The Better Life // Ryan Ross

Chapter 26

                       》1 Year》

     Over the next year, Ryan and I never hung out with each other. It felt weird not having a guy best friend I could always go to. Of course I had Tyson, but he was all the way in Oklahoma while I was in Nevada. It made me feel sad and slightly depressed because since I was little, I have always had at least one guy best friend. I decided to take my dads offer on learning the bass. We were both currently sitting on my bed, him holding his vibrant red bass in his hands and me holding the bass I got for my eighth birthday because it was too big for me at the time I got it.

     "So this is called the 'E' string," my dad told me picking the sting closest to him which made a deep, dark sound. I mimicked him and jumped slightly from the vibration and sound that came from my bass. "How does it feel?"

     "Odd, but that's because I never played a stringed instrument, " I responded.

     "You'll get used to it, then maybe you can start a band and tour with me."

     "Whatever you say, Dad."

     He placed his bass against the side of my bed and moved from his spot across from me to next to me. He placed an arm around my shoulders before asking what was wrong. I told him that I've just been out of it lately and that I'm fine. He decided to leave it at that and resumed our lesson. By the end of the day I managed to sort of play something on the bass. We both put the instruments away and he kissed my forehead before telling me goodnight and letting me sleep.

》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》》

     I sat in my history class, waiting for the bell to ring so I could go to gym and then go home. We were learning about ancient civilizations which made me feel as if I was in third grade all over again.

     "Okay guys, you can start packing up," my teacher said. I quickly shot up from my seat and shoved my stuff into my backpack wanting to get to gym on time because it's all the way on the other side of the school. Once the bell rung Dennis, a guy I met in history who's a sophomore, and I walked out and made our way to the gym and dropped off our stuff in his locker since mine was upstairs.

     "Are you going to go to homecoming?" Dennis asked me while we were speed walking towards gym.

     "Nope. I got better things to do," I answered.

     "Such as?"

     I was about to answer but stood shock from what I saw while walking.

     I saw Ryan. Holding a rose. Handing it to Jac Vanek, the schools "scene queen".

     "Will you go to homecoming with me?" he asked her next to the stairs.

     "Of course I will, Ryan!" she replied. She got up on her tiptoes and grabbed Ryan's face to slam her lips onto hers. During the kiss Ryan's lips curled up. I felt something in the pit of my stomach but couldn't make out why I did.

      "Jamie?" Dennis asked while waving a hand in front of my face.

     "Huh? Sorry, I got distracted. What did you ask me?" I asked trying to forget about what I just saw.

     "What are you going to do instead of going to homecoming?"

     "Oh, umm, Andrea and I are probably gonna go to Taco Bell or something then just relax at her house or just go to the mall with a couple of other friends . . . maybe watch a movie . . . be fat around the food court. . ." I trailed off not being able to forget about what I saw.

     "Wow. Sounds. . .fun?"

     "I guess."

     We both walked into different locker rooms to get changed and made it just before the bell rang meaning we weren't late. I quickly changed and made my way to Jackie, my gym friend since Dennis and I were in different classes because he didn't fail gym unlike history.

     "LET'S GO!" one of the female coaches yelled. I made my way across the gym and sat down in my spot while tapping my fingernails on the wooden floor.

     Everyone was soon sitting down and talking to the people around then untill we heard our teacher start yelling.

     "ALRIGHT GUYS! We have a new student. His name is Brendon. Say hi."

     "Hi, Brendon," the whole class said.

     "S'up dude," one of the "popular" guys said making the others laugh.

     "Hi," Brendon responded.

     Our teacher started talking to him in private, probably talking about how he's going to need to buy a uniform and tell him where he's going to sit.

     Taking a closer look at Brendon, the first thing I noticed was his hair. It was spiky and messy. His eyes were a dark brown and full lips. Just by looking at him, I knew he was gonna be popular in a week or two.

     Our teacher told us all to go outside and that we were going to just walk around the track the whole time. I met up with Jackie and started walking towards the track so that when we were walking, it wouldn't  have been crowded.

     "What do you think of the new guy?" I asked her.

     "He seems okay," she responded.

     We continued walking and noticed he was a little further a head of us walking alone making me feel bad. "We should go say hi," I suggested to Jackie.

     "Why?"

     "He's all alone, I feel bad."

     "Go say hi then."

     "Come with me."

     "It's too far."

     "Jackie you lazy bum I swear," I said before jogging to catch up to Brendon. "Umm, hi," I started when I was next to him hoping I didn't scare him.

     "Hi!" he responded cheery. "I'm Brendon."

     "I'm Jamie."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN OVER A MONTH! School started and my homework takes me so long to complete and I'm usually busy on weekends so I don't have time to update.

     So it's almost been a year since I first started writing this terrible story! I'm just happy that I've have proven to myself that I can commit to something for a long time.

     Anyways, you guys can expect an update that day even though it won't be a special chapter. Also on the one year anniversary I know I'm going to do something I'm probably going to regret later on but you guys might enjoy it.