Below The Belt

Below The Belt- Chapter 6

There will probably be errors in this chapter :P

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Ryan took a step forward, interlacing his fingers through my own, tugging on my arm to bring me forward to the corner of the wall. 

Heaving a large sigh, I shook my head in an attempt to clear my rampant thoughts, tagging behind Ryan until we came to stand by a crumbled section of the wall hidden behind a few green fir bushes. 

"So this is where you were going," I whispered to myself, thinking back to yesterday and his mysterious walkabout. 

Hearing Ryan chuckle, I snapped my head up to see him watching me. "You were spying on me yesterday?"

I shook my head quickly, letting a grimace form on my face. He heard what I said? God, that was so embarrassing. 

"How did you know I was here then?" he asked, giving me a mischievous smile, not inclined to rip my head off at any second. 

Letting my head fall submissively, I replied quietly. "I may have seen you sneaking around when I was sitting by the window during physics." 

"I see," Ryan responded.

I began to panic then, his silence making me back up slightly. Surely he wouldn't do anything, it wasn't like I was intentionally spying on him. 

"Whoa, were you going?" Ryan chuckled, closing the gap between us. 

"Y-you're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad? I'm feared, yeah, but that doesn't make me a monster. Forget it, I'm not going to hurt you Dawn."

"You're not?" I asked, confused even though he had said it to me before.

Ryan sighed, his other hand coming up to rest on my shoulder. "No Dawn."

"Why?" I wanted to know so many things; why he was being nice to me? Why he had picked me out from the crowds? But I just didn't know how to put it into words.

Letting my shoulders slump, Ryan picked up a piece of my hair that was curved round my shoulders from my ponytail and twirled it in-between his thumb and forefinger. "Do I need to have a motive? Can't I be nice to someone without them shooting my head off?"

I smiled at that, and looking into his eyes I saw the humour in his too. Of course it was strange for Ryan, the school's jerk, to be nice to someone. 

"How about this?" I began, looking back down at my shoulder, watching my hair being twisted. "Why are you so bad in school?"

Ryan stiffened for a moment, his body become as rigid as a plank of wood. Eventually, he lowered his head to look at me, his eyes filled with pain. "Just because."

I didn't know what to say to that. I was offended that he didn't want to tell me, but what did I expect? I was keeping secrets from him, and there was no way that I wanted him to discover those, so it would be hypocritical if I accused him of withholding things. 

So with a release of breath I let it go, smiling up at him, a smile that didn't quite reach my eyes. "Let's go shall we?"

Ryan raised an eyebrow at my imperative, looking at me with surprise. Even I was shocked, it had been a long time since I had told anyone to do anything. 

"As you wish," he said with a tug at the lips, pulling at our linked hands. It was only then that I realised we had been holding hands the entire time, and this made my heart do a heavy cla-clunk.

Ripping my eyes from our hands, I tried to quell my thoughts and focus on the task at hand -- getting out of here.

Shuffling through the school courtyard quietly, we reached the car park. I couldn’t believe that I was actually doing this.