Chapter 8: Riley’s Secret
1444 Words
Riley Parker had a secret.
It wasn’t something terrible.
At least, that’s what she told herself.
She had simply discovered something about herself that she wasn’t ready to tell Ethan or Owen.
She liked attention.
Not from everyone.
From boys.
It had started that year when one of the boys in her class told her she looked pretty.
Riley had pretended not to care.
Then she spent the entire afternoon thinking about it.
She stood in front of the bathroom mirror that evening, examining herself.
Pretty?
She wasn’t sure.
She turned sideways.
Then frowned.
“No.”
She tried again.
Still no.
She walked away from the mirror, then returned thirty seconds later.
Maybe.
The problem wasn’t the mirror.
The problem was Ethan.
He had an opinion about everything.
Especially boys.
Riley had already discovered this after a classmate asked to borrow her pencil and Ethan spent the entire lunch break asking why he kept talking to her.
“He likes you,” Ethan had said.
“So?”
“So nothing.”
“You’re being weird.”
“I just know how boys think.”
Riley had rolled her eyes.
“You’re a boy.”
“Exactly.”
Owen had been sitting beside them, eating his lunch.
“Ethan, you’re eleven.”
Ethan had looked offended.
“I know.”
“You don’t know how boys think.”
“I know more than you.”
Riley had laughed.
That was the problem.
They were always together.
There was nowhere she could have a private conversation without one of them appearing.
So Riley started keeping little secrets.
She wrote things in the back of her notebook.
Names.
Thoughts.
Things she would never say out loud.
Sometimes she imagined what it would be like to have someone like her.
Not because she was Riley Parker.
Not because she was Ethan’s twin.
Just because she was Riley.
One afternoon, she was sitting on her bedroom floor writing when Ethan walked in without knocking.
She slammed the notebook shut.
“What?”
Ethan stopped.
“Why are you hiding that?”
“I’m not.”
“You literally closed it when I walked in.”
Riley hugged the notebook to her chest.
“It’s private.”
Ethan stared at her suspiciously.
“Are you writing about me?”
She laughed.
“Why would I write about you?”
“Because I’m interesting.”
“You’re annoying.”
“Same thing.”
Owen appeared at the doorway.
“What are you two doing?”
“Nothing,” Riley said quickly.
Ethan pointed at her notebook.
“She has a secret.”
Owen looked at Riley.
She narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t.”
He raised both hands.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Good.”
Ethan tried to grab the notebook.
Riley screamed and jumped up.
“Ethan!”
He laughed as she chased him around the room.
Owen stepped aside.
“I’m not getting involved.”
“You’re supposed to help me!”
“You told me not to.”
Riley stopped.
“Fine.”
She grabbed a pillow and threw it at Ethan.
It hit him directly in the face.
Owen burst out laughing.
Ethan picked up another pillow.
“Oh, you’re finished.”
Within seconds, the room became chaos.
Pillows flew.
Riley screamed.
Ethan laughed.
Owen tried to escape but got hit anyway.
Mrs. Parker eventually appeared at the door.
“What’s happening?”
All three froze.
Ethan pointed at Riley.
“She started it.”
Riley pointed at Ethan.
“He touched my notebook.”
Mrs. Parker looked at Owen.
Owen sighed.
“I was innocent.”
Mrs. Parker smiled.
“Of course you were.”
She looked at the three of them.
“Clean this room.”
They groaned.
As they began picking up the pillows, Riley quietly slipped her notebook beneath her mattress.
Nobody noticed.
Nobody except Owen.
He saw her do it.
But he said nothing.
Later that night, when everyone was asleep, Riley pulled the notebook out again.
She opened to the page she had been writing earlier.
There were only a few words.
I want someone to choose me.
She stared at the sentence.
Then quickly crossed it out.
It sounded silly.
She was only eleven.
She didn’t need someone.
She had Ethan.
She had Owen.
She had her parents.
She had everything.
Still, she couldn’t explain why the thought had appeared in the first place.
Riley closed the notebook and pushed it beneath her pillow.
That was her secret.
Not the names.
Not the notes.
Not even the boys she secretly thought were cute.
It was the quiet realization that one day, she wanted something that belonged only to her.
Something that had nothing to do with being Ethan Parker’s twin.
Something that nobody else could decide for her.
She just didn’t know what that something was yet.
Riley became more careful after that night.
She stopped leaving her notebook on the floor. She stopped writing when Ethan was nearby. Whenever Owen entered her room unexpectedly, she made sure the notebook was nowhere in sight.
It became a game of hiding things.
And Riley was getting good at it.
One Saturday afternoon, she was sitting on the front steps with her headphones on when a boy from school walked past the Parker gate.
“Hey, Riley.”
She pulled one earbud out.
“Hi, Marcus.”
He smiled.
“You coming to the game tomorrow?”
“What game?”
“Basketball. At school.”
“Oh.”
“You should come.”
Riley hesitated.
“Maybe.”
“I’ll see you there, then.”
He walked away.
Riley watched him for a second longer than necessary.
Then someone dropped onto the step beside her.
Ethan.
“Who was that?”
Riley immediately put her earbud back in.
“Nobody.”
Ethan pulled it out.
“You know him?”
“Yes.”
“Why was he talking to you?”
“Because he can talk.”
Ethan frowned.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Riley sighed.
“He invited me to a basketball game.”
“You’re going?”
“I don’t know.”
“You shouldn’t.”
She turned toward him.
“Why?”
“Because.”
“That isn’t a reason.”
“Mom said we shouldn’t go anywhere without telling her.”
“Then I’ll tell her.”
Ethan looked unconvinced.
Before he could say anything else, Owen stepped outside carrying a football.
“What are you two arguing about?”
“Nothing,” Riley said.
“Marcus invited her to the basketball game tomorrow,” Ethan replied.
Riley stared at him.
“You couldn’t wait five seconds?”
Owen glanced at her.
“Are you going?”
“Maybe.”
He shrugged.
“Then go if you want.”
Riley looked at him.
Ethan looked offended.
“You’re encouraging her?”
“It’s a school game, Ethan.”
“He’s a boy.”
“So?”
Ethan opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Owen smiled.
“Exactly.”
Riley laughed.
For once, Ethan had nothing to say.
That evening, Riley asked her mother if she could attend the game.
Mrs. Parker agreed, provided she went with them and came home afterward.
Riley ran upstairs to change.
She stood in front of her wardrobe for nearly twenty minutes.
Too much.
Too plain.
Too childish.
Too obvious.
She finally chose a simple pair of jeans and a fitted top.
Then she stared at herself in the mirror.
She smiled.
Maybe she was growing up.
Not enough for anyone else to notice.
But enough for her to notice.
The next morning, Ethan knocked on her door.
“Riley, we’re leaving.”
“One minute!”
“You said that ten minutes ago.”
“I’m coming!”
She grabbed her bag and hurried downstairs.
Owen was waiting by the door.
He looked at her, then at Ethan.
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
Ethan opened the door.
“Finally.”
Riley stepped outside between them.
She had forgotten her secret for a moment.
Forgotten the notebook beneath her mattress.
Forgotten the names written inside.
But as they walked toward the car, she caught sight of Marcus across the school grounds.
He smiled when he saw her.
Riley smiled back.
Ethan didn’t notice.
Owen did.
He looked at her for half a second, then looked away.
Riley felt something strange in her stomach.
She didn’t understand it.
And she wasn’t ready to.
So she kept walking.
Between her two best friends.
Carrying a secret that was beginning to become bigger than the notebook beneath her mattress.
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