This Rose Bleeds (boyxboy)

Chapter ~Thirteen~

WAHHHH!!!!! CHAPTER THIRTEEN!!!! GUESS WHAT?!?! I WENT TO THE ZOO YESTERDAY!!!!!!! I LOVE THE MONKEYS!!!!!!!! THEY WERE HILARIOUS!!!!

okay……ahem. SO, I LOVE RYDER!!!! HE'S JUST...JUST AWESOME!!!!!! Though, I cant wait for the chapters after this, he gets REALLY jealous HAHAHAHAHA

HERES YAH GOOOO!!!!

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.~*~. NATHAN .~*~.

But I don’t regret it. Whatever he meant, I would have to think about it later. Right now, I was faced with the task of getting out of bed. Somehow, we had ended up just a tad bit tangled.  Without waking him I moved his arms away from my waist and got up. I hurriedly put on the clothes I had been wearing when I came here a couple days ago, that he had washed, and was now in search of my bag.
            He put it on a shelf.
            Where I couldn’t reach it.
            That was not fair.
            I brought over the chair from his desk and was just able to brush my fingers against the strap. I jumped and the bag tumbled off to the ground. It crashed with a loud thud, but somehow, he didn’t wake up. Wow, he was a heavy sleeper.
            I decided I might as well leave a note for him when he wakes up, just in case he freaked out. It read, “Going to work. Can’t stop me. Thank you. Bye.” It was, obviously, heartfelt.
            I felt amazing. That had been the most sleep I’ve ever gotten, and the most food I’ve ever consumed. I felt refreshed and ready to take on extra hours. Plus, I woke up early so I can get a shift in before school started. Another plus, today was Friday.
            I practically ran to the café. I wonder if Kristy had needed to work extra because I wasn’t there. Admittedly, I feel kind of bad about that. I usually did most of the work, and she rarely came in, in the mornings.
            So I was  surprised when she attacked me as I entered the back room.
            “Where in the name of cake have you been? Do you know how worried I was? Did something happen? Oh my god, don’t tell me you got jumped by a hobo. I checked your school, your house, your–”
            “You know where I live?” I asked a little stunned.
            She snorted. “Of course I do. I’m your best friend. Don’t change the subject. Where were you? Are you okay” She was jumping and tugging on my arm as if I was dead. But, that was a little impossible, considering I was standing right here.
            “I’m fine.” I smiled at her for added affect. “I was sick, and Ryder made me skip work and school.”
            “Ryder?” She asked in disbelief. “I thought he was evil. Good, I should thank him for keeping you…where exactly?”
            “His house.”
            “For keeping you at his…house…he let you stay at his house?” She screamed the last part happily. I seriously have no clue why she would be happy.
            “Why are you screaming?”
            She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess that’s just news to me. I didn’t think he was…nice. Did anything happen?”
            My mind treaded back to the night before, then the afternoon before, and all the way from when I woke up…I decided to ignore it. Ignore everything. It will only end up confusing me.
            “Nothing.”
            She notched an eyebrow and asked slowly, “Oh really?”
            “What?”
            “Something happened, didn’t it?”
            “Honestly, what could happen? It’s not like he beat me up.”
            Though, he did get a bit personal. I wasn’t going to tell her that. But the way she looked at me right now told me she was second-guessing my words. Kristy really was my best friend. She pretty much knew me better than myself, and has always known me. Sometimes she acted like a complete girl whenever she announced she was going on a date, or like a lazy bum whenever it came to work, or like a protective sister whenever it came to me.
            “Okay, he didn’t beat you up.” She nodded really slowly. “So what did he do?”
            “Um, nothing?”
            “Nathan.”
            The face she gave broke me, and I started, “He–” Before I was interrupted by Mrs. Clair.
            “You’re back, how are you feeling?”
            “Better, much better.” I answered with a smile, thankful for the interruption.
            “Are you sure you want to start work so–”
            “I’m sure.” With that I glanced at Kristy, mouthing, ‘later’ before heading out to the front.
            An hour later, I was rushing out of the café toward school. When I said ‘later’, I meant after school later, or maybe even the next day. Or never! Yeah, I’ll go with never.
            “Nathan!” I whipped my head around alarmingly fast as I entered school grounds. No one ever talked to me or offered a glance, I was invisible, so the only possibilities were Mattson, someone I was jumpy just thinking about, and Jonah, someone I really wasn’t in the mood for.
            “What is this?” I turned around and came to face to face with Ryder. Wait, he was at school…and talking to me…I don’t know why, but even after those strange things he said last night, I expected him to revert back to the jerk he seemed to be during school.
            “What’s what?” I asked him a little confused.
