C'est La Vie

11. Jerk

I glare at Ryder and stuff the dress into my bag. By now, there’s a group of nosy girls hanging around waiting to catch more bits of Ryder and my conversation for gossiping purposes.

Ryder’s smirk is still in place as he watches me evenly. His eyes bore into mine and seem to say Hey, you asked for this. So what you gonna do now?

I stomp off towards Kayla who’s watching me with a huge grin.

               “I like how you felt like it would be possible to keep dating Ryder Preston a secret,” she murmurs, laughing slightly.

               “Kayla, you need to get two things into your head. First and foremost, I am not dating Ryder. Second, you need to stop calling him Ryder Preston!” I mutter darkly.

               “Whatever. You went out with him last night and he had your dress. I’m thinking that’s plenty proof, Faye,” she teases.

I roll my eyes at her and link our arms, pulling her along with me. Ryder is enveloped by a gaggle of hormonal, desperate girls and thankfully, he won’t be able to see me making my escape.

After a few minutes of walking down the street with Kayla, she has to take a different route, so the both of us split up. It’s only then that the sound of feet trailing after me registers. I smell the familiar scent and blanch in disgust. I should have known Ryder would come after me.

               “Leave me alone Preston!” I call in a bored tone.

               “Who said I’m following you Pip?” comes his cocky reply.

               “Sure. You just happen to want to take this scenic route through the poverty stricken neighbourhoods, huh?” I mutter sarcastically.

He chuckles easily and eventually catches up to me. “I’ll drive you home Pip,” he offers.

               “Yeah? On what? Your car which must now be overrun by my horny schoolmates?” I mutter.

               “The very same,” he murmurs back, locking his fingers around my wrist. With a gentle tug he turns me around and leads me back towards the school.

               “How was school?” he asks conversationally as we walk.

               “I don’t know. I was so hung over,” I mumble.

               “Right. I wanted to talk to you about last night actually. The next time you go out to a party at night, don’t drink so much. Please. Who knows what would have happened if I wasn’t around,” he chastises.

               “You? How exactly was your presence any good for me? My head still feels like it’s splitting!”

               “Hey! At least I made sure you didn’t complete your little striptease,” he murmurs amusedly.

               “What the hell are you on about?” I snap as we reach his car. Sure enough, there’s a ton of girls hanging around for Ryder to return. He expertly manoeuvres his way towards the driver’s seat, leaving me to squeeze through the crowd to get to the passenger’s side.

Once I’m safely inside and buckled up, Ryder starts his car and carefully reverses. A few of the girls give him wistful waves and he returns them, grinning widely.

It must be nice being Ryder, getting noticed all the time and all that.

Ryder pulls over on the shoulder of the road after we clear the school and cuts the engine. He turns in his seat to face me and wears his trademark smirk. “Pip, do you not remember what happened last night?”