Ryder
"Are you sure we should leave her?" Denny asks as we sit down with our gang. I take out my flask and pour alcohol into the drink, taking a sip. "She's a big girl." I respond.
Truth be told I don't like leaving her, but when I saw her eyes light up when she saw her friends, her actual friends, I wasn't going to trail along.
"You're not worried about that boy?" Blake nudges me, trying to bait me into saying something. "Why would I be?"
"What are we talking about?" A girl interrupts, sitting next to me. Too close.
I take a sip from my cup and shake my head, "Nothing that concerns you."
She makes a face at my words, but doesn't seem to take a hint and leave. "Fuck off Leah." Triston, one of our friends chimes in. Triston is our hacker, one of the best.
As the night went on I limited myself to one drink since I had to drive home later. I know I know you're not supposed to drink but I have a high alcohol tolerance, plus I only drank half of a shot worth of vodka.
I had to escape the loud people and conversations of my group, so I left for a bit and went to the tables with water that were set up.
That's when I heard a fight happening. At first I just tried to ignore it, figuring it was two drunk strangers, until I glanced over and saw her.
Immediately, I ran over and weaved my way through the crowd that had formed. Thankfully, the fight didn't involved her, but her friend from earlier, Tread I think. He was fighting some dealer from the East side of town, Aiden, I remember doing business with him once. He's a prick.
Xela and I made eye contact from across the crowd, just for half a second. She looked back to the fight, watching her friend with a worried expression on her face. It wasn't until Aidan was on top of Tread landing punch after punch on his face that she stepped forward and shoved Aiden off of Tread.
I knew the rules of fighting here, she didn't. You never get in the middle of a fight, it's too dangerous. Especially for a skinny girl like her.
I was about to break that rule.
Aiden was about to lunge towards Xela but I cut him off by stepping in front of her. "Easy there" I said, taking a step back to keep distance between us. From the corner of my eye I see Tread getting onto his feet.
"This doesn't concern you" Aiden hissed at me, trying to step around me. I stopped him with my hand, "Walk away." I said just loud enough for him to hear.
He was fuming, and for a second I didn't think he was going to listen to me. He looked at Xela and I wanted to knock his brains out.
"Wait until your little boyfriend isn't here" he gave her a sick grin before taking a step back. He was seconds from walking away when my fist hit his jaw. I heard Xela yelling at me to leave him. I looked at Aiden on the ground for a second before squatting in front of him.
"Not so tough now are you?" I mumbled to him, "Look at her again and I won't just be leaving you with a broken nose." I stand up and walk back through the crowd, grabbing Xela's hand and tugging her along behind me. Once we were away from people, I noticed that Tread followed too.
"Your eye" Xela says, concern lacing her words. She breaks away from me and sits Tread down on the bleachers, standing between his legs, inspecting his wounds. A pang of jealous hits me.
"Xela it's fine, just a scratch." He says. She rolls her eyes and tugs on her shirt hard enough to rip a piece of fabric off. She presses it to his forehead, where blood was dripping.
"He said he's fine." I say, then immediately regret it. She glares at me, then continues wiping off his blood.
"Maybe if he hadn't started a fight with a fucking drug lord he wouldn't be hurt."
"Oh yeah? What did you want me to do? Let him harass Xela and not do anything?" Tread stands up, clearly angry with me. "You both need to calm down." Xela snaps at us.
"Holy shit that was crazy!" Holly comes running up to us with Aliza and Joey right behind her.
"You're friend got his ass handed to him." I say sternly. I ignore the icy glare Xela gives me.
"We should leave, everything is dying down." Aliza says, and I'm thankful she changed the conversation.
We all walked to the parking lot outside the school. We were all talking the whole walk, I found myself liking her friends. They seem very close, like Denny, Blake, and I.
"You need a ride home?" Tread asks Xela when we reach the parking lot. She is about to talk but I cut her off, "I got her." I give him a smirk. He looks to Xela, "I'll see you guys around? You aren't leaving town yet right?"
"We are actually leaving tomorrow." Aliza says, and I can see Xela's face drop.
"But I mean we will pass through again in a few weeks, we will stop and say hi." Tread smiles at Xela and gives her a playful hug. "You better" she says, hugging him back.
She says her goodbyes to them before we get into my car. It's silent except for the sound of the engine starting.
"They liked you." She breaks the silence once I start driving. Hearing this surprisingly makes me smile, "You think?"
"I can tell. Tread too, even though you were an ass- butt to him." She corrects herself after almost saying 'asshole'.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I play dumb. I was a jerk to Tread, but that's because he had no business being all over Xela.
"How did you all meet?" I ask since I've been wondering all night. The way they talked I could just tell they know each other so well. It's my first time seeing Xela surrounded by people she is comfortable with. She let her guard down around them.
She lets out a sigh, "School." Is all she says. I give her a look. "Really?"
"You don't want to know" she says with a joking tone, but I can tell she is dead serious.
"You know I don't care about your past" I say, catching her off guard, "Or about the size of your house."
She sighs, "I know"
"Really? I see how you react every time I ask about your past, and I saw the look in your eyes when I walked into your house."
There is a brief moment of silence, "You shouldn't be ashamed of anything."
I realize we are already back at my house, the car ride felt way too short.
"You two outlasted us!" Denny says once we walk inside. Xela never responded to me earlier, so I assumed she wanted to drop the conversation.
I didn't want to push her.
"Someone got in a fight" she says, taking off a jacket she had on and setting it on the counter.
"It was hardly a fight." I teased, giving her a wink.
She rolled her eyes and walked upstairs. I followed her, "Not going to say goodnight?"
She stops and turns to me, "Or I knew you would follow me" she says smugly.
I let out a laugh, "Go shower then meet me here. I want to show you something."
She raises an eyebrow, "Show me what?"
"If I told you it would ruin the surprise." I tell her. She gives me a look, "I hate surprises."
I just shrug, "Too bad. Ill give you 20 minutes." I say before walking into my room.