            He looked a little annoyed and irritable as he stuck out his hand, holding a paper with careless scribbles. It was the note I left him before leaving.
            “What about it?”
            “'Can’t stop me'? Really?” He shook his head and laughed a little. “So you went to work this morning?”
            “Yeah, I need to work to get paid.” He stared at me without giving much emotion away. I glanced around awkwardly before asking, “What?”
            “Nothing. You’re still coming over to tutor me, right?” Well, someone sounded eager. I guess he finally felt like bringing his grades up.
            “Sure. I’ll see you later then.” I nodded and began walking toward the building. I was a little nervous. Jonah and Markus always seem to find me first thing in the morning. Ryder stopped me. “Yeah?”        
            “I wont let anyone hurt you, okay?”
            We stood there staring at each other as I did my best to sustain normal breaths. I nodded once and hurried toward the building, only pausing momentarily inside to catch my breath.
             Something is seriously wrong with me.
            Maybe I should just…avoid him?
            Yeah, good idea.
            I made my way quickly to class hoping nothing will happen. Luckily, nothing did! It was a huge surprise.
            But I did see Jonah and Marcus eye me during class. It was a simple enough gesture that told me to watch my back.
            Great.
            Then Ryder walked in. He searched around the class expectantly, and smiled in my direction. I looked around me just in case it was someone else, not believing he was openly…I don’t know, making contact?
            Then the unexpected happened. Jonah waved him over but he shook his head, instead walking over and taking the seat next to me. Everyone’s focus was on him. Go figure, over the last week, I’ve been paying enough attention to summarize that he was liked by all. Apparently, compared to everyone else, he was smart. On top of being athletic and good looking, he was every girls dream.
            …Did I just say good looking?
            Well, I guess he was. I gave a barely perceptive side-look from the corner of my eyes and looked at his face, that was directed forward to his aunt. His blond hair had grown out a bit so it reached his ears, and was gelled slightly around his face. His grey eyes were…admittedly, really nice…and seemed happier than normal, like a silent joke was going on that only he knew. He smiled pleasantly up at the lesson being written on the board as if he actually understood–or was pretending to– unlike his usual arrogant manner.
            “Maybe you should pay attention to Ms. Richmond, I’ll need you to explain all of this later.” He whispered softly.
            Shoot, was I staring? I felt my face heat up despite the cold air-con and I focused my attention toward the board.
            Five minutes later, my face was still warm.
            He sighed and shifted so he was slouching, and moved his leg so it brushed next to mine.
            Focus, Nathan! Why is he distracting you?
            “…Ryder, and Nathan.”
            My head jerked up, what did I miss? Am I in trouble? I can’t be in trouble. I just came back.
            “This should be…interesting.” He whispered.
            “What? What did she say?”
            “Did you have other things on your mind?” He smirked.
            My face began to warm up, and I decided to save myself and speak what I was thinking almost an hour before, “Only how fast I’ll need to run to get to my next class.”
            His smirk fell a bit. “I won’t–”
            “Ryder, Nathan, are you paying attention?”
            My head snapped to the front and I nodded at Ms. Richmond. “Sorry.”
            She smiled a bit and continued. “It will be due at the end of the quarter. Most of what we do in class and that is assigned will help you. I’ll pass some papers around that explains what criteria that needs to be covered.”
            She began passing around papers and I nudged Ryder. “What did she say before?”
            “We’re starting a project. Hell if I know what it’s about. There are three people per group, guess who’s my partner?”
            “Are you looking at him?”
            He smiled. A perfect smile, I noticed. Not like how I smiled, not at all. Even at the café, I could tell when it doesn’t reach my eyes.
            “What’s wrong?”
            “Nothing.” I said quietly and turned my attention to the paper that had been passed out. There were a lot of theories we had to cover and it may take a while. At least we already are studying together.
            “Wait!” I whisper shouted and turned to him. “Did you say three people?”
            Ryder shrugged. “Yeah.”
            “Who else is with us?”
            “Um, Marcus?”
            I laid my head on the desk. “Fantastic.”
            “Don’t worry. Marcus isn’t a bad guy. He just acts so he can hang around Jonah. He’s one of my best friends; I’ve known him forever. He’s cool, and honestly though he wouldn’t say it, the entire team would rather band with him instead of Jonah if he spoke up from time to time.”
            I shook my head. “Ryder…”
            “He won’t hurt you. Neither will Jonah.” His eyes darkened. “Or Mattson.” He added as an afterthought.
            When did Mattson come into our conversation?
            “Why–”
