Riley's Secret (A Moon's Glow Novel # 1) (2 page)

“Hey, guys, I hope I didn’t keep you
waiting.” Jenny’s voice was sticky sweet as she climbed into the back seat. She
shoved Mandy a bit harder than necessary when she pushed the front seat
forward.

“Oh, of course not. We’ve only been sitting here for
twenty minutes,” I said coldly, annoyed with her already and the night had
barely begun.

“What’s your problem? I didn’t know you were here.” Her
tone took on a defensive whine as she looked into her small makeup mirror. She
fluffed her shoulder-length blond hair and scrunched up her lips, adoring her
reflection in the mirror.

“Yeah, right,” I mumbled but decided to let it go.
Mandy gave me a pleading look, begging me not to pick a fight with Jenny
tonight. I nodded and pulled out of the driveway.

Jenny tucked her mirror into her clutch purse and
asked, “So, where are we going?”

Mandy turned in her seat to face Jenny. “The football
field with the guys. I told you already when I called you to say we were on our
way. Remember?”

“Oh, right, I forgot. I got into it with my dad again.
He’s still refusing to pay to fix my car. He was going on and on tonight at
dinner about being responsible if I want to have a car. This was my third
accident, blah, blah, blah. I tuned him out after that. God, he’s getting so
annoying, like it’s the end of the world that I’ve had three accidents. I can’t
believe he thinks I should pay to fix it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah, life is tough, isn’t it?
How can he expect you to take responsibility for your own actions?”

“
I know, right
?”

Apparently, sarcasm was lost on her. I opened my mouth
to tell her off, but a look from Mandy silenced me. For some reason, she liked
Jenny. And since Mandy was my best friend and had been for ten years ago, I had
to put up with Jenny—even if it killed me.

Five minutes later, I pulled into the nearly empty
school parking lot, next to Shane’s enormous black SUV.
God
, it was
obnoxious, but then again, so was Shane. No wonder he and Jenny were a couple;
they were perfect for each other.

I tossed my purse in the front seat of the car, locked
the doors and followed my friends through the back of the school to the field.

“Look who’s finally here.” Shane sauntered up to
Jenny, wrapping his arm possessively around her shoulder. “It took you long
enough. Let me guess, Jenny kept you waiting,” he asked me.

His girlfriend started speaking before I could answer.
“Don’t encourage her. She’s already pissed at me, just because I took a little
extra time getting ready. I had to look my best for you.” Her lips puckered
into a pout as she leaned up to kiss him hungrily, almost making me gag. I had
to turn away from their disgusting PDA before I hurled right there on the
football field.

“Okay, that’s gross,” Brandon commented, walking over
to stand next to me.

“Really, guys, if you want to be alone, go in the
bushes. We don’t need to see it.” Chris approached us, wrapping his arms around
Mandy. They had been going out for six months and were so cute together. They
even looked alike, with their black hair and blue eyes. There was quite a
difference in size though. While Chris was almost six feet and broad
shouldered, Mandy was short with a tiny frame. Her pixie haircut just made her
appear smaller.

Shane pushed Jenny away but wrapped his arm around her
waist. “Do any of you girls want a drink?” He gestured with his hand to a
cooler with what looked like a twenty-four of beer inside. It was sitting on
the grass in front of the bleachers.

I passed on the beer, climbing up the benches to sit
down on the bleachers about four rows up. Jenny and Mandy helped themselves to
a drink, choosing to sit down on the first row.

“Megan, you want one?” Brandon asked, holding a brown
bottle up for me.

“No thanks, I’m driving,” I replied, wondering why I
came.

“So am I, but you don’t see me being a loser and
saying no.” Shane twisted the cap off of a bottle and tossed it onto the grass.

“You’re right. I don’t ever see you saying no.” I
stared at Shane coldly, unable to hide my irritation.

He glared at me, his face cold. “What’s that supposed
to mean?” he asked, taking a few steps toward the bleachers, his chest puffed
out in a sign of aggression.

Brandon grabbed his shoulder. “I’m sure she didn’t
mean anything. She was just agreeing with you.” He looked up at me, his eyes
pleading. “Right, Meg?”

I decided it was a waste of time to give Shane a
lecture on drinking and driving, so instead I gave him a fake smile. “Right,” I
agreed with a nod.

Jenny, ignoring her boyfriend’s outburst, turned to
glance up at me. “So Megan, did Mandy tell you that I changed practice from ten
on Sunday morning to two in the afternoon? My parents are having some brunch
thing for my father’s work, so we can all meet at my place then, okay?”

“Whatever.” I hated cheerleading practice. I joined
first year with Mandy, but slowly grew tired of it. I wanted to quit a few
times, but Mandy always offered an excuse as to why I shouldn’t. The latest one
was that I couldn’t let the team down with cheer competitions so close. So I
would stick it out, but come June—I was free. I hated dressing in our skimpy
uniforms and shaking our butts in front of hundreds of people. I felt like I
was putting myself on display and honestly hated being in the spotlight.

“Will your shoulder be better by Friday, Shane?” Chris
asked him while he sat down beside Mandy. Last Friday night at their weekly
game of touch football with some of their teammates, it got a little rough.

“Yeah, I’ve been working on it, it’ll be fine.” He
rolled his shoulder to demonstrate.

Jenny grabbed Shane and pulled him toward the corner
of the bleachers so they could make out in semi-private.

Chris took Mandy’s hand, leading her toward the
school.

Great
, I was alone with Brandon again. This was what usually happened when
we all got together: we paired up. But the problem was—Brandon and I were not a
couple. Not that he didn’t want to be, I just didn’t like him that way.

