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Be the type of person you want to meet
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I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I had put on a pair of light blue ripped jeans and a loose, black three-quarter length sleeve shirt which reached my middle thigh on the right leg and my hip on the other leg, my right shoulder was exposed though my left one was covered by the shirt. I had slipped my black combat boots on. My brushed hair fell in loose waves over my shoulders. My face was clean of make up.My skin was pale. I was so... plain, so .... simple. I wondered how anyone could even think of me as good looking.
I wondered if anyone would somehow find me special maybe someday, though I found it almost impossible. Not just, because of my looks, but also, because if I think about it for a second then I would say that I actually have a boring character. I don't like sports, I'm more the book worm kind, the clumsy one. I don't have any hobbies except for reading and listening to music. I don't like going out or as Jo once said. "You just don't want to have fun. Do you?" The problem was that she couldn't understand that I wasn't having fun doing things like that, doing typical teenage stuff. And that was actually pretty weird.
I was always this serious type of person. Not the one just laughing at the joke, but analyzing it. Okay that probably wasn't the best metaphor.
My view wandered from my body to the blue white varsity jacket draped over one of the chairs in my room. I smiled. I turned around and grabbed the jacket, debating if I should put it on.
It's not yours you have to give it back.
Ignoring myself I put it on. It smelled so good and it didn't even look that bad with my outfit for today. But I decided against it and draped it back over the chair. I wondered if I would see him today, though I first had to find him. Our school wasn't actually that small. So that would be a bit tricky.
I slung my bag over my shoulder and made my way downstairs. I grabbed my black leather jacket and made my way out the door. Logan was already there waiting for me in his car. After I locked the front door I hopped into it.
"Ready for a full day with Ryan?"
/////////
"Hey." He slung his left arm around my waist. "I hope you didn't thought that I forgot about our little agreement." He whispered huskily into my ear. I was so disgusted.
"Unfortunately you didn't." We stopped at my locker and I took my history book out and into my bag. I closed it and before I could start walking away. Ryan tucked a few strands of hair behind my right ear. He smirked. Before I could swat his hand away his hand brushed over the side of my neck were he left the hickey at Friday night. "I wasn't quite sure if I had left a mark." I gulped. "Did I?" He asked still smirking. I shook my head. "No," I lied.
You couldn't see anything anymore, though just to be on the safe side I covered it with powder of my sister. "What a shame." I rolled my eyes, turned around and started walking again. In a matter of seconds he was by my side again, draping an arm over my shoulders. We got into class a minute before the bell rang. So of course all eyes landed on us as we approached. I hung my head a bit so that my hair would built a certain around my face and walked straight to my seat keeping my head down. I could hear the whispers already. And as I looked up again everyone was watching me.
Why me!? I wanted to shout, but of course remained silent. Trying to ignore the others my view turned to the window. That's going to be a looooong day.
/////////
"How's your day so far?" Logan asked me as we trotted to biology. I somehow was able to get rid of Ryan for a few minutes. "Can we just talk about other stuff? Please?"
He nodded. "The guys asked about you." I looked up at him. I groaned. He continued. "They are obviously not buying it. That you are okay I mean." I groaned again. "You are sure you don't want to tell them?" I nodded. "Positive."
"Are there any good news?" I asked, hope clear in my voice. He smiled and nodded. "Besides Ryan and other stuff going on, you are different today." I was lightly confused. I frowned. "Different?" He nodded. "Yeah. Happier I think." I raised a brow. "Okay? You sure about that?" He nodded once again.
"So tell me. What is it?" He beamed at me. I shrugged. "I don't really know what you are talking about." It was the truth. I wasn't feeling different. Nor happier.
"Oh come on." He nudged me with his elbow. "Is this about a guy? Have you met someone?" I immediately had to think of Sam. He was nice, but also a bit naive. I mean come on are you borrowing your jacket someone who you just met 2 minutes ago? "Uh. Is this about that guy you met during the game?"
"Sam?" he nodded. "Logan I don't know what you are talking about. Yes I met him, but only once. I mean yeah he was nice and all, but you know me I'm not a relationship type I'm more the friendship type." He gave me a weird look.
"Exactly, because you didn't try it yet. I think you should give it a chance."
"Whatever."
"No. Liz look," he came to a stop. I mirrored his actions and faced him. "Relationships make people happy, okay? Just look at your sister and Nathan. Don't you see how happy they are?" Tori wasn't that happy before she met Nathan, but...