            “Talking about me?” A voice came from in front of us. My head snapped up to stare up at a Mattson standing casually. I just noticed that the class was getting up and breaking into groups.
            Ryder stiffened next me. I can tell, because his leg was still really close.
            “We weren’t.” I said, mostly because it was true and we hadn’t been. I almost forgot he was in this class. The sight of him made me a little nervous. I felt vulnerable.
            He nodded before leaning slightly on the desk. He leaned closely to whisper in my ear. “Looks like you two are getting close.” I jumped at his nearness, yes, jumped, as in off the chair. I landed on my back.
            He smirked a little before winking. “Bye Nathan.”
            A couple kids who happened to look at that moment laughed before turning back to their own conversations. I felt a little sad, knowing Mattson seemed like a completely different person now. Not as friendly as before.
            “I’m. Going. To. Kill. Him.” Ryder seethed. He offered a hand that I took and got up.
            “It’s my fault, probably.” Right?
            He turned to me. “It is not your fault. Nothing is your fault. Don’t think that.”
            Huh, okay? Someone cleared their throat loud enough for us to notice and we looked to the new person standing to the side.
            Marcus.
            His gaze shifted from the floor to Ryder to me then back to the floor. He looked extremely awkward. Come on Nathan, it’s for a grade.
            “Okay then, grab a chair and we’ll see what this project is.” I said quietly.
            He shrugged and brought over a chair to sit at our desk.
            The rest of the period was spent reading the packet. We had to make a presentation explaining the theories, along with having to pass this test at the end. Apparently, if we don’t pass, it drops our grades down a letter. Little words were shared, so when the bell finally rang, I rushed to stuff everything in my bag and be on my way. It had been extremely awkward, especially whenever I noticed Marcus glancing back and forth between me and Ryder.
            Ryder was still in the class as I headed toward my next period, when I hear my name. “Nathan wait!”
            I turned and eyed Marcus wearily.
            “What?” I asked quietly. I didn’t want any trouble.
            He took a deep breath and spoke quickly. “I’m sorry.”
            What?
            “I’m sorry for every time I hit, kicked, or pushed you. I’m sorry for every time I called you a fag or something else along those lines. It was for Jonah’s sake. He’s a huge homophobe.”
            I looked at him in disbelief. He did look different. Not at all disgusted as he looked at me.
            “First of all, I’m not gay in the first place. Second, why are you apologizing?” I asked.
            “Because…I feel really, really bad. I owe you. I’m Ryder’s best friend, and obviously you’re his friend too, so I don’t want it to be awkward.”
            That was…good, I guess. So Mattson turned really mean, and Marcus turned really nice? And Ryder turned protective, and I was…turning?
            “It’s okay.” I said quietly. I can tell he wasn’t lying and he really wanted to apologize. “But, Jonah’s going to be a handful.” I stated. Marcus was his friend too, so why wouldn’t he be mad now that he decided to befriend me?
            “I don’t give a fuck. Ryder’s more of my bro than he is, he’s a jerk and everyone knows it.”
            “Tell me about it.” I muttered.
            “So,” He breathed. “We cool? I’ll try my best to keep him off your back; If you need anything, just ask me, okay? I want to make it up to you.”
            I smiled a little. “Thanks Marcus. It’s okay, really.”
            He smiled apologetically one more time before walking off. Ryder, finally, made it out of the class and came up to me. “Were you talking to Marcus?”
            I shrugged, feeling oddly happy. “He apologized.”
            Ryder smiled. “That’s great, now we’re all good.”
            I nodded slightly while asking myself, am I finally making friends? I felt a smile creep up to my face but I forced it down. There was no reason to smile Nathan!
            “Come on, we have PE together right?”
            … “We have PE today?”
            “Yeah, it’s Friday, remember?”
            No. I didn’t. I had completely forgot. I nodded slightly and we headed toward the gym. We only have PE maybe once or twice a week, but every Friday. Ryder was in my class, but I’ve never really noticed anybody other than Jonah.
            “I have to get my clothes from my locker, you go ahead.” I said with a smile. He nodded and went ahead. I was still getting strange stares. Most people didn’t know who I was, so it must be really weird to see Ryder walking with me.
            I rushed to my locker and grabbed my clothes, then headed to the locker room to get changed. I was about to push through the door when I realized something.
            It was locked.
            I tried again. It was manually locked from the inside. There was an explosive laughter behind the door and even though I was alone, I felt my face redden and get a bit angry. He locked me out!
            “Open the door!” I called. Class started soon, and I was never late.
            “Yeah right fag, so you can–”
