—
Ryder walked down the school hallway.
It seemed like an expected routine at this point. She was getting bored.
Apparently, she had left early enough last night to miss Sheriff Stilinski getting hit by a car. The way it was described made it seem like the man was dead, but as she walked past Stiles, she knew his father couldn't have been too hurt. While she wanted to question the teen on his fathers health, she didn't want to risk the conversation going any further than that.
So, sending a gentle nod to the boy, she brushed passed him.
Her eyes nearly roll into the back of her head as she hears the murmurs of Scott McCall telling himself to stay away from Allison.
The one thing she could've sworn she warned him not to do.
She truly didn't want to get involved in anymore werewolf business. The last time she had been around was the last time she heard her mother speak. She really didn't want to risk anything, but Scott McCall's stupidity was getting to her.
She knew he had no reason to believe her over Derek Hale. He was an actual born werewolf and as far as Scott knew, Ryder only read about it.
"Stay away from Ryder. Stay away from Ryder. Stay away from Ryder."
"You better stay away from me." She mumbled to herself, knowing full well that he could hear her.
"Hey, Ryder!" An extremely over exaggerated voice chirped in her ear. It took all of her strength not to shove Lydia's face away from her.
"Hello, Lydia."
The strawberry blonde frowns, "Why so down?"
"I'm just not really in the mood right now." She spoke, praying g the girl would leave her be, Lydia could only squint at her. It had been about two days since they had last seen or spoke to one another, the Martin girl suddenly didn't feel the need to tease her.
"I won't do anything bad. I actually wanted to say how much i missed you during my days off."
Ryder walked faster, hoping Lydia's six inch heels would slow her down. Thankfully, another voice broke in just in time for Ryder to avoid answering.
"Hey, Ry." Austin smiled, his smile dimming a bit but it very much still present as he glanced to the girl next to her, "Lydia."
"Austin." The green eyed girl nodded back, looking him up and down before turning her focus back on the brunette, suddenly not wanting to speak in front of him, "I'll see you later, Ryder."
The pair watched her walk away, frowns on both of their faces. Ryder's looked more like a scrunch if anything, meanwhile, Austin was convinced that Lydia didn't like him one bit.
"What was that about?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." The Miller girl shrugs.
"Get to class!"
•••
Austin sat behind Ryder in the seat next to Stiles. He was paying close attention to what the teacher was saying, doing his best to block out the sound of Scott's pleading with Stiles.
"Still not talking to me? Okay, can you at least tell me if your dad's okay? It's just a bruise, right? Some soft tissue damage? Nothin' that big - You know I feel really bad about it, right? Okay. What if I told you that I'm trying to figure this whole thing out, and - That I went to Derek for help?"
Stiles huffs, "If I was talking to you, I'd say that you're an idiot for trusting him. But obviously I'm not talking to you."
Austin wanted to point out how Ryder had also mentioned the same thing, but didn't want to get in trouble for saying anything.
Speaking of, Ryder was currently sat in front of Austin, her head down on the desk as she peacefully slept. Or, at least Austin wanted to believe it was a peaceful sleep, her position looked extremely uncomfortable if you asked him.
Although be wanted to wake her up, he selfishly wanted her to stay asleep, he didn't want her to actually know what was going on.
He had heard what Ryder's father had said about her needing a tutor. He didn't want to seem like a stalker or anything, but he had been waiting outside while the girl had her conference. He wanted to ask last minute if he could bring the girl home, wanting to speak with her more, but decided against it as he was still a bit scared to speak to her parents.
He had gotten lucky enough that he didn't make a complete fool out of himself, he figured he leave it the way it was.
•••
Ryder had a free period and, conveniently enough, so did Austin.
It almost bothered the girl with how much time they were spending together. In her eyes, they were complete opposites.
While she hated most things, he always managed to find something good about it.
She was a loser, and he was liked by most of the school. Then again, she chose to distance herself from others.
There was another one, she was pretty introverted and he was outgoing.
Ryder hated how different they were, but Austin couldn't help but love it.
•••
Ryder and Austin sat in the outside bleachers, Austin eating gummies while the girl copied down his notes from their previous class. She sound of a loud, painful groan, had the girl looking up with a squint.
"What are they doing?"
"They were talking about Derek Hale in class earlier. You were sleeping. I'm assuming it has something to do with him." He told her, shoving a gummy worm into his mouth as the two watched Stiles chuck lacrosse balls at his friend.
"Speaking of..." He started, "How's your neck? You looked pretty uncomfortable."
Ryder eyed his figure before glancing back down at her book, "I'm fine."
Austin hummed.
He wouldn't admit out loud that he was getting a bit agitated at the awkward silence. It was clear as day that Ryder didn't really care if they spoke or not, but listening to the wind blow was killing him softly.
It seemed Ryder picked up on his issue, choosing to speak up, "Hey-"
"Yeah?" He spluttered out, quickly apologizing upon noticing her brows raise at his actions.
"Anyways... my dad brought up how i needed a tutor."
"Oh?" If he was a puppy his ears would've been raised to the sky.
This was it.
"Yeah." She nodded, "I was thinking about asking Danny if he'd tutor me. He's pretty smart."
That's not what he wanted to hear.
"Oh." Puppy ears down.
"Or Stiles. But then that would mean spending hours a day with something I can't stand."
"I- I have a suggestion."
She glances at him, "And what's that?"
"Maybe, I can tutor you?"
"Woah!" She dramatized the word, flicking her head as if she hadn't thought of the idea, "Now that- that would be fantastic. I'm glad you suggested that, it's almost as if you knew I needed a tutor."
Austin appreciated her response, knowing it was all an act, yet it didn't fail to make him chuckle. Ryder smiled at the sound, her eyes falling back to her paper as she uttered,
"I can't wait to meet your mother."
"Excuse me?"