To Break Free

It was official, Riley and her mother had lived in their small Texas town for a full month. Her mother loved it there. She had a good job, was friends with coworkers, had joined the book club, and got to see her daughter open up more and more. The last was the most important thing to her. She cared greatly about her daughter's happiness.

Riley loved the town. There were less people there than back in California, where she was from. Back there, people were everywhere. Filling the school hallways, filling the streets, her apartment building. It was both awful and terrifying for Riley. When her mother mentioned moving, she had worried a bit that it would be just as bad or worse, but she had gotten excited when her mother had told her it would be a small town. Her mother cared about what was best for her.

She enjoyed befriending Aiden as well, but the friendship moved so quickly that it started to scare her. She really wasn't ready for that yet, as badly as she wanted a friend. So she had decided to avoid him in hopes that he would get what she meant and slow things down. She should probably just talk to him about it, but the thought of doing that terrified her. She decided her best option was just to avoid him. He had tried to talk to her every day. She would say "hi" before leaving to go to class. A negative part of this was that she didn't have anyone to talk to. She also found herself avoiding the woods, although she loved the place.

Shayla had talked to Riley again about Aiden. She had warned Riley about him, that he was bad news. She had also said that Aiden liked her and that was why he tried so hard to befriend her. Riley had no idea how to react and ran. But she did think of what Shayla said. Could Aiden really be bad? Riley had no idea, and that made her want to avoid him more.