            There was a loud crash from the other side and I went still wondering what was going on. The door was yanked open and there was Ryder with a glare plastered on his face. Jonah was behind him, clutching his nose.
            “What the fuck!” Jonah shouted. Marcus appeared at his side and hauled him to his feet.
            “Come on man, let’s go.” As they passed, Marcus gave a barely perceptible nod in my direction. The rest of the guys that had been in there retreated out of the locker room in an attempt to avoid Ryder’s rage.
            "You okay?" He asked.
            “I think I should be asking you that.” I asked him when he calmed down.
            He laughed bitterly. “Yeah, just mad. He called you that right in front of me.”
            “He’s done it before in front of you, act like you have before. There’s no reason to get mad over it.” I shrugged past him to one of the locker’s in the room and put my bag and stuff in. I glanced at him when I took out the clothes from the kit. He didn’t move from where he leaned against the wall.
            “Um, do you mind?” I asked.
            “Not at all, go on.” He smiled slightly and I rolled my eyes. Sure, he saw my scars and bruises, but I was overly self-conscious. I grabbed my running shorts and long sleeve and locked myself in a stall to change. When I came out I found him nodding off while still leaning against the wall. I walked up to him and clapped my hands in front of his face. He jumped and muttered something incoherent before he motioned me to hurry along as we made our way to the field.
            “Maybe you should hang with Jonah and Marcus during class.” I commented before we joined the group.
            “Why?”
            “One, he really doesn’t like me. Two, he’ll think we’re friends. Three, he really doesn’t like me. Four, wouldn’t it be strange if you suddenly started hanging out with the loner? Five, he really doesn’t like me. Six, you already stood up for me, you don’t need to stick by my side. Seven, did I mention he really doesn’t like me?”
            He stared at me before laughing. “Okay, my turn. One, I don’t care if he likes you. Two, we are friends. Three is a really stupid reason, because it doesn’t matter if he likes you. Four, you are not a loner, you made two friends in the past week,” I’m assuming he meant him and Marcus, excluding Mattson, “Five, he’s a jerk, you don’t want him liking you in the first place. Six, I’ll stick by you all day long. Seven, I like you. That’s pretty much all that matters.”
            Oh.
            Well…then…
            “I’ve managed this entire year, and the years before. Beside’s you’re pretty much attracting the attention of most of the school by staying by me, and it’s…weird.”
            He looked a little disappointed. “Do you not want me by you?”
            Did he really want to be by me? I mean, he has so many friends that must be actually fun to hang around, and he’s still here arguing with me?
            “I already see you after school; don’t make me suffer looking at your face all day too.” I said sarcastically.
            He rolled his eyes and muttered, “I’m hot and I know it. But whatever.” before joining the class outside.
            I smiled a bit before entering myself. Class was just beginning and the teacher didn’t notice us slip to the back. Ryder, as I asked, joined Marcus on the side. Jonah was there too, and Ryder simply apologized–insincerely, might I add–while doing that handshake all guys do to say you’re cool.
            I stood in the back trying my best to be ignored.
            “Okay, three laps around the track then flag-football. Let’s go!” Mr. Whatever shouted. Great. The class groaned before following commands and breaking out into steady jogs. I was a good runner, and though I’d rather have stayed in the back, it was too hard not to go ahead of the slow guys. Eventually, I passed Ryder, Jonah, Marcus and some of his other friends. I finished a while before the rest of the class.
            “You should join the track team.” The coach commented before reassembling the class and passing out the belts with strips of rubber hanging down.
            “And the soccer team while you’re at it.” Ryder muttered as he passed. I smiled because I knew he was annoyed that I was faster than him.
            I retrieved a flagged belt and snapped it around my waist and joined the team I had been put with. I may be a good runner, but I still hated PE and all of the sports our teacher makes us do.
            We positioned ourselves on the field with me in the far back, hoping I could get by with running around in circles and not being passed to.
            They hiked the ball and soon everyone was running around me with full knowledge of what they were doing. Me? I had no idea.
            Half way through a guy on my team with the same coloured flags caught my eye. He was surrounded as well as all of our other teammates. I was wide open. So as predicted, he tossed it to me. I caught it without hassle, and coincidentally I was close to the goal. I was prepared to run it in, if someone hadn’t run straight into me.
            The person had charged from the side and sent both of us knocked to the ground. The wind was choked out of me and he crushed my leg.
