Dilemmas

29

Around a week later. . .

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Shaun walked out of his room and met up with Ryan on the hallway, smiling and all. He took him and placed his arm behind him, resting the hand on Shaun's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" he asked him.

"Yeah," Shaun answered, beaming. He adjusted his backpack. "I want us to meet later."

"Huh? Why?"

Shaun laughed. "You really don't want to have a little chat?"

Ryan looked uncomfortable. "Um, I think I can't."

As they took the ramp up to the road near the canteen, he frowned. "Why not?"

"I have practice remember?" The edge of his lips twitched up. "And I can't miss soccer practice."

"Fair," he grumbled. They exited the ramp and were walking up the road uphill to the dorms. There were students walking everywhere in front of them. Cars struggled to get past them.

"We should go pass by the canteen," he told him.

They changed their direction. "Yeah," Shaun agreed. They entered the canteen, where there were more people than before. People swarmed everywhere, getting on the line that almost extended outside the area, and finding a place to sit. It was loudest sound he had heard.

Shaun took his hand. "Come on." Then he led the way, climbing up the small set of stairs and walking straight for the exit. But before he could take another step, someone stopped him.

"Hey." Julie beamed.

"Hey," Shaun said.

"You seem to be mutual friends," Drake piped up. Shaun hadn't seen him in ages. "Especially after that happened."

"You weren't supposed to tell anyone!" Shaun hissed.

Drake laughed heartily. "Of course. I didn't tell anyone."

He raised an eyebrow. "Did you?"

"I didn't," he repeated.

"Better keep it that way."

"I will."

Julie cleared her throat. "Anyway, I just wanted to invite you to a party by the weekend. Like, it's my birthday tomorrow and all."

Shaun smiled. "I'll bring a present."

She smiled back. He turned to Ryan. "You've been silent long enough. What's on your mind?"

"Everything that happened," he responded in a low voice. "Was I really being kidnapped? By. . .Jason?"

That brought the atmosphere to a colder level. Shaun nodded. "Yeah. We were able to stop him. Admittedly my plan worked."

He remembered when he threatened to kill Ryan if Jason didn't surrender (which wasn't probably worth telling). It was obviously a bluff, but love can often cloud your judgement. He just used it to his advantage.

"Yeah," Julie agreed. "Shaun told me why."

"Honestly, it's been crazy, especially since I slept through most of it," Ryan joked, probably trying to lighten the mood or prove a certain point.

"Yeah. And it's best we put it behind us." Julie huffed. "It's not worth remembering."

Shaun nodded. "I didn't like the fact that Jason didn't die."

Ryan and Drake were staring at us like we were speaking another language they couldn't understand.

"Let's go," Shaun said hurriedly. He took Ryan's hand, wrapping each of his fingers between his. He turned to face him. "Someone wants to meet you."