Chapter 4: III

I was roughly pinned against a wall, his breath fanning over my cheek, causing me eyes to squeeze shut out of fear.

My breath caught in my throat as I heard my heartbeat ricocheting around inside my skull, and when his grip tightened, I let out a small sob of pain.

His hands were wrapped tightly around my wrists, causing them to become numb due to the circulation being cut off. His legs were firmly placed on the ground, preventing me from running even if I somehow managed to get out of his iron grip. I began writhing in his grasp, desperate to break free.

"Ash, let me- let me go!" I begged, struggling and throwing my head back, feeling anxious once I realised there was no point in fighting.

"You shouldn't have slapped me then, should you?" His voice was low, rough, and honestly kind of hot.

I would never admit that though.

His grip on my wrists lightened slightly and I sighed appreciatively as I felt them start to tingle, the blood rushing back to them. His head tucked into the crook of my neck and I felt his breath against my collar bone as he chuckled.

"Look, I'm sorry. But you've bullied me for years and I decided it was about time to say something". I replied in a bitchy tone and I felt his smile fall as he skimmed his lips over my neck.

"How nice, but do I look like I care?" He drew his head back up again, eyes threatening and burning with many different emotions. His breath smelt of alcohol and I couldn't help but scrunch my nose in disgust at the strong, bitter scent.

"No, not really. But you should". I glared right back at him, not allowing him to think I would just submit.

There was silence for a minute or two as we stood there, his forehead practically pressed against mine, hands pinning my wrists to the wall. My back was flat against the hard surface and my legs were tangled with his, our position like something out of a romance novel.

Only those scenes weren't usually under the circumstances we were in.

He leaned forward and I felt my heartbeat skyrocket at that precise moment, eyes widening as I felt his lips closing in on mine.

I couldn't move.

As in, I physically couldn't move. He was still holding me to the wall.

However, just as I braced myself for the impact, he pulled away and released me instantly. Confusion was overtaking me as I watched him, his eyebrows furrowing with one hand on his neck while he was stood staring down at the other, as if he was disgusted.

"Go." That one word sent a strange tingly feeling down my spine and I suddenly felt a boost of confidence.

"No... what happened just then? What were you going to do?" I took a few steps towards the boy who had, only moments earlier, been a mere few centimetres away from me. It was his fault to begin with, and I wasn't just about to walk out.

"Nothing, leave me alone and get the fuck out." He raised his voice to an almost shouting pitch, yet he wouldn't look at me. I could sense him sobering up and knew I should go, but something made me stay, and I'll never know what it was.

"What were you going to do." I demanded an answer, now stood right beside him, and I was filled with so many different emotions I couldn't even tell what I was feeling.

He looked up at me slowly, eyes lingering on my glistening brown orbs; I could sense something change within him.

I couldn't move, but this time it was all due to the words he spoke.

"Let me show you."

And with that, he softly pushed me back so that I hit the wall behind us, his large hands somehow finding their way to my hips. A blush crept onto my cheeks before I had time to even think about what was happened, never mind do anything about it, but the only thing I felt after was his lips harshly pressed against mine.

It felt forced, desperate, and I hated it.

But I couldn't help but kiss back.

Our lips worked together messily, my hands wrapped in his hair and pulling on it lightly while he moved to position our bodies closer together.

However, it was over almost as fast as it started.

I shoved him away, fighting to catch my breath as he held the same expression as I did.

Shock, confusion, and horror.

What did I just do.

Without a second glance, I ran out of the room and down the corridor, mind racing and hands shaking.

What the hell did I just do.

The party downstairs had returned to its usual state after the two of us went upstairs, yet when I came stumbling back through the crowds of people, everyone began to give each other uncertain glances.

My hair was messy and my makeup was smudged, so when I began pushing people out of the way, the ones behind them soon caught on that they should give me a clear path.

A clattering sound could be heard behind me, followed by a flurry of shouting.

Ash must have come after me and that caused a commotion. Everyone was talking and shuffling around, arms reaching out to grab others and some trying to get a hold of me.

Finally, I got to the door and pushed it open roughly, bolting outside and instantly seeing Lila and Harry stood with bored faces.

However, those expressions soon turned to panic and worry as they rushed forward to me. "Rivvy? Why are you crying? What happened?"

I hadn't even realised tears were staining my cheeks until I reached a hand up and felt the wet streaky patches, cursing myself for allowing the tears to fall.

"N-nothing, let's go." I didn't wait for them to follow as I set off speed walking down the side of the road, eager to get home so I could curl up in a ball and wallow in self pity.

I was still trying to comprehend the events that had just taken place, hands still shaking slightly and eyes darting around, cautious.

