Young and Confused ☆ Ryden {COMPLETED}

☆3☆

Ryan woke up to his alarm and groaned. The throbbing from his headache had luckily stopped. He rubbed his fingers under his eyes and remembered what had happened last night. Now he dreaded going to school more, but he had to go. Who did want to go to school anyway? He always hated the stares he got from peers in the hallways with the damage that was done to his face. Spencer had asked about it once, around the second week of school, but Ryan told him off. Since then, Spencer never asked and made sure others didn't ask either.

Ryan pulled himself out of his bed and cracked his neck and back. He went to his dresser and pulled out a plain blue shirt and black jeans. He stripped off the clothes he had worn to school the day before. His body hurt too much last night to do much about that. He pulled on the fresh clothes as well as a dark gray hoodie that was thrown over his desk chair. Sure it was mid-September and still warm outside, but he couldn't care less. He slipped on his old, beaten Converse that he had had since fifth grade.

Ryan made his way to his bathroom to assess the damage from last night. The cut on his eyebrow was scabbed over, and his cheek was bruised. Great. He wondered what Brendon would say to him. Wait, why was Brendon on his mind in the first place? He didn't know, and once again, he couldn't care less. He exited the bathroom and into the hallway, soon slowly walking down the stairs. He was hoping his dad was passed out like he usually was in the morning, and lucky for Ryan, he was. Ryan checked the clock on his phone that was tucked into his hoodie's pocket, which read 6:50. In two minutes, his bus would pull up to his house, delightful. He quickly grabbed a granola bar from the top of the refrigerator, along with his backpack that was set down by the front door. He pushed the door opened and walked out to the end of the driveway. Less than a minute later, the bus pulled up to his driveway and he climbed on.

**

Ryan made his way to Spencer's locker like he always did where they talked about life and what their favorite YouTubers uploaded. Spencer was not at his locker, a small sinking feeling overcame Ryan. He walked back the way he came, hoping Spencer was just late, but he was nowhere to be seen. He mentally groaned, he hated going to first period early. He clutched his stuff and walked down the eighth grade hallway until he got to his class. Only a few people were there, one of them was Brendon. Ryan really hoped he wouldn't ask any questions as he sat at his desk.

For three minutes, Ryan just sat, doing nothing as he waited for the school day to start. He was lost in thought when he heard a voice.

"Hey, Ryan?" Brendon asked, turning to the boy.

"Yeah?" Ryan replied. Please don't be about my injuries, he thought.

"What day do you want to come over for the project?" Ryan let out a small sigh of relief.

He shrugged. "Either Friday or Saturday, doesn't matter to me."

"I'll let my parents know," he tells him. Ryan looks in front of him again, waiting two more minutes for more students to come in. He notices Brendon still looking at him out of the corner of his eye. "If you don't mind me asking," oh no, here it comes, Ryan thought. "What happened to your face?"

"Don't want to talk about it," he responds, still looking ahead of him.

"Oh, okay, I understand," he nods, turning around. But he doesn't.

**

Ryan sat alone at lunch since Spencer wasn't there. After his table was called to buy lunch, he sat back down at his spot with his lunch tray. When he had taken a bite of one of his two tacos, a person sat across from him at the empty table. They sat a brown paper bag on the surface. "Mind if I sit here?"

Ryan looked up and swallowed the bite he took. "Nah, go ahead." He was hoping Brendon wouldn't talk to him much. It's not that he didn't like Brendon, he didn't like talking to people besides Spencer.

"Do you always sit alone?" he asks Ryan, trying to start a conversation.

"Spencer usually sits with me." Brendon nodded, acknowledging his answer. "Hey, do you want my milk? Spencer usually takes it because I personally think it tastes like ass."

Brendon laughed, probably too hard, which caused Ryan to smile and laugh a little in return. It had been a while since he smiled or laughed honestly. Whenever he laughed or smiled at something Spencer said, it was usually fake. He didn't want to hurt his best friend's (and only friend's) feelings. "Yeah, sure. Want my Capri Sun in return?"

"Sure," he shrugged. They swapped drinks and continued eating, occasionally sharing their interests with each other.

After the bell rang, they went their separate ways to their free period class. Ryan had a funny feeling in his stomach. It wasn't bad, just weird and different. It was something he'd never felt before. He didn't know what it was or what caused it, but it didn't matter because someone, besides Spencer, made him happy for once. Sure, he pretty much just met Brendon, but he made him happy.

---

A/N: I'm sorry for the milk fic reference. It'll probably be the only one that I'll write.

My friend has recently informed me that there's this crazy phan member that wants to sexually harass Dan and murder Phil at Interactive Introverts. It sickens me to think these people call themselves "fans". It's honestly disgusting.

Song Suggestions:

Somebody Else ● The 1975

Semi-Automatic ● Twenty One Pilots