The Constant

Chapter 7

RYKER POV

"Bea! Earth to Bea!" I sang to my best friend, who was currently distracted by her phone. Ever since she started dating Jared she's been really distracted. She was giggling and blushing at her phone as she was texting Jared who was sitting four tables away. He wouldn't even sit with her at lunch because his reputation was more important. He was a jerk and I only wish that Bea could see that. But she was blinded by him. 

I threw a tater tot at her forehead to see if it would get her attention. 

It boinked right off her forehead causing me to laugh. "Ryker!" She yelled at me. I just shrugged with a smirk on my face. "Did you have a reason for throwing a tot at my face?" She asked. 

"You've been glued to your phone all day... pretty much all week." I said. 

Her face changed from annoyed to apologetic. "Sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you so much. I just  have been a little distracted." She said softly, a pink blush creeping up her neck. 

I sighed, "It's fine Bea. I know you're happy with him and I'm glad, we just haven't hung out for a while." I admitted. 

"I'm sorry, how about this Friday night, you and I go to the theater in the city? They're playing some old classic films on friday." Bea suggested. 

I smiled, "Sounds good. Especially because you're paying for popcorn."

She just threw a tater tot back at me. 

The bell then rang, signaling lunch was over and I had Genetics class. "See you Bea." I said gathering my things. 

"Bye Ryker. I'll see you in English." She replied as we parted ways. 

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I took my normal seat in genetics class and talked to some of my friends while we waited for our teacher to arrive. "I heard Mrs. Vincent is assigning us our semester assignment today." My friend Len said as he took his usual seat next to me. 

I sighed, "Great, another assignment to do."

Len didn't have time to respond before Mrs. Vincent walked in. "Hello class!" She chirped as she always did. "Some of you may have heard from the other genetics class about the semester assignment well today is the day for you to get it!" She said. 

Everyone groaned in unison, including me. "I get it, I get it. But think about it this way. This is your only project in this class for this semester and next semester will be your last in high school so two total projects for this year." She said, trying to quiet the class down. 

"This project is about all of you. I want you all to compose a family tree. Not one of those simple ones but a complex one where you dive into the history of your family, specifically from a genetic point of view." She said. 

I scribbled everything down as a she talked about the requirements, details, and grading system. 

BEA POV

I was surprised when Ryker had pointed out how much time I had been spending with Jared or on my phone talking to Jared. He seemed left out... almost jealous. I felt bad, I honestly wasn't trying to do it on purpose. I wanted Jared to stay interested in me and I just got a little wrapped up in it. But I was going to make it up to him tomorrow when we went to the movies, it would just be us. 

Ryker was fine on the car ride home and was talking for a while about some genetics project he was assigned today. 

"So it's worth like 40% of our grade so I need to make sure I actually get started early on this project. Bea you've gotta help me." Ryker pleaded as we pulled into out street. 

"Sure no problem." I responded, tapping my finger against my arm rest. 

We soon arrived at my house and he slowly pulled to a stop. I was about to hop out of the car when Ryker stopped me. "Bea don't forget tomorrow. Movies." He said. 

I smiled and nodded. "See you tomorrow." I replied. 

I slowly walked in the house, bracing for the worst, what I always seemed to be doing these days.