The past few weeks hadn't been as agonizing as I had predicted. I talked to Ryley and Tyler on occasion, but Tyler was usually off with his girlfriend and Ryley always, always had football. "A blessing and a curse," he'd say.
I'd finally managed to exert the confidence to make a new friend, Shannon McKay. She was a spunky, hilarious, and bright character; beautiful in her own way. She was strong and independent. She stuck up for me, and didn't let anyone get her way. I admired her. She was the only one who could ever keep calm.
"Hey, I’d like some of that!" Shouted an obnoxious group of sophomores from across the street as Shannon and I were walking to school.
I brushed them off and instinctively walked faster. No interaction was needed with those kind of people; it only made things worse. Except, Shannon thought differently.
With one flip over her short, satin black hair she retorted, "Sorry guys, but I'll knock you to the ground before you can even think about laying one of your dirty hands on us."
"Aw, you don’t have to be a bitch about it! We just wanted some fun!" They yelled, laughing.
"Bye!" She shouted, giving them the bird. She leaned in as we were walking, "Apparently we can't walk to school without the stoners bothering us."
"Yeah." I said quickly, trying to pitch her the hint that I wanted to leave or walk faster.
After excessively failing at getting her to realize, I huffed a sigh and began increasing my pace. The boys were still back there, on the other side of the road. Shannon was a few steps behind me as she slowly began to giggle.
I looked back, "What's so funny?"
" Do they …" Her laughter seemed uncontrollable, "Do they actually bother you?" She said, obviously amused.
I shot her an annoyed expression, "Yes. Yes, immature boys making sexual remarks towards me is uncomfortable." I muttered.
At this, Shannon burst into an explosion of laughter, letting her backpack slide off her shoulders as she tried to contain her amusement and talk. She looked as if she was almost going to cry.
"I'm not stopping," I added, warning her as I continued to walk so she wouldn’t see the smile trying to lay itself upon my lips.
After she had finished her laughing fit, she finally caught up to me. "There just boys, and-" She said, interrupted by the tenacious catcalling once again. "Shut up!" she yelled.
I giggled, covering my mouth, "Glad you can keep a conversation."
She rolled her eyes, "As I was saying, boys will be boys."
"Mike doesn't do that." I replied, being smart.
Finally, we'd managed to arrive on school grounds safely. Not that it was under any of Shannon's concern.
We walked in through the dark brown, bulky doors, "Only one more month of this place." I said, smiling and relieved.
"Thank God." Shannon sighed.
The rest of the school day was survivable; almost interesting in fact.
"… And, that's how you multiply it … I think." Ryley pointed out, biting his lip in seventh period math.
"Well, you forgot about the determinant." I interjected sheepishly.
He put his pencil down and looked up at me from his assignment. "And you wonder why I regret taking pre - calculus?" He questioned with a smirk, a certain sparkle in his brown eyes.
I shyly looked downwards at the assignment we were working on. I let my hair fall on one side of me, playing with a curl like I was thinking about a problem. If I look into his eyes for more than one second, there'd be no going back, I thought.
He startled me. "I don't bite, Audrina." Ryley said, laughing to himself.
"Hmm, what?" I wasn't sure how to respond if he was talking about my obvious reluctance of making eye contact with him.
"It’s really nothing, you just seem so scared of looking at my face." He leaned back in his chair, playing with a pencil in his hands, "I could always return to the annoying group of cheerleaders if you’d like." He said playfully, trying to hide a smile on his tan face.
I laughed, "If your favorite topics are Gucci and Victoria's secret, go right ahead."
He grinned at my comment, "You see, I was just hoping that you didn't think my face was ugly or anything."
"It's not ugly Ryley," I said amazed at the fact that he could ever think that.
He leaned in, "Well, then what is it?" he said in his deep, attractive voice.
In an instant, I was lost. "It's … It's,"
"I'm joking, Audrina." He said, laughing. Obviously humored by how awkward I seemed. He eventually stopped laughing, suddenly sincere. Like he was thinking hard about something. "So, look … We've got this thing going on at my house tomorrow. A dinner party. Uh, Mike's going. So … would you want to come?" He couldn't suppress the shyness in his voice.
I didn't know what to say. Ryley Hales inviting me to his party? I felt self-conscious about my image now. But in a dress? Trying to look fancy for Ryley? It was extremely unimaginable.
"Well, I…" I didn’t know what to say.
"She'd love to go!" Intercepted Shannon.
Ryley and I instantly shot our glances toward her, probably both wondering how long she'd been observing our conversation at the table.
I smiled awkwardly, "I'd love to go, Ryley."
"Really?" He smiled, excited, "It means a lot." He said, looking like a little boy on Christmas morning.
"I'll be there."
"Hey, Ryley! Get over here!" Shouted one of his friends, gesturing him to come over.
Ryley looked at me and flashed another smile. He couldn't stop smiling. "Thanks again."
"Yeah." I said, cheerfully.
And there he was: off with his friends, laughing and running his hands through his dark brown, spiked hair.
"Score for Audrina." said Shannon slyly, as she walked around and took Ryley's previous seat.
"Thanks a lot, friend." I said sarcastically.
"Wait," She paused, "You're upset with me for getting you a date with the hottest guy on the football team?" She said, confused.
"It's not a date, Shannon! I'm not upset, I'm just … afraid." I mumbled, "I don't even have a dress that will fit me anymore."
"You, me. Dress shopping. Today after school."
"Mike's football game is after school," I said, still not sure if I wanted to go to that either.
She winked, "You mean Ryley's football game?"
I rolled my eyes, "Have you not heard a word I've been saying?"
"Look, it's obvious he has some kind of weird football-star crush-thingy on you. Just go along with it."
"I think he just wants friends outside of that group, you know? Not a relationship, Shannon."
"Have you not heard a thing he's been saying?" She smiled, mocking me.
I laughed and gave in, "Fine. We'll go shopping after."
Tomorrow was going to be interesting.
