stoic

Chapter 21

Trying to drag myself out of bed on Monday was a struggle. I had spent Sunday at the gym and saturday trying to ignore texts from Zane.

"Hi." Jeremiah beamed as I sat beside him in English Lit.

"Hey." I smile back.

"The boys told me about your party on Friday." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"They told you?! Jesus they can't keep their mouths shut can they."

The rest of school went quite quickly especially as I sat at lunch in silence ignoring the glares from Ryder.

I was extremely drunk on Friday and I would've preferred it if Ella could keep her mouth shut.

When I walked out of school with Jeremiah and Blake, I saw Zane leaning against his car with his arms folded and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. I wasn't going to say he wasn't attractive because he was extremely attractive but there was something about him that just wasn't my type.

I saw a few girls drool over him and by the looks of it, he was enjoying the attention.

"Who's that." Jeremiah said seductively in my ear.

"That's the guy from Friday." I say and his eyes widen.

Zane notices me and smiles which I return.

I quickly look at Jeremiah and Blake and say goodbye but they just stay and watch my encounter with Zane.

"Hey." I say to him and he throws the cigarette on the floor, "What are you doing here?"

"Tim was going to pick you up but I offered instead."

"Oh okay."

"And you haven't replied to any of my texts."

"Because I hardly know you and you're one of my brothers' friends."

"Well... lets get to know each other." He smirks "not sexually." He rolls his eyes jokingly before winking and I turn to see if Jeremiah and Blake are still there and they are but Ryder was with them and was now looking in our direction.

"Is that Ryder Wilson?" Zane asks and I nod.

I give Ryder a small smile but he doesn't return it instead he walks off to his own car.

When I get home, Tim is of course getting high with a bunch of friends.

"Tim can I speak to you?" I ask him and his friends look round. I thank Zane before going into the kitchen.

"Why would you let Zane pick me up?"

"Well I know you two got on well on Friday."

"You hate me hanging out with your friends."

"I prefer you hang out with my friends than Ryder or Brendan."

"Are you serious?" I almost shout to him.

"Mackenzie.. I warned you."

"Fuck off!" I spit before walking off towards my room.

•••

"Ryder... Can I speak to you?" I whisper to him as I caught up to him walking down the corridor.

"Sure." He shrugs stopping to face me. "Go on then."

"No.. In private.."

He nods as we go into an empty classroom. He sits on a desk waiting for me to say something.

"Are you annoyed at me?" I ask him, shutting the door behind us.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't want to be one of your toys, Mackenzie."

"You're not Ryder.."

"It's best if there's nothing between us anyway."

I scoff, "I hate you so much." I mumble.

"Why?" He asks nonchantly.

"Because I like you."

A smile formed on his lips. "That doesn't make any sense."

"You don't make any sense! One minute you're telling me that there can't be anything between us, then you kiss me and then the next thing you know you're telling me that there can't be anything between us again but you and me both know that there's something here and you felt it too on Friday and Monday don't even try to deny it-"

I was cut off with his lips on mine.

"My point proven." I whisper on his lips, kissing him back.

Out of nowhere, the door swings open and Brendan is stood there with his eyes wide looking annoyed.

"Brendan-"

"You're a fucking hypocrite Ryder." He spits.

"Brendan-"

"You tell me to be careful with her because she'll end up like Molly yet here you are."

"Who's Molly?" I ask them and they both look at me then each other again.

"You know what Ryder.. fuck it. Have fun." He says, putting a sheet of paper on the teacher's desk, which I assumed was his homework, before walking out.

"Brendan wait-" I walk towards the door but Ryder grabs my hand to stop me.

"If you speak to him now, he'll say something he'll regret."

I nod in reply. "Who's Molly?"

Ryder takes in a deep breath and shakes his head. "It's best if you don't know."

"But-"

"Don't. Please. I don't want to explain." He bites his cheek before sighing and walking out of the room.

If I were to get this information from anyone it would be Jeremiah.

• ••

"Hey Jeremiah." I sang, walking up to him at lunch before we enter the caf.

"Why are you being so happy?"

"Well.. I need to ask you about Molly." I stopped walking and so did he.

All color drained from Jeremiah's face and he coughed.

"Who told you about Molly?"

"Well.. long story short Ryder and I were making out in a classroom and-"

"YOU WHAT!" He screamed and I slapped my hand over his mouth as a teacher walked by and a few juniors gave us a weird look.

"You and Ryder were making out?!" He shouted in a whisper and I nodded.

"That's not the point.. Anyways, Brendan walked in and he mentioned Molly. Then Ryder refused to talk to me about it."

Jeremiah sighed before looking at me. "Nope, I'm not going to spill."

"Pleeeaaassse."

"Nope. You DO realize that Ryder will actually beat me up until I die if I tell you."

"Pleeeease." I smile.

"NO stop. I'm not going to cave in to your manipulation."

"Please please please."

"Stoooop please." He covered his ears with his hands, "Lalalalala."

"I WILL find out." I warn him and he puts his hands up in surrender before we make our way into the caf.

"Help me! Mackenzie is trying to manipulate me." Jeremiah wines to Ella.

"What is she doing?"

"Pressuring me to do things without my consent." He whines and I laugh, rolling my eyes.

• ••

At the end of the day, I catch up to Ryder before he gets into his car.

"Please can you tell me who Molly is?"

"Get in." He says, gesturing to the car.