You Made Me Fall, But That's Okay

Chapter Twenty - Tickets

Advance warning! There are a few Irish words in this chapter. I’ve done my best to help you know how to pronounce them. If there’s any doubts, leave me a comment and I’ll try to help you! Enjoy ;D

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Art was an absolute disaster. Ms Perry decided to begin painting again, and Ryan took that as an opportunity to smother my face in all different colours of paint. He was ‘demonstrating how disastrous makeup is’. Luckily I was able to wipe it all off without Ms Perry noticing anything. Katie, who was also in Art with us, nearly fainted when she found out who Ryan actually was. Then, of course, she told everyone in our class, and then all those people told everyone else in the school.

The rest of the day flew by, though. I didn’t have Gym class because our teacher was sick, which made me extremely happy. At lunchtime Ryan was basically the subject of every conversation in the school, and rumours were already being passed around about us. Some kid even asked us if we were really living together, which, of course, we weren’t. He was already friends with all my best friends. To be honest, I wasn’t really surprised. Ryan was amazing. What was not to like about him … apart from the gang?

Dan wasn’t acting normal around me anymore. When I talked to him, he seemed like he wasn’t interested at all. When I looked at him, he would stubbornly look away. When I asked him what was wrong, he simply said ‘Nothing’ and walked away. I yelled after him when school was over, but he just kept stalking off. He didn’t even want to walk home with me. I wanted to run after him, but soon Ryan grabbed my hand and brought me to his car to bring me home.

I stared out the window at Dan, wishing I knew what the hell was up with him. In all my six years of knowing him, he never ever went on like this. Was it because of Ryan? I hoped not. He actually seemed to get on really well with Ryan, though, so he probably wasn’t the reason. He was angry at me over something … What did I do? I didn’t mean to hurt him, and I was sure he knew that. So why wouldn’t he just tell me? We never kept secrets from each other.

‘What’s the matter, Laura?’ Ryan said, taking my hand in his before he started the car. ‘Who are you looking at?’

I pulled my eyes away from Dan’s retreating figure to look at Ryan. ‘He didn’t want to walk home with me.’

Ryan frowned. ‘Who?’

‘Daniel.’ I sighed. ‘We always walk home together, and he just stormed off without even saying goodbye. He’s acting so weird with me. He’s not the same anymore … He won’t even tell me what’s wrong with him. Ugh, it’s so annoying!’

‘Maybe you should ring him tonight,’ he suggested, pulling out of the parking lot and driving towards my house. ‘He’s probably not feeling well, or something.’

I shook my head. ‘He’d tell me if he’s not feeling well. He just doesn’t want to tell me what’s up. Did I say something today that could’ve hurt him?’

‘Not as far as I can remember … Maybe he’s just jealous?’

‘Of who?’

‘Your boyfriend.’ Ryan smirked, drumming his fingers along the steering wheel.

I shook my head again. ‘Dan’s my best friend, and I’m his. He doesn’t think of me like that. No way. That’s just crazy. He wouldn’t be jealous. Anyway, I think he’s already interested in someone else. He sat beside Rebecca in homeroom this morning and left me all by myself. Did you notice her today? She was all over him. She’s such a slut. Dan probably likes her, too. I wish he didn’t, though, because you should see the amount of boyfriends she has. It’s like one a day. Whore.’