Unto the Shadow (Completed)

(Ch.4) Hello Best Friend

Ryder casually walked into Mr. Greer's Algebra 2 classroom, managing to make it before the second bell rang. She felt a sense of pride at this rare victory, giving the credit to her appallingly early morning. She might only live ten minutes from school but being on time was not a common occurrence.

Ryder always enjoyed block schedule days because she had two periods with her best friend Mikaila Tucker. Mikaila and Ryder became instant best friends when they were both new to their school in fifth grade. There was just something special between them, Mikaila being one of the few people that actually understood Ryder.

Ryder felt like Mikaila was her tether to her true age. Everyone joked, including Ryder's parents, that Ryder was an old soul, always so serious and structured. Mikaila, who was obsessed with astrology would say, "You're such a Pisces Ryder, too serious for your own good."

Ryder's defenses rose when Mikaila, or anyone for that matter, pointed out her idiosyncrasies to her age. She would try and defend her way of thinking, but to no avail, it usually just proved their point.

The bell rang signaling the end of class. Ryder, already packed up, instinctually rose from her seat grateful to be leaving the drawn curtain classroom. Her eyes blinked in painful greeting to the bright spring sun, luckily her feet knew where to take her. Mikaila's blonde hair, and signature teal backpack came swimming into view as Ryder's eyes finally adjusted. Mikaila stood transfixed by whatever nonsense Stephanie Leonard was chattering away about.

When Mikaila saw Ryder walking up her face morphed and bloomed into an ear to ear grin. Ryder returned the boisterous smile with a guarded one, knowing that Mikaila's face spelled out nothing but trouble.

"Hey guys." Ryder offered as she joined them.

"Hey love." Mikaila practically sang, her smile not losing an of its enthusiasm.

Stephanie politely smiled. Ryder could tell Stephanie was really just annoyed she was interrupting their private, life changing, chat.

The awkwardness continued to grow, despite Mikaila's valiant effort to bring life back to the conversation. The truth was that Stephanie and the rest of their group were Mikaila's friends, they just tolerated Ryder to keep Mikaila around.

Mikaila Tucker was a bubbly, blonde haired, blue eyed, social teenager in the truest form. She was on the cheer team, dated football players, and was actively involved in promoting school spirit. A red-blooded American teenager through and through. The only quirk she seemed to have was her friendship with Ryder.

Ryder was not outwardly different, she dressed in clothes that were simple, but acceptably in-style. She felt she looked forgettably normal, with her light brown hair, olive skin, and brown eyes that she thought were more aptly described as a burnt orangish color. Puberty had taken its sweet time with her. It seemed no one, not even herself, had noticed she had turned quite curvy, rather than the string bean she had been at the beginning of high school. Socially, she was outgoing enough to have friends in all her classes. She participated on the school's diving team and wasn't half bad. Which was important in her sports driven school society.

Her true uniqueness laid internally, and only showed itself with her inability to create real connections with people her own age. She just didn't think the same way. When she tried to fit in with her forced group of friends she just felt like a lie. She would look in the mirror and only see a fraud.

Suddenly, a genuine smile captured Stephanie's pretty dark features. At these moments Ryder could see how Mikaila could standby her argument that Stephanie was a nice person. But that smile had nothing to do with Ryder. Stephanie was beaming because her boyfriend, Niko Garcia, was heading their way.