Cinderella my Ass

  It's funny how sometimes people, when things don't go quite their way, turn their eyes to the past and wonder…where did I go wrong? As if that would actually change anything. It's probably one of the stupidest things a human can do, but they do it anyway.

 Where did I go wrong?

For Ryder Quin, things probably went wrong the first day of high school. Maybe it started with high school. Or maybe it went wrong when she decided that going to school with a fever and while on her time of the month was a good idea, as if she would actually be able to survive that. It's debatable if ANYONE could survive that, but dear Ryder Quin sometimes had mentality of that chicken in Moana, so such situations are not rare.

It was that sick body and blurry vision because of the fever, that made her faint in the hallway while trying to make her way to the bathroom. And because of her occasional headless-chicken mentality that convinced her to do dumb shit, this damsel-in-distress-style fainting led this idiot of a girl to meet Aiden Caley. And it was his gentle smile, the help he offered, probably also that stupid desire in the heart of a teenager to experience that movie-like high school experience, or most likely the fact that he carried her in her arms to the school's infirmary that made Ryder develop a crush on him. People are easily fooled when it comes to their feelings. Just a moment is enough to make the heart flutter, to make butterflies fly in their stomach, which is very unscientific, but feelings don't care much about science, do they?

Maybe it all started with this crush… or maybe it all started that day… that night…

That day was like all the other days. Boring. No matter how much interesting and exciting movies make high school look, it is quite the opposite actually. It's boring, physically and mentally tiring and there are a lot of idiots to deal with, most of them being from the school's staff. So, given the fact that this boring day seemed to never come to an end, the dragging voice of the teacher either making people fall asleep or annoyed, Ryder was entertaining herself by, not creepily at all, staring at her crush, Aiden Caley.

"Past…Ryder." The staring seemed to be damaging her hearing for Ryder failed to notice that Jasmine, her friend, was calling her. "You Ryde…” And yet again another failure. "You, you chicken-head." Jasmine's voice sounded a lot like that of a mother trying to scold her wailing-in-public toddler but without making it too obvious. Thankfully, the teacher was half-deaf… or maybe he just didn't care. For he was quite old, and rumors said that he was so ancient he fought in World War 1.

Finally, Ryder, the chicken-head, listened. "What?” Still her eyes didn't leave the guy's back. She wasn't even looking at his face, what was so interesting about a back? Jasmine couldn’t understand where Ryder’s head was.

"Stop staring at him for God's sake." Jasmine hissed. And to urge her friend further, she skillfully and mercilessly threw a pencil to her head, not caring if Ryder might lose an eye or not. Or maybe that was her intention from the beginning. Not quite as easy to ogle at someone without eyes, right? In her defense, Jasmine was trying to save her friend's dignity and reputation, so she wouldn't become a creep.

However, Ryder was bored, and didn’t have anything else to look at. Still, that didn't make it sound less creepy, so she didn't try to defend or explain herself. Quite the contrary… "But he is so handsome and..." Ryder finally looked at Jasmine with a frown. Her eyes then landed on the open "for the sake of love" notebook and the unanswered questions seemed to be taunting her.

Right in that moment, Jasmine gasped as quietly and convincingly as she could.  "Oh my God, he is looking at you!" Her right hand gripped her forearm hard and as if Ryder hadn't gotten used to this kind of mockery, mostly likely because Jasmine was quite good at acting the part, Ryder snapped her head to Aiden, only to find him looking down at his book.

Well, that was quite disappointing.

That's called playing dirty.

"You are mean." Ryder whispered too Jasmine annoyed. Annoyed at herself for getting herself fooled once again and at Jasmine for laughing.

"Yes. But you love me." Jasmine said in a matter-of-fact tone that didn't make Ryder any happier.

Jasmine was that kind of friend that cared... a lot. She cared about Ryder like a second mother, feeding and taking care of her, making sure that chicken-head of hers wouldn't get her in trouble even though Jasmine tended to get her own ass in very odd and not pleasant situations herself. But for the love of God, this girl would never stop trolling the hell out of Ryder. The more she cared, the more she fooled around. It was quite annoying at times, but after years of enduring Ryder had finally learned how to deal with it and more importantly, fight back.

