Growing Pains

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Ryan Matthews had just started Eighth Grade, and he was already tired.

His alarm went off for the first time in three months at the bright hour of seven a.m., and he hated it. He hated it even more when Topanga threw open his door to shut off said alarm because Ryan had let it ring for too long. Even though it had just gone off.

"Get up, Ryan! New year, new beginnings!" Topanga said brightly as she walked out of the room. Ryan groaned into his pillow, wishing the day were already over.

After getting dressed, Ryan grabbed a breakfast bar and walked into Riley's room where everyone else seemed to be gathering. He took a bite into it as he asked, "You're not gonna be our teacher again this year, are you?"

Cory shook his head theatrically. "No! Did you hate me as your teacher so much that both of you have to make sure of that?"

Ryan looked at him flatly then looked over at Riley, "Riles, if he's our teacher again this year we run away."

Riley nodded solidly and Topgana scoffed. "Ryan, go change your pants, you look homeless."

"Hey!" Ryan defended. "These jeans were ripped authentically." He was wearing new jeans that got ripped up while skating the week prior, a grey t-shirt with a red jacket, and black vans that were only partially tearing at the back of his right heel.

Topanga went to say something else but Ryan shoved the rest of the breakfast bar in his mouth and just left.

New beginnings, huh? Yeah, right.

--

Ryan had spent the summer in the honeymoon phase of his new relationship with Aidan. Elena was teasing them, their friends were faking disgust at their happiness, and they had gotten to spend almost every day together.

All of that came to an end when summer did. He couldn't spend his mornings sleeping and his days with his boyfriend, occasionally sleeping over whenever he had the chance. Or whenever his parents would "let" him.

That's another thing that changed over the summer. Parental oversight. Not that Ryan wasn't grateful for their sudden interest in his life, but he was honestly getting tired of it.

Ryan had gone with Aidan on the subway all the way to Einstein in an attempt to hold on to the last dregs of summer left. This left him late enough for school that when he was skating into history class, an adult was running out of it.

Wait, wait, wait.

Ryan stumbled into class to see his father standing in the front of the classroom, exasperated. "You're late to your father's class, Ryan."

Oh, fuck no.

"Riley, we're running away!" Ryan exclaimed before turning and running out of the room. He climbed the steps and sat down, waiting for Riley and Maya with his skateboard in his lap. A minute or two later, the girls came out with three green slips in their hands. Ryan raised a brow, "Where are your shoes?"

Panicked, the two girls opened the door again and Cory threw their shoes at them. Once they got them on, they walked up to Ryan.

"What're those?" Ryan asked, nodding his head towards the slips as he got up to follow them when they passed. Riley held one up toward him and he grabbed it, turning it so he could read it. "Transfer slips, dad let us leave if you can believe it."

"Who was that guy who I passed coming to class?" Ryan asked. Maya laughed. "That was the new teacher that we scared away."

"Oh, come on!"