Jealousy: A romantic trajedy

little sad, but it shows the hopeless romantic in me!

Jealousy
        Riley Karr was just an average girl until the day she gazed into Malcolm Skye�s deep blue eyes, which were the exact shade of the ocean outside Riley�s Californian beach house. She remembered the day like it was yesterday and her best friend, Nora, and her had analyzed every detail. Not to mention, it was Riley�s most common daydream that occurred during her more uneventful classes.
        It was the first day of school in ninth grade and the two middle schools from Riley�s town- a small suburb outside of San Francisco- came together for high school. Riley was from the eastern middle school and Malcolm was from western one. Riley was so scared to be starting high school, and she never imagined that she would be meeting the guy of her dreams that very morning. Riley usually didn�t care much about looks or fashion, but on this day she cared -- a lot. After an extra fifteen minutes doing her hair and make up and about twelve very annoyed calls up the stairs from her dad, Riley finally arrived at the high school. She walked slowly up the stone steps. Was this really happening? Was Riley Karr seriously starting her high school career? She couldn�t believe today had come so quickly. She really needed to make a good impression today because this would set the tone of her life for the next four years. She reached the doorway and stopped to take out the information slip she had received in the mail a couple weeks before. �Locker 817�� Riley thought to herself, �Where could that be?� When she finally located her locker after checking every hallway in the school, she was already disheveled and flustered after her fifteen minutes of searching. The locker next to Riley�s was already open and its occupant�s head was completely hiding behind the door. Khaki Abercrombie looking shorts and flip-flops were all that were visible of Riley�s future neighbor. �Okay, Riley. You can do this just be yourself and don�t embarrass yourself.� Riley assured herself as she approached her locker. Just as she reached her locker, his locker closed and revealed the most gorgeous face Riley had ever laid her eyes upon. Malcolm�s blue eyes were open in surprise as he tried to cover the shock of Riley�s sudden arrival. Riley tried to regain her composure. How was she, Riley Karr, so lucky as to have the hottest guy in school�s locker right beside her own? �Hi, I�m Riley,� said Riley as calmly and coolly as she could manage. She held out her hand to shake his. Malcolm looked at Riley as if pondering whether she was really lame for shaking his hand or really cool. He must have decided that it was cool because he reached out and grabbed Riley�s hand as he said,� Malcolm -- Malcolm Skye.� Then, just as Riley was about to say something flirty and witty, a pretty blond cheerleader walked up behind Malcolm and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Riley really didn�t see that coming. �Hey boo,� squeaked the pretty blond and then added in an icy, fake sweet tone, �Aw, Malcolm, did you pick up a stray?� as she looked at Riley with a stare that was meant to intimidate. Well, it worked. Riley was definitely intimidated. Malcolm looked really embarrassed of this girl�s public show of affection. He pulled away from her and looked at his shoes as if they were the most interesting thing he�d ever seen. �This is Olivia,� he said in a very unenthusiastic almost bored voice. �Um, Hi, I�m Riley,� Riley managed to stammer out. �Life sucks,� thought Riley, �I meet the cutest guy ever and then find out he has cute, blond girlfriend.� This notion really angered Riley. She had really believed that she might have a chance with this guy. Olivia ended up dragging Malcolm away from Riley and throwing a dirty look over her shoulder as she walked away.
        Now its Riley�s senior year and she still hasn�t been able to get Malcolm�s attention except for the occasional brief exchanges of, �Did you catch the Algebra homework, Riley?� or �What period is that assembly again?� when they stopped at their lockers. That was the only time they ever even interacted with each other Malcolm kept on dating Olivia and various other cheerleaders but he always went back to Olivia. Riley was definitely envious of Olivia, but what could she do? So, instead of pursuing Malcolm any further, she just watched as he and Olivia became the most widely known couple in the school. She listened to Olivia babble on and on about what a great time she had with �Malcolmkins� the previous night, to a crowd of wannabe popular girls. Riley knew that Malcolm was the guy for her. She couldn�t explain it. She just knew that they were meant to be together even if he didn�t realize it yet. For three years straight, while Nora had several steady boyfriends and gone on countless dates, Riley turned down any guy that asked her because she knew that if she waited long enough, and tried hard enough, Malcolm would see. He would notice.
