broken | shyland ✓

chapter twelve

s h a n e

a/n: don't forget to vote and comment!

his lips locked into mine as he fell back in surprise, before relaxing his posture and kissing back. my fingers were tangled in his hair as i sucked on his lower lip, my heart racing faster with every second that passed. ryland placed his hands on either side of my neck, cupping my jaw as he pulled away.

he tucked a strand of my auburn hair behind my ear as we caught our breaths, so soft and gentle that i couldn't stop myself from leaning in again. my hands, still holding the back of his head ever so gently, brought him deeper into the kiss. we pulled away after a few more seconds, feeling slightly in shock.

'shane, i–' ryland looked at me, lower lip caught between his teeth. a few tears dusted his lower lashes. our foreheads were leant against each other, lips millimetres apart

'it's okay.' i whispered, 'if you don't feel the same, that's okay.' my heart was tending beneath my ribcage, awaiting the rejection he was bound to give me.

he chuckled, stroking the side of my face gently, our eyes so close i could barely see. 'no, you dork. of course i feel the same.' he giggled. the words fell out of his mouth as i smiled against his lips, my heart lifting. the bridge of my nose was resting against his as i stared directly into his eyes. my whole body felt like it was on fire, something i'd never felt before with anyone. his breath was hot against mine.

'what?' he asked quietly, chuckling as i admired his face. his bone structure, the way his nose curves at the end, the tiny crinkles by his mouth when he grins. i shook my head, crashing our lips back together, not being able to wait any longer.

'ry! mom needs you!' i heard from the neighbouring house. it sounded as though his sister was outside his bedroom.

'shit.' ryland giggled against my lips, getting out of my lap. he crawled along the bed, over to the window to peek out. his sister wasn't there, yet she was knocking loudly on his door. sighing, he jumped off the bed. 'i should go.' he said softly, picking up his phone from the nightstand.

as i whined in protest, he grinned wryly at me. 'bye.' i sighed as he headed towards my window frame. gripping onto the top ledge, he climbed into his own room. upon my lips was a smile, tattooed so deep i couldn't remove it.

i laid back down on the bed, flat on my back as i grinned up at the ceiling. he likes me. he actually likes me. the pretty boy with the broken heart that i was so eager to make mine. 'fucking hell.' i whispered to no one, feeling my heart beating wildly under my ribcage. in shock, my fingers brushed across my lips. his own mouth had been on mine, hands around my neck as i gripped his hair. how was this even possible?

*

i was unable to wipe the smile off my face the next day, throwing on black jeans and a white v-neck. the storm had cleared and the sun. was out this morning, mirroring my mood. ryland had texted me that his mom was dropping him off at school half an hour early in the car with his sister due to her having to train for a gym competition. so i walked to school alone, smiling at random strangers because i was happy.

i walked into school with a grin on my face, saying hi to people i'd never normally greet, before finally reaching the canteen. on our usual, circular table, sat trisha, jason, drew, and garrett. i'm not sure where joey and daniel were. smiling widely, i messed up garrett's hair, throwing myself down in one of the two empty chairs and individually saying hello to everyone.

'whats got you in such a good mood?' drew asked, narrowing his eyes in speculation as he shared a raised eyebrow with garrett.

'found a ten dollar bill on the way to school.' i lied with a laugh, pulling out a crumpled note that i'd had in my pocket for weeks on end.

garrett groaned, beginning to complain. 'you're so lucky, why is it always you that finds– oh, ryland's here!' the three of us turned our heads to see him walking over to our table. he was dressed in black ripped skinny jeans and a tight grey muscle t-shirt, along with a ripped denim jacket; this was different to the oversized black v-neck he usually wore.

ryland sat down at the table, saying hi to everyone as he plonked his backpack on the floor at his feet. turning to face me, a small smile graced his lips.

'hey,' he said softly, reaching down to adjust the cuff of his jeans underneath the table. my hand found his, lacing our fingers together, hidden.

his cheeks grew pink. 'hi, you okay?' i asked in a quiet voice, brushing my thumb across the top of his hand.

a smile broke onto his lips again. 'i'm good. i'm good.' this was the first time that he'd actually said he was "good", and been honest about it. usually he was fine or okay, but today he was good, and there was a chance that maybe it was because of me.

leaning in close to speak to him, so only he could hear, i mumbled under my breath, 'i missed you last night.' everyone seemed too engrossed in their own conversations to see our hushed exchange.

'i'm sorry i didn't come back. my parents were just being... parents. i'll tell you later.' he replied, breath hot against my face.

again, i checked if anyone was watching us or looking. they weren't, so i closed the few inches between our faces by lightly touching his lips with mine. no one had noticed, it was only for half a second, but ryland's eyes were wide in surprise.

'shane, someone could've seen.' he hissed as the bell rang, following me as i headed to math with a grin. he had physics next, and the classrooms were near each other.

'well, yes, but they didn't.' i remarked with a wink and waved him goodbye, swaggering into my math classroom with a smirk on my face. throwing my bag down by the back desks, i sat down next to dan, who texting phil whilst looking at me in amusement. who says boys can't multitask? before he could say anything, however, we were silenced and handed work sheets. clearly our teacher was in a bad mood today, so i put my head down and did as much as i could, tired from the day previous.

by second lesson, however, something felt off. like a sick and dizzy feeling in the pit of my stomach, almost like i knew something was wrong or something bad was going to happen.

most of the day went by like this. boring lessons with that strange, uneasy sensation resting in my lower abdomen. when i sat down in history, i had to hold myself back from sighing loudly. unusually, i hadn't seen ryland since first period, and it was now the beginning of fourth. i reiterated, something felt off.

sometimes, it was great having this slight sixth sense. i could tell when something good was going to happen, even if i didn't know what it was. but when i felt a bad premonition, it was like i had this huge dark omen of a cloud hanging over me.

the class had barely started when a lilac haired boy came storming into the room, banging the door open. joey's eyebrows were furrowed, daniel in tow behind him. 'sorry to interrupt, sir,' he said to the irish teacher, 'but shane is missing band practice. he needs to leave now.'

i frowned in confusion. 'i'm not in a–' i began, but daniel shot me a glare that instantly made me shut up, grabbing my bag and leaving the classroom without another word, the two purple haired boys behind me.

once we'd shut the door, i turned to face them in confusion. 'what the fuck?' i asked, but daniel just grabbed my hand and tugged me down the corridor until we were in a private area.

opening his mouth, joey tried to speak but lost his breath, heaving for air. i told him to calm down, raising my voice to daniel and asking what the hell was going on.

'it's ryland,' joey gasped for air, 'he got into a fight. he's been hurt.'