One Thousand Sundowns [RYLEY AU]

~The Fourth Sundown

The next morning, Marley turned up at Kitty's house at exactly 8am. Her house was a couple of streets away (3 to be exact) and it was so obvious that Kitty lived in the nicer suburbs.

Her house was three stories high with purple painted balconies and the prettiest trees and flowers around the front of the yard. In Marley's front yard, everything was dead. The inside of the house was so much nicer; everything was ceramic and extremely fragile, but it looked like a home from a magazine. It was... amazing.

Marley stood outside of Kitty's place, her hand on the small iron gate that stretched across the pavement out the front between the brick letter box and the bushes covered in roses. She shook the gate lightly, but it was locked. Her family always kept the gate locked even though someone could always jump over it... but Marley wasn't up for that today. She just wanted to follow Ryder to school, see what the people there were doing to him. Yesterday's encounter with him made her worry.

Marley heard a loud dog bark and was knocked out of her daze as a large white and fluffy husky came running down the path and began jumping against the gate. He barked his hello and his tongue fell out of his mouth, panting heavily. "Hi, Moon Moon!" Marley whispered excitedly, reaching forward and rubbing the fluffy dog's ears.

This was Kitty's dog, Moon Moon. Marley wasn't sure where the name came from – Kitty had told her that her brother had named the dog but she wasn't sure.

Moon Moon barked happily and Marley smiled, continuing to rub his soft little ears. "Marley!" Kitty screamed, running down the steps out the front of her house and darting towards the gate. Her skirt flew up in the process but she brushed it down frantically and opened the gate, not even giving Moon Moon the normal kiss on the head that she did every morning.

"Where are we going? Why are we skipping homeroom?" Kitty said, leaning against the gate. Marley stood still, her eyes wide with confusion. It was only a couple of seconds ago that she was patting Moon Moon and now Kitty was ready to go. Things just ran a little bit too fast to process.

"We-we-we-" Marley stuttered, waving her hands around in the air. She wanted to tell Kitty the whole story, but she also didn't want to. She wanted Ryder and her's place to be their place and their place only. She didn't want to share the things she felt with Kitty. "We just have to do something. For a friend."

"Oh, well, this sounds fun." Kitty immediately went back to her drowsy state and crossed her arms. She was no longer excited to go anywhere.

"Kitty, just stay quiet and let me lead the way okay?" Marley held her hands out, calming Kitty down like she was a dog.

"Why'd you invite me along then?" Kitty asked. "If you wanted me to come to stay quiet, why would you want me to come?" She raised an eyebrow at Marley and leaned against the letterbox.

"I need your help with directions – do you know where the nearest public school is?" Marley whispered, looking around her cautiously. She didn't want to sound like a stalker to any crossing pedestrians.

"Ours." Kitty replied matter-of-factly, shrugging her shoulders.

Marley groaned quietly and shook her head. "No, one that is not ours. I'm trying to find my friend, I need to see if he's okay, alright, Kitty? I'd appreciate if you didn't get your nose in my business as well so don't even ask!" Her voice grew in volume before she took a deep breath and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Please, Kitty."

"Jeez, Village Bike-" Kitty rolled her eyes.

"Don't you dare call me that, Kitty." Marley snapped, pointing her finger right in Kitty's face.

"Fine, whatever, the nearest public school besides ours is that cheap shitty one on the corner of Warrego – the one with the red and blue logo." Kitty waved her hand and unlocked the gate again. She walked back through and sent Marley a glare. "I'll see you at school, don't bother texting me. I don't like you anymore."