Ryder the Love Expert | Protector 2.1

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

       When I finished the vocabulary worksheet in front of me, I dropped my pencil on my desk and leaned back in my seat, going on my phone since my teacher let us do that whenever we finished.

       Mae eyed me with furrowed eyebrows. "You're done already?" she asked.

       "Yup."

       "How?" she asked. I just shrugged. Okay, so I knew how I was able to finish it so fast, but I didn't feel the need to bring it up.

       My teacher, Mrs. Peace, looked up from her desk and at me. "Ryder, you can only be on your phone when you finish," she said.

       "I'm done."

       She furrowed her eyebrows as well. "You're done already? But I handed that out five minutes ago."

       "I know," I said. "And I finished." It honestly wasn't that hard at all since I already knew all the words on the worksheet. I just had to fill in the blanks and that was it.

       Mrs. Peace, however, seemed a bit skeptical seeing as she got out of her desk and walked over to me. She looked at my worksheet, looking impressed. "Wow. Every single one of these are correct," she said. "Can I speak to you after class, Ryder?"

       "Uh, sure," I said before she walked back to her desk. I had no idea what she wanted to talk to me about, but I was sure it was nothing bad. I hoped.

       When class ended, I packed up my stuff and told Mae to meet me outside of the classroom. She gave me a smiled and kissed my cheek before walking out. Since everyone else was already gone, I walked to Mrs. Peace.

       "You know the annual poem slam competition the school does?" she asked and I nodded. "I think you will be a great participant."

       "You want me to participate in the poem slam?" I asked.

       Mrs. Peace nodded. "You're grades are quite high in this class and I know you're one of the most liked students. I'm not saying you have to, but just think about it. We don't have to have a list of participants until next Friday, so you have some time to think about it."

       "Okay, I'll think about it," I said. 

       When she told me I could leave, I walked out of the classroom where Mae was waiting. Our hands intertwined as we walked down the hallway to her locker first since it was closer. "So what did she want?" Mae asked.

       "Every year, our school does this poem slam thing," I said. "And she wants me to compete in it."

       "Are you going to?" Mae asked. I shrugged. "I think you should."

       "Really?" I asked. "Why?"

       "Well, for one thing, I know you have a very strong vocabulary," Mae said. "Like using more complicated words whenever you do your cute nervous thing."

       I scoffed. "No no, I don't get nervous."

       Mae raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because you would always say sentences that made no sense to people, like....Oh, when I asked you if I ever need love advice to come to you and you said something about dexting...."

       "You mean, dexterity?" I asked.

       "Exactly," she said. "And I have no idea what it means."

       "So you think that because I have a high vocabulary, I should compete in the poem slam?" I asked.

       "Well, not just because of your high vocab," she said. "Not everyone who enters poem slams are these geniuses with words. They use words to express themselves, and I really think you can."

       "I don't know yet," I said as we reached her locker. "I mean, I'm not saying no, but I'm not saying yes either. I have to let her know by next Friday, so I have time to think about it. But it might be a bit difficult considering I also have dance to focus on right now."

       "True," she said as she put her English notebook in her locker. "Hey, is there any upcoming competitions?"

       "I think the male solo one is next," I said. "Lilith will tell us today."

       When she closed her locker, we went to mine so I could put my stuff away. We then went outside to my car where the triplets were waiting. Since Mae and I had dance in a bit, I was going to drive her there to save her mom from driving to the school and drop Mae off at the studio, only to head back home and having to pick her up later.

       The triplets decided to be very annoying. They wouldn't stop asking Mae all these questions, including when was she going to break up with me. Yeah, that one caused me to reach behind my seat and flick Nolan on the head. Brats.

       We got to the dance studio after dropping them off. Everyone else was already there, but luckily there was still about two minutes before it officially started, so we weren't late.

       "Aww, the adorable couple came in together," Isla said. "By the way, Ryder, I love what you did at the homecoming dance. Giving up your crown to dance with Mae is one thing. But that diss you gave Kimberly? You're savage."

       "Uh, thanks, I think."

       Mae chuckled. "That was a compliment, Ryder," she said.

       Lilith walked out of her office. "Everyone's here, so we might as well start now," she said. "First things first, the next competition is in two weeks and it is the male solo."

       "Two weeks?" Arthur asked. "Whoever is the solo has to create choreo in two weeks?"

       "Ryder had to do that once before," Dempsey reminded. "And I'm pretty sure he's going to be the male solo again to defend his title."

       "Right," Lilith said. "Ryder, you'll be able to do choreo in two weeks again, right?"

       "Yeah, I think so," I said. But then there was the whole poem slam thing. Well, if I did that, I was sure it was going to be in more than two weeks, so I could focus on my solo first before the poem slam.

       "Great," she said. "You can head over to the other studio to start working on it." 

       I went to the other studio to start my solo. It didn't take me long to find a song since I usually danced in my free time to songs I liked. After I did choose my solo, I put the song on and began free-styling, seeing if there were any moves I could use.

       I honestly loved the process of creating a solo, or any dance piece. It was my chance to just let all my feelings go, no matter if it was happy or sad or agitated. Dancing was such a great feeling.

       Not to be cocky, but I had a feeling I was going to kill the solo and win the title of Male Soloist once again. I was Ryder Tony Prince after all. Nothing and nobody stood in my way.

________________

Oh, Ryder's arrogance though. Like a mini-Grayson, who I miss dearly. Now I can't wait until I finish Surviving the Life of Dax so I can do a crossover between my Protector series and Smythe series. And it won't be just one chapter. It will be a few chapters. I can't wait to write how my babies Grayson and Seb will clash. cx

I'm sorry for this short chapter, especially after over a week. I didn't know what to write and I was so busy last week. Not to mention I was in a crappy mood today, and I'm still in that mood. But writing made me forget about all my problems for a bit.

I dedicated this chapter to Anaisabelhg because she was the one who gave me the idea of Ryder participating in the poem slam, and she also suggested exactly how the poem slam is going to go, so when you read that chapter, it was all her idea about how it goes.

I might be stuck on this book, to be honest. I don't know why, but my idea aren't flowing anymore. I have plenty of ideas for Dax's book, but none for my others. I blame Dax for being so adorable....