        On the first day of Riley�s twelfth grade year, things changed. Riley had matured a lot over the summer and had grown into her original awkwardness. When she approached her locker, Malcolm was already there, but he looked like he was waiting for someone. Riley couldn�t help but be excited. In the back of her head there was still that hope that he was waiting to rush her off to some foreign paradise where they would live together for all eternity. �Yeah, Right, That�ll happen,� she thought to herself scornfully, �No, he�s probably waiting for Olivia because Olivia is so great and Olivia has everything.� When Riley arrived at her locker she was bursting with hatred for Olivia and she slammed her locker door open hastily wanting to get as far away from Malcolm as possible. She was going so quickly that it took her a good thirty seconds to know that Malcolm was looking at her intently as if he was trying to decide if he should talk to her. Riley was so winded from her burst of fury and her brutal assault of her locker that when she finally got the guts to say hello her words were so mangled and breathless that they were barely audible. �What did the locker do to you?� Malcolm said with that ever so white and sly smile. �Was he flirting?� thought Riley excitedly,� Was Malcolm Skye seriously standing there with his model looks flirting with her, Riley, the girl who hasn�t had a boyfriend since preschool? That was just too much for Riley to handle Malcolm didn�t look at Riley like he had in years past. He looked at her different. Riley couldn�t explain it, not even to Nora, but from that day on, Riley and Malcolm would never be the same.
        To Riley�s surprise, Malcolm started talking to her everyday at their lockers. That�s where all her problems started. One Friday afternoon after the ninth period bell had sounded, and the halls were bursting with people, they started out talking about what a horrible teacher Mrs. Tailen, their Geography teacher was and then they got on the subject of how hard last year�s finals were and that lead to studying for the upcoming math test worth 30% of their grade. They were talking until long after their buses were gone. But, for some reason, they didn�t care. They just kept on discussing different points of their high school lives and everything else imaginable. Riley had never imagined that Malcolm Skye, star of the basketball and football teams could really be this deep. He knew about Shakespeare and poetry. He understood Riley�s love of art. They made it an every day habit of meeting after school just to talk about, well, anything they pleased. One day, after a couple weeks of these meetings, they were sitting on the floor by their lockers. They were looking through their freshman yearbook and reminiscing about all the idiotic stunts they had gotten away with. Malcolm suddenly stopped and looked over at Riley, closed the yearbook, and set it aside. �I can�t believe we�re leaving next year,� he said slowly, �and I can�t believe that it took me this long to find you, when we could have been doing this for the last four years.� Riley was completely taken aback. �Yeah, I know what you mean,� she replied sadly. It was true. They could have been doing this since they met, but there was always Olivia. She would be very against Malcolm meeting another girl after school, no matter what the cause. It was common knowledge that Olivia had a problem with Malcolm even breathing near another girl in school. Riley was thinking this over in her head when suddenly she snapped back to the present and realized before she could prepare that Malcolm was leaning in to kiss her. �Oh my god!� she thought. She had absolutely no experience at all in this area. A male voice echoed through the hallway. �Hey, Riley!� it called. Riley looked up and her heart fell. It was Aden, her best friend since the third grade. He looked completely innocent, like he hadn�t just ruined Riley�s first kiss. She wanted to tear him apart limb by limb, but decided refrain because something told her that could be a turn-off to Malcolm. Just then, there was a click of heels and a perky and still very blond Olivia appeared from around the corner. She surveyed the scene. She looked from Malcolm, to Riley, to Aden, back to Malcolm, then back to Riley, and then she looked down at how close Riley and Malcolm were sitting. �What�s going on here Malcolmkins?� she asked in a voice that could kill. �Nothing�we were just�I was just�� mumbled Malcolm �looking at some old stuff,� he ended weakly. �It�s not what it looks like!� Riley blurted too loudly for comfort. She turned red with embarrassment. Olivia looked like she now wanted to tear Riley apart limb by limb. Riley tried to ignore her intimidation. Aden was still staring blankly and was obviously oblivious to the great amount of tension hanging in the air. �Come on Malcolm, let�s go,� Olivia commanded while staring fixedly at Riley with a look that could make even a polar bear shiver. Malcolm got up and looked at Riley with an expressionless face. Riley couldn�t believe he was just going to give into her that easily. Why couldn�t Malcolm just stand up to Olivia? She wasn�t that scary. Okay, so she was pretty scary, but he still needs to stick up for himself.