We continued to walk and, short afterwards entered the classroom. I guess it was less than a minute until the bell would ring, as we trotted to our seats.
"I do. Of course I do, but-" I was cut off as the bell rang and "A period full of fun." as our young teacher, Ms. Thompson always said, began. My view turned to the window as the teacher began to talk.
Relationships.
Yeah I know that everyone is happier in one, but what about all the drama, the vulnerability, the heartbreak. I don't want to go through the pain just to be happy.
You tell them you love 'em and open up and then they are going to step on your heart and break it into millions of pieces.
Though of course I was never in love so these accusations were through second hand or whatever you call reading novels and watching tv. But I doubted that it would be worth it.
I mean yeah there is the chance that you are going to be happy, but is it worth the pain?
////////
"Hey guys." I waved awkwardly at them as I approached them at our lunch table.
"Hey Liz." Liam was the first one to speak up. I smiled at him. After Liam spoke up the others also acknowledged me. After we all greeted each other a weird silence fell over us. I bit my lip. I knew they all wanted to ask me about Friday. And I understood their behavior, seeing as they never saw me in this state before and then just panicked like that. After a few minutes of silence I couldn't handle it anymore. "Ask."
They all looked up at me. Although I knew exactly what they wanted to know I waited. After a few moments someone spoke up again. "What was that at the party? What was wrong?" Jack had the courage to ask me. I smiled and glanced at Logan for a second. "I'm sorry guys. I probably scared you. But it was nothing really I was just a bit drunk."
Tony raised his brows. "Nothing?" I nodded still smiling. "Liz you were huddled up against the floor." I looked at my lap, ashamed. "Your whole body was tense and you were shacking like crazy. And you call that nothing?" I looked up again and faked a smile as I had to think back at that night.
"You guys know that I'm not used to drinking. I had too much of that vodka cranberry stuff." We stayed silent for a while with them just looking suspicious at me.
"Why did you drink anyways? I thought you don't like drinking." Jeremy asked with a weird look on his face. Jeremy had this really beautiful shade of brown eyes. It was almost hazel, but not quite. Still a little more different.
I nodded. "You are right I'm not really into it. But Ryan obviously had other plans. He put alcohol in my drinks." Liam cursed under his breath. I chuckled. As I remembered the 'dancing'. I could only picture what it looked like. I probably would have laughed my ass off if it wasn't me. "I had to be really wasted." Drake raised a brow. "I danced. You guys know how clumsy I am. I stumble just thinking about dancing." They all chuckled. "That's true though." Drake piped up.
"I don't know. It actually didn't look so bad." Liam said. I blushed lightly as the others started laughing as Liam made weird moves. His arms were hanging in the air as he swung his hips. Which probably should represent me dancing. But I also cracked a smile. I grabbed my apple and took a bite from it. "So everything is okay?" Tony asked me after we contained our laughter. I nodded still smiling. "Course. Don't worry about it."
"I hate to say this, but Liz, shouldn't you actually be with Ryan?" Drake asked. I shrugged. That stupid agreement. Ryan clung to me all morning. Speaking of which... Someone grabbed my elbow roughly. I turned in the direction, to see the school's player standing in front of me. "What?" I spat.
"You didn't forget about our agreement yet. Did you?"
"What do you think Ryan?"
He smirked. "I think about you, me, tonight, at my house-" I cut him off. "What do you want?" I glared at him. "Well, the agreement says that you have to spent the whole week by my side." I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah I know that. Unfortunately." The last word barely came out as a whisper. "So come on we are not eating here." He looked at my friends and his view halted at Logan who already glared at Ryan.
"Nothing personal guys." He said as he grabbed my arm tighter which made me stand up and I lost the grip on my apple. So it fell to the floor. I glared at Ryan. "Great job dude," I said, my free hand on my hip.
Tony bend down and grabbed it from the floor. "Here," he handed it to me. I looked at it in disgust. "Yeah I'm so not eating that."
He shrugged. "Five seconds rule," he stated and took a bite of my apple. "You sure you don't want it back," he spoke through a mouthful apple. I shook my head. That's so gross.
"No thanks. You can have it."
"Well then," he took another bite. Boys could be disgusting sometimes.
"See. Everythings fine. The apple now has a new owner and everyone is happy. And now let's go. Your guard dogs are fine without you for now." I huffed and glared at him. How dare he to speak about my friends like that. Logan stood up. "What did you just call us?" he narrowed his eyes at him.
