"I hate my life,” Alex huffed while leaning on the locker beside mine.
“More than I do mine?” I closed my locker and we started to walk together. School was over and we were ready to go home.
“Oh please, I would do anything to be in your shoes right now.” She rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest.
“That bad?” I raised an eyebrow at her.
“Yes. Wanna know why?” She asked and I nodded. “The real reason why I look so fucking fabulous today is that I’m trying to get Bradley Styles’ attention. But he didn’t even acknowledge me. It’s like I don’t exist to him.” Bradley Styles was a very quiet guy but he’s really good looks made him stand out.
I’m actually surprised she liked him. I thought someone like her would go for the bad boys.
“You have a crush on quiet Brad?” I asked with a teasing smile on my lips.
“Yeah, so what? I just think he’s cute, that’s all.” She shrugged nonchalantly.
“If you like him, just go up to him and tell him. I’m sure if he has half a brain, he’ll realize what a wonderful person you are ” I encouraged her as we passed through the double doors of the school and headed towards the school parking lot.
“Thanks, kid. But I’m not doing that.” She declared while I furrowed my eyebrows at her.
Alex was the most confident, badass, and sassy girl I’ve ever met. So it’s kind of a surprise that she’s scared of talking to her crush.
“And why’s that?” I looked at her as we kept walking.
“I would love to tell you why, but it seems you have bigger issues than that right now.” She was looking straight ahead with furrowed eyebrows so I followed her line of sight.
I stopped walking and stood rooted on my spot, not wanting to go further. This made Alex stop also.
Ryan was standing or rather leaning on Alex’s car while his eyes searched the parking lot, but he hadn’t seen me yet.
“Why is he leaning on your car? Is he looking for you?” I asked Alex without taking my eyes off him.
“I doubt it. I’ve never talked to him before.” She replied while I took slow steps backward, waiting for the right moment to bolt out of there.
I’ve been avoiding him all day. In fact, I’ve been avoiding him since last week, after we kissed. Running into him right now, with everyone looking wasn’t good.
“I should take the bus...” I was saying and would have run too but Alex caught my hand and pushed me back forward.
“No, you’re not running. You’re gonna face him head-on and not act like a thirteen-year-old running from her crush.” She kept dragging me ignoring my protest.
But even though I wanted to run, I couldn’t anymore because Ryan noticed us then and his eyes didn’t leave me till we reached him.
Alex pushed me forward, while she stood behind with folded arms across her chest.
He didn’t say anything. He just folded his arm across his chest and cocked his head to the side, with an expressionless mask on his face, while I stood awkwardly in front of him, and I probably had a terrified expression on my face.
Okay, I should get this over with because people were starting to stare.
“Ryan...how’s it going...” I didn’t get to complete my statement before he interrupted me.
“Are you avoiding me?” He asked with that expressionless mask still on.
“What?! Me? No...no. Why would I?” I rambled in a high pitch voice and I cursed myself for sounding like that.
He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly not convinced but he didn’t push it further.
“Okay then. Come on, I’m driving you.” He reached for my hand and immediately our hands connected, I felt the tingles crawl up my arm and spread around my body.
“Um... Alex’s driving me.” I quickly snatched my hand back and looked back at Alex for help.
“Oh no, I can’t. I have uh..detention.” She stuttered a little and I knew she was lying because she didn’t tell me this before, and we were already on our way home until we saw Ryan.
“Detention? Since when and for what?” I asked looking suspiciously at her.
“That’s what I said,” She scoffed and shrugged looking at anywhere but me, and I knew she wasn’t going to be of any help.
Looking back at Ryan, I think of another excuse so as not to be in the same space as him.
“I uh...want to take the bus. It’s more... refreshing,” I lied, hoping he buys it.
He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly not buying it.
“Okay, Sam,” He sighed and I thought he was going to leave me alone, but boy in was I wrong. “I either carry you to my car over my shoulder with you kicking and screaming and attracting a lot of attention to us or, you could just walk and follow me quietly.”
I was shocked at how calmly he said that like he was talking about the weather.
I looked back at Alex and found her still standing there but looking at everything but us.
“You’re kidding, right?” I forced a smile out, not yet sure if he was cracking a joke.
He didn’t say anything but just cocked his head. Then he crouched down a little and before I knew what was happening, I was thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
At first, I was still in shock and didn’t do anything, just laid over his shoulder with his arm wrapped around my legs to support my swaying form.
“Ryan, let me down!” I gasped, getting back to my senses and holding his shirt to steady myself.
“I will.” He said but didn’t drop me and instead started to walk to God knows where, as I couldn’t see my front.
I looked up and saw Alex, still standing near her car with an amused expression still on her face, before she went to open her car. Traitor! She never had detention.
I noticed other kids at the parking lot were also staring at us with amused expressions and I think I saw some taking out their phone and taking pictures of us.
Oh God, this was bad. This was really bad especially for me.
Trevor wouldn’t like this if he saw a picture of us like this, and Jenny was going to kill me!
“Ryan, this isn’t funny. Let me down.” He ignored me and kept walking, with me still on his shoulder. My backpack slid down and blocked my view, so I couldn’t see anything happening.
I could only hear some wolf whistles and some guys cheering Ryan on, and I almost died of embarrassment there.
I heard Ryan opening a car door before he dumped me into the passenger’s side and slammed the door shut. He then walked over to his side and I was tempted to open the door and get out, but the thought of facing everyone out there after what just happened wasn’t welcome.
“You happy now! The whole school thinks we’re dating now.” I yelled at him as he closed his own door shut and buckled his seatbelt.
“Buckle up cupcake, I’m not a slow driver.” He ignored me and I felt like kicking him where the sun doesn’t shine.
“Just take me home.” I folded my arms across my chest and looked out the window. Some kids were still looking in our direction and gossiping already.
“Who said anything about taking you home?” I heard Ryan say, and I whipped my head around to look at him.
“You said you were driving me home!” I almost yelled at him, frustrated at how he was behaving.
“No, I said I was driving you. I never said I was taking you home. Now, I’m hungry for some chocolate ice-cream. Hope you are too.” He started his car and pulled out of his parking space at an alarming speed, which almost gave me a heart attack as I jerked forward.
My hair was splayed around my face in tangles and waves, and I threw daggers at him through my eyes.
“I already told you to use your seatbelt.” He reminded, but didn’t wait for me and started to drive at full speed.
Quickly, I buckled my seatbelt all the while gritting my teeth and seething in anger.
“You son of a...”
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