Young and Foolish

Chapter 21: Magic Unicorn Ponies are Demonic

Ryder's POV: 

Dinner was on Mrs. Viv. I took my backpack with me, because she liked to have me get in at least an hour of homework before I managed to escape. Did I need to bring some sort of housewarming gift? I mean, her new family just moved in, but then again she invited me casually, like it was any random Tuesday. 

I had no reason to be nervous. It was just Mrs. Viv. And Sarah, and Sarah's family. Well, Sarah's family excluding her twin brother. Maybe I'd catch a photograph of him or something, because I was way too intrigued about what a male version of Sarah would look like. Would he be just as pretty? 

Annie said he looked kissable. Did Sarah look kissable too? I guess, yeah. Not that I would kiss her or anything. But I wouldn't be opposed to it if that happened. 

Mrs. Viv's house didn't look any different from usual, other than the new car in her driveway. I rang the doorbell, and waited patiently. 

Sarah's dad opened the door. It was obvious she had gotten her eyes from him, and his russet hair was just slightly redder than hers. 

"Can I help you?" he asked slowly, and I sheepishly scratched at the back of my neck realizing that I had been staring at him for too long. 

"I'm Ryder. Mrs. Vivian invited me over," I explained. 

"Come on in then, boy," he grinned easily–he and Sarah had the same smile–and opened the door wider to usher me in. 

I shifted my backpack strap on my shoulder and took my shoes off. Following habit, I headed to the living room. 

I raised an eyebrow at the little girl that was concentrating on a pony colouring book at the coffee table. Sarah's dad clamped a friendly hand down on my shoulder. 

"I'm Richard, it's nice to meet you." I was mildly glad he wasn't nearly as intimidating as my father. 

"Likewise," I smiled back, hoping I wasn't being too awkward. 

"Vivian already told me about your home life, and I want you to know that you're free to come over here whenever you need to," his lowered his voice respectfully. 

"My home's not that bad," I tried to clear up, but he waved it off. 

"My house is always open," he said firmly. Only when I nodded my understanding did he smile again. "Now, you can go sit over there with Nicky and do your homework until dinner's ready." 

Nicky, the little girl, looked up at me and waved. I waved back. 

"I'm Ryder," I smiled, setting my backpack down by the opposite end of the coffee table. 

"I'm Nicky!" She was missing one of her front teeth, and her hair was in total disarray. "Do you like horses too?" 

I didn't like children much. They were messy and hard to predict. I gave her a half-shrug. 

"Horses are pretty cool. You can ride one if you want. And they have soft hair." 

See, hard to predict. I had no idea how any of that was supposed to make any sense to me. Nonetheless, I nodded. That seemed to satisfy her enough, and she went back to her colouring. Thank the goddess. 

I pulled out my science textbook and started going through chemistry problems. Normally, I wouldn't start my homework until the last possible moment, but Mrs. Viv liked to check over if I had gotten anything done. If the amount I had finished wasn't satisfactory she'd go through her whole mantra of joining clubs and getting involved in extracurricular activities, and that was always such a bore. I'd rather do a bit of homework than suffer through that lecture. 

Speaking of Mrs. Viv, she passed by the living room and paused a moment to glance in on us.

"Hey Ryder! Dinner should be ready soon, we're just waiting on the vegetables to finish. Need any help with your homework?" She asked cheerily. 

"No," I shook my head. She gave me a thumbs up and continued past. Where was Sarah, by the way? Did she even know I was over? 

I was hoping that when I came over, I'd get to chill with Sarah, not do homework with her little sister. Speaking of the kid, she was currently colouring the grass cotton candy pink. Her purple horse had blue cow patterns and fiery hair. Goddess, it was a freaky monster. 

I turned my eyes away before my mind could be scarred any further. As much as I disliked chemistry, it was far better than whatever demon Nicky was conjuring up in that colouring book. I dreaded to think about what the other pages looked like. 

I managed to finish all my chemistry work before Richard called us for dinner. I ended up sitting next to Nicky. There were two empty chairs across from me, which Sarah still had yet to sit down in. 

"Mind grabbing Sarah?" Richard asked Mrs. Viv. She left for a moment and the two of them came down the stairs together moments after. 

"Hey Ryder!" Sarah grinned, and I greeted her in turn. She sat across from Nicky. 

"What does today's pony look like?" Sarah asked Nicky. She explained some horridly random story that hardly made any sense about unicorn palaces and magic wheat, but Sarah listened intently as if it was the most interesting thing she'd heard. 

I focused in on my meal to drown out all that nonsense. Mrs. Viv was a pretty good cook, and she was the only one that could get me to willingly eat vegetables. I noticed that she had cut up all the carrots into fun shapes like stars and hearts, which she had never done before when cooking for me. 

"Have you gotten any of your homework done?" Richard asked Sarah. She gave him a sheepish smile. 

"Not exactly. I was painting while on call with Danny all afternoon," she confessed. I then noticed she had a swipe of green paint under her chin, and something about that was kind of adorable. 

"You ought to learn a thing or two from Ryder here. The boy has been diligently doing schoolwork since he arrived," he scolded. Oh goddess no. I ducked my head down so I wouldn't make eye contact with Sarah. It was awful when parents compared their kids to other children. 

"Oh don't worry about that, dear. Sarah will get her work done by tonight, surely," Mrs. Viv cut in, thankfully. 

"So how's Daniel doing then?" Richard asked. 

"Oh great!" she grinned, and then proceeded to go on a full rant of how he had just broken a foot (how was that doing great?) and how that was giving him trouble with hockey practice. 

Who was Danny anyways? And more importantly, why did he make me feel somewhat jealous?