"Oh, I think you heard me just fine," Ryan stated, turning away from me and glaring at my bestfriend. I tucked at Ryan's arm as I saw all eyes were on the three of us. "Stop it you two."
Ryan faced me again, his expression softened. "Ryan the agreement doesn't say anything about being rude to my friends. So stop it with the attitude."
He ignored me and tucked at my arm, for me to follow him. "Wait. First I want to know where we are going."
"To my friends over there." He pointed to another table at the centre of the cafeteria. The table just screamed. Attention! Attention! Look at me! I swallowed nervously.
"I didn't even know that you have friends." He smirked. "You don't know much about me yet. You'll have much to discover." I rolled my eyes.
"At least let one of them go with us. I don't want to be around people I don't know." He groaned.
"Okay. Drake come on." I smiled a little satisfied. I bid goodbye to the guys and the three of us made our way to the other table.
There were many people. Most of them were cheerleaders and jocks. Ryan cleared his throat as we approached them. They all looked up at us and unfortunately, after a few seconds, their views all turned to me. Wow. This was so uncomfortable. I nervously shifted from one foot to the other.
I awkwardly waved at them and cleared my throat. "Hey." A few of them smiled at me others didn't even spare me a glance. "So you are the girl Ryan is obsessed with." A blonde cheerleader spoke up and walked towards me. "Hi, I'm Natalie." She extended her hand towards me. I took it. "Well I don't know if obsessed is the right word, but it's nice to meet you. I, unfortunately, can't tell you my name though." She chuckled. "Right. Ryan told us about that."
She started introducing everyone to me. I even saw some of Jo's cheerleader friends and Courtney immediately recognized me. She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. "Hey." I chuckled.
"Haven't seen you for ages, L." Courtney was one of the nice cheerleaders like Jo. Their two characters were actually really similar.
Courtney had this habit to give everyone a special nickname and seeing as she wasn't satisfied with mine she used to call me L. I actually found it weird. I mean everyone got a special, sometimes also embarrassing nickname from her and mine was just a letter.
But anyways we let go and she began blabbering about how she missed me and Jo and that she would have so much to talk to me about and things like that.
Girly stuff.
I mean I was actually pretty used to it, because of Jo, but the last time she talked to me about stuff like that was months ago. Man, I really need to skype more often with this girl. I'm gonna ring her after I get home.
Courtney decided she would take care of the introduction now. So she dragged me to the end of the table, where a guy was sitting, munching on some fries. "You remember my boyfriend Nick?" He looked up and smiled at me, then he stood up and wrapped his arms around me. "Good to see you, Liz." He said quietly. I smiled. It felt like years since the last time I saw the two. They were such a cute couple. And just then in that moment I became aware of how much I had missed them. I don't know how, but we kinda parted ways after Jo had left. And I really regretted it now. I mean we weren't as close as I was with Jo and Logan, but we sometimes hung out on Friday nights, after big games.
We broke the embrace. "You two can talk later. You have to meet everyone." Courtney dragged me away from Nick and to a girl who was located on Tyler's lap a few seats ahead. She threw her head back laughing at something he whispered into her ear. She was pretty. Long blond hair, slim and tall, gorgeous blue eyes which were covered by heavy make up and fake eyelashes. She wore black heels, a pair of dark blue shorts and a tight neon pink shirt with a low neckline. The outfit just screamed Notice me! Notice me!
We approached them. "L, this are Tyler and Thalia." They both looked up at us. "Hey Liz." Tyler smiled. "Long time no see." I returned the smile and nodded in his direction. "Hey Tyler."
"Right. You two know each other." Courtney chuckled next to me. Tyler was also a jock like Logan and the others. So I saw him sometimes whether at party's or at 'game meetings' at Jacks.
He pushed Thalia away from him, so that she was now sitting next to him on the bench. He stood up and gave me a quick hug which made Thalia glare at me. Wow jealous much? The first day at Ryan's side and someone hates me already. "Hey. I'm Liz." I smiled and extended my hand towards her. She just looked at it in disgust and then continued glaring at me. I looked at Courtney for help though I think she didn't know what to do either.
Tyler then jumped in, glaring at Thalia. He probably thought that that would be helpful. I sighed. Boys. They had a little stare down and without saying goodbye, Courtney grabbed my hand and dragged me away from the two. "Thalia is new." She whispered in my ear. "Is she always that jealous?" I whispered back. She nodded. "Actually yeah. Though she'd always made it clear to everyone by yelling and arguing with the girls Tyler'd look at or talk to."
