RYAN BLAIR panted before shutting her dorm door in haste, wiping sweat away from her forehead.
He's definitely trying to kill us.
After spending months waking up at seven am and sleeping whenever she wanted to, waking up at five in the morning for morning runs in the cold definitely wasn't Ryan's cup of tea.
It didn't help that she had to run in a thin tank top and track shorts when it was literally freezing outside.
Sweat still dribbled down her forehead like heavy rainfall. Ryan headed to her bathroom, desperate to waste all her remaining time before school started on a nice hot shower.
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HER NICE, HOT shower was interrupted. Just like everything in her life was.
It was timid knock, made from politeness rather than friendship. From that Ryan figured out that it wouldn't be Arch or Aanya. Arch had a bad habit of knocking incessantly and Aanya didn't even bother and just opened the door outright.
Hastily she grabbed her uniform and put it on, flailing around wildly as she tried to find the safety pins she had thrown carelessly around yesterday to secure her loose skirt.
Her hair was still wet and the tips were forming small droplets of water which fell to her uniform, soaking through in small doses.
Hoping that it'll dry soon, she sighed. She swung the door open to meet Tate Sutton. Unlike Ryan, his hair was neat and his expression very fresh. Her nose picked up immediately on his scent; Bvlgari mixed with sweat. She scowled, "how did you â"
"Good morning to you too." He replied lazily, stuffing his hands inside his pockets. To be honest, Ryan was a bit surprised he looked this casual. Even she knew that she was a bit rude yesterday.
"How are you up this early?" She settled for a normal question instead, before getting out of the way in order for him to come in. He looked around first, and she motioned for him to sit somewhere. He did, sitting on her vanity chair.
"Football morning practice, just like you." He said.
"Doesn't football practice end just before homeroom? And wait how'd you know I had morning practices?" She asked cautiously. Tate rested his chin on his hands before staring intently at the floor. "Ah yeah, for some reason he let us go early. Impossible right?" He let out a slight laugh, ignoring her last question.
Was he...laughing? Ryan's brain was so confused.
Ryan stayed quiet and instead focused on staring at him, discreetly of course. She saw the slight bags under his pretty eyes, the sweat that was dripping down his temple, probably from the harsh football practice he endured. Even Ryan wasn't a stranger when it came to knowing about the football coach's strict regimen.
The blonde pursed her lips. To her, Tate was unlike any other boy she's seen. He was confusing, unafraid to show how confused he was feeling, mixed with complete and utter frankness.
True, Ryan had never personally known Tate, other than a few runs ins (they do go to the same school) but it was hard to miss a boy standing out with his crisp white shirt and laugh every second of the day. He seemed tired, and she felt bad considering she was primarily the reason.
"About yesterday," he started, looking down. "I get that you have a lot going on, and whatever it is, it should've been pretty serious if you didn't want to tell me. But if you really do want my help, I can't really help you unless I know what it is."
Ryan tensed. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell him, she couldn't. Literally, even if she tried, it would've come out of her mouth.
She was about to explain it, and apologize for the harsh words she swung at him yesterday when he interrupted.
"But if you don't want to tell me now, that's fine. You can take your time." He finished, looking up at her.
"Why? You're still willing to help me? What if I want to kill someone?" She asked, cautiously and sparingly.
"I know you. Well not really. I still get the feeling I've met you somewhere before â but that's not what I'm talking about. We've gone to the same school for what? Ten years? Once you officially meet someone, I don't know, it's like you remember those random things that you've seen when you were small."
"That makes no sense," she replied flatly.
Tate snorted. "I know. But that's just how it is. At least I know you're not a bad person. Carter wouldn't be best friends with you anyways."
"Oh." She was unsure of what to say exactly.
He sighed. "Okay, I'll help you. I promised right. Can't go back on my promise I guess. Where do we start?"
Ryan's eyes popped, and her jaw hung open. "Uh, uh wow okay then. Like I said, the easiest way to do this is for us to fake date. Then I'll be out of your life and you'll be out of mine."
"Ugh isn't there any other way?I don't know what you're planning to do but I don't think â"
"Well this is the faster method." She cut in.
"Yeah, yeah okay. When do we start?" He complied.
Ryan grinned. "Homecoming."
"Homecoming? Isn't that too far away?"
"It'll have to wait until then. You told me there were rumors circling about us right? Let it grow. It'll be more realistic that way. We can do small things together from time to time and then at homecoming, boom!" She shrugged.
"Whatever you say I guess." Tate replied with a shrug of his own and Ryan was reminded of exactly why she chose Tate to help her.
He was the type of person that could never say no to a person in need, even if he'd get tangled up in it.
When all this is over, I'll apologize for taking advantage of your kindness. She thought sadly.
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RYAN STOOD BY THE door to her physics classroom, not wanting to go in. Thankfully the bell hadn't rung yet, and Mr. Ken hadn't arrived yet either.
The physics classroom was one of the largest classrooms that ALH procured for their students. Similar to a large lecture hall, rows and rows of benches were seated on an upscale footing.
