Ryder

~7~

Sofia~

"SOF!" Mari says practically screaming. I cover my ears, after being knocked out for a while it wasn't exactly music to my ears.

"Hey Mari." I respond in a quiet voice.

"Sof what happened are you okay?"

"Yes Mari I'm fine, I fainted from too much stress and probably dehydration." I wish it wasn't a lie.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes Mari I promise." I feel terrible for lying but I know she would feel worse if she knew the truth.

"Can I let the rest of the girls in?" Mari asks.

"Yes."

"SOFFFF!!" A rush of girls came in screaming all at once. It really hurt my head. Coach Jack came in right behind them.

"AGHHH SOFIIII IM SO GLAD TO SEE YOU!" One of the girls shouted. I couldn't quite tell who but I had a good idea it was Lila.

"Okay girls lets calm down a bit, Im sure Sofs glad to see you all but I'm sure it also hurts her head." I turns to look at me and gives me a wink, I smile in response.
Coach Jack has always been a great coach very helpful and informative whenever we needed. Most girls on the team thought he was a little too helpful, but I think they're just over exaggerating.

Once everyone is out of the room Ryder steps back in.

"The doctor says you're clear to go now."

"Oh. Okay thanks."

"Sofia. I know I'm not your brother, or boyfriend, or even friend for that matter. Yet I feel like I've known you for a long time now, from what Andrew has told me. So let me ask you one thing, no matter your answer there will be no judgment from me I promise."

I shift a little.

"Why?"

"Ryder I can't-" I want to tell him but I just can't its to hard.

"Sofia please. I'm already doing you a favor by not telling your brother the truth, which I feel horrible about, so please tell me why."

"Ryder-"

"Please. I'm begging."

There's a long pause until I slowly sit up. Andrew has told me quite a bit about Ryder, obviously not how hot he is, otherwise that wouldn't have come as much a shock to me. Yet he has spoken to me about his attitude, mostly about him being grumpy and never wanting to talk to anyone besides my bother. To see him begging like this it makes me-

"So..?"

"Fine." I don't want to tell anyone but I guess if I had to tell someone it would be him. "Ugh. I can't. It's too hard. I cant tell you it's dumb."

"Sofia, first of all I'm not here to judge you, but, I can assure you whatever reason you may have, to put yourself in danger, is dumb." I give a weak smile and look out the window away from him.

"I see all these other girls, they're skinnier and much prettier and I just wish I could be like that... and I couldn't ever say anything about it because I hate feeling vulnerable its always been like that, whenever my dad yelled at me for not doing well enough on my volleyball team, or my mom hounding me about my grades to the point I couldn't take it anymore and wanted to cry, I hated that feeling. Yeah sure getting yelled at sucked but what I hated more was feeling the need to cry, which made me feel, vulnerable and weak. So even at times I wanted to ask for help. I couldn't."

There was a long pause until anything was said.

"Sofia."

My name lingered in the air for what felt like hours, yet was only probably a few seconds. "Listen, I know you might not believe me now but first of all you're incredibly hot."