"And why wasn't she shouting at me then?" I knitted my eyebrows in confusion. She shrugged. "Maybe, because he hugged you." I raised a brow. I didn't get it so I waited for her to continue. "Because she saw that you are friends." She said in a duh tone.
I chuckled and shook my head. Right. Why haven't I thought about that?
She led me to a girl a few feet ahead. She was sitting in her chair, typing something on her phone while eating grapes.
She was also really slim looking. Though she was not as tall as Thalia. But taller than me. She had her light brown hair pulled in a high ponytail. She had put on light make up, a cute white skater skirt and a light blue top. Her pair of heels had the same shade of blue as her shirt.
She looked gorgeous.
"Hey Sophie." She looked up from her phone as she heard Courtney's voice and smiled at me while saying a small 'hey'. I extended my hand towards her. "Erm hey I'm Liz." I smiled at her. She took my hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sophie."
I was in a short conversation with her basically just small talk as Courtney decided we should get going. So I bit a short goodbye to her and the two of us made our way over to a few guys. Two were sitting on the table and the other one was located on a chair. As we got nearer I could make them out. My eyes halted at one of the boys sitting on the table. I knew him. It was Drew.
Courtney and I joined them and as Drew saw me he wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug. Why? I don't know. "Lizzy." He mumbled. Drew was a bit weird and clingy. Don't get me wrong he was nice. But sometimes he was too nice, like when we first met he gave me a tight hug. Or when he drank a bit too much he had this habit to grope others. He never touched me thanks to my dear best friend. Though I can't get rid of the paranoia that eats me up every time I see a drunken Drew.
"Erm... hey Drew." He let go of me and turned to the two other boys. "Liz this is Matthew." He motioned to the one sitting on the table. He had dark skin and beautiful big light blue eyes. He was dressed into some white shirt, which read: GREEN PEACE in green letters, a pair of black jeans and red chucks.
I extended my hand towards him and smiled. "Hey," I said and introduced myself. He returned my smile and we shook hands. "Nice shirt." He looked down at it and then his gaze met mine again. He smiled. "Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself." I looked at my outfit and tried not to blush. That was actually my usual day style. Nothing special. "You like green peace?" I nodded.
"I love the organization. It fascinates me." I smiled dreamily. We had a short conversation about their last protest to save the wales and then Drew introduced me to Noah.
Noah was this quiet kind of guy. He wasn't a jock like Drew neither was he this friendly, cute, charming type like Matthew. He was more the shy kind. Someone who kept a low profile.
We nodded at each other. I gave him a small smile. I wondered how he fits in with them. Maybe he was in the same situation I was in.
He was dragged into their world.
I came back to realization as Ryan appeared next to me. "Enough with the introduction." He grabbed my hand while saying goodbye to the others. He dragged me with him to a free spot at the table. "Sit." I raised a brow and stood stubbornly on the floor. Bossy much? "You know what Ryan? I know that we have an agreement, but the agreement doesn't say that you can treat me like crap, neither does it say you can boss me around." I glared at him.
He gave me a weird look and then sat down. He sighed. "Fine. Okay. Would you please sit down?" He said a bit softer. I looked at him in suspicion. I could see the people behind Ryan stare at us. Some girls were glaring at me, others whispering.
I sat down next to him as I started to feel uncomfortable under their stares. "Aren't you hungry? You haven't eaten yet." I gave him a confused look. What was going on with him? He almost sounded... caring? Erm... Did I miss something? The Ryan I knew wouldn't care about my physical needs. "Well I actually ate an apple, but a special someone made me drop it."
He smirked. "I know I'm special mysterious girl, though it's nice to hear that you finally admit it." He winked. And we're back to cocky, egoistic Ryan. I rolled my eyes.
"Here." He handed me 20 dollars. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Go buy you something." I gave him a questioning look. "What?" He asked annoyed.
"You know I'm able to buy myself food with my money." I gave him the 20 dollars back and added. "If I want to." And in that moment my stomach made weird noises. I cursed under my breath. He smirked.
"So you are not hungry?" I blushed lightly and shook my head. I spent my last money on the apple which was now in Tony's insides. Though of course I couldn't tell him that. I didn't want Ryan to buy me anything.
