4: Riley

In the afternoon I get a text from Quinn telling me that she is able to come tomorrow and my heart drops. Oh my god. She's coming over to my house!

I need to clean up! I need to make my home spotless.

I immediately get off the couch and start cleaning around the house. I start with sweeping the floor then I mop.

My parents come home and find me clean the counters. "What in the world? You're cleaning? Oh my god, are you an alien that looks like our daughter?" my dad teases.

"Very funny, dad. I'm cleaning because a friend is coming over tomorrow to study with me," I reply.

"You made a friend?" Asks my mom.

"Well, more like Mason helped me get a friend. Him and cheerleading helped, surprisingly," I reply.

My parents look at each other dumbfounded, but shrug and my mom says, "Well okay. Can your friend come over everyday, so that the house can be like this everyday."

"Oh my god, you guys," I reply laughing. My dad goes to the living room to sit on the couch and relax a bit while my mom walks over to me.

"Why are you in such a cleaning mood? Are you nervous about having your new friend over tomorrow?" my mom mentions.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just want to make a good impression or something."

"Sweetie, having a clean house doesn't impress friends or win them over. Your personality is what wins people over. So, don't worry about cleaning. Everything will be okay," my mom advises.

"What if she gets to know me and finds out that she doesn't actually like me?" I ask.

"Okay I doubt that is going to happen. Everything will be okay. Just you wait and see. You have to give your new friend a chance and not automatically assume they will think the worst of you. I know it's hard because the last place we lived in had crappy people, but now it's different. No one has been mean to you here. No one is going to hurt you here. So, give the friendship a chance," my mom suggests.

I sigh and stop washing the dishes. I take a breath and agree with my mom. "I'm going to go relax then," I add as I turn to walk to my room.

"Hold up, you started washing the dishes, might as well finish doing that," she adds.

I groan and turn back to the sink to finish the dishes as my mom chuckles at me. Before she walks into the living room, she stops to ask, "what's your friend's name?"

"Her name is Quinn," I reply.

"Cute name. Don't you worry, Riley. I'm sure Quinn will like you," she adds.

Once I'm done with the dishes I go up to my room and notice it's a bit messy. I can't help but clean up a little before laying done and freaking out again.

How am I supposed to act like myself? I don't even know what that means. I don't know what I'm like or who I am. I go to bed with those thoughts floating around in my mind.

The next day in school when I see Quinn I notice how excited she seems about the study session we will have today and that eases my worry a little bit. However, I still feel incredibly nervous around Quinn and I can't help it. I've talked to Madon about it and he says I probably just don't feel open and comfortable yet. He thinks that after today I might feel better around her.

Before practice starts for Quinn she walks over to me to ask, "Hey, Riley. What time do you think I should come over? Like right after practice or in an hour or two after practice? I need to know since my mom will be driving me to your place."

Before I can say anything, Mason interrupts from behind me, "Just come with us after practice ends. I can give you a ride there since I take Riley home anyway. That way your mom doesn't have to drive you."

"That sounds great, but I need to make sure it's okay to come over first. I need to hear the okay come from Riley, since it is her home I'm going to," Quinn replies as she focuses on me.

I just agree with what Mason says. I always agree with him, he always has the best intentions for me and knows how to deal with people, unlike me.

So, during their practice I do a little bit of homework and make notes of what Quinn and I should study later. When practice ends, I walk down the bleachers and meet Quinn and Mason on the field.

Mason is talking to Quinn about some different football plays, but Quinn looks incredibly bored. It's so funny and I can't help but chuckle as I walk to them. The moment that Quinn sees me her face immediately changes from boredom to a smile. I guess she is happy that I'm saving her from football talk.

"Ready to go, guys?" Mason asks.

Quinn and I say yes and she walks next to me as Mason walks in front of us. I notice that Quinn is struggling to grab her phone since she is holding two bags. So, I offer to help her with a bag and she hands it to me. Our hands slightly graze each other and I instantly get goosebumps, probably since her hands are a little cold. Quinn grabs her phone so that she can text her mom that she is heading over to my home and then she takes the bag back even though I offer to carry it to the car.

When we get to Mason's car, he tells Quinn that she can sit in the front if she wants, but she politely refuses. She probably doesn't feel comfortable sitting in the front since she doesn't know Mason that well.

To make her feel more comfortable I decide to sit in the back seat with her. Thankfully, I have her by my side as Mason starts talking about football again. I don't want to interrupt him, but I'm also not really paying attention to him. Quinn makes funny faces and gestures that mean kill me now please and I can't help but chuckle. But I try to do it quietly so that Mason doesn't hear.

Finally we get to my home and we get out of the car to enter the house. The first thing I do is show Quinn the dining room so she can sit down and get out her schoolwork. Then I offer her and Mason some water. Mason stays with us for a bit to work on his homework as well before he leaves to take his little brother to practice.

I get back to them with their water and Quinn and I start immediately going over our classes. Quinn is so much more prepared than I am since she takes out her flash cards and we start quizzing each other. Every once in a while, I glance over at Mason to check how he is doing on his homework and he has barely progressed past two math problems in the last thirty minutes. He struggles with school, it's not his strong suit.

"Need help Mason? I can help you," I say.

Mason looks up at me and nods his head so I continue studying with Quinn. After a few more minutes, I notice mason gets frustrated and pushes his homework aside to watch Quinn and I. We are are discussing various different essay questions that we might have for our AP government class. It's nice to bounce ideas of off each other, in this cast wto heads is better than one because Quinn brings up very good points that I need to study.

I glance over at Mason and he is smiling at me. I wonder why. And after a few minutes Mason looks at his phone and says, " I need to leave to get my brother. Bye, Quinn."

I get up to walk him to the door and we kiss before he opens the door. Before leaving he stops to turn around and mention, "it's nice to see you so passionate and happy again."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"You light up with Quinn," he adds.

I give him a questioning look and he continues to say, "You can finally talk and study with someone about the hard classes that you have. You can't do that with me and I felt like I was holding you back a bit. I was right, because you acted so differently with Quinn. You finally made a friend who thinks more like you. So, it's nice to see that spark in you. That passion when you debate with Quinn on topics."

I never looked at it like that. He's right, I could never study like this with anyone, so it's refreshing. It's helping a lot.

"I need to go or I'll make my brother relate to practice. Bye, babe," he says before kissing me again and walking out.

I stay at the door for a bit longer, thinking about what Mason said. He was right. I do feel comfortable around Quinn. I don't have to pretend to like her or what she says which I normally do with others. She actually listens to what I have to say instead of changing the topic.

I realize I've been standing there for a few minutes and I walk back over to Quinn to study with her some more.

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Author note: Have mercy on me with spelling and grammar mistakes. I wrote this on my phone because I don't have access to a computer at the moment.  So, I haven't used spell check or tried editing this chapter yet.