Brandon bent down and pulled out a beer. After opening
it, he threw the cap in the cooler, it made a pinging sound as it hit a glass
bottle. “Do you mind if I join you?” he asked, staring up at me. His voice was
deep and in the silence sounded loud.

“Sure, but you know how I feel.”

“I know, don’t worry.” He climbed the bleachers two at
a time, plopping down on the bench next to me.

“Where’s the rest of the team?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t ask them to come. Why?”

I shook my head, realizing Mandy had lied to me,
knowing I wouldn’t want to come if it was just the six of us. “Never mind.”

“Why do you always push him like that?” he asked,
leaning his elbows back against the bench behind him. He nodded his head to the
back of the bleachers where Shane and Jenny were giggling.

I sighed. “I don’t know. Both of them are so selfish
and irresponsible, they drive me crazy.”

“Then why do you hang out with them?” I raised my
eyebrows at him. “Okay, let me rephrase. Why do you hang out with Jenny?”

I leaned my head back, staring up at the star-filled
sky. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him gaze at me, waiting for my
answer. “Mandy likes her. God knows why. And Mandy’s my best friend, so I put
up with Jenny’s crap. Barely,” I added when he laughed.

Looking away from the twinkling stars, I turned my
head to face him. “Why do you hang out with
him
? You’re not as obnoxious
as he is.”

He laughed. “
As
obnoxious? Was that a compliment?”
he asked. I nodded with a grin. “The three of us have been friends since grade
school. Shane started acting like this our second year of high school after his
parents’ divorce. Chris and I have been friends with him for so long it seems
habit now. We just ignore him when he acts like an ass.”

I knew they had been friends since they were young,
but I never understood the dynamic. As I leaned my head back, staring at the
stars again, I felt him lean against me. I pulled away and heard him sigh.

“Where are you going in the fall?” he asked, setting
his beer on the bench beside him.

“Actually I’m taking a year off. I don’t know what I
want to do with my life and I didn’t want to waste my parents’ money going to
school with no major. What about you, what are you taking?”

“Pre-law. I’m going to be a lawyer, whether I like it
or not. Just like my dad and his dad.” His father was a partner in my dad’s
firm. My father was his boss.

Watching Brandon, I wondered why I couldn’t like him
the way he wanted. He was very cute, with his wavy chestnut hair and deep brown
eyes, his face filled with sharp lines and a strong jaw. He was always nice to
me, but I just felt like there was something missing in my life and I knew it
wasn’t him.

“If you don’t want to be a lawyer, don’t be. You
shouldn’t let your father dictate your life.”

He sighed, leaning his elbows on the bench behind him.
“Well, he says he won’t pay for school if I don’t follow in the family
business. But I don’t know what else to take, so I’m okay with it.” He took a
frustrated drink from his beer, downed it and then threw the empty bottle on
the grass. It rolled a few feet, stopping inches from someone’s discarded
backpack. Standing up, he turned to me. “You sure you don’t want one?” When I
only nodded, he stepped down the bleachers and pulled another beer from the
cooler.

Mandy and Chris headed towards us, hand in hand,
giggling to one another.

“Hey, I’ll have one,” Chris called out to Brandon.
Brandon took two more out and tossed them one at a time to Chris. He caught
one, handed it to Mandy and then caught the second one. The bottle clinked
against his class ring.

Hero

A couple of hours later I was ready to leave. It had
been a boring night of watching them get wasted and the more Brandon drank, the
more
handsy
he became. He sat beside me with his arm wrapped around my
shoulder. I’d get up to move to another bench. He’d get the hint and go hang
out with the guys, only to try again a few minutes later.

Mandy sat down on the bleacher beside me during one of
the rare moments I was alone. “Isn’t this fun?” she slurred. She was working on
her fourth, which was a lot for her.

“Yeah, I’m having a blast,” I mumbled, rolling my
eyes.

“Well, you could try to have more fun, you know.
Sooner or later Brandon’s going to give up and move on.”

“Good. I told you a million times I don’t like him
that way. You always do this to me.”

“Do what?” she asked, blinking innocently at me.

“Get me into these situations. I thought there would
be more people here. You know I don’t like Brandon and yet I always seem to be
paired up with him.”

“Well, he likes you, okay. I told you the rest of the
team would be here because I knew you wouldn’t want to come if it was just us.
I’m just trying to help.”

“I’m
your
friend. You should try to help
me
.”
I sighed, tired of fighting with her over the same thing. I stood up and stared
down at her. “I’m tired, I want to go.”

“Come on, it’s just getting fun. They’re about to get
out the fireworks.”

Just as she spoke, I saw something fly into the sky
from where the three guys were huddled in the middle of the field.

“They thought we could use something to celebrate the
fact that we only have two more months of high school. Isn’t it awesome?” Her
head was tipped up, watching as red and blue erupted in hundreds of lights with
a loud
bang
. The smell of sulfur hovered in the air.

I had to admit, they were pretty. Maybe the evening
would take a turn for the better. I have always loved fireworks. One of the
times my parents paid attention to me when I was a child was on the Fourth of
July. They had annual barbeques for my father’s office and he would spare no
expense with the fireworks. My parents would gather around me and make a big
deal of making sure I was comfortable enough. And together we’d watch the
pretty lights. It wasn’t until I was older that I noticed that as the last of
our guests left, all the attention I received from my parents disappeared as
well.

Even though the memory stung a little, it didn’t take
away my love for fireworks. One of my favorite things to do is watch the stars
at night. So adding multiple colors just made me happier.

I sat down and watched the beautiful designs in the
sky. I was so enthralled with the show; I didn’t even notice Brandon take the
seat next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

Shane lit another one that shot up, leaving a trail of
smoke. Everyone looked into the sky, waiting. But nothing happened.