He searched for something in his bag and then hold a big, bright green apple out in front of me. Ugh. Green apples are my favourite. They are so delicious. "So it wouldn't bug you if..." He trailed off and moved the apple closer to his mouth. He watched me carefully as I glared at him. Keep a straight face that's exactly what he wants Liz. I shook my head and forced a smile on my face as I tried to keep the stomach growling under control.
"Course not. Why should it?" He looked at me in suspicion. Then he took a bite. I was so hungry, but I tried to control it. "Want a bite?" Ryan asked through a full mouth holding the apple in front of my face. It looked delicious, but do I really want something Ryan's lips were on? I shook my head. "Nah. Thanks I'm good." He swallowed and took an other bite. "You sure?" He asked through another move full of apple. I bit my lip. I nodded.
There was a small moment of silence between us, only Ryan enjoying the apple. "So how's the whole finding out my name stuff going?" He swallowed. " Good actually. Because of Courtney I now know that it's something with an L." I chuckled. "That don't have to give away anything. You know about her obsession with nicknames. What is yours by the way?"
"I'm clearly not gonna tell you that." He shook his head. "Why not? Is it embarrassing?" He didn't say anything but rather took a bite of the delicious looking apple."It's clearly embarrassing" I pointed out. "No it's not." He lied.
"Yes it is. Tell me."
He shook is head. I crossed my arms over my chest. An idea flashed through my mind. "Well I just go then and asked Courtney." I smirked and stood up. That seemed to alarm him. "Wait!" He grabbed my wrist. I raised a brow.
"That embarrassing?" He didn't say anything and just stared at me. I sat back down again.
"No, but Courtney had sworn that she wouldn't tell anyone." I raised a brow and stared at him.
"Yeah.... But the thing is I'm not anyone. I can be really convincing."
He smirked and propped his elbow up on the table and rested his head on his fist. "Oh I know you aren't like all the others. That's why I'm so interested in you." I stared at him, my mouth slightly agape.
Interested
What does that even mean? And what's going on in his mind that he thinks I'm different to others. I mean don't get me wrong. I am quite different. I'm normal (or at least I try to be), I'm quite, I'm socially awkward, I try to get lost in the crowd of people just because I hate attention. But with this agreement and Ryan in general I get way too much from all of that.
I tilted my head to the side and stared into his green eyes. "Am I good different or bad different?" I asked him and mirrored his gesture from before.
A smile tucked at the corners of his lips. "What do you think?" I looked at the people around us and my view halted at my usual table. I saw that Liam, Logan and Tony looked in our direction. They all held different expressions. Logan glared at Ryan, Tony gave me a worried look and Liam smiled at me. I smiled at them and my view returned to Ryan.
I shrugged. "I don't know."
He smiled. "Okay. Let's try this one. Try to describe yourself in one word." I sighed and thought about it. One word. That's hard I mean come on how would you describe yourself with one word? I observed the people around us. My view wandered from person to person. I was nothing like the people at our table. I wasn't a cheerleader nor was I popular in general.
"Okay." Ryan said and my eyes once again landed on him. "Let's make it easier for you and try it on others first." I smiled at him and nodded. And we both looked at the people surrounding us. "Dave." I stated. Dave was also a jock. I think he was a basketball player. I met him once or twice, because he and Tony are kinda close friends. He was...nice? I don't know how to explain his personality. Dave's just ... Dave. He was funny and sarcastic.
"Whipped." Ryan said in a weird tone. I turned to him and raised a brow. "Is that such a bad thing? And who is he together with?" I asked confused. I never heard anything about a girlfriend. But hey then again I'm not really paying attention to these things. "Amber and I'll just ignore your question, because you already know the answer."
I rolled my eyes. "Daniel?" I looked at Daniel and studied him. He was the classical "Bad boy." I said. "Natalie?" I asked.
"Annoying." I knitted my eyebrows in confusion. She seemed nice. But hey I just met her five minutes ago. "Why?"
He looked at me and took a bite of his apple. I'm still hungry, but contained myself. "Which word did you have on your mind?"
"Head cheerleader." I said nonchalantly. Natalie looked really pretty. She was tall, had tanned skin, light brown hair and beautiful big, grey eyes.
"Exactly. And you know that cliche that the quarterback and the head cheerleader normally end up together?" I nodded. "Well she obviously is a cliche freak, because she asked me out multiple times."
"And what did you answer?" I asked curiously.
He smirked. "Why? Are you jealous?" He pinched my cheek. I blinked and glared at him. "No," I stated simply.
"Well I said no every single time. And she's literally begging for a date." I smiled lightly. "You know that's kinda cute." He raised a brow. "What?"
