His Princess | #Wattys2016

5. Nemo Drugged by the Bacon and Pears Ice Cream?

The rest of the week went by in a blur, and soon enough, it's Friday. This whole week the school has been buzzing about Ryder. There were so many rumors, all ranging from him being one of the models of Abercrombie, to him being possessed by some Greek God. Honestly, I'd believe either. The school has also been talking about some party, and knowing Brooke, she is probably going to force me to go. Honestly, parties aren't really my thing, I'm more of a, Netflix-and-sleep kind of person. Not really the party-until-you-die-of-alcohol kind of person... That's something Nemo would do.

Like everyday this week, I roll out of bed, landing on the pillow on the floor next to my bed. I already knew this was going to happen, so I became prepared. Today, I decided to put more into my appearance. Well, kinda.

I pick out a pair of ripped black shorts, and a shirt that says, "Donut Talk to Me," with a donut on it. I also picked out a pair of pink converse that matched the shirt. I decided to put on a necklace with it, and just leave my hair down in its messy waves. After putting on mascara, I go downstairs and make cereal. After eating my Fruit Loops I figure that since there's a party, and that I might not be home, I should just feed Nemo now. He's been acting weird lately... After getting his little container of food I walk over to his tank and say hello to him.

"Hey my little baby! How are you this fine morning?" I coo. All he does is stare at me with cross-eyed-eyes and swims into the wall.

"Ew what the fudge..." I whisper to myself as I'm watching my fishy repeatedly swim into the glass of his tank. He's been acting like this ever since... Wait... Ever since the:

BACON AND PEARS ICE CREAM!

After sprinkling food into the tank, I grab my bag and keys, rushing out to my car. Brooke was going to pay for doing this to my lil' fishy. After speeding to school, I step out of the car and find Brooke outside sitting on a bench admiring her nails. As usual, she looks perfect. She was wearing a light pink tank top, tucked into her flowered skirt with tan pumps. Her jewelry matched everything perfectly. As I approach her she looks at me, smiles, and stands up to give me a hug, but before she can, I hold up my hand blocking her.

"Boo, what's wrong?" Brooke asks.

"It's Nemo." I manage to gasp out.

"What happened to Nemo?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yup."

"What did I do?"

"Everything."

"What do you mean?"

"You're the one who made him touch the butt..."

She snorts. "More like eat the butt, but whatever."

"Brooke, he's all cross-eyed! He's now swimming into the walls of his tank. Nemo's lost his mind! It's all because of that horrible excuse of ice cream you fed him." I ramble.

"Ugh, we'll fix this. C'mon, we need to get to class."

Brooke pulls me into the school, both of us going our separate ways after getting our books out of our lockers. Taking a seat in Mrs. Stevenson's class, I doodle in my notebook, waiting for her to start the lesson. In less than a minute, the chair next to me scrapes back, and someone sits down in it.

"Hey Ave, what's up?" Ryder asks me politely.

"Nothing much. So, are we good? Last time I talked to you was on Monday when you kinda stormed off..." It was true too. This whole week Ryder managed to not speak to me once. He found a group of new friends, and now him and this popular quarterback Connor Trulie are practically besties.

"Yea, we're perfectly fine. Sorry about that by the way... I was just angry about something. So, are you going to the party tonight? It's actually at my friend Connors house. It'd be pretty awesome if you could stop by for a while." Ryder manages to speed out, changing the subject quickly.

Mrs. Stevenson starts droning on about the lesson and what we would be working on today. She passes everyone a packet that we have to get done by the end of the class. To answer his question, I wrote in small letters, on the corner of my notebook:

Sure, I'll see what I can do. I'll see if Brooke would want to stop by with me.

Ryder just smiles and nods his head in response. I figured I'd play it cool, trying to act busy. But on the inside, I'm literally screaming. Ryder wanted me to go to a party... Okay, this may be sad, but no one besides Brooke has ever invited me to a party. I'm not going to tell Ryder that of course.

After about an hour and a half, and 45 questions later, I finished the packet, with about 5 minutes to spare. I was doing a quick sketch of Nemo, when I noticed that Ryder looked like he was having a hard time with his packet.

"Hey, you need help?" I offer kindly, whispering.

"Yea, I don't understand this... Poetry was never one of my strong points..." Ryder whispers, feeling ashamed.

"l was the same way, don't worry about it. We can figure this out together." I encourage him.

In the last five minutes of class, I helped him finish his work. I also explained the things he didn't know, felling all kind and generous. The bell rang, and the students started filing out of the classroom, me being the last one. I somehow managed to loose Ryder, he must have been the first one out.  As I step out of the classroom, a hand tugs on my arm and pulls me into a hard chest. I look up to see Ryder smiling down at me.

"I just wanted to say thank you..." He smirks and says kindly.

"Well, your welcome. It was a good way to use my time anyways, helpin' out a friend." I respond as I take a step back and out of his arms smiling up at him.  Literally, looking up at him. He's like 6 foot 3 or something, I hardly even reach his shoulder.

      I noticed him frown a bit as I moved out of his arms. However, he quickly covers it up with an awkward cough.

"I'll uh, see ya at the party... I hope." He stutters out quickly, and scurries down the hallway catching up with Connor.

As expected, he didn't speak to me once the whole rest of the day... And by the time lunch rolled around, I still couldn't think of a reason as to why. What did I do wrong? Did I say something offensive? Ugh, I need to talk to Brooke. I decided to talk to her about it later, I didn't want anyone overhearing me talk about the cute new guy. So, during lunch Brooke was listing off different things she could pair together to make the perfect outfit for the party that, "...we are definitely going to." Her words, not mine. 

      At the end of the day, Brooke followed me home in her pink punch-buggy so we could get ready for this party together. 

    Once we get home, she practically runs up to my room and tears through my closet.

Great, this is going to be fun. (Note the sarcasm.)

A/N:

Hey my fellow readers! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Isn't Nemo the best? Why do you think Ryder's been so distant lately? Do you think anyone's going to crash the party? Find out in the next chapter!

Xoxo - Batman