HER FACE BURNED.
Ryan's gaze dropped to the ground as she stared intently at her feet. Remnants of her blazed cheeks remained while she stared down.
After a small moment of silence she forced herself to look up at Tate. He seemed calm, a ghost of a smile on his face.
Without wanting to hear or see Veronica's reaction, she picked her feet up and muttered a hasty 'I'll be going' to Tate and walked out.
Within a few minutes she reached the lounge to see that most of the students were back from their extra curricular and ready to laze around for the next past two hours before dinner.
Arch was seated at the far back, Carter in front of him as they played Reversi intently. Wanting to take her mind off of everything she approached them, shrugging her Philip Plein coat off as she neared the back, a bright fire flickering at the hearth.
"Why is the fireplace lit when the heaters are on?" She asked Arch, plopping down on the seat next to him.
Arch brought a finger up to his lips before making his move on the un-checkered board. Carter didn't even spare Ryan a glance as he retaliated.
Ryan tried waiting for five minutes, but huffed in annoyance when she realized Reversi was more important to them.
"Really guys?" She tried, but Carter waved her off.
"Shh." Arch said again.
"I heard you the first time."
Since she didn't really have anything else to do, Ryan shut her mouth and watched them play intently. After a good ten minutes, Carter emerged victorious. He pumped his fist in the air like a child that won his first stash of Lego bricks.
Arch pouted, also like a child and stomped his feet. "I call for a rematch, you cheated."
"Can you guys, like, I don't know pay attention to me now?" Ryan tried, waving her palm in front of Arch.
Carter flashed Ryan a genuine smile. "Sorry Gia, I had to win, and focus was important." He told her.
Ryan opened her mouth to reply but got cut off by a loud holler from Tim, who proceeded to sit in the vacant seat opposite to Ryan.
"Why does everyone interrupt me?" She muttered angrily. Arch propped up an eyebrow in confusion. She waved him off.
"What's up?" Carter asked Tim. He shook his blonde hair wildly and smirked at Carter. "What?" He repeated again.
Tim's smirk grew wider, causing Ryan and Arch to look at each other confusedly. If he wanted to build suspense, he wasn't doing it properly.
"Spill it already," Carter sighed. "Your lame excuse of suspense is killing me." The boy raised a brow, voicing out Ryan's thoughts.
"Man, I had no idea you were going to homecoming with Aanya!" Tim bounced on his chair excitedly like a puppy. "Who knew both of you would get past the friend-zone?"
Wait, what? Ryan thought.
"You're taking Aanya to homecoming?" Arch sputtered out, surprised. Carter looked confused for a second before it completely disappeared from his face, replaced with amusement.
"Yeah. But guess what Tim, we're going as friends."
Tim's exhilaration deflated instantly. "Aw, damn it. I always shipped you two."
"Wait, when did this happen? Why didn't any of you tell me?" Ryan questioned, crossing her arms.
"Chill, it only happened like a few hours ago." He explained. "Although, I didn't expect it to spread so quickly."
"Well everyone was curious after all." Arch put in with a smirk. "It's all about who goes with who nowadays."
At that Ryan couldn't help but stiffen. Carter wasn't the only one everyone's gazes were trained at. With a jolt she realized half of the school population was interested in who Tate would take as well.
She definitely wasn't a fan of being at the center of attention, and she didn't plan to start bathing in it now. But Tate was her key to success so putting off the plan for her own silly little fears sounded stupid.
But it was tempting, to throw everything she worked hard for away.
Think. She let herself get lost in her train of thought. Think of the girl you just saw getting assaulted by â
"â Ryan!"
Her mouth slightly opened as she snapped out of her mini reverie. "Sorry, I was thinking about the menu for dinner."
"You're always thinking about food." Arch mumbled.
"And you're always thinking about â"
"Okay, stop," Tim put a hand up. He sent her a knowing grin. "And you're not off the hook yet Ryan, I heard all about you and Tate." Ryan heard Arch mutter a barely coherent 'what'.
"Since when do you talk about me behind my back?" Ryan sat up straight in her chair, pulse quickening in surprise as Tate placed his palms on the cresting rail of her chair for support, sneaking up on her with Veronica in tow.
"Hm?" Tate grinned.
"Don't scare me." Ryan whispered, looking up to get a clear view of Tate's face â or rather his chin.
"Sorry."
"Wait what's going on?" Mused Carter, who leaned back in his chair as he swung one leg over the other.
"Does it really matter?" Tate sighed. "That's not what I'm here for. Tim, Carter, the 'Head' wants us to meet him now. Well, the entire team, whatever. Before dinner."
"Why?" Carter asked. Tate shrugged.
Veronica bit her lip before answering, "I have no idea. I met him on my way here, told me to get all of you over to his office. I would've told you first Tim, but you weren't answering your phone and I couldn't find you."
Tim patted his front pocket. "I didn't get a call â oh wait, I left my phone in the lecture room. Fuck."
"Your fault." Veronica shrugged.
"So. . .let's go?" Tate prompted. Tim and Carter sighed at the same time. Carter got up from his comfy seat first, stretching his limbs.
"Let's go. Call Dante, and get the rest of them to get over there as well."
"Already did." Tate said lazily. He flashed her a kind smile and left with the two other boys. Ryan's eyes involuntarily shifted to a bored looking Veronica.
The latter just bobbed her head silently and left.
"What's her problem?" She heard Arch mutter.
She shrugged in response. "No idea."
"Okay, but what's your problem?"
Ryan stared at him. "What do you mean?"
"What was Tim talking about? About you and Tate â "
"It's nothing, don't worry about him. You know how Tim is, always exaggerating. Tim gets excited whenever any girl hangs around Tate, right?"
Arch leaned back in his chair, relaxing his muscles, "I guess." He hesitated for a second, but voiced his thoughts out nonetheless, "You're not hiding anything from me right?"
Ryan let out an involuntary choke, which she forcefully turned into a scoff. "As if. Seriously, I'm not hiding anything."
"I promise." She stated firmly when Arch raised a brow questioningly.
â¡Ì·â¡Ì·â¡Ì·
CARTER AND the rest of the football team came back from the Head's office during dinner, red faced and frowns evident on their faces.
Ryan's blue eyes followed Tate's brown head involuntarily. She caught his eye, raising a brow at his dejected face. He shook his head slightly and shrugged his shoulders.
"What's wrong?" Aanya asked Carter as he took a seat next to Ryan, slamming his fist down on the table harshly. Ryan jumped in surprise.
"They're suspending our team."
"What? Why?" Arch questioned.
"We don't know. This is absurd, we have important matches coming up, it's senior year!"
"Well what did the Head say to you guys exactly?"
Carter knit his brows in frustration and squared his jaw. "I don't know it all went so fast. We go in and he tells us that they're suspending our entire team due to unavoidable circumstances and that we're not allowed to participate in the upcoming matches until our suspension is lifted."
"But there should be a reason for it no?" Aanya mused. "You can't just suspend an entire team right? The homecoming match is coming up."
He scowled. "I have no idea, I think it had something to do with our locker room being trashed but I don't know â"
"They suspended the entire team for a messy locker room? What the fuck?" Ryan cut in, picking at her food.
"No. It wasn't messy in that kind of way. When I mean trashed I literally mean trashed. The whole place was turned upside down like a tornado blew through it, with clothes and gear thrown everywhere, benches toppled and our spare balls all over the place. Ugh, whatever, this is so unfair. They can't just suspend us from training just because some psycho ripped the place apart!"
â¡Ì·â¡Ì·â¡Ì·
Hello :) I hope you enjoyed the chapter !
â Din