Ryan didn't think he was a sympathetic boy. Empathetic, sure. But never sympathetic.
But after the morning of lessons he had been through, he wasn't so sure.
It was Robin's first day at school, the day should have been made as easy for her as possible because she was adjusting and she already had so much stress from her mess of a week. But it wasn't. He felt, to be entirely truthful, awful. The fact that every teacher picked on her and made the sort of passing comments only he and his friends would receive made him bubble with frustration. She didn't look like a 'problem kid' like he and his friends were labelled as. She looked like she wouldn't even cough if it meant it would cause a disruption in class. Yet, because she sat with him, she was labelled immediately as a problem kid. He didn't even want to think about the comments he heard about her from other kids around the school.
He took the time after English literature during the short break to leave with Oscar and Leo, deciding that the school shop seemed more interesting than the classroom. Robin stayed behind, mentioning an ache in her leg that stopped her from moving much.
Truthfully, he would have left the school entirely, yet he didn't. If he could convince Robin to follow, then maybe he would have, but he didn't even attempt it because he knew it wouldn't go as he hoped. It was her first day, she couldn't. So, since she couldn't, he decided to stay, at least until he physically couldn't take it anymore.
"Leo," Ryan said as they made their way back to the classroom with breakfast bars, the only thing Ryan could afford after searching the bottom of his bag for loose change, "why were you late?"
"Oh," Leo shrugged dismissively, instinctively going to disregard the question, but, he answered. "Some kids were picking on Milly again, so I went to see if she was alright."
"Is she?" Ryan asked, feeling the sympathy he didn't realise he had strike at his heart again.
Milly was Leo's younger sister in year seven, she just started high school and it was obvious that she found it overwhelming. She was a nice quiet kid. Leo was always there for her. The boy rarely let things get in the way of his studies, but when Milly was involved, he didn't mind. Sure, he skipped school a lot, but even then, he was studying to make up for it.
"She will be," Leo answered, "I promised I'd buy her some cake from the cafe though. I don't suppose you have any extra money in your bag? I don't have any with me today. It's fine if not, I'll just go home and get some."
"No," he shook his head, already knowing he didn't have any. "Maybe Fox has some?"
"Maybe," he shrugged, glancing towards the classroom only a few steps away. Yet, his eyebrows furrowed and he acknowledged something Ryan had missed.
"Did I just see Amelia go into our classroom?"
"What?" Ryan turned, "why would she?"
"Isn't Tweetie still in there?" Oscar reminded them, forcing them to quicken their steps. Yet, none of them entered the classroom when they arrived. Instead, they stood outside, listening to see if they could hear a catfight they needed to break up.
They didn't. But, they did hear the voices inside.
"-So, you're suddenly friends with the boys, huh?"
Amelia's voice was as snarky as ever. Ryan wondered if the ginger-haired girl even realised how condescending she sounded when she talked... Probably. Hell, it was likely intentional. Sometimes he felt like she thought she was in a movie that revolved entirely around her. It didn't help when she was always being praised for 'taking no shit' when really, she was the one creating it.
He couldn't believe he could remember when she was nice. That girl was long gone now, he knew she wasn't coming back.
"Uhm-" He heard Robin falter, sounding as though she was caught by surprise. "I don't know... I do their homework sometimes?"
"Yeah, sure," Amelia retorted and Ryan could practically hear the eye roll. "You want to be their friend though, right? Why else would you be doing my Ryan's homework?"
Both Oscar and Leo turned to him, looking for his reaction to the way she had said 'my Ryan'. He knew she had problems, but he didn't realise she was that possessive of him. It was honestly a little frightening to know that the girl spoke about him like that when he wasn't around. The most he knew was that she latched to him because of the pride she felt in being the only person, other than his group of friends, to be able to get close to him. But that was only true a couple of years ago.
He scrunched his nose and shook his head, he wasn't willing to interfere, he was too curious to find out if Amelia had a reason for hating Robin so much. Maybe he should have helped, but it didn't sound like he needed to as he kept listening.
"Your Ryan?" Robin asked. Obviously, she noticed the tone of her voice, the girl noticed everything, including the tiniest details like the amount of sugar he had in his coffee. "I don't think he's your Ryan."
It was obvious from the way Robin's tongue sharpened that Amelia's tone and phrasing annoyed her, enough to mention it and point out how shitty it was. Honestly, he didn't think the girl could sharpen her tongue, he didn't think she was even able to curse. If she ever did, he knew it would be for a pretty good reason.
"What? You think he's yours?"
"No, obviously not. But you're clearly just using him to try and stir drama because he's the only guy popular enough to get you the attention you want. I don't really want to help with that."
"Huh? Think you're tough?"
Robin scoffed.
"Do I look tough? No. I just think you need to be a little more considerate and not drag him into whatever you're trying to do. He's made it clear enough that he's not interested."
Ryan's appreciation for the girl was growing by the second. And so was his entertainment. He had never met anyone who stood up to Amelia, given, Robin probably didn't know how dangerous it was. But it was fun to hear somebody put her into her place. And from the quirk of Leo's eyebrow, he thought the same.
"You think you're so smart, don't you? I think you need to be a little more careful."
"Careful of what, exactly?"
"I have friends."
