—
"Ryder! Ry!"
Austin ran down the hall, excusing himself politely to anyone that was in the way.
The girl didn't stop to let him catch up, she didn't even turn around.
She tensed at the feeling of his hands brushing against her waist, using her body to keep him from pushing them both down.
"I-uhm- I came by your house last night." Austin tried, walking the girl to her locker, "Josie told me you were sleeping."
Thank God for Josephine, Ryder thought.
"I wanted to let you know that I wasn't ignoring you, I wasn't trying to ignore you. I was actually helping Scott and Stiles—"
He cut himself off, immediately noticing how she clenched her jaw at their names.
"Probably not the best excuse- but I swear I'm telling you the truth!"
"I never called you a liar, Austin."
His shoulders relaxed at the sound of her voice.
"Jackson got loose, he attacked Danny and almost everyone else at the gay club."
The air grew silent. The chatter of fellow students was deaf to her ears as she side eyed him.
Ryder's brow furrowed, "You're gay?"
"W- No, I'm- I like girls!"
"You were at a gay club." The Miller girl deadpanned.
"Yeah, for Danny."
The girl didn't seem convinced. She closed her locker, walking in the opposite direction, knowing Austin was right behind her.
"Ryder, I don't like guys."
"Okay." She nodded, finding amusement in how defensive he was getting, yet didn't show it on her face.
"I like girls! I like you!"
"Okay, Austin."
"I don't like how you're saying my name." His voice was soft, making her want to immediately turn around and apologize to him. But she was petty and wanted him to apologize first.
"I'm just saying it how anyone else would say it."
"That's the problem." He sighed, "Can you please, just— I don't want you to be mad at me."
"I'm not mad at you." She admits, "Who told you I was mad?"
"Scott and Stiles said—"
"You're still listening to Scott and Stiles?"
"They brought up how you didn't speak to them for nearly a week because they left you on read for an hour and I got scared because I know how you don't like being neglected and I felt like I neglected you—"
Ryder raises her hand, placing her index finger against his lips.
"Stop talking."
He nodded with doe eyes, his heart racing with and off amount of excitement at how she cut him off, "Okay."
"I didn't speak to them for a week not only because they left me on read but because they walked passed me in the halls as if i wasn't there." She said, "Barely casted a glance in my direction."
Austin suddenly felt guilty.
This was the second time he had chose to listen to anyone else over Ryder, and this was the second time he had been wrong.
"God, I feel like an idiot." He lifted a hand to his forehead.
"You should."
Her brown eyes looked into his, she could see the guilt swarming through the ocean-like color. She wanted to feel bad for him, but he needed to get it through his head that she, not only, had no reason to lie, but she had a talent for being right.
"It was pretty stupid of you to believe people I stopped talking to because they abandoned me, over me, who has yet to be wrong."
Ryder was getting tired of repeating herself over and over. But it seemed the more she spoke about it, the more people she got on her side.
"I'm sorry, I am so sorry. Let me make it up to you."
"I'm listening." She trailed off, her brown eyes moving away from his to observe the students walking around the halls.
"Ice cream. For real this time."
She hummed, raising a suspicious brow in his direction, "Okay, I guess."
She sounded uninterested, and Austin would have believed she was if he hadn't noticed the gleam in her eyes at the mention of the sweet treat.
"Ryder?!"
The girl in question huffed, turning away from the boy in front of her to face the person who called out to her.
"What?"
"Hi." Lydia smiled at her, the action fading away as she took notice of Austin standing behind the blonde girl.
Austin cleared his throat, leaning down to give Ryder a short kiss on her cheek, whispering that he would see her soon.
With that, Ryder was left alone with Lydia.
"Is he your boyfriend?"
"Do you actually care?"
Lydia's stomach fell, "No."
"What do you want?"
"Jackson's missing." Her heels clicked against the floor as she followed behind her. Ryder didn't know why Lydia was struggling to keep up, she was walking the same sloth-like speed that she normally did.
"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" Ryder squinted.
"Yes! No one knows where he is."
Ryder doubted that. She might not have been around but she was almost certain that Scott and Stiles kidnapped the Whittemore, but she obviously wasn't going to tell her that.
She was too nice sometimes.
"Didn't he break up with you? Isn't is a good thing that your douche bag of an ex disappeared?"
"He wasn't a douche bag?" Lydia tried to defend the boy, yet it didn't do much as Ryder simply eyed her.
"You don't sound too convinced."
The strawberry blonde grew defensive, "He wasn't!"
"Agree to disagree."
"Your boyfriend isn't any better."
"You do not want to play the better boyfriend game with me, Lydia." Ryder scoffed, "We both know who would win."
The Martin girl chuckled, "Can you just let me know if you somehow run into him? I've been trying to get a hold of Allison but everyone's being weird."
While Ryder knew that she didn't owe Lydia anything, she could admit that she felt a little bad for her. Hell, all of her so called 'friends' dropped her, and the only other person that cared for her has been ghosting her all week.
Ryder's been in the position more time than she could count, and she wouldn't wish that on her worst enemy. Who happened to be standing right in front of her.
"Yeah, sure."