The Marked

Chapter Thirteen

[FRIDAY]

The next day at the start of lunch, Ryder waits outside Lily's class for her. They'd barely spoken this morning in the car, he didn't want to say anything as it was too early to be dealing with last nights issue, and Lily must have felt the same as she just looked out the window.

Lily leaves the classroom and turns to walk towards the canteen only to see Ryder step in front of her, "I'm sorry." He blurts out.

"It's fine," Lily accepts, "I know you worry about me, I just wish you'd not treat me like glass."

"I get that," Ryder nods, "you know what you're doing and in future I hope you'll keep me informed even though I was an idiot over it before. I'll try not to judge, okay. promise."

"All is forgiven," Lily smiles, "You wanna know what I've figured out?"

"Seems like this discussion needs to be done elsewhere," Ryder points out, "You wanna sit in my car?"

"That's probably the best option, do you wanna text them or should I? If we both do they'll only know we've already made up and ask what we talked about, plus if she thinks you know anything Casey will grill you for info." Lily explains.

"I'll text." Ryder decides, "Tristan is more likely to understand what we're doing and leave us to it."

As Lily and Ryder walk in the opposite direction of the canteen towards the car park, Ryder texts Tristan to let him know him and Lily were gonna talk in the car.

Watching them nearby is Maisy, who goes unnoticed by both of them. Maisy scowls at the pair before walking into the canteen.

She marches over to Tristan, "where are them two going and why hasn't he texted me about it?" she demands at Tristan who looks shocked at her entrance.

"Hello Maisy, nice of you to come by," Maisy scowls, "he's your boyfriend why not ask him yourself. It's not like he's doing anything suspicious, they're just sorting out an argument they had last night." Tristan tells her, he hates how she always makes out like Lily is a problem.

"Why didn't he tell me about it? They never argue." Maisy replies.

"They do, there's just no point in telling people about it. They figure it out quickly and well... It's between him and Lily." Casey points out, also not liking how Maisy always jumps to conclusions to protect her insecurities.

"I'm his girlfriend." Maisy argues.

"She's his best friend. They don't even tell us what they argue about because it's between them, always has been, why can't you trust that they're only best friends and have been for a long time." Tristan reasons hoping that she'll leave Ryder and Lily alone, the last thing they need is her there making things worse.

He'd learned from being friends with them since freshman year that when they argue it's best to leave them, when they're both ready to resolve it they will.

Inside Ryder's car, Lily and himself are talking about what Lily had learned yesterday, "So the book he recommended tells the journey of someone in a similar situation to us except it was ages ago. Anyway, this guy didn't understand what was different about his friend so he wrote about it, he wrote that he'd tried several ways to figure out what it was but couldn't." Lily explains.

"Just like we have." Ryder nods.

"Exactly, only difference is Zion has different theories, he thinks that the guy had some kind of ability. I hate to say it but I might agree with him, which is why part of me thinks that maybe the person following you and said ability could be connected." Lily continues.