"You're weird." He stated. I rolled my eyes. "No shit Sherlock."
"Moving on." He said and broke the eye contact. I did the same and looked at "Louis."
"Asshole." The way he said it so casual made me almost choke on my saliva. And then I burst out laughing. I looked at Ryan again, who gave me a small smile and chuckled his eyes never leaving mine. He studied me with such an intensity it almost scared me. My laughter died down a bit.
"Why?"
"Well that's a long story. I'll maybe tell you in the future."
It was silent for a moment. We just stared into each others eyes. His green eyes held such an intense warmness in them that I lost myself in them. I smiled at him and he smiled right back at me. However my smile faded as I remembered which person was sitting next to me. A heartbraker, a douche.
"Which word am I for you?" He asked quietly. "Although I know that it's hard. Seeing as there are so many words representing my awesome character." I rolled my eyes.
"You are right there are many words that are flashing to my mind. Idiot, asshole, manwhore and on and on and but one word stands out. Player." He didn't say anything. He just stayed silent and looked into my brown eyes. I tilted my head to the side. What was he thinking about? Something flashed across his features and he frowned. Wait. Did I hurt his feelings?
"And what is the first word that comes into your mind when I'd say your name?" He ran a hand through his brown hair and then remained staring at me.
"Normal." I said honestly. He smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I'd have said... special, different." He said quietly.
I gulped. "Why?" My voice barely a whisper.
He cupped my cheek with one hand. "Because you are. You are quiet, but clever. You are kind and sweet. Especially to strangers. But you also know when to kick someone's ass. You're a good friend. I can see it on the faces of the guys over there." He nodded in the direction of my usual table, but his eyes never left my face. "They are worried about you, hoping that you're okay. And although your best friend left a few months ago, you aren't showing how much it affects you."
I knitted my eyebrows in confusion. Was he that observant? How can he know that about me through the few days we spent together. That's crazy and kind of impossible. Though he was right I was quiet. I never rose my hand in class or talked to people other than my friends.
And about being clever well people think that I am. My parents for example. They told me that they are proud of me multiple times. Every time I bring my tests home from school with a C+ or a B written on the front page. But the thing is although they are proud of me I'm not. I feel intimidated by my sister. She was always the straight A student in every damn class. And although she never says that she's better than me and even tells me that I did a good job.
I kind of feel slapped in the face every single time. Because I know that she'd done better than me in her high school time. And don't get me wrong I have a great relationship with my sister, we love each other, but I always feel like I'm the stupid one. That I'm the one with the fucked up life. That I'm the one, people have to take care of. And I also sometimes feel like the ugly one. She's the one with the tanned, slim body, with the beautiful big, light brown eyes, with the perfect boyfriend. Whereas I'm the one with small, boring, dark brown eyes, with the pale skin, the high cheekbones, the small lips, the staight nose and the weird personality.
I cleared my throat and pulled away. "Well you're clearly wrong," I stated with a smirk. Although he kind of had a point. He raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
"Yeah. And do you know why?" he gave me a look of curiosity. "Why?"
"Because you don't know me," I said coldly. He looked a bit taken a back by my sudden change of mood. And a look of hurt flashed through his eyes before he composed himself again.
"That's not true."
I scoffed, "Seriously? We've known each other for what? Two days?"
He shook his head. "You're wrong, we've known each other our whole life's." I knitted my eyebrows in confusion. Was that some kind of stupid pick up line or what was that supposed to mean?
"Ryan, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the truth," he said in a serious tone. Now I was even more confused than before.
"What-" I was cut off as Drake appeared next to me.
"Hey guys," he nodded in our direction. He then turned to me. "Liz would you mind if I'd talk to Ryan for a sec?" I shook my head and smiled at him, still a little confused, "He's all yours," I winked at him and stood up. I could hear Ryan groan in the distance as I made my way back to Courtney and her boyfriend.
"Hey you two," I nodded in their direction as I took a seat in front of them. Courtney beamed at me.
"Omg L you look great today. You changed a lot during the last few months," she pushed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and leaned forward. Well that wasn't actually true. I haven't changed in the slightest since we last saw each other. I raised my brow.
"Oh yeah?" she nodded. "How did I change?"
"Well... your hair is longer." I chuckled and rolled my eyes.
Nick slung an arm around the back of her chair as she leaned back again. "How have you been?" he asked me with a smile tucking on the corner of his lips. I sighed and smiled at them.
