—
Ryder stood at her locker, like most students did in between classes. She had her head facing her locker as she sent texts back and forth with her sister. Quickly answering one from her father on what she wanted for dinner.
Her ears perk at the sound of a familiar pair of high heels echoing through the halls. Clearly Lydia was on a mission.
She was planning on ignoring whatever Lydia was going to announce, only to frown at the words she directs to a certain lacrosse player,
"Jackson! This little text - not funny!"
Jackson scoffs out a laugh, "No, I wasn't trying to be funny. I would have put a 'ha ha' at the end of it. And, see, there's no 'ha ha'."
Lydia proceeds to read the message out loud, " 'Lydia, please give back my spare house key at your earliest convenience - As we are no longer dating'?"
Oh, wow. While she could've used this moment to jump for joy that for once, something didn't go Lydia's way, she couldn't help but feel bad for the Martin girl. Ryder could see from where the stood that it was taking a lot for the strawberry blonde to keep her composure.
"You didn't lose it, did you?" The Whittemore taunts.
"What the hell is this?"
"Well, Lydia, in preparation for some big changes, I've decided to drop some of the dead weight in my life. And you're just about the deadest."
Lydia's voice cracks, "Are you breaking up with me?"
Jackson attempts to correct her, "Dumping, actually. I'm dumping you."
The girl in front of him pretends to put on a cold face, pulling her phone out to, text someone, "Dumped by the co - captain of the lacrosse team. I wonder how many minutes it'll take me to get over that. Wait, seconds, actually. Seconds!"
She's suddenly storming away, tears flooding her vision as she pushed past people to get to the bathroom.
Unknown to Lydia, a least likely person is grudgingly following behind her.
•••
Ryder could hear the sniffles of Lydia as she entered the girls bathroom. While she proved before that she wasn't one that dealt well with comforting others, she felt like it was the right thing to do.
"Lydia?"
The girls cries faded away before she cleared her throat, "Go away, Ryder."
The Miller girl hesitated before speaking, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She snapped, "Leave me alone."
"That's no way to speak to someone who's concerned for your well being."
"My well being is fine, now please go."
She didn't want to pressure the girl, but after knowing her for years, she knew that the Martin was fairly good at hiding her true feelings.
"I'm serious, Lydia." Ryder said, "You might be an asshole to me, but that doesn't mean i'll do the same to you." Her knuckles knocked gently against the stall the girl was in.
She could hear Lydia take deep breaths before the stall door was unlocked and pulled open.
Her heart surprisingly sunk at the sight of Lydia's running mascara and flushed cheeks.
She hadn't realized that her losing Jackson was such a big deal. If she was in Lydia's position, she would've been jumping for joy at the text he sent. But, then again, Ryder and Lydia were two completely different people.
"You look horrible."
Lydia's face scrunched, "I thought you were supposed to be comforting me."
"I'm doing my best." The brown eyed girl shrugged, looking at the girl through the mirror.
"Your best isn't very good."
"Yeah, well, i'm not the one crying over a loser when i could get much better within the next week, am i?"
"He's not a loser." Lydia tried defending.
"Dumping someone over text is loser behavior." Ryder said, brushing off the look Lydia have her, "And on top of that, he practically embarrassed you in front of the whole school."
"I wasn't embarrassed."
"You sure? Because I got second hand embarrassment watching you try and save your relationship."
"You are such a bitch."
She raises a brow, "Yeah, you aren't any better."
The two were silent after her words. Lydia starting at herself in the mirror, while Ryder watched her do so. The Miller herself didn't wear much makeup, simply because she never learned how to do it, but she had a slight feeling Lydia's wasn't supposed to look the way it did.
So, with a sigh, she brushed past the girl to grab a paper towel. Wetting it, she moved Lydia's hands away from her face and dabbed away the drying mascara.
"What are you doing?" Lydia gasped, jerking her face away from Ryder's gentle hold. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but the girls hands were very soft against her skin, she almost wanted her to not let go.
"We're already like ten minutes late for class, i'm sure you don't want to walk in looking like an idiot." Ryder snapped, gripping her chin, once more. "Stay still."
Her last words were soft, yet raspy, the sound sending a shock through Lydia's veins as she stared into to eyes of the girl she thought hated her.
•••
After their, what Ryder would describe as uncomfortable, interaction, the girls had went to their separate classes.
The Miller girl had managed to sneak into her English class, not missing much since they were still working on whatever project the teacher had them doing.
Her brown eyes locked on Isaac's blue ones. She could see the relief in his eyes when she walked into the classroom.
He let out a sigh of relief, "I thought you weren't going to show up."
"I'm sorry." She quickly apologized, sitting in her seat and taking out the pages she had kept. "I was helping Lydia."
"Lydia?" The Lahey frowned, "As in Lydia Martin? Your sixth grade bully?"
"Yep." She sighed, her own eyes narrowing as she realized what she did.
"What happened?"
"Jackson broke up with her." She explained, "Had her crying in the middle of the hallway. Not even the people she considered her closest friends helped her, so i figured i'd do something."
Isaac nodded, "I thought you guys hated each other."
"We've come to an understanding."