When the other two caught up and gripped my shoulders, I jolted and stiffened, an uncontrollable reaction that always happened whenever I was on edge. I knew at that moment that if I hadn't already been obvious, I had now completely obliterated any chance of getting out of telling them.

"River, you're going to tell us what happened in there as soon as we're back at your house. And don't even try to make the excuse that nothings wrong, we saw you crying and felt how you tensed up. There's no getting out of this one."

As much as I wanted to scream and shout at them for not allowing me to have my own personal matters without having to tell them every single thing that went on in my life, I knew it was for the best. I couldn't just keep all that happened bottled up inside, otherwise I would burst from the overwhelming intensity of the previously occurring events.

We walked in silence, but it wasn't awkward. Just uncomfortable.

You could probably fill an entire pool with the amount of tension that was hanging in the air.

As soon as we arrived at my house, the pair pushed me up to my room quietly, cautious not to wake my parents who thought we came home ours ago due to the pre-recorded chat, footstep and door sounds that played at 10pm.

Don't judge us too bad.

I mean, it clearly worked.

They sat me down on the edge of the bed, grabbed my pillow for me to hug as they knew I had a habit of doing that when I was stressed or emotional, and simultaneously fell down onto the floor in front of me with intense faces.

Sighing, I prepared tell them what happened half an hour ago, and after a few moments, began speaking.

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"What the hell? RIV?" Lila whisper-screamed as I finished telling the unfortunately real bedtime story.

"I know, okay? But it's not like I kissed back! Not really... okay I did a bit but as soon as I had, I pushed him away and got the hell out of there!" I desperately tried to cling onto any hope of survival as I saw their outraged faces, and the pillow in my arms became as thin as paper due to how hard I was crushing it between my arms.

"He better have a bloody good reason or I will personally cut his dick off." Harry snapped, eyes livid with hatred.

"Woah there, hold up." I started, placing a hand on his shoulder before glancing over at Lila. "Don't do anything crazy until I give the signal, okay? I don't want to make things any worse than they already are."

They gave me a suspicious look and Lila spoke hesitantly. "What do you mean 'already are'?"

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, scared to bring up the part I missed out at the end.

"He may or may not have come running after me... and everyone else too."

"WHAT?"

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That evening was filled with stress that didn't die away even when we finally went to sleep at three in the morning, deciding that nothing could be done about the situation for now.

However, when I woke up in the morning, I had around two hundred Instagram notifications, eighty text messages and thirty missed calls, all from people I didn't even know had my number.

"Well that's weird." I said softly, unable to read properly due to my blurry morning eyes, and placed my phone face down on the draws beside my bed. I yawned and stretched, averting my gaze over to the two sleeping beings laid top-and-tail next to me. I sniggered quietly before smiling at the pair of idiots.

Quietly shuffling out of the room, I crept downstairs and gathered a few pans together before ascending the stairs once again. I snuck back into my room, not making a sound, and raised the pans higher into the air.

With an evil smile plastered onto my face, I slammed the two large pans together repeatedly, causing a loud, echoing noise to flood the room.

Harry and Lila sat forward speedily and banged heads together, flapping around like fish out of water and screamed as they fell onto the floor in a heap. Blankets and pillows were scattered around them and Lilas head was wedged under Harrys chest, who was twisted almost in half because of a pile of blankets beside him.

I doubled over in laughter as I watched the two of them hold their heads and various body parts in pain, wincing and grumbling before standing up and shaking off the shock.

I was stood with the two pans while crying from laughter when they pounced at me, causing me to topple over and smack into the floor. One of the pans hit me in the cheekbone and sent a wave of pain through my face.

I dramatically writhed around as they were now the ones laughing at me, but I couldn't help but give a wide smile.

The three of us had been best friends since year seven when we first met and, after those days, we were inseparable. We were known for playing pranks on each other, as well as a few other people, but often were referred to as 'The Odd Squad' or 'The Nerds', and we were completely fine with that.

It wasn't like they were wrong anyway.

So as we sat around the table having discussions on whether you sit or stand to wipe, eating waffles as a starter and Oreos with peanut butter for dessert, we weren't doing what we should have been doing.

Yet, how could we have known what was going to happen? As far as I knew, no one was psychic, and no one was a spy from the dark side, so it was close to impossible.

We should have been planning on how to deal with what followed yesterdays events, not clashing pans together and having 'useless' conversations.

The world isn't a kind place though, and no one was prepared for what was coming.

I don't think anyone could have been prepared for the rumours.

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How did you find this chapter? Was it interesting?

What do you think 'The Rumours' are going to be?

Thank you for reading~

- Storm 🌹