The Enigma of Romance: Sarina Matthews

chapter one: part three

Part III: You Don't Even Know

"Uh..." Ryder chuckled rubbing the back of his neck. "Again, I'm- I'm really sorry about this morning. I pride myself in being a sorta safe rider so this kind of makes me wanna do something more than just buy you breakfast..." He held his gaze to the floor as he talked.

"No, it's fine. I'm fine. No broken bones or anything. Won't be suing you for damages." We both laughed. "And if it's any consolation, I can't even stand on one of those things without killing myself so..."

"What, my board?" He held it in front of him with both his hands, like a treasure. "I mean, it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it." I looked at the beat-up piece of wood on four wheels. What it lacked in the perception of stability it made up for in history. Scattering both sides of it were stickers, old and new, sharpie writing, spray paint, and other things I couldn't exactly identify. But it looked cool nevertheless. And Ryder seemed to love it.

"I've always wanted to learn how to ride one." Living in LA, you couldn't go a day without seeing a skater. But I knew for a fact Nathan would never let me.

"I can teach you. It ain't that hard. Just takes practice," he chuckled lightly looking away from me. "It's funny though. The only reason I was riding this piece of shit was that my bike was in the shop which never ever happens..." He frowned at his board before shrugging and putting it back at his side.

"Bike?" I didn't know you needed to put a bike in a shop to repair it.

"Sorry. Motorcycle, bike. People really think I'm talkin' 'bout some acoustic version of Persephone." I stared at him before giggling.

"Acoustic? Persephone?" He smiled widely laughing along with me.

"Yeah! I'm not joking. If my board was my child, my bike would literally be the goddess I worship." I laughed even harder.

"Where's your next class?" He asked after a moment of silence between him looking at the alignment of doors and me looking at my shoes.

"It's right upstairs." I pointed up the stairs we just reached. We headed up the wretched things.

"And what exactly do you do in the class?"

"It's my public speaking course. It's supposed to help you improve your public speaking, obviously. But since it's the first day we don't even do anything except present our summer assignments, which that in itself is a nightmare." I mentally cringed thinking of that class. The first time I took it last year, I had to present a speech on the conservation of energy. I stuttered in every sentence, everyone stared at me, and I'd end up on the brink of a panic attack. I'd always have to beg Mr Herrera not to call Nathan. "I...Um, this is my class. So..."

"Perfect. I'll see you 'round, Sara." He flashed another smile my way before heading down the nearly empty hall. God, I was so annoying. I walked into the classroom and sat in my usual seat right in the middle. Just as I sat down, the bell rang.

"Alright guys, the faster you quiet down the faster this lesson goes and the faster you all can get out of my classroom." The room quieted down, give or take a few students who carried on their conversations in hushed whispers. Mr Herrera continued. "Ok...Today we will be presenting our persuasive speeches, the ones I had hoped you succeeded in completing over the summer break." Several murmurs of confirmation hummed around the classroom. "Great. Would anyone want to start as our first speaker?" His extremely unenthusiastic voice asked. No one raised their hands. "Don't all volunteer at once." Still, no one rose their hand. "Alright, I guess I'll just have to pick randomly." Promptly followed by a chorus of groans and complaints. "Ok, let's have... you, blue jacket," he pointed to a boy with his back turned away. Mr Herrera snapped his fingers to get his attention. He turned around after his friend prompted him. "Oí, get up here. What's your name?"

"John."

"Ok, John, go ahead." And thus began the consecutive series of ridiculous speeches to follow. So far there has been, I kid you not, the mess of a speech from John about maybe the fight to cure cancer. I don't actually know, it was that or something about penguins. Then there was 'help the African children (African in general, not the children residing in the specific countries within the continent that struggle with poverty majorly)' from Stephani. Also, a tentative speech from Brian about how 'you should save energy but not if you don't want to, I don't know, just do what you want, it's a free country'. Oh, and how could I possibly forget the speech 'a Netflix subscription will save you money and your life' from Julia. That one wasn't all that crazy but it was pretty funny. There were others but those were the ones Mr Herrera let speak. The others he made sit back down because they needed to work on their presentation.

Soon there was only twenty-five minutes left in class. I had my cheek propped up on my hand, my eyes struggling to stay open. I tried my best to stay awake but these speeches, despite their appalling nature, were also lulling. Mixed with the fact I had only gotten a couple hours of sleep last night, I was bound to fall asleep in a couple minutes. I let my mind slip away.

"Sarina!" I jolted awake. My cheek hurt from my hand laying there for so long. How long was I asleep? I looked at the clock. Eleven minutes!? My wrist started to sting. Why did it feel like I was asleep for ages?

"Sarina, I know these speeches are atrocious, however, I'd much appreciate you stay awake in my class." The class snickered as a whole at my predicament. Resulting in me shrinking further down into my seat.

"Sorry, Mr Herrera," I mumbled softly, pushing my papers together.

"Ok, Sarina, you will be presenting your speech after Kevin's." Great. My shoulders slump in defeat. Just to pile on to my embarrassment. I hate this class. Kevin carried on with his speech. Looks like he just started. Luckily, after Mr Herrera's comment on his speech destroyed his confidence. He ended up stuttering and losing his train of thought so many times by the time he was finished, he was pink with embarrassment and added on another five minutes to the actual speech. And that meant I'll just start my speech next class. Maybe there is a god. I gather my things and head out the door as the last bell rings and I'm met by a loud, crowded hallway. I begin walking to the cafeteria.

"Sara!" I heard my name called from in front of me. Seconds later I see Ryder's curly hair appear through the crowd on the other side of the hallway.

Everyone was looking at me. Why was everyone looking at me? Would they stop looking at me?

"Hey." He said smiling cheerfully. I could still feel eyes on me sending anxious waves crashing through my body. I couldn't see them but I knew they were there. "Sarina?" I snapped out of it finally looking up at him.

"Hm?"

"I said, how was class?"

"Oh, fine." We headed down the stairs.

"How did that speech go?"

"I ended up not having to do it today." I smiled still glad I got out of it.

"Why not?" He sure asks a lot of questions.

"Just ran out of time." I summed up. He probably didn't care why. He was just making conversation.

"Oh..." He stopped for a second, "so I was thinking on Saturday I could teach you how to skate."

"Really? You'd do that?" A bright smile captures his face again.

"Of course! Anything for the little ones."

"Hey! Don't call me little." I still found myself laughing. He laughed with me.

"You have to admit you are tiny."

"Compared to you, yeah." I was still smiling, I couldn't stop.

"Ain't a thang. Now come on." He nodded his head in the direction of the exit. He started walking that way making me follow curiously behind.

"Where are we going?" Because I really didn't know.

"Out."

"Why?"

"I told you. I wanna do more than just buy you breakfast."