        That night, Riley locked herself in her bedroom and tried to get through her unavoidable amount of homework. Right as she finished, the phone rang downstairs, and her younger brother, Kyle called upstairs, �Riley, It�s for you! It�s a boy!� Riley could hear Kyle�s disbelief in his voice. He was only in tenth grade and had more than one girlfriend and went on plenty of dates while Riley was still dateless and boyfriend-less. �Coming!� screamed Riley back. She ran downstairs into the kitchen where Kyle was saying something about a football game that was on. �Kyle, give me the phone!� she said eagerly. �Fine, whatever,� he said as he tossed the cordless at her and rolled his eyes. Riley grabbed the phone just in time before it crashed on to the tile kitchen floor. She put the phone to her ear and tried to make her voice sound calm, like she talked to guys on the phone all the time. �Hello?� she said in a relaxed tone. Malcolm�s voice spoke in her ear, �Hey, I just wanted to say I was sorry for what happened earlier today.� He sounded like he really did feel bad, and he wasn�t just being courteous. �It�s okay. It was no big deal,� Riley lied. Riley knew that Malcolm would see right through that, but she didn�t care. �No, it wasn�t okay,� he shot back with a little too much feeling, �She was out of line.� Riley considered this for a second then asked, �Why do you let her push you around like that?� There was a pause, and for a moment, Riley thought Malcolm may have hung up. Finally he replied slowly,� I have no idea, but Riley, I really want to get to know you better, whether Olivia likes it or not.� Riley didn�t know what to say back to this. She managed to stammer out,� I�d�um�er�like that.� Riley didn�t know how long they talked on the phone that night. All she remembered was her mom calling up the stairs telling her if she didn�t get of the phone immediately she would be grounded with no allowance for a long, long time.
After that, Malcolm called Riley all the time, but their meetings after school became more in secret. They would have to hang out in an old classroom or storage room because Olivia was staying after school more and more frequently for cheerleading. Riley was so happy just to be around Malcolm, it didn�t matter what they were doing or talking about, she just loved being with him. Everyday they would just sit together and catch up on work and that was enough, just being in the same room made Riley happy enough to last a lifetime. She didn�t think that Malcolm had allowed anyone this close to him ever before. She knew that they both knew they were in love. It went without saying and to them; it was the best feeling in the world. They wanted to show the world their relationship, but they knew that was never going to be possible with Olivia watching Malcolm like a hawk. So, for the moment, they were fine, being happy together whether anyone else knew or not.
One afternoon, they were playing a study game that Riley particularly liked where if she got the answer right, she got a kiss. She was propped against Malcolm�s legs and Malcolm was sprawled lazily in an old desk. �What�s the capital of India?� asked Malcolm off of a flashcard. Riley thought about it for a second then answered happily with a smile, �New Delhi!� Malcolm leaned down to kiss her and just as their lips met, the doorknob of the old classroom twisted and with a click of heels in walked Olivia. Malcolm and Riley broke apart and in a split second the yelling started. �I can�t believe you would do this to me! I thought we had something special! We�re meant to be! We�re perfect! How could you choose her over me?� bellowed Olivia as her anger had now progressed to rage. �Malcolm, I want to talk to Riley -- alone,� stated Olivia coldly in a shaky voice. Malcolm looked at Riley and Riley gave him a look that told him she could handle it. Malcolm slowly got up and shuffled his feet to the door. Then with one last look back at Riley, he stepped out. Riley looked at the place near the door where Malcolm�s deep blue eyes had just been. She now wished they�d come back so she could look into them again.
Olivia started to advance on Riley with a look of pure hatred in her eyes. Olivia was at such a loss of words that all she managed to sputter was �You� you� you boyfriend stealer you!� She kept screaming as she drew ever nearer to Riley. Olivia was beyond all control. She took yet another step closer and in a frenzy of fury she pushed Riley with all her might. Riley fell to the ground and her head collided with something sharp and solid. She lay motionless. Olivia started towards the door to make her dramatic exit, but the realized that Riley wasn�t moving�
Two days later, a family and a blue-eyed young man stand in a graveyard in the pouring rain. They stand over the grave of a young woman with a headstone reading Riley Karr, a beloved sister and daughter.
Jealousy can kill.

Author's Note

it was written for a creative writing competition AND IT WON! (go me) ha. but yeah, hope you like! suggestions? opinions? much appreciated ;)

Reviews

[Jillian]

wow.....................i really have nothing to say im speechless...................................................................................................wow again. u should write a novel

[Fallen_Angel]

I loved it. I wish the end was longer
as you said well kinda
that story was sooo cool even the polar bears were shivering.
No wonder you won that competion. It was that amazing.

Please Please please please write more!!!

[Deepshikha]

OMG, wow.
That was amazing.
I loved all the detailing and the twist.
Wah, wah! (As they would say in New Delhi!)