My Sunday was spent with my mom. It has been the first day my mom has had off of work in a while. We spent the whole day catching up on things, and watching all different kinds of movies. Comedies, horror, romance... Name one, and we probably watched it. We just laughed and talked, it was really nice. I was starting to find myself missing the company of my mom.
As soon as I knew it, it was Monday. As I rolled out of my bed, I decided I wanted to put more into my appearance today... Totally not trying to impress Ryder... At all. I wore a nice high waisted white skirt, with designs on it, with a tight black crop top. But don't worry, it only showed a little bit of skin, besides, I put on a red sweater with it. I straightened my hair, putting a pretty waterfall braid into it, and also added a silver necklace to my outfit. Skipping breakfast, I slipped on my tan combat boots, grabbed my bag, and headed out to my car.
Pulling up to the school, I take a look in the mirror and make sure I look good, not wanting to embarrass myself. Walking into the school and to my locker, I see Brooke and walk towards her. She was wearing a short black leather skirt and a white flowered crop top, with a tan sweater. The ends of her hair were curled and she (as always) looked like a model compared to me. Since we both came to school early, we just sat and talked for a while.
Brooke excused herself to use the restroom. I was looking around the hallway and saw Ryder. He was laughing and talking to Natalia. Of course... Wanting to be friendly, I walked over to them.
"Hey Ryder! How was the rest of your weekend?" I ask him, being polite.
"It was uh, good." Ryder mumbles, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
"That's good. How was your weekend, Natalia?" I ask her, not wanting to be rude and leave her out, even though I was more than happy doing that.
"It was good. You actually kind of walked in on a talk me and Ryder were having... So if you don't mind... " Natalia rudely states, obviously shoving me away.
"Oh, okay. It's fine... Class is about to start anyways. I'll see you in class Ryder."
Ryder just gives a weak nod, not even acknowledging my presence. Walking away, I look down, feeling rejected. I see Brooke across the hall. She gives me a confused look and I gave her the eyes that meant, "I'll tell you later." She nodded, understanding.
After grabbing my books from my locker, I walk into class and take seat where I normally sit. However, today was different. Want to know why? Instead of sitting next to me, Ryder sat all the way across the room, not even glancing in my direction. It feels like he ripped my heart out and decided to stomp on it, multiple times.
The rest of the class, I could hardly pay attention. All I could focus on was Ryder. What did I do wrong? Was it something I said?
Once the bell rang, I hauled ass out of class. My next class was free period, and instead of going to the library to do my homework, I decided to sit outside in the back of the school and clear my head.
As I turn the corner of the school, I feel someone spin me around and pin me up against the school wall. I tried to scream, but the person put their hand over my mouth, so my screams were muffled. I knew that no one would be able to hear me, but I tried anyways.
"Look who we have here boys..." A deep voice states.
Finally focus on the attacker, I notice that it is one of the quarterbacks. His name is Dylan, everyone is always saying how scary he is... I never fully understood them until now.
Biting his finger, he flinches and pulls his hand back, giving me time to kick him where the sun-don't-shine, and started running. I didn't get far because his little minions grabbed me and held me in place, giving me no where to go.
Giving me a glare, and spitting on the floor, Dylan walks over and punches me in the face. I bite my tongue, trying not to scream. There is definitely going to be a bruise by tomorrow, maybe even sooner. As Dylan continues to beat me, I just ask myself: why?
In about 20 minutes, all of the guys finally got bored of beating the shit out of me... So they leave me on the ground and threatened to do way worse if I told anyone what happened. After waiting about five minutes, I limp my way to Brooke's locker, unlock it, and pull her makeup kit out. And yes, we know each other's combinations. Just in case she needed something from my locker and vice versa.
Running to the bathroom, I apply concealer to my face, covering up the bruise, and pull the sleeves of my sweater down, hiding the cuts on my arms. My legs weren't too bad, only a scrape and a bruise. I could easily lie and say I tripped.
Keeping a low profile for the rest of the day, lunch finally rolled around. I pulled my lunch out of my locker and walked to the cafeteria.
I find Brooke, and take a seat across from her. Noticing my quiet state, she finally asks, "Jesus Ave, what happened to you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." I reply, sounding like a robot.
"You and me both know that's a bunch of bullshit." Brooke says, sounding pissed.
Reaching her hand across the table in lightning speed, she rubs the makeup off my face and gasps as she sees the bruise on my cheek.
"Avery, what the hell!" she screams.
Everyone's heads turn, but I wave it off and they go back to what they were doing.
"Can I explain later?" I whisper.
Brooke nods and tells me to go and reapply the makeup, so I stand up and begin to leave, not even hungry. As I'm walking in the deserted hallway, a hand pulls on mine and spins me around. I flinch at the contact and start to scream, but another hand clamps over my mouth.
"Ave? Avery, what the hell happened to you." I hear a voice demand.
Ryder.
I calm down and relax a little, only to become pissed a second later. Pulling away from his grasp I hiss, "Oh, wouldn't you love to know."
"Avery, let me ex-"
"I don't want hear it. Just let me handle this right now...alone. I'll talk to you later, just get out of my face. Go talk to Natalia." I spit out at him.
He grabs my hand again and growls out, "I need to know who did this to you..." He brushes his other hand over the bruise on my cheek lightly, and I wince. His eyes soften, and he growls to himself, "I can't believe I let this happen to her..."
"Avery, please, tell me who did this..." Ryder pleads, his voice cracking at the end.
"I'm sorry Ryder. I can't. If I tell you, next time I'll just be beaten up worse. I can't let that happen." I apologize, my anger slowly diminishing.
"I won't let them hurt you. I just need to know who did this to you... Please, baby doll..." Ryder says, hurt.
"I'm sorry Ryder..." I whisper, pulling away and walking to Brooke's locker. Taking the makeup out, I look back at Ryder, and all I see in his blue eyes, is hurt.
The rest of the day continued slowly. Right when the last bell rang, I ran to my locker, throwing my books in my bag. Once I had everything, I locked my locker, and ran out to my car, trying to avoid all human contact... Especially with Ryder.
On the way home, I finally let the tears drop... I was so confused. Why would he care all of a sudden, when at the beginning of the day he was completely embarrassed to be seen with me? I just shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts of him.
Why Ryder, why?
A/N:
Wow... Just wow. I feel so bad for Avery. And Ryder. And just... Everyone. But don't worry my fellow fishies! Things will get better. Or will they? I guess you're going to have to find out!
Xoxo - Batman