"Good." Liar! "What about you?"
"Wait a second. I have to ask you a question first," Courtney interfered. I raised an eyebrow. "I have to ask you a question which we all die to know about." As she said we I noticed that the girls sitting around us were scooting closer and were eyeing me suspiciously. I crossed my arms over my chest protectively. And leaned back in my chair.
Nick chuckled beside her. "You mean all the girls are dying to know about."
She smacked his arm lightly and rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
"Courtney just ask me the damn question, will you?" I asked hoping to escape the attention of the people sitting around us as fast as possible. Fine I snapped, but I just hate to be in the spotlight.
"Okay. Okay. Relax. What's going on with you and Mr. Player?" she pointed towards Ryan. I looked over to find him arguing with Drake about something. Probably football. And then as if he could feel me staring at him he looked in my direction and our eyes met. He smiled at me. And I think that that's the first time I saw him genuinely smile. Not smirk, but just smile.
I shrugged, "Nothing," I stated calmly still staring in his direction.
//////////
"Hello class," principal Davis greeted us in our Literature class. I was a little confused as where Mrs. Stephens went to. But listened to the principal as he announced something important.
"As you all know Mrs. Stephens is pregnant. Therefor she's incapable to come to school for a while. So I'd like to introduce you to your new teacher. Mr. Sullivan," he looked at the door and a second later a guy walked in. He was probably in his twenty's, tall and good looking.
He walked to the front of the class to join Mr. Davis. He beamed at us and looked around the class. I turned around as I heard whispers and saw that almost every girl besides me was conversing about our new teacher and the one which weren't whispering stared dreamily at the front. And then my look turned to the boys whom where all either snorting, ignoring everything or studying the guy from head to toe.
Mr. Sullivan ran a hand through his hair which made the girls just more excited as his muscles were flexing under his button down shirt. Mr. Davis somehow could silence the class and then it was Mr. Sullivan's turn to speak.
"Well as Principal Davis already said I'm Mr. Sullivan and I'm your substitute," he explained in a happy tone. After Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Davis talked to each other for a moment he left and we were alone with the new teacher. "Okay so-" he stopped as Amanda raised her hand. "Yes. Erm..."
"Amanda," she said in a sickly sweet tone. He nodded with a smile. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Actually Amanda that's what I wanted to say. I know that it's weird to have suddenly a new teacher so I want to play a game with you all since I also have to learn your names." A game? How old does he think we are? Five? "Well I'm pretty sure you all have many questions," he leaned on his desk and grabbed a small ball out of the top drawer of his desk. "So I'll throw this ball to anyone of you and then you'll tell me your name and I ask you a question and then you throw the ball back to me and you'll ask me a question. Clear?"
Everyone nodded. Great. We're gonna play a game for middle schoolers. He threw the ball towards Amanda. She caught it easily. "Amanda, what's your favourite movie?" She twirled a strand of her hair around her index finger. "Mean girls," she smirked and threw the ball back at him.
"Are you married Mr. Sullivan?" he chuckled and shook his head. "No, no I'm not."
"So you have a girlfriend then?" he held his index finger up. "That's another question. You're just allowed to ask one question."
She sighed annoyed. He threw the ball to "Tyler."
"Okay Tyler what's your favourite subject?" Tyler shrugged. "I don't really have one." he threw the ball back to the front.
"Are you into football?" Mr. Sullivan nodded. "Yes, I actually played in high school."
The ball landed on Zoe's desk. "What do you want to do for a living after school?" She thought about it for a second.
"I want to become an actress," she threw the ball back to our teacher. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
He chuckled and shook his head again. "Yes I have a girlfriend." A few groans were heard.
The ball eventually landed in Ryan's arms. "Well Ryan... what's your favourite food?"
"Probably pizza," he threw the ball back. "In which position did you play?"
Mr. Sullivan's face lit up. "I was quarterback. And you and ... Tyler was it?" Tyler nodded. "Also play football I assume."
"Yeah quarterback," Ryan pointed to himself. "And wide receiver."
Well the ball went from person to person. Questions like: "What do you like in a girl?" or "How should your future wife look like?" came from the girls. The guys usually talked about sports or school.
And then...
"Okay did I forget someone?" Well I once again was invisible to everyone, which was a good thing actually. Though, unfortunately I was wrong, because I wasn't invisible to everyone. No because Ryan, Tyler and Liam looked in my direction. And of course Mr. Sullivan noticed. I cursed under my breath as our eyes locked.