She would get her revenge… eventually…

Ryder turned her gaze on Aiden once more, this time actually staring at him, as her lips curved upwards the tiniest bit unconsciously. The young man's dirty blonde hair was messy, like he woke up that way, but most likely he spent a lot of time in front of the mirror to make it look like that. Ryder had seen her male cousins countless times doing so, and found it quite funny. Aiden's leg was stomping against the ground. The black shirt hugged his back tightly, maybe a bit more than it should, but who's complaining? The shirt had a "To quote Hamlet Act III, Scene III, Line 87 'No'" quote on it, which made her lips curve up a bit more, since Ryder had acclaimed Hamlet as her spirit animal for four years now. Just to be clear about this… she's not into theater, nor is she interested in every work of Shakespeare. Ryder just likes Hamlet.

From the time she fainted and let herself be carried by him, maybe because she found it interesting and entertaining to have a crush, Ryder would steal glances at the young man as if studying him from afar, but never did she take the initiative to talk to him. She looked at him as he laughed and fooled around with his friends… at the way he looked as if nothing could bother him, always carefree and confident. Ryder liked the way he smiled and laughed, and the boy was quite good to look at with that unintentionally messy hair and green eyes.

Jasmine sighed as she noticed the look in Ryder's eyes and had to do her part as the supportive friend. "Give it a try. Just ogling from afar is creepy. Try saying "hi". A simple "hi" can't be that hard."

Ryder shook her head. Some things were better left as they were. Some things were sweeter because they were out of reach or seen from afar. What if she got too close only to see that her prince charming was actually an ugly goblin?

Disappointment isn't a nice feeling and why not avoid it if you can.

"I still think you should at least try."

Ryder thought about it. A simple hi wouldn't hurt anyone. Maybe the prince charming wouldn't be a goblin nor turn into a frog after all. Just a simple hello. But how was she supposed to say "hello" to him. Like 'Hi Aiden?' or 'Hi there!' or it's better if she says just 'Hi!'. But if she says just hi, he would start a conversation and she would ramble like a fool and end up saying things she shouldn't say. One of the biggest flaws Ryder possessed was her inability to make small talk. She also wasn't that good at interacting with new people. Due to certain events of the past, Ryder had a hard time socializing. If it weren't for the persistent Jasmine determined to be friends with her, Ryder, most likely, would have no friends at all.

Humans are hard to deal with, Ryder thought with a sigh.

Her head bumped against the table lightly a couple of times in frustration. After enough time for a slight bump to form on her head. The bell rang and the classroom finally came back to life as if just woken up from coma. People groaned, laughed, sighed in relief and started to leave one after another. Ryder got up, picked up her stuff and walked to Aiden. She could do it... right? No, no, no…. she's one hundred percent sure she can do it. However, maybe because she was predestined to make a fool of herself right in that moment, or because her eyes were focused only on the back of the young man, dear headless chicken Ryder failed to see the bag thrown on the floor carelessly. And that's when things went downhill. Tripping over it and letting out a scream of surprise and fear as she saw the floor coming closer, Ryder was falling.

Great! A broken ugly face is exactly what I needed.

But for some reason the pain of her nose breaking never came. Instead, she fell on something warm and kind of soft that let out a low groan. Her eyes opened slightly. The first thing she saw was blackness and for a second there, the moron thought she had gone blind. Just as that thought had crossed her mind, Ryder noticed that her blindness was actually a black shirt and as her eyes traveled up it, she faced Hamlet saying "No" to her. As her heart trembled in realization, hesitatingly her eyes went up the body and even though she saw it coming, Ryder still widened her eyes when her gaze met a pair of green eyes like a pair of emerald gemstones looking at her and two pink lips turned downwards in a frown twitching slightly.

Holy mutant cow shit!

"Are you okay?" Aiden asked her with his soft deep voice and Ryder blushed even more from embarrassment as if that was even possible. And then it hit her… from back then when this boy held her in his arms to the infirmary, this was the first time he talked to her. It had been such a long time since Ryder had heard that deep voice directed at her, and the red cheeks just turned even redder like the scarlet ass of a baboon. 

