riley walked into the girls locker room, feeling all eyes fall on her. thinking they weren't actually looking at her, she brushed it off as she walked to the side where her locker room was located.
"so.. what are you doing with ethan?" she heard a girl question making her freeze. the tone of her voice made riley nervous.
"w-what?" riley looked up, seeing a few other girls walk her way. of course they were the popular ones if you wanted to even say that.
"i said, what are you doing with ethan?" christen said as if she was genuinely curious. again, the tone of her voice said otherwise.
"we're friends." riley simply said.
another girl scoffed. "because as a friend he would give you his jersey? right. if you're messing around with him for attention just say it."
"i'm not." riley chocked out. at this point she was truly scared at what else they had to say. where was cleo when she needed her?
"but you are. you're a nobody, riley. all of a sudden you're messing around with ethan and everyone knows your name."
by then riley wasn't hearing any of it when more girls came over. a few girls were telling the mean ones to stop but nobody was really defending riley. she's seen this in movies too many times and it always happened in locker rooms to girls like her.
riley took a deep breath, shakily clutching onto her backpack straps. "i'm not messing around with him."
"have you kissed him?" the girl smirked, instigating the situation.
"i- what? no." riley stuttered causing the girls to snicker.
christen rolled her eyes. "you're going to make that boy catch a case for you. for what? he has plenty of scholarships on the line and you're going to be in the way to mess that up. how selfish can you be, riley?"
"i'm glad that you think she'll listen to you. like whoever she's talking to is any of your business. you sit in here harassing everyone for their interests that you know nothing about. by the end of the day ethan is not with you so stay bitter. maybe you should catch his attention next time." riley looked up seeing a girl by the name of eyndia literally coming to save her.
"thank you." riley said once the girls went their own way.
eyndia quickly shook her head, brushing off riley's thank you because she would've helped her either way. "she only listened to me because we had our time before. i know we're not close or anything but whatever you do please don't worry about them."
riley nodded, giving her a small smile but she couldn't promise that.
✧.*
"hey riley." mrs. mitchell greeted riley as she slowly walked in her mom's classroom.
"mom, can i go home?" riley nearly begged.
"why? honey, what's wrong?"
"i don't feel good." it wasn't a lie. she felt terrible about herself and it was like the sad side of her was coming back.
mrs. mitchell frowned, setting her palm on riley's forehead. "i suppose i can take you home. are you sure you can't finish out the rest of the day?"
