Beside You

Hadley Knows Best

              Ryder 

 "I-I brought you the functions work that you missed. I had it photocopied since you can't write." Hadley looks down at the papers. I think the accusing tone of my voice scared her. 

 The gesture is sweet, but reminds me of the fact that I can't write, because of my stupid wrist. I remain silent, refusing to respond. 

 "And I.. I wanted to know if you were okay, because you didn't respond to any of my texts. I was worried." Her voice gets quiet towards the end. 

 "I'm fine." I respond with a sigh

.She finally looks up at me. "That's good, so if you're so fine why haven't you been at school?"

 "I've been here." I shrug. 

 "Why? You never miss school"

 I shrug again. "I wasn't feeling great."

 I can see something click in her mind. "It's because of your wrist, isn't it? You need to stop worrying. It'll be fine." 

 "No it won't!" I snap. 

 She looks startled at my outburst. I instantly regret opening my mouth. 

 I sigh. "Look, I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do now. The first game of the season, and I get myself put in a cast. Now what am I supposed to do?" 

 "You're supposed to keep playing! I don't see what the big deal is. You can still go to school, just get your notes from other people." She waves the paper in her hands at this. "And you can still play soccer. Your team is relying on you, you're their captain!" 

 I know that everything she's saying makes perfect sense but I still shake my head. 

 "Oh, come on. Stop being so stubborn and admit that I'm right on this one." 

 I sigh. "Fine, you're right" She smirks. "Now tell me what I've missed."

 We spend the next hour or so going over all the math that I missed and she fills me in on all the gossip of the last week. Surprisingly little has happened, but apparently there were some rumours that I was dying. Or expelled. Or extradited. There were even rumours that I refused to go to school because I'd been kicked off the soccer team. For such a small school a lot of ridiculous rumours are passed around. 

 We are interrupted when Hadley's phone rings. She leaves before answering it. After a few moments she comes back to my room. 

"Hey, do you need help with anything else? If not I'm going to head out."

 I want to tell her to stay, but I don't. "No, I'm good. Thanks for coming and talking some sense in to me. As much as I don't want to admit it, I needed to hear what you said."

 I walk her to the door and say good bye and thank her again before going back up to my room. I decide to answer some people from the team that I had been ignoring. I know now that it was the wrong way to deal with my problems. 

 ~*~ 

           Hadley 

After leaving Ryder's house I go back to my house. I pull in and head into the house, and go up to my bedroom to change out of my school uniform before setting out to find my mom. 

 I find her in the living room. 'Hey mom," I greet her. She doesn't respond and I realize that she is reading a copy of my dad's book he's currently working on. My mom is the only person who ever gets to read them before they're published, except for his trusted team of editors and publishers. I walk closer and tap her shoulder. "Mom, can I go to Maddi's tonight?" It was Maddi that had called me when I was at Ryder's.