stutter

two

the sight of ryder made me nervous, and i couldn't help but tense up. this definitely wasn't his class, so what was he doing here?

everyone's head snapped up to look at him, including mr. foote who seemed quite angry that a student he didn't know of had decided to barge into the classroom.

"excuse me sir, but who are you and why are you disrupting my class?", mr. foote spoke stirnly, and he darted his eyes at ryder.

i watched ryder intently, but he wasn't looking at me, no, he was looking at everyone else but me.

he ignore mr. foote's question, and instead asked one of his own.

"who was the one that called marcel a loser?!", ryder growled as he squeezed his hands into tight fists.

the class grew silent and i saw mr. foote begin to pick up a phone on his desk.

"i asked you all a question!", ryder shouted angrily, staying in the same spot as he spoke.

everyone but i stuck their arms out an pointed at a student in the back, and i could tell he wasn't scared considering the smirk on his face.

it was jacob, and it really wasn't a surprise that he had that cocky smirk on his face. but i could tell that ryder wasn't satisfied with his smirk.

bringing everyone into shock, ryder began to run towards jacob, lunging at the boy who's smirk had wiped straight off of his face.

everything happened so quickly, my heart was racing and my knees were pulled up to my chest in fear. i could see the veins on ryder's body, and his tomato red face was covered in sweat, causing his hair to stick to his forehead.

i know i don't know ryder very well, but just seeing him like this scared the shizniz out of me. i was already on the verge of tears as i watched ryder's punches cause blood to prickle out of jacob's half-closed eye.

everyone in the classroom but ryder and i turned to look at the door, when two strong looking men stomped in. they were clearly here because of ryder.

but ryder didn't notice at all. he continued to punch jacob, giving him a busted lip and a bruised up face. oh god, i wanted to look away so badly, but i couldn't. the fear that rushed through me forced me to continue to look, no matter how hard i didn't want to.

but the two men went running towards the two on the floor, and one grabbed ryder, holding him back while the other lifted up jacob and rushed out of the room to take him to the nurse's office i assume.

ryder kicked his feet and thrashed around in the man's arms, still obviously angry. it wasn't until he took his last glance in the room, when his bruised up face went soft.

he looked at me seconds before the man pulled him out of the room, and i could tell by the sadness in his eyes that he had noticed the fear in my eyes and the tears on my face.

the classroom grew silent, not even mr. foote had anything to say. they all had eyes on me, because they knew that ryder had only picked that fight because i had been called a loser.

it was quiet, until all anyone could hear was a faint calling of my name.

"marcel! marcel please!', the voice called, and i immediately recognized it as ryder's.

eyes stayed on my as i chewed the inside of my cheek, what was i going to do? my body stayed still with fear that still remained in my body. ryder obviously needed me but i couldn't ruin my stainless school record by leaving the classroom!

but then again, ryder was my only friend and he would do the same for me.

so with that, i grabbed my backpack and rushed out of the classroom, unaware of what i was going to do, ignoring mr. footes calls of my name. i only focussed on following the sounds of ryder's voice, and it lead me to the front office. i hid behind a bush of flowers, not wanting to be seen. i could see ryder sitting in a chair with nobody around him except the lady behind the front counter that gave ryder glares every few seconds.

ryder sat down with his head drooped downwards, no longer calling me, he was obviously believing that either i hadn't heard him calling me or he wasn't worth helping. i panicked, how was i going to get his attention? i thought for a few seconds before an idea came to my mind.

i lifted a pebble and tossed it at the window near ryder, and it caught his attention. he looked my way and a grin spread on to his face, i returned a shy smile.

i saw him turn to the lady at the front desk, and i heard him speak.

"excuse me, but can i use the restroom?", he asked with a small sigh, quickly wiping the grin off of his face. he was a great liar.

"no.", the lady snapped, and i silently scoffed to myself.

"okay, listen, i can either go to the bathroom in the plant in the corner of the room, or the one outside. your choice.", ryder raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms, and the lady seemed a bit horrified.

"fine, whatever. but if you're not back in five minutes, then i'm sending the men back out.", she warned, her face clearly showing that she was upset.

"fine."

ryde quickly stood up and rushed outside of the office, and he took a quick glance around to make sure nobody was looking before he jogged over to me.

"c'mon!", he whispered as he grasped my wrist, pulling me up and running as fast as he could to the school parking lot, and my heart began to race.

were we ditching? but that's not good on college applications! great, now i'll be lucky to end up at clown college!

i ran as fast as i could, speaking ryder was a very fast runner.

once we reached a black chevorlet truck, he released my wrist and ran towards the driver's seat door.

"get in.", he rushed before unlocking the truck and opening his door, hopping inside.

i hurriedly got into the passeger's side, wiping the dripping sweat on my forehead.

i buckled my seatbelt before speaking.

"ry-ryder, where are going? are we ditching? i'm scared.", i panted, and i felt my eyes well up in tears once again.

ryder looked at me worriedly, and he placed his hand on my shoulder, but i quickly shrugged it off, recieving a hurt expression on his face that made me feel guilty.

"it's going to be okay marcel, we just can't be here right now. we're going to my place."