she said.

"Oh, hello, Carolina?" he said back, then noticed she looked at him strangely.

"What?"

"You were thinking of something. I can see it on your face," she folded her arms.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh," she nodded, "and let me guess – you thought about Riley."

"W-What? N-No, I didn't," he started to blush.

"Yes, you did. All you do is watching this girl and worrying about her, so what else could it be?"

"It's, uh..." Sportacus tried to think, but gave up since he realized she was onto him.

"Alright, I was thinking about Riley," he confessed.

"I knew it! So what was it now?" she asked.

"Well... I... She said something to me last week, and for some reason I can't stop thinking about it and I feel as if it hurts me," he explained.

"What is it?"

"Well... She called me a... 'friend'," he said.

"What? Why would get hurt from- OH! OH! OH!" Caro exclaimed as realized, and Sportacus hurried to shut her mouth.

"Shhh! Don't you even dare to say that!" he told her as he covered her mouth with his palm.

"Good," he said as he was convinced that Carolina would leave him alone.

"You're in love with Riley!" she said once she was free to talk.

"What did I tell you?!" he warned her again.

"I'm sorry, but that's HUGE! You love her, and she's friendzoning you! And you know that I'm right!" Caro couldn't calm down.

"Ok, ok, you're right! I love her! But I can't, and you know it," he told her.

"Oh, you're right... Poor thing, you love her, and she's friendzoning you and she's 10 years younger than you," Carolina tried her best to cheer him up.

"Stop it, Caro, it's not funny," he demanded.

"What's not funny?" they heard a voice from behind. They turned around to see it was Riley.

"Uh, uh... It's not funny that Amanda is keep teasing you like that, we were just discussing, um, about that, yeah..." Carolina improvised.

Riley knew they were lying, but she guessed that they will tell her what it's all about when they will want too.

"Alright... Oh, hey, Caro, do we still go the movies tonight with Brenda?" she asked her blonde friend.

"Yeah, of course! And don't you worry, my mother will drive us and wait for us until it ends," Carolina made sure that Riley wasn't scared to go out of town after a long while.