RYAN WOKE UP to the soft knocking on her door. She wasn't a light sleeper, but then again she wasn't a heavy sleeper either.
She blinked twice, her eyes momentarily landing on the alarm clock on her night stand, realizing that it was, 15 minutes before it started ringing.
Meaning someone had decided to disturb her sleep. She groaned inwardly before patting down her hair and pursing her lips in order to make herself look presentable.
Whoever wanted her definitely didn't realize that despite it being a school day, there was still some godly time before classes started.
Ryan swung her legs over her bed, placing her feet on the surface of her slippers before dragging her body up and walking towards the door, her hands repeatedly straightening her large, crumpled t-shirt and pajama shorts.
She swung the door open to meet Archer Giovanni. Unlike Ryan, who looked quite messy with her crumpled t-shirt and her tangled hair, he looked fresh and neat.
Instantly remembering what happened yesterday night, her face morphed in to a scowl. "Why the fuck are you up so early?"
"I'm an early bird." He replied simply, shrugging his broad shoulders. She put a hand on her hips, arching a brow. "Right." She trailed off.
"Look, can I just come in? It's awkward staying out in the hallway." He asked, hesitating. Ryan shrugged before moving slightly, letting Arch come in.
Her eyes involuntarily followed Arch's figure, noticing how his eyes roamed all over her room. "Wow." He commented. "Aanya told me it was bare but I didn't think it was this bare."
"Okay," she snapped, crossing her arms. "If you wanna say something, say it. If you came here to insult my laziness when it comes to decorating, leave."
Arch sighed, running a hand through his blonde hair. He dropped his hand and tugged on the hem of his slightly crumpled blue shirt like he was nervous. "I'm sorry okay?"
"Sorry for what?"
"For, like saying what I said yesterday. And uh for now as well. I didn't mean it." He said, blowing a breath of cool air. He walked over and sat down at the edge of Ryan's unmade bed.
"Then why'd you say it?" She frowned, taking a seat next to him. "Ry, you're my best friend. I just, I don't want you to get hurt. And I thought the best way to discourage you from it would be to well, I don't know." He trailed off, nervously fidgeting.
Ryan stared ahead, trying to figure out what to do, or say. It really wasn't a big deal, she had gotten into so many fights with Arch over the course of their longtime friendship. But yesterday, what Arch said had stung.
You're acting like fooling a guy and playing with his heart is some sort of dumb game.
In her mind, she knew he didn't mean it. For one, it shouldn't really sting because that wasn't what she had done. It would've all made sense after she had achieved her goal.
And anyways, Arch has apologized so that should count for something right?
The blonde sighed, crossing her arms. "Apology accepted I guess." His face brightened up immediately. "Really?"
"No." She joked, grabbing her phone that was previously thrown carelessly on the bed. Arch frowned, "wait what? You're confusing me."
"I forgot you didn't have a brain. I'm not mad at you. Well, not really I still am. But I'll try to be less mad at you now." She explained, pursing her lips and running a hand through her hair, slightly frustrated.
"Oh. Okay, I guess."
Ryan nodded. "Now get out. My alarm clock's gonna ring any minute so I'm gonna go get ready for school."
Arch mock saluted, getting up. "Yes m'am."
His left leg was the only thing out of Ryan's room when he turned, his eyes pointed towards Ryan's and said,
"oh and Ry, coach said that we have to wake up early for practices starting tomorrow."
The blonde groaned, shooting him a look. Arch shrugged. "Apparently he had a mini squabble with the football coach and then he found out today that the football players have already started their morning training way before school started," he said, throwing his hands up. "So he's pissed." Ryan scoffed at her coach's childishness.
"Oh my god, tell coach to go fuck himself."
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RYAN WAS WAITING for Tate by his locker. To be precise, Ryan was waiting to ambush Tate by his locker.
The girl had more than 20 minutes left till homeroom so she had decided to make use of those precious minutes.
She tried hard to be completely casual as she hung around a locker that wasn't hers. And to make it worse, mostly everyone knew that the locker was Tate's despite the fact that the locker assignments were handed out only yesterday evening.
Ryan tucked a piece of stray hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear nervously. She inched her black skirt down before shuffling her hand inside her pocket to reach for her phone.
She gulped, feeling everyone's confused stares before they carried on with their own work. Her fingers fumbled with her phone for a few minutes before she decided to scroll through her Instagram feed, in hopes of looking casual.
"Ryan, hey." Ryan looked up to see Veronica Woo, a tight lipped but pleasant smile appearing on her face.
"Veronica," she smiled back, her eyes involuntarily sizing up Veronica's figure. The Korean-American definitely had a great body. She was thin but she wasn't that thin. As in there were still lumps of fat on her body but every bit in a beautiful way.
She wore the uniform well, her white blouse showing off the curves she definitely had and her skirt showing off her long legs. The school blazer made her seem professional, put together and gorgeous.
Her eyes were the most prominent thing about her that emphasized her half Korean heritage, although they drew the line just after her mono lid. Ryan felt slightly jealous at her bagless eyes that still sparkled with the same brightness she was so used to three years ago.
"How are you? Still tired from last night?" Veronica asked, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers.
Ryan shrugged, a bit suspicious as to why she was suddenly being overly familiar. It wasn't that Veronica and she had never talked after they stopped being friends three years ago, they did but it was very minimal.
They would exchange words of small concern whenever people were around or they'd talk whenever they had a project together to do. But other than that Ryan would never willingly go up to talk to her, and nor would she.
"I guess. Getting back into a schedule after months of partying is a bit hard don't you think?"
She smiled, sighing loudly. "I know, right! So what are you doing here?" She asked casually, leaning on the locker next to Tate's. Veronica whipped her shiny black hair back and narrowed her dark brown eyes.
