Riley's POV:

My Sunday was spent sleeping, crying and trying to sort out my life... I found nothing which helped me cope with the fact that I've been publicly humiliated and embarrassed.

I walked straight out of my house Monday morning, praying that I wouldn't have to see Harry. Luckily, my eyes were drawn to Zayn's truck parked in my driveway.

"Hi." I whispered sliding inside. "Thanks for the ride today." I say, giving him a weak smile.

"No problem, Ri. You sure you wanna go in today? We can always ditch.."

"No, I have to face them eventually." I mutter pulling my knees to my chest and turning up the music as he slowly pulled out of the driveway.

"Well you look nice." He smiled and I nodded, not responding. In my opinion, I'm dressed like a hobo. Never in my life have I worn leggings, a tank, a denim jacket and a scarf to school... but I know people will judge me anyway, so fuck it, right?


The rest of the ride was silent, and when he pulled into my parking space right outside the entrance my heart dropped into my stomach.

"Hold onto my keys today, just in case you wanna get out of here early. I'll see you in a bit, yeah?" Zayn smiled, helping me out of his large truck.

"Thanks... I mean seriously, thank you for everything." I whisper, giving him a small peck on the cheek.

This is it. I quickly walk through those double doors and my feet carry me to my locker. I can already see people staring from the corner of my eyes, even a few people whispering and laughing. I look beside me and see Dixie grabbing a few books. I can do this.

"Hey Dixie..." I whisper. She continues doing what she's doing, ignoring me. Maybe I said it too low? "Hi Dix, I was wondering if--"

"Please, refrain from speaking to me, alright?" She muttered before slamming her locker and her heels clicked away.

I feel like I just got punched in the stomach. Not even an 'are you okay'? I could feel the lump in the back of my throat getting larger and my eyes were begging to release the water clogging their corners.

"Riley?" A voice whispered from behind me.

"Hey Cody... and hi Nick." I put on a fake smile, tilting my head back to let the tears disappear.

"Are you alright? We've both been calling you all weekend..." Nick whispered, taking a step towards me. He whispered. They don't want to be seen with me either.

"My phone broke and I'm umm... Well I'm here." I try to laugh, but it comes out as more of a cry-like sigh. Before they could say another word, the first bell rang and I was off to class. Anatomy is first... Which means Harry, Niall and Dixie. This should be fantastic.


I stepped inside and noticed Harry sitting there, but I refused to make eye contact with him. I slumped down into my seat and couldn't help but feel a pit in the bottom of stomach.

"Riley, how are you?" He asked, leaning in towards me. I kept my head facing front and pulled out my notebook, ignoring everything he was saying. "Please talk to me, I have to explain everything. I'm so sorry about everything that happened but--"

"Enough." I whisper-growl through gritted teeth. I am in no mood for his apology, I have too much going on.

"Riley, good to see ya." Niall whispered, giving my shoulder a quick shove as he walked in late.

"Hey Niall." I smiled a real smile at his goofy behavior. "Tell your brother thank you so much for the other night, I really--"

"What, did you pose naked for his brother too?" Dixie snorted next to Niall. I could hear other students around the room laugh at her comment, and I felt that same lump in my throat again.

"Dixie don't be jealous you don't have a body like Riley." Niall fired back. I could feel Harry tense up beside me, but that just made me only more angry. Does he know how I fucking feel?

"I'm very satisfied with my body and the fact that's not plastered all over the internet... can't say the same for everyone though, right?" She cocked her head sideways.

"I swear to god if you don--"

"Is there a problem?" Our teacher interrupted the heated trash talk for a moment.

"Can I please be excused, I don't really feel well." I sniffle, looking the opposite direction of the rest of the class. As the teacher nodded, I gathered my things and stormed towards the door. I heard someone call after me, probably Harry, but the laughing in the background muffled anything positive.

How could Dixie turn on me so easily? Is staying on top more important than my friendship with her... my self esteem with myself?

I hopped inside Zayn's truck and gripped the large steering wheel tightly. Where could I run to that no one will find me? At home my problems haunt me, at school they taunt me and I don't have any real friends right now aside from the boys who helped put me in this position.

That's not true, they didn't put me in this position, but they could have prevented it from happening. I let all my tears pour out of me and ripped at my hair a bit as I drove. I've never felt like this before, I'm losing all control over myself. I'm broken, shattered actually. Finally after driving around for a bit, I pull into the lot of my dance studio.

I use my key to open the door, and a sense of home immediately flushes through my system. I kick off my shoes, throw my hair in a bun, tie my jacket around my waist and plug in my phone to the speakers. If I'm gonna lose control, I might as well dance through the pain, right?

The first song that plays is my favorite, and the lyrics speak to me more than my conscious. I let myself go to the lyrics, and throw all my pain into this dance.

A World Alone- Lorde
(Authors note: listen to song, lyrics correspond with Riley's situation perfectly)

That slow burn wait while it gets dark, bruising the sun.
I feel grown up with you in your car, I know it's dumb.

Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

We've both got a million bad habits to kick, not sleeping is one.
We're biting our nails, you're biting my lip, I'm biting my tongue.

Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
People are talking, people are talking (ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh)
People are talking, people are talking

Raise a glass, 'cause I'm not done saying it.
They all wanna get rough, get away with it.
Let 'em talk 'cause we're dancing in this world alone, world alone, we're all alone.

All my fake friends and all of their noise, complain about work
They're studying business, I study the floor, and you haven't stopped smoking all night.
Maybe the Internet raised us, or maybe people are jerks.
People are talking, people are talking (But not you)
People are talking, people are talking

Raise a glass, 'cause I'm not done saying it.
They all wanna get rough, get away with it.
Let 'em talk 'cause we're dancing in this world alone, world alone,
we're all alone.


As the music stopped playing, I settled myself onto the floor, curled up into a ball and sobbed my eyes out. My head slams against the floor purposefully. Sometimes I think to myself life would be easier if I was just gone. The pain in my chest, in my head and in my stomach is all so much. I can't just ignore what people are saying about me, Can I?

Footsteps pad across the room and I recognize immediately that I'm not alone. I pull myself up from the ground and glance across the room to the frantic person sprinting towards me with a concerned face and open arms.

Harry.

My heart aches for him, but my brain is screaming to tell him to leave. He crouches down beside me and places his hand on my cheek. I flinch at first, but settle at his touch.

"I love you, Riley." He says, pulling me tightly into his warm and welcoming chest.

. . . What?

Notes

the song that is posted literally goes perfectly with Riley's situation so please listen to it! :)

I really enjoy writing this story, so I seriously hope you guys are enjoying reading it!

please comment / rate / subscribe lovebugs! xx