Despite the fact that the bell hadn't rung, crowds of students were already seated. Even Ryan knew that getting a good seat for physics was an extreme sport here, considering that the majority of the seniors â almost everyone â had physics as one of their electives. The course was easy here in ALH and just a few thorough look throughs could grant you an A easily.
She wasn't late, but she wasn't early either. The whole area was filled, except for two seats. One at the far end of the back where Ryan knew her bad eyesight would fail her and the other one, was next to Veronica Woo.
She'd take the one at the far back and let her grade suffer for all she was concerned.
Ryan was about to walk towards the one at the far back when Andrea Dean whizzed past her in a hurry, and secured the seat at the back.
The blonde clicked her tongue. I hope your next nose job fails. She thought maliciously.
She wrinkled her nose, bit her tongue and walked towards the seat next to Veronica's. Veronica raised a brow but Ryan decided to ignore her and sit.
If someone had told her years ago that she's grown to resent Veronica Woo Ryan would have laughed in their face. After all, Veronica was her best friend, her soul sister. And nothing could come between best friends right?
Now, even though there was only a sliver of a distance between them, Ryan knew that they were world's apart.
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"I BOUGHT you burgers so why the fuck are you still sad?" Arch asked a glum looking Ryan.
She sighed and leaned back on Arch's bed â which was a million times cleaner than Ryans' â and ate a fry.
"I had to sit next to Veronica for two hours. Two fucking hours, how do you think I'm feeling?" She gritted her teeth in frustration.
"Ry, this was just before lunch. It's been about five hours now, and you're still mad?" He asked before biting into his steak burger. He spun around in his chair like a little kid.
She sighed again and dipped a fry in barbecue sauce. "I know but still."
"It's not like she pulled your hair and spit on you. Don't get so mad, it's your fault for not going to class early anyways. You know how it gets when the seats for physics are at stake." He reasoned. Arch was one of the few that hadn't taken physics as an elective, and it was safe to say that he was glad for it.
"Obviously. It's not her nature to do something so cutting I guess. It's Aanya's and Carter's fault for not saving me a seat. Also Andrea's fault for taking the other vacant seat. She's gonna pay for that." Ryan muttered under her breath.
Arch chuckled. "Shifting responsibility? How low, you suck Ry."
"And you swallow," She rebutted glumly. Arch snickered in response.
There was a knock at the door and Arch jumped in surprise. "Shit! What if it's coach? Or worse Jen?" He whispered, referring to the track and field team's captain, Jennifer Lai.
"Ry, don't just sit there," he urged in a hurry, "get rid of those burgers now before someone sees them."
Ryan snapped out of her trance, realizing that it wouldn't be pretty if her coach and captain found them munching on burgers just weeks before one of their major back to school events.
"Arch?" a feminine voice called out from the other side. Too feminine to be Jen's and definitely not coach's.
Archer picked up on it too and without shoving the food somewhere, he went and opened the door.
"Hey Nora," Ryan greeted. She straightened her posture and crossed her legs.
"Hey Ryan. Hi Arch." She kissed his cheek and Arch mumbled a hello.
"I thought date night was supposed to be yesterday." He said, sitting on his chair again. Nora took a seat at the edge of the bed. "It still is. Sorry babe, I'm not here for you. I'm here for Ryan."
"You are?" Ryan asked the same time Arch asked, ''what?"
"How'd you know I'd be here? You could've given me a call if you wanted me." Ryan carried on, ignoring Archer.
"Aanya told me that you might be here. I did, but you didn't answer." Ryan reached out and grabbed her phone, noticing the missed call from Nora.
"Whoops," She said sheepishly. "I'm sorry Nora, it was on silent. But what'd you need me for?"
"The girls are going shopping now, and we wondered if you wanted to come? For homecoming I mean." She said, brushing hair away from her face.
"Isn't homecoming like weeks away?"
"Yeah but everyone's free today and we have to get an outfit for the homecoming game, all black apparently and for homecoming itself. So please?" Nora pleaded, her brown eyes sparkling.
Ryan thought about it. Going shopping with the girls would be much better since her dressing sense did need a bit of help. She wasn't an unfortunate dresser but she wasn't that good at it either.
In the end she shrugged, "why not?" Nora squealed. "Yay! But we'll have to go now. You're okay with going like that right?" She asked, referring to Ryan's shorts and tank. Ryan nodded.
"Wow guys, thanks for excluding me." Arch suddenly muttered. "Ry I thought we were gonna have our annual bro's night. Come on! Also Nora, how could you ignore me for Ryan?" He whined.
Ryan grinned. "Sorry, hoes before bros. Also," she entwined fingers with Nora's. "We're a couple now." Nora pressed her face near Ryan's.
"That's right. Sorry bro." She emphasized just as Arch muttered, "that's not the saying, it's bros before hoes!"
Nora giggled and Ryan laughed. Maybe her life wasn't so bleak after all.
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Hello :) just a little reminder that
i'm a very character based writer
so there are gonna be scenes that
don't exactly contribute to the plot
because I want my characters to be
thoroughly explained. On another note,
y'all asked and I delivered hehe (I feel
super proud of myself) and I hope you
enjoyed the update. As always, I love u
â Din