Robin didn't say anything and for a moment, Ryan thought he would need to step in and intervene. Amelia didn't like anyone, but she did have friends. Frightening friends and the sort of friends he didn't think Robin needed to meet. Ever. He didn't know them, he didn't want to, they were connected to Ricky and he stayed far from anything to do with him. If he could get rid of Amelia too, that would be heaven, but she was like Velcro latching to him.
"What was it that you came here for, exactly?"
Robin sighed and as Ryan edged himself to look around the door frame, he saw that she looked as unbothered as she sounded. Why would Robin be scared of a girl like Amelia when she obviously dealt with so many other things? Like stairs. Personally, he thought stairs were scarier than Amelia. And, truth be told, Amelia's friends probably weren't a concern for her when she was clearly close to Chief Hemms who had dropped everything just to make sure she was okay when she did come across her biggest threat- stairs.
Ryan, deciding to end their conversation and save Robin from getting a second black eye, straightened his posture and walked into the room, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked and Leo and Oscar followed behind.
"Ryan!" Amelia perked up.
"What?"
"Want to have lunch together today?"
"Nope."
"Wha-?"
"He can't," Oscar smirked, trying to hold back his humoured laugh as he thought about his next words. "My Ryan promised to spend lunch with me."
Amelia, hearing Oscars imitation of her, frowned. She wasn't an idiot, she knew he was mocking her.
Her lips parted only moments before she decided to glare at Oscar and Robin, and soon after, she left with heavy footsteps.
She would be back eventually. They all knew it.
"Dude," Ryan turned to Oscar with a grin and a sharp laugh, "please never call me your Ryan again."
"No promises."
"Tweetie," Leo moved to his seat, deciding to ensure that the last situation wasn't too heavy on her. But from the looks of her face, as she smiled and laughed along with what Oscar said, it was clear that she was fine. "You alright? She didn't get to you, did she?"
"Nope," she shook her head, "not a single fight or flight response was triggered."
And there it was again. Ryan realised that she was undeniably tough, impressively so. Maybe she was an idiot at times, idiot enough to get herself thrown downstairs and get glass in her hands, but even then, she didn't seem bothered by it.
Oscar moved around her, though he stopped directly behind her and placed his hands on her head before he hummed a song and started to pat her messy brown-haired head with a tune Ryan had heard too many times from the boy with a love for classical music. Though, Ryan wasn't able to name the song. They were all dumb names and he didn't know classical music enough to know.
But from Robin's expression as she listened to his humming, she seemed to know, her eyes lighting up as he got to a particular part of the song.
"Is that The Four Seasons?"
Oscar stopped and pulled his hands away, widening his eyes as he craned himself over her to look at her face from behind.
"How did you know that!?"
She shrugged with a laugh.
"You know classical music?" Ryan squinted at her.
"Technically that's Baroque."
"Oh God," Ryan sighed, bringing a hand to his forehead. "She's a nerd..."
"Dude," Leo turned to Ryan with a raised eyebrow. "Of course she is, she does your homework for you. Willingly."
"Oh God," Ryan breathed out again, struck with a realisation that made him widen his eyes and knit his eyebrows together. "I'm such a dumbass."
"True."
"You're asking for a punch to the face," Ryan threatened but was only met with laughter from Leo who settled into his seat.
Robin watched, a small smile on her lips as they acted completely separately from the rest of the class who was slowly coming back into the classroom until it was full. They chatted amongst themselves, filling the room with noise that wasn't quite loud enough to drown out the group's conversation entirely.
"Tweetie," Oscar called, taking a seat on top of her desk. "Are you coming to the cafe at lunch?"
"Me?" She tilted her head, "Uh, sure."
"Good," Oscar smiled.
It was clear from the simple fact that he was talking to her that he was growing to like her rapidly. Ryan knew that he despised talking to girls, at first, he thought it was because they made him nervous or embarrassed. But he learned that it was far more than that, and frankly, it was a little sad. The giddy boy didn't have the brightest past, and it deeply affected his life. But seeing him talk to Robin was nice, he was seeing his friend move past his struggles and it made Ryan feel similar to how a proud mother would feel... Until he recalled what day it was and let a curse slip from his lips.
"Wait, shit, is it my turn to pay for food today?" Ryan muttered, searching his pockets. "I've got no cash, I can't pay today."
"I don't, I always pay on Thursdays," Leo pointed out, his cheek resting in his hand as they went through their odd paying system. "Oscar?"
"Nope." The purple-haired boy shook his head. "Maybe Fox or Joel have money...?"
"No... Joel always pays on Wednesday, Fox paid on Friday." Leo sighed, realising that their lunch might have ended up being filled with hunger.
"Tweetie," Ryan said, turning to the girl, "d'you have cash?"
She hesitated for only a moment, realising exactly what he was asking of her.
"...Are you asking me to pay?" She turned, her head tilting towards her shoulder. He nodded immediately and quickly, without much thought, she nodded along. "Alright then."
"Just like that?" Ryan asked, his lips parted as his face was painted with nothing but confusion. She hummed reassuringly, a smile on her lips.
"Yup, unless you don't want my money...?"
"I mean-"
"Alright class, settle down!"
He wasn't given the chance to make sure she was actually alright to pay. Truthfully, he felt like an asshole. He thought she might have turned him down and left him to deal with the fact that he broke the payment system they had for lunch himself, but she didn't. And like always, when he wanted to seem a little less like an ass, he was interrupted.