The Beginning

Chapter 3

Ryan seems to be a pretty interesting character. He looks about my age, about an inch or two taller than me. His blond hair is a little ruffled as if he runs his hands through it a lot. His nose and cheeks are speckled with a few freckles here and there. Not only are his blue-green eyes bright, but his sheepish and awkward smile makes me feel as if I can trust him with anything and everything.

"Hey," I slowly reply, "I'm Ashlynn,"

"S-sorry I bumped into you," he stutters, "I wasn't looking where I was going,"

Still smiling, I ask, "Where were you going?"

"To the workout gym..." he trails off, as his gaze goes to the ballet studio rather than the gym. He sees me giving him a wary look as he realizes I know he wants to do ballet.

"Umm... Uh..." he looks around nervously. I scane the area for NEOs. There don't seem to be any around, so I grab Ryan's hand and pull him over to a nearby park bench with me to sit down and talk.

"You wanna do ballet, don't you," I ask matter of factly.

"Yeah, but please don't tell anybody," he nods, the worry in his eyes obvious, "I don't want to get in trouble,"

"Don't worry," I give him a sympathetic look and whisper self-consciously, "I kinda wanna go to the workout gym..."

Ryan just stares at me, his mouth agape.

"What?!" I ask him, slightly defensive, "What's so wrong with that?"

"Nothing," he grins a dorky little grin, "It's just I've never heard of a girl wanting to do guy stuff." He pauses. "I've heard of some guys wanting to do girl stuff, but not the other way around,"

"Huh," I grunt, "That's funny, it's the complete opposite for me. My girl friends and I are always talking about how unfair it is not to be able to do guy stuff, but I hadn't heard of guys wanting to do girl stuff... Until now,"

He grins at me, about to say something else, then peers down at his watch.

"Well, I have to go," he says, the disappointment in his voice not failing to show, "But would you be able to be able and willing to talk again at, say, 1:00 AM tomorrow? So we can actually talk,"

"Yeah, sounds great, but where?"

"How about Mr. and Mrs. Carter's barn?"

"Sounds like a... Plan,"

I give him one last look before grabbing my tampons and heading home.

"What took so long?" Rachel asks as I walk in the door. She's at the table drinking some tea.

"There was a long line," I lie.

"Hmmm..." She narrows her eyes at me suspiciously.

I set the tampons on the table on my way upstairs.

"Dinner in 5," Rachel shouts after me.

"Okay," I reply right before closing my door.

While I take off my shoes, I can't help but think about Ryan. I mean, should I be worried? He's somebody I just met. I don't know how much I can trust him. Guys who care as much about something as Ryan seemed to with ballet, so much that they aren't looking where they're going, and aren't afraid to show it are either meant to be your best friends or your worst enemies. With Ryan, hopefully not the latter.

"Ashlynn," Rachel yells, "Dinner!"

"Be right there!" I holler back as I get up and head out the door.

As I'm walking down the stairs, I can smell the food- I mean, if I can even call it that. All weekday meals are boxed; only weekend meals are actually home-cooked. Today is Tuesday, so we get processed chicken. Yum!

I'm about to start eating my "food" when Rachel reminds me that we have to pray.

"I would like to thank our lord and savior Jesus Christ for this wonderful meal," I scowl at that, "...and allowing for us to live life to its fullest," As we know it, I think to myself, "...and giving us a world of opportunities... Amen."

"Amen," I mumble grouchily.

That's another thing. We all are told to believe in and worship some "God" or something like that- whether we're boys OR girls. Thankfully, we don't have to go to church if we don't want to (although we are less respected if we don't), and Rachel doesn't make me. She knows I see no point in this "Jesus" stuff and don't believe. Unfortunately, we still have to pray before each meal.

Fortunately, it usually doesn't take very long, so now I can eat.

"Today, I learned how to make my form better in ballet," Rachel begins another one of the dinnertime requirements, "Now what did you learn?"

Other than ballet, this is my least favorite part of a typical weekday. 'Let's express emotions to each other!' I'd rather eat my nonfood in place, thank you very much.

"Today I learned that guys wanna do girl stuff, too," I almost say. Then I realize that I would have to explain my encounter with Ryan. Our meeting later probably would have come up, putting it in jeopardy. Not to mention that I kinda like the idea of having a secret to keep.

"Uh, probably that I need to be more on my toes," I cringe a bit at the lie, but thankfully Rachel seems to buy it.

"And what was the best part of your day? Mine was spending time with you," Rachel smiles and places her hand on my shoulder as she says the standard 'nothing particularly good happened today,' answer.

Probably making a new friend, I think to myself before answering, "Going for a walk to the store," with a forced grin. At least it was only a half-lie.

The rest of the meal is basically the same, but I can't concentrate on anything Rachel says all too much. I'm just too filled with anticipation of actually meeting him to think of anything else.

A/N: Hey, sorry if I offended you somehow with the religion part, it's all in good fun and will contribute a little bit to the story later on... Or a lot... ^-^