            Jonah got up and spat, “Can’t run now, can you Ms. Strauss?”
            “Simmons, what the hell was that? This is flag not tackle!” The teacher shouted from across the field. He was let go with a wave and my breathing slowly returned. He walked away with a new jump in his step.
            “You okay?” I looked up at Ryder. Where did he come from?
            “Great.” He helped me up and I handed him the ball. My leg was sore but nothing seemed to be wrong.
            “He’s such an ass.” I jumped and looked to my other side where Marcus had appeared.
            “I’m glad we all agree.” Ryder glared at Jonah’s back as the game started up again. He threw the ball in a graceful arch to the center. “Just don’t catch the ball, and everything should be good, ‘kay?”
            I shrugged and moved so I was some ways away from the game but not out of bounds. The rest of the period flew by with me trying to avoid the players with the ball, while still making an effort to look like I was playing.
            I was exhausted when the class ended. The teacher dismissed us and everyone all but ran to the locker rooms. My legs were sore so I simply walked the remainder of the way. By the time I got there, lunch period had started and everyone should be gone. I checked the doors. Hey, it was open.
            Also, it was empty. I could imagine Ryder stuffing his face with food right about now. It made me happy yet a tad bit sad that he was somewhere else rather than with me. I was too tired to think about eating.
            I opened my locker and something fell out. I picked it up. It was a blindfold and a note, reading, ‘So you don’t spy on us when we change –Jonah’.
            I hate him. I wasn’t gay! Plus, did it really matter if someone were? It did not! And he definitely shouldn’t be giving people a hard time because of it!
            I smashed the note up and threw it away along with the blindfold. I don’t care. It’s not like I’ve cared before.
            I picked off my shirt, glad I didn’t sweat too much unlike the other guys.
            “I never would have thought you, of all people, would have secrets to hide.” My heart rocketed to the sky in shock and I jumped around.
            I hadn’t heard the door open, but there it was. Open, with Mattson standing in the way.
            I scrambled to find my shirt in my locker and soon found in amongst my things. I was about to pull it on if he hadn’t stridden in and stopped in front of me. I was paralyzed. I stared straight at his light blue eyes. They were dark and curious.
            “How did…where did you get all of those?” He asked quietly while reaching forward. I stepped back in fright.
            “Don’t touch me.” I whispered.
            The silence was eerie as he stared at me with assessing eyes. Before I could react his hand was caressing my cheek. My skin shivered from his cold touch, and the rest of me pretty much fell into a silent trauma. Calm down Nathan. It doesn’t matter if he saw your scars. It doesn’t matter at all. What matters, is that you hurry up and put that shirt on!
            Snapping back to reality I shoved his hand away and pulled the long-sleeve over my head. I moved around him to get to my things and stuffed everything in my backpack.
            “Hey,” I turned back to him when he spoke. “I won't tell anyone.”
            I narrowed my eyes at him. He stared back calmly–and sincerely? – before turning around the corner to his locker. I turned slowly before running away down the hall. What did he mean? I  don’t want anyone to know my secrets and fears, but I thought he turned into a jerk.
            Forget everything, I told myself, just don't get involved with him.
            I mean, honestly?
            I was just tired.
            I decided to skip lunch and find somewhere to sit and relax for the next hour. Yeah, the best way to calm some nerves.
            A tree. Wow, kind of perfect. It was some ways off from the field, but a good shady spot. I slumped against the stump and closed my eyes. I didn't want to think about anything. Sadly, that wasn't the case.
            I began thinking about Ryder and Marcus. I can't believe I have friends, and they consider me the same. But I was tired. Was it tiring to have friends? I couldn't afford that. I couldn't afford leaning on others. I just needed to make enough money.
            Speaking of which...I felt my whole body sigh in depression as I thought about Mr. Stevens. I wonder if he's visited the house while I was gone. What must he have been thinking? He probably didn't expect me to know anybody, and spend time out.
            Oh well. As I let myself relax, I thought of one thing. It brought the slightest smile to my lips.
            Ryder will be mad I didn’t eat lunch.

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AWWWWW!!!!! OKAY, COMMENT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!! OR I WONT UPLOAD!!!! I NEED TWO COMMENTS! AND TWO VOTES! As you can see, Im setting the bar REALLY low.

I WOOONDER what could be up with Mattson?? :D I CANT WAIT FOR THE CHAPTERS COMING UP!!!!!

OOH! and if theres actually anyone reading this, CHECK OUT MY OTHER BOOK, LISTEN DON'T TOUCH!!!!!!!!! Its new and a waste of time, so yah...

BIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!