The next day, Jordan and Ryan were at a pizza/arcade shop playing Robo Fighter. Near the end of the battle, while Ryan was low on health and trying to defend herself, the boy finished her with a special move, handing Ryan yet another defeat. “Oh my god!”- she turns to him- “You beat every time we play this! I think you’ve been spamming me,” she accused. “What?”- Jordan was playfully offended- “Me? Nah,” he denied. “Let’s just say that I know your every move before you make it. And besides, everyone at school knows I’m the better player.” Ryan scoffed at the thought. “Jordan, the only people who actually give a crap about you being the best player are your, um… nerd club members,” she sassed. “You sound like Star,” Jordan replied.
“Ugh! No, I don’t!” Ryan retorted, doing her best impression of Star as she and Jordan laughed.
“Oh, man. That’s funny,” the boy stops laughing. “Wanna play again?”
“Sure,” Ryan replied. The two teens played another round after Jordan put another quarter into the machine.
“Hey, is everything okay? I haven’t heard from you the last couple of days,” Jordan asked curiously.
“I went to see my father,” Ryan answered.
Jordan paused and looked at her in shock. “Word?”- he shook his head and resumed playing- “Man, I can’t imagine how rough it is to talk to a parent that’s a criminal.”
“It is,”- Ryan lost another match as she became distracted by her talk with Daniel- “Dang it,” she shouted in frustration, as she shut her eyes and put her head down on the console. She sighed deeply. “The nightmares, the images… Every day, I feel like I’m being punished for my dad’s sins. It’s not fair. He’s suffering in jail and so am I.”
Jordan turned to her with a serious look. “I don’t know what to tell ya,”- he shrugged- “I mean, life isn’t fair, and not everything is black and white.”
“If someone wronged you,”- she said as she looked at her friend- “... for whatever reason, don’t you have a right to ask yourself, ‘Why me? Why am I suffering, and that person isn’t?’ Is that fair?”
“No, it isn’t.”
Though he agreed with her, Ryan couldn’t help but be upset. She thought if her father could go back in time to undo his misdeeds, her mother, her powers, would never have happened. Sadly, it was only wishful thinking. “Let’s get outta here,” she said, as she and Jordan walked away from the game. Before they could leave, the two friends suddenly ran into Gary, who was on his way to deliver a pizza to his friends. “Hey, Ryan, Jordan,” he kindly greeted. “Oh, hey, Gary. What’s up?” the girl nervously responded as Jordan simply waved ‘hi’. Jordan strained to suppress his laughter, knowing Ryan always got shy around Gary. “Nothing much. Just hanging with my buds. You?” Gary asked, shooting her a wry smile. “Same thing you’re doing,” Ryan replied, as she pulled Jordan close to her. “Spending time with my bro.” “I’m your bro? Wow, this is the first time you called me ‘bro’. I think I’m gonna cry,” Jordan joked, as he dramatically fake cried as Ryan and Gary laughed.
“Hey, my mom and I are planning a pool party next month. You two wanna come?” Gary asked.
“I don’t know,” Ryan replied nervously.
“C’mon, Clark. It’s a pool party, and it’s not a school night,” Gary tried to convince her.
“Yeah, Ryan. The popular kids might be there and this is my chance to get noticed. Think of the children, I’M the children,” Jordan desperately pled.
Jordan’s thirst for acceptance finally pushed Ryan over the edge. “Alright, alright, you conned me. We’ll be there.”
Jordan exclaimed with excitement, “I could kiss you right now!”
YOU ARE READING
Angel Girl
ActionFourteen-year-old Ryan Clark has not forgiven her father for the death of her mother because of his history as a drug dealer. Therefore, the drug gives her superhuman abilities, and she must become a hero when the teenagers started dying from her fa...