"Oh I'm sorry." He smiled apologetically at me and I gave him a polite smile back. He then threw the ball, but instead of casually catching it, like everyone else, it hit me on the forehead. Of course I was the only one not able to catch the damn ball. I wasn't good in such things okay? A few of my classmates laughed and the teacher once again smiled at me apologetically.
My cheeks flushed and I grabbed the ball from my desk and fumbled nervously with the fabric. After a few seconds the class went silent again. And everyone stared at me expectantly. I sank down in my seat and looked down for a second before looking up again. What do I have to say again? I felt so embarrassed and uncomfortable under the looks of everyone that I forgot what I was about to say.
"What's your name?" Mr. Sullivan asked, helping me out. Now the attention was on him again.
"Elizabeth," I stated quietly. I always introduced myself with my whole name in front of most adults.
"Elizabeth," he smiled at me. And I gave him a polite smile of my own. I looked down and studied the engraving on my desk. It said L+ a letter I couldn't make out in a small heart. Well I could just hope that these desks belonged to a middle school, because otherwise it would be slightly weird.
"What's your favourite singer?" I looked up again as I heard the voice of our teacher. "Does a band count too?" he looked a bit surprised but nodded. "Erm.. I'm not quiet sure which I like best, but ALL TIME LOW is one of my personal favourites." We smiled at each other and then I threw the ball towards him and although it landed on the floor I didn't feel embarrassed. He bend down and grabbed it from the ground.
He smiled at me in amusement and raised an eyebrow. Thank God that I now knew what I had to do. "What about you?"
"Well we actually have a similar taste in music. Well I'm also into them, though I also like the Arctic Monkeys."
I smiled. "Yeah they are great. I once went to a concert of them."
"Last summer," we said in unison. I nodded and smiled at him. "Yeah. Well I actually wanted to go see them too. Though something came up and I couldn't."
"Well they made a really good show. They even did stage diving." His eyes widened. "Really. Ugh that's so unfair."
I chuckled. He sort of behaved like a fan girl. "And what do you think about Blink 182" My smile widened. Okay, maybe our new teacher wasn't that bad. "Oh there are so cool. Also one of my favourites."
He nodded. "Yeah they're g-" he was cut off by the bell.
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"Hey L, do you need a ride home?" Courtney asked me as I came into the parking lot. I looked around. Usually Logan would give me a short ride home before coming back to school for football practise. I kind of felt awful every time he does it, because otherwise he wouldn't be in a hurry all the time to get to practise right on time.
I trotted to Nick's car were he and Court were sitting on the hoods car. "Well I actually don't know...." I trailed off. I looked around for Logan. I shook my head. "You know what, that'd be great actually."
She squealed. "Yay. I have so much to tell you," she hopped off the car and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. They both got in the car and as I opened the door and was ready to hop in I heard someone calling out to me.
"Hey!" I turned around and soon enough Ryan was walking towards me.
"What?" I groaned. Why is he here anyways, he actually is supposed to get ready for football practise.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked in a parental tone.
"Home," I said in a duh tone. He chuckled.
"No way you're staying," he said, already decided. I scoffed. I opened my mouth to protest, but he continued speaking. "Remember our agreement? It says the whole week, which means the whole day and not just till school ends."
I cursed under my breath. Shit he was right. "But what do you want me to do while you guys have practise. Sitting on the bleachers, watching you?" I frowned.
"Exactly," he smirked in triumph. I groaned. Great, because that's how I always picture my afternoons. He grabbed my hand and literally dragged me with him.
"Erm...L?!" Courtney yelled after me.
"Sorry Court! I have to go! See ya!" I yelled over my shoulder.
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Hey guys
Super long chapter huh? I hope it makes up for the long wait. So first day with Ryan. But it's not over just yet. There's much to come. And I promise that I'll do my best to upload faster. It was just really hard to find time to write, because I was sick the last two weeks or so and couldn't leave the bed. But anyways I hope you like the long chappy.
What do you think about Ryan btw? Changed your mind about him? And also what do you think about Liz' old/ new friends? I hope you aren't confused, because of the many names/ characters but don't worry not many of them will be a main part of the book. So you don't have to remember all of them. And what do you think about the new, hot teacher, Mr. Sullivan?
Ugh this is probably the longest AN ever. And I don't even know if you guys read all of this, but thanks to the people doing it. *hands cookie to the ones reading this*
Please vote/comment?
Hugs and kisses
Kathy