Not Your Girl

Chapter Five

Chapter Five - I think he’s going to kill me | Not Your Girl

Of course I was stupid enough to think I would get away with smashing the window of Ryder’s precious black Maserati. I guess I was more occupied on cleaning the newly spray painted word TRAMP off my locker door to think about what happened with Ryder yesterday. Today I had been the one to make an entrance before Ryder. Today I had walked in and everyone had watched. But instead of the students drooling over me and fluttering their eyelashes at me like they did for Ryder, I received the dirtiest looks the world owned. The shame and disgrace hit me like a rocket. Every single human being in our school looked down on me. Their faces bore disgusted and disgraced expressions as if I was germ. It was the most frightening experience of my life. No one had ever looked at me like this before – let alone the entire school population. I had noticed the two girls who had voted for me: the one whose vomit I cleaned up and her friend. They had shaken their heads at me

I was scrubbing the last letter which was the T from TRAMP off my locker when I heard whispers. Oh fantastic. Ryder had arrived. I glanced over my shoulder to see Ryder wearing a very deadly expression. Oh that’s right… I smashed the window of his car… dammit.

He made a bee-line straight for me and I quickly scrambled to my feet. Oh God… get out of here Jess – get out of here. But I didn’t make it far before Ryder’s hand snapped around my arm like a handcuff, yanking me back. He pushed me against the locker, both hands gripping my arms tightly. Ryder’s blue eyes pierced into mine with a dangerous look glowing within them. His sudden action towards ‘his girl’ had attracted the school’s attention. All eyes turned to us, surprised, shocked and confused emotions displayed on each of their faces.

“You wouldn’t hurt a girl… especially your supposed ‘girlfriend’.” I croaked quietly, trying to find my voice. Ryder didn’t look like he cared. I guess that was my fault… I did smash the window of his precious car.

“I’ll hurt whoever I want, whenever I want.” Ryder said a little too loudly. The student’s eyes started to widen in shock and slight disbelief. Bullying the nerds was one thing, but bashing your girlfriend was another thing entirely.

“You better let go of me right now, Ryder,” I whispered quietly but firmly, “Or else.” Ryder raised his eyebrows at me.

“Or else what?” Ryder asked me, lowering his voice so that the students looking on couldn’t hear.

“I could easily tell everyone that I made a fool out of the famous bad boy. I could tell everyone that I stood up to you and smashed the window of your precious car,” I said quietly so only he could hear, “I could show everyone that I have power over the oh-so-mighty Ryder McKnight.” Ryder’s hands gripped my arms tighter and he leaned his head closer to mine. Ew… his breath smelt like cigarettes. Probably had been letting loose his anger through smoking Tabaco…. Or perhaps something else – you couldn’t tell when it came to boys like Ryder.

“You wouldn’t be able to get a word out. You have no power over me, Jessica Southern.” Ryder hissed and I shuddered slightly. I glanced around the room to see every eye on us. The hallway was completely silent. I couldn’t help but allow my lips to twitch up slightly as I figured out another advantage.

“I do have power over you. You’re causing a scene. Everyone’s watching you, look around,” I said quietly as Ryder slowly shifted his head to see all the staring students, “You could ruin your chances with getting another girlfriend ever again. No one is going to want to go out with an abusing psychopath. You hurt me and there goes your reputation with the ladies. I have the power here.” I heard Ryder suck in a deep breath through his nose as his grip on me loosened but not enough for me to be able to escape. His face turned back to mine and I realised it was closer than it had been before. His hands moved down my arms to my wrists, gripped them instead. He moved them so that he held my wrists together and against my chest. Was he trying to hide his violent grip from the students? The only thing keeping us apart were our hands. My eyes searched his. What was he thinking? I wished that I could read his mind. He had a plan. What the hell was he scheming?