I stared out the window as Emmy pulled into my driveway. I had left my car at her house incase anything happened, then I would have a reason to leave. I could see her standing in the doorway, waiting for me. I knew she was angry. I don't care what kind of front she was putting on right now, the minute we were behind closed doors, all hell would break loose.

"You call me if you need anything. You know you're more than welcome to come stay with us anytime," Emmy said with a smile. I gave her a quick hug before getting out of the car and grabbing my stuff from the car. Angela ran up to me, giving me a hug.

"I was so worried about you. You scared me half to death," she said. I shrugged her off of me.

"Emmy knows we hate each other. You don't have to put on a show." Angela gave me a death glare and watched as Emmy pulled away.

"You're an ungrateful bitch, you know that?" I couldn't contain the laughter that escaped my lips.

"You turned me into what I am," I said as I pushed past her and headed into the house. I wasn't going to death with her bullshit.

"Riley, I'm not done talking to you! You will respect me. I'm your guardian." I stopped, dead in my tracks. I turned around to face her, staring her in the eyes.

"Don't pull that card on me. You could care less what happens to me. All you want is my fathers money to support your drug habits." Her mouth dropped, and I could tell I had pissed her off.

"Who do you think you are? I'm like this because of losing your father. That was hard on me to, you know." Once again, the laughter escaped from my mouth.

"You were a drug addict long before you met my father. You only married him for his money. You would say you're going out shopping, but really, you went a bought drugs. He wasn't stupid. He knew, but he loved you." I could see the tears starting to roll down her cheeks. I knew I hit a nerve, but she deserved it. Maybe reality would knock her in the face. She turned away from me and walked out of the room. I headed up to my room, hoping that would be the last of her for the night.

~~~~

For once, I was woken up by the sound of my alarm clock and not Angela. I rolled out of bed, heading to the bathroom. The house was quiet, but I liked it that way. It probably meant that Angela had gone out last night and didn't bother to come home. Once I was done getting ready, I went back to my room, grabbing my phone to call Emmy.

"Good morning, sunshine." I chuckled. I never understood how she was so bubbly in the morning.

"Morning. Do you mind giving me a ride to school?" There was a brief pause on the other end.

"I'm pulling into your driveway now. I figured you'd need a ride since your cars at my house," she said with a laugh. The line clicked dead, and I grabbed my bag, running out the from door. To my surprise, Bryson was sitting in the passenger seat of her car. I got in the back, making sure I was sitting behind Emmy.

"Thank you," I said to Emmy with a smile.

"There is a reason I'm your best friend." We laughed as she drove to school.

~~~~

"So you have to move like numbers to the same side?" Bryson asked. He seemed truly confused, and I couldn't help but feel bad for him. This was basic algebra, and we were in calculus.

"Yes, so say you have an equation like 2x-5=7+6x. You would move the x's to the same side and the real numbers to the same side, but don't forget they go from positive to negative, or vice versa when they move sides." Bryson wrote the equation down, struggling through it.

"This shit is too hard." I chuckled at the sight of him struggling. The big, bad football captain couldn't figure out basic algebra.

"How did you make it to senior year?" I said with a laugh. He shot me a glare and I kept laughing. "Listen, if it really means that much, I can come over and help you with your math skills." A smile took over his face.

"You would do that?" I nodded, doing the problem out and showing him.

"Oh, that's the answer." I laughed.

~~~~

"How was class?" Emmy asked, walking over to the table.

"It was quite funny seeing your brother struggle." She shook her head with a smile on her face.

"You would get enjoyment out of that." I nodded, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

"I offered to help him with his math." Emmys mouth dropped, food almost falling out.

"Have pigs learned to fly yet?" I laughed, shaking my head.

"I kind of felt bad that he didn't understand basic algebra. I mean, we are in calculus, and if he doesn't understand it, he'll never pass his senior year." She smiled, taking a bite of her lunch.

"Aw, Riley does have a heart." I threw a carrot at her and busted out laughing.

"Watch it, or else your brother will replace you as best friend," I said with a laugh.

"I thought I already was," Bryson said, showing us his puppy face. We laughed at him. "So, Riley, come over tonight and help me with math?" Bryson asked, once again giving me the puppy dog face.

"I guess I could do that." A smile formed on his face as he took a bite of his lunch.

"We do have a test tomorrow, and I can't afford to fail. If I fail then there's no playing in the game Friday night." I chuckled.

"I love how the only reason you want to pass is so you can play football."

~~~~

"What is going on with you and Bryson?" Emmy asked as we walked to we car.

"What do you mean?" I said, clueless as to what she was talking about.

"You guys have actually been nice to each other. Ever since the party." I still hadn't found out what happened at the party, and I hadn't been able to get it out of Emmy.

"I didn't sleep with him, did I?" I asked, causing Emmy to laugh. She shook her head no, still laughing. "Then why won't you tell me what happened?" I whined.

"That would take the fun out of torturing you," she said with a smile. "Don't worry, it was nothing bad. I'm just glad you two are finally getting along." We walked in silence the rest of the way to her car. She was right; it was nice to finally get along with Bryson and not to always be at each other's throats, but what happened that night to cause us to be nice?

----------------------------------------------

What do you think of how Riley handled the situation with her stepmom? What about her offering to help Bryson? Riley has a heart! What do you think caused Bryson to be nice to Riley?

The picture attached is, once again, a picture I made on the wattpad covers app.

Teaser: Riley helps Bryson with his math. They get alone time ;) maybe we'll bring Tamara back into the story for a bit!