"Here where?" Ryan asked, confused. "Near Tate's locker silly," she chided jokingly.
"Oh, I was â"
"She was waiting for me." Veronica's eyes snapped up above Ryan and the blonde turned, her blue eyes meeting a pair of green ones.
Tate Sutton was behind Ryan, a small smile evident on his face. His brown hair was wet, small droplets of water were falling onto his forehead and he looked slightly tired.
He also wore the uniform and as always his blazer was hanging off his arm instead of wearing it.
Tate leaned onto the locker that was next to his and crossed his arms. "Ryan, were you waiting long?" He asked, concern showing on his face. Ryan shook her head, albeit a little bit too quickly.
"I see," Veronica smiled and turned her attention towards Ryan. "Anyways, uh other positions for the student council are open so if you want to have a shot at it, you'll have to be there at the geography room by five in the afternoon okay?"
Ryan almost felt her jaw hit the ground. God was she confused. For a moment, she looked like she was about to ask Ryan about Tate and then here she was, spouting about student council.
Before Ryan could answer, Veronica dropped another sweet smile and waved to Ryan and Tate, getting ready to go to homeroom. "Bye Ryan. Bye Tate, see you in Maths." She winked amiably at the both of them before taking her leave.
Tate let out a sigh, sounding relieved. Ryan was staring ahead, still surprised and a bit shocked at the both of them. "What are you doing? And how'd you know this was my locker?" He half asked and half hissed, furrowing his brows.
"Uh," She stammered, startled. "Waiting for you? And everyone knows where your locker is." She clarified, tightening the grip on her phone.
Tate straightened his posture, looking around with a set of pursed lips. Ryan unabashedly stared at him, noticing the shadows under his eyes.
The shadows were probably due to sleepless nights and Ryan felt slightly guilty knowing that the main reason he wasn't able to get enough sleep at least yesterday was because of her.
Ryan couldn't imagine how he was able to be calm currently, knowing that a complete stranger (not complete to be honest) knew one of his deepest darkest secrets. Or how he could've slept when she had practically blackmailed him.
She knew how it felt, to not want something but still to be pushed into it.
"Is this about yesterday?" He quietly asked, running a hand through his wet hair, making the small droplets of water fall faster.
Ryan nodded. "Yes, and," she hesitated slightly. "Thank you, for saving me from Veronica. Maybe you didn't mean it or whatever but I was definitely not able to answer her question."
Tate looked at her surprised. "Um, yeah. No biggie. You're not friends with her anymore right? I figured it'd be kind of awkward."
Ryan's heart dropped a bit. "So you do know who I was?" Her heart was pounding in her chest. No. No. No.
"Uh yeah. I couldn't really recognize you at first yesterday night but then when you told me who you were, I kinda realized." He said, scratching the back of his neck.
"How?" She asked, genuinely curious.
"Wasn't that hard, I mean your name is pretty easy to remember considering you're one of two girls that run for the track and field club. And Veronica sometimes talks about you." He explained casually.
Oh.
Ryan was surprised at that. "Veronica does? That's new. And, can I ask you something?" Tate nodded.
"How are you so calm?" He looked a bit taken aback at that but Ryan carried on, "I mean look, I get it. If I got, uh blackmailed by someone I'd probably freak. Or I'd run away or do both. But instead you're calmly talking to me and â I don't even know."
"Oh. I, uh after I was just mulling over everything and I was really confused and worried but then, after a while," he explained tiredly. "I figured I couldn't really do anything about it. When we face a really strong team we don't worry about it, we face the problem head on. So, that's what I decided to do last night."
"Uh, really? So uh you don't hold it against me?" Ryan asked, her hand fidgeting with her ponytail.
"No. I mean I still do." He replied instantly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. His jaw tightened and Ryan sighed defeatedly. "I mean for one it's not any of your business and I still have no idea how the fuck you found out. I just don't want to make a big scene about it. And I already made the deal with the devil so I just want to get it over with."
To say that Ryan was surprised was an understatement. She knew, she knew just the type of guy he was. Or who she thought he was. But she never expected this. The blonde knew that inside he was probably fuming but he had realized that the only way out would be to do what she wanted.
"Can't believe you called me the devil." She commented.
Tate snickered, "Isn't that what you are? You're worse than Satan. I'll definitely vouch for you to be the next ruler of hell." He joked. Ryan glared at him.
"I have my reasons for doing this, alright?" She huffed.
"Aside from the whole yesterday thing," he interrupted quickly, realization dawning upon him. "There's another problem. Although I kinda may have made it worse by trying to uh help you." He added, smiling sheepishly.
"Huh?" She asked, stupidly.
"The guys were talking about it in the morning during practice. Ever since last night, well someone saw both of us going upstairs together," he said and Ryan's stomach was churning.
"I don't fucking know how it escalated this quickly in a matter of hours, but quite a bit of people thing we have something going on." He explained quickly, frustration running through his veins.
Ryan couldn't focus much on what he said after that. Her mind was whirling and even though she had trouble with executing her whole plan, Ryan could feel it in her veins. She finally found it, her silver lining.
"That's it." She whispered. "Oh my god that's brilliant. But like stupid at the same time, what if it doesn't work?" She muttered to herself.
Tate looked at her, raising a brow. "What? What are you muttering about?" He asked, confused.
"Oh fuck it." Ryan mumbled before locking eyes with Tate. She increased the tone of her voice slightly, just so that only Tate could hear and said,
"Date me."
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Hello :) first of all I'm so sorry I'm late !! I had quite a lot of things to do irl and I didn't have any time to write or anything. Second of all, how was the chapter? Was Tate's reaction rational? Was it weird? Temme. Love all of y'all,
âDin