Ryder the Love Expert | Protector 2.1

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

       I pulled into the parking lot of the school. "I still don't get your costume," Orchid same.

       I raised an eyebrow, turning off my car. "How do you not get it?" I asked. "I'm Aladdin. You know, from the movie Aladdin? Stupid."

       "I get who you are," Orchid said. "Your costume is just lame."

       "Yeah, says the girl just up as lettuce," I shot back.

       "Hey, in my defense, I wanted to be bacon," she said. "But no. Stupid Alan had to be bacon."

       "At least your not tomato," Nolan said. "I'd rather be lettuce. Want to trade?"

       "Ew, no," Orchid said. "I'd rather be lettuce than tomato."

       Nolan huffed. "I'm always the forgotten triplet. It's what I get for being the middle."

       "It would make more sense if Nolan was the lettuce," I said. "Since he's the second oldest out of you three."

       "Shut up and stay out of it," Orchid said.

       I rolled my eyes and got out of the car, waiting for them to get out. It was fun watching them struggle on getting out of the car. It probably would have been best if they brought their costumes, then just put them on in the school washroom.

       When they were out, I locked the door and started walking to the school ahead of them. They were annoying me too much and I just wanted to find Mae.

       I handed my ticket to the person at the door before walking in the gym. I started looking around for Mae, but I didn't see her quite yet.

       April walked over to me with a smile. Her costume was a pirate and it was a bit revealing in my opinion. What was up with girls wearing revealing costumes on Halloween? "Hi, Ryder," she said.

       "Hi," I said. "Have you seen Mae around?"

       "Um, I don't think so," she said. "What's her costume? Maybe that would help me."

       "She's Jasmine," I said.

       "Oh," she said. "I get it. Because you're Aladdin, so she's Jasmine. Couple costumes. Fun."

       "Yeah," I said slowly. "So you haven't seen her?"

       "Nope," she said.

       I saw Mae just then, standing by the food table. "There she is," I said. "I'll see you around." I walked over to Mae, giving her a smile. "Hey."

       "Well, hi Aladdin," she said, smiling back at me. "How did your doctor's appointment go?"

       I smiled even wider at her. "Guess who's able to dance again?"

       "Really?" she asked and I nodded in reply. She wrapped her arms around me. "I'm so happy for you, Ryder!"

       "I'm happy too," I said. "I will have to take it easy though, but I'll definitely be able to dance at rehearsal tomorrow."

       "That's great," Mae said. "Mostly because you won't snap at me anymore and blame it on your ankle."

       I scoffed. "Yeah, I was just in a cranky mood. I'm sorry for acting like that, by the way."

       "It's okay," Mae said. "I should have been more understanding. So, you want to go dance now?"

       "Definitely," I said, so I grabbed her hand and we went to the dance floor. Even though it was simple dancing, more like moving back and forth to the beat, it felt good to dance again. I missed it so much and I couldn't wait for tomorrow where I could actually dance at rehearsal.

       When a slow song came on, I held out my hand. "May I have this dance?" I asked.

       "But of course," she said with a smile. She wrapped her arms around my neck and mine went around her waist. "So, who do you think is going to win the costume contest?"

       "I'm not sure," I said. There were four different categories; best male costume, best female costume, best couple costume, and best group costume. "I doubt we will because there are a lot of creative costumes."

       "Eh, doesn't really matter if we win our not," she said.

       "I thought you wanted to, though," I said.

       "No," she said. "I just wanted to do a couple costume so all those stupid girls know you're taken."

       "You get too jealous," I said.

       "I know," Mae said with a smile before she kissed my cheek.

       We spent about half of the night dancing, but the other half we decided to just sit at the table because I still couldn't put too much pressure on my ankle, especially if I want to dance at the state competition soon.

       Near the end of the night, the student council president, Mila, got onto the stage. The music died down and everyone turned their attention to the stage. "I hope you're all having a fun time," Mila said. "We have the results right here from the costume contest."

       I was right. Mae and I didn't win, but we didn't really care. It wasn't like it was a dance competition, so it didn't matter. Besides, the couple that won had an amazing costume. They were a ghost bride and groom and their costume and make up was extremely cool.

       The female winner was a girl dressed up as Maleficent. The male winner was a guy in a gorilla costume who was going around and sneaking up on people. And I knew who was in that costume. My wonderful cousin Aaron. Everyone was wondering who was in the costume, but Elizabeth told me her brother was going as a gorilla and he was the only gorilla there, so....

       The group costume winner were actually my siblings. "Aww," Mae said. "Bacon, lettuce, and tomato. That's so cute."

       "You should have seen them trying to get out of the car," I said. "It was hilar...."

       I got caught off when the stupid gorilla suddenly sneaked up on me and Mae, making the both of us jump. I groaned and punched him in the arm. "Not funny, Aaron!" I said.

       "How'd you know it was me?" he asked, his voice muffled behind the mask.

       "Because your sister told me you were coming as a gorilla," I said. "But seriously, if you're going to scare people, scare the ones on the opposing dance team."

       Even though he was wearing a mask, I could tell he was smiling. "Good idea. Kimberly could never get enough scares." He scurried off to go scare some other people.

       "Who was that?" Mae asked.

       "My cousin," I said. "Elizabeth's brother. She told me he was coming as a gorilla and I kind of figured he would go around scaring people. He does that every single Halloween, just in a different costume."

       "That must be fun," Mae said. "Oh, by the way, Lilith said tomorrow, we're deciding who's going to be whom in our dance. She said she has an idea who will get which part, but she wants to see what everyone else wants."

       "That's fair," I said. "And, not to be cocky, I think I'll be the Beast."

       "Yeah, but with your arrogance, you could also be Gaston," Mae said in a joking way.

       "I'd be fine with that," I said.

       "Of course you would," she said with an eye roll.

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Guys. April is like the new Thalia/Mina. cx But she probably won't be as bad. She just has a little crush, not an obsession.

The picture above is of Ryder in his Aladdin costume. His dance company did an Aladdin theme and he was Aladdin so it worked. cx Too bad Briar (aka Mae) wasn't Jasmine....

I burned my finger really badly (stupid glue gun) and it's still stinging. I'm typing this note with hand and it's taking me way too long. I'm just hoping the stinging goes down soon.