Shutout

Inconveniences

Lucas laughs, "If you try to crawl up to your room right now, we'll definitely be late. Briar, help her get in the car. I'll get your bag."

Ramona spends the duration of the ride sitting in the backseat of the car, one leg propped up in between the driver's and passenger's seat, while she leans back with two arms crossed over her chest. Getting injured definitely wasn't on the to do list for this morning. The car ride to school is mostly silent besides the music playing from the car's speakers. On this rare occasion Lucas let Briar have aux, and by the way he's tapping his finger on the steering wheel rhythmically and biting the inside of his cheek, he might regret it already. Briar's humming along softly, staring out the passenger side window with her backpack in her lap. Lucas begrudgingly agreed to stop by her house to pick it up.

Lucas parks in his school assigned parking spot, a shady spot in the corner of the lot, and says his haste goodbyes before leaving Briar to deal with a partially walking impaired Ramona to deal with.

"Okay, ummmm. I'll take your bag and we'll just hobble our way to the door. What's your first period?" Briar reaches out to the top of the car to keep her balance as she balances Ramona's bag in front of her body. She loops her arms through the straps, now having a hefty mass on both her back and front, not to mention the weight she's going to have to carry to keep pressure off Ramona's ankle.

Ramona mumbles a thank you as she slides her arm over Briar's shoulders, using her as an unconventional crutch, "Gym"

"So that's not happening." The two girls move in silence besides a few whimpers and humphs here and there before getting within feet of the front entrance.

A low whistle, "Briar, who knocked you up?" Aaron nods his head to the bulging lump on Briar's stomach, otherwise known as Ramona's overflowing backpack filled with every possible book and resource one could need.

"Oh har har, Aaron. Shouldn't you be in class?" Briar looks at him through her lashes, trying to come off as annoyed but Ramona can see the way her cheeks heat up the more she looks at him.

"You know I can't go to class without seeing my girl." Aaron says with a smirk, taking a few long strides to cross the distance between the two of them. He leans down to press a kiss to Briar's forehead. "So what's up with you two?"

"Aaron, jesus fuck. I told you to wait for me, not run away while I was in the middle of tying my shoe." Beau pants after coming to a stop from his speed walk, not wanting to get reprimanded by the entirely too serious hall monitors. His snide look completely disappears when he sees the pained look on Ramona's face. "Ramona? What's up? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," Ramona flashes a smile in Beau's direction. A smile with downturned corners and a secret hidden message. Something that compelled a simple sense of curiosity. And in any case it falters within seconds.

Briar snorts at Ramona's comment, "Fine is hardly the word I'd use, you can barely walk and by the way I'm pretty sure the bell already rang."

"Can't walk? What happened? Are you alright?" Ramona huffs out a sigh of annoyance, not used to nor not absolutely loving the attention and the always following pity.

"Just hurt my ankle, it's fine." Staring at the ground, Ramona doesn't notice how close Beau had traveled to her side since he had emerged from the school's doors. "What are you doing out here anyways?" A half hearted attempt at changing the subject.

Aaron grins,"We're stars! Do you think anyone would make us stay in class?"

"What he means is that we have gym first but we get to skip because we play a school sport." Beau explains with a straight face.

"Orrrrrr it means that we own this school and since everyone kisses the ground we walk on we get to do whatever we want." Aaron nudges Beau with his elbow, proud of his (almost) entirely sarcastic claim. Although Beau seems preoccupied, not able to reciprocate the joking and laid back manner the two were known for.

"What class are you going to?" Beau inquires.

Ramona blows a piece of hair out of her face with a sharp exhale, "Gym."

"You can't go to gym class like that." The hair falls back in front of Ramona's face, Beau reaches out to tuck the strand behind her ear. Ramona sighs at Beau's response. Briar suddenly straightens up, like she had been hit with an epiphany.

She whines, "I have Jones first period, I'm gonna get a detention!" Ramona glances over to Briar with a pitying look on her face, upset with how she's ruined Briar's day. She takes her time analyzing the emotions sweeping over Briar's face, scrunching her nose at the displeasure rising through her system.

"Just go-" Ramona starts at the same time as Beau's voice rings through the air.

"I'll take her. You can get to class." Briar looks from Beau to Ramona, before lip syncing 'sorry', shrugging, and carefully letting go of Ramona. Quickly, she sprints through the school doors before turning around running back and taking off Ramona's backpack and setting it down. When she takes off running again, she's stopped by a ninth grader in a blinding neon orange vest bedazzled with a small 'WEHS Hall Monitor' badge. Ramona's too far away to hear the conversation but she can see how Briar's shoulders slump down in defeat as she accepts the small paper slip from the freshman.

"Okay, well if you're gonna deal with this," Aaron waves his hand around in Ramona's direction, "then I'm gonna head out, I need my morning McDonalds if you know what I'm talking about." He winks before turning towards the senior parking lot and walking away. And then there were two.

Ramona's hopping on one foot towards where Briar had set her bag down when a strong arm slides behind her legs, pushing at the back of her knees until she starts to fall, only to be supported by another arm behind her back. Beau stands up pulling Ramona up with him, lying like a damsel in distress in his arms.

"Let me do this for you, Bell." Beau grins down at her, before taking a few swift steps. He swoops down with utmost elegance and grabs Ramona's bag, somehow without setting Ramona down. "I'm gonna take you to the library, then I'll talk to whoever you have for gym."

"You really don't have to do that."

"You know I want to."

Ramona had been sitting in the library alone for five minutes, Beau had carried her all throughout the school, before gently sitting her down at a table. A table next to the window of course. He said hi to the librarian and promised to come back later to assist her in building the new bookshelves that had just been delivered. Ramona watched from her seat with curious eyes. Beau left, she knew he would make sure everything was okay with her gym teacher but he didn't say if he would come back. She figured he'd probably sort out her issues, then leave the school entirely, catching Aaron before his third burger at McDonalds.

Ramona stares at her computer, she pulled it out of backpack almost as soon as she had sat down. She looks at the keys, at the screen, at the stickers Briar had given her and placed around the touchpad, but she doesn't move. Normally, Ramona would be quick to find something to work on, some homework or assignment or studying she would be ecstatic to get a head start on but something was off. Her eyes drifted to the door, half expecting a certain familiar face to appear in the doorway.

Ramona shakes her head and murmurs to herself, "Get it together, Bell."

OKOKOK ik im so slow but here's chapter ten y'all. there was gonna be more to it but i literally can't rn and i have sm work. sorry if its kind of choppy i wrote this over multiple nights, driven on solely a singular brain cell. can someone tell me what lines of this to make into a tiktok LMAOO also thank you if ur still here ily all sm and yk the drill, this is not proofread so grammar and spelling and plot might be a little messyyyyy