Ryder has encountered sudden social interacting. The system therefore will reboot. Please wait until the system is finished with the rebooting process before proceeding.

Behind her, Jasmine was conflicted. Should she roll her eyes or pale in concern? Help her or use this opportunity to let her grow some balls? After all it would be a good learning experience. In the end she just remained frozen in place and decided to enjoy the show.  

As her brain finally started to work again, it still needed some time to process what was happening. Oh my God he is talking to me! What should I say?

"Ye... Yes." Ryder muttered and stood up, then extended a hand to the handsome young man in front of her and helped him up. The handsome young man was Hella heavy. With a "humph" Ryder pulled him up, panicking for a second that instead of helping him up, she would let him fall again, and even worse, she would also fall on top of him… again.

Without saying anything, those green gemstones of his glanced at the culprit who had all its contents spilled on the floor. Aiden took his backpack in his hand and looked at Ryder then as if he got reminded of something he broke into a smile. "Be more careful next time." And just like that the prince charming left the classroom with his friends following right behind him. One of them grinned as he threw his arm over Aiden's shoulders and muttered at him.

"How charming of Aiden Caley."

Aiden rolled his eyes and elbowed him in the stomach and rubbed his back with a pained face.

"She was that girl I told you about."

Aiden “? Who?”

His friend rolled his eyes. "The one who has a crush on you."

"Oh."

However, Ryder couldn't hear any of this as the boys had already left.

"That wasn't that hard, was it?" Jasmine used Ryder's shoulder as an armrest, stepping out of the comfortable role of a spectator. Ryder shrugged her arm off and pouted.

"I almost had a heart attack."

"You are hopeless." Jasmine laughed.

*****

School wasn't that far from her house, so Ryder would always walk home. Even so it was a bit tiresome, given the fact that Ryder wasn't the type to go out often and her feet were made only to walk to the fridge. Driving a car was out of question for two reasons. One: it was uneconomical for the distance was too short and the only car her family had was used by her father. Two: Ryder didn't have driver's license or better yet she didn't want one, much to the others' surprise. She didn't even intend to get one. And so, this headless chicken had to walk back home.

Just as she was about to put on her headphones a voice called.

"Hi!"

Turning her head towards the direction the voice came from, Ryder was blinded by the handsome smirk on the young man's carefree face. Behind him were two of his friends that in order to give Aiden some privacy, had turned their backs to him and chatted among each other while looking at an angry girl walking away. They seemed to be mocking her and shaking their heads.

Ryder furrowed her eyebrows at Aiden confused as to why would he talk to her. At the same time, her brain couldn't help but go blank for a second. If it wasn't Jasmine, no one else would take the initiative to talk to her. Maybe it was because of the passive and cold glance Ryder would usually have when walking down the hallways of the school alone or maybe it was because Jasmine was her friend that nobody dared to talk to her, for Jasmine even though having that mommy attitude, happened to be quite the aggressive little muffin who thanks to her father's boxing gym that she frequently used, knew how to fight and fought like a hawk when provoked. After breaking a guy's nose from the basketball team after school, it seemed that people either were scared of her, disgusted by her or just simply hated her. Given the fact that Jasmine also had two bigger brothers and her father looked quite terrifying, the number of people daring to approach her were almost zero. Ryder didn't mind. She didn't like having too many people around..

Seeing that Aiden was approaching her, Ryder couldn't help but think… Is he talking to me because of what happened earlier?

Aiden's expression, if the smirk was left aside, was quite gentle, yet Ryder tensed a bit, be it because of embarrassment or because of fear of saying something she shouldn't.

"Hi." Her voice came out somewhat shaky. Thank God it was just a short word or she wouldn't know how to handle the embarrassment of looking and sounding like a fool.

His hand rose up to the back of his neck as he spoke, his eyes avoiding eye contact. Was he being shy? "So, I was talking with my friends earlier and… none of them knew your name… so I thought I would ask you myself."

Wait a minute…. He wants to know… he wants to know my name? Not knowing how to feel, flattered that he was interested or annoyed that he didn't know since they had been in the same class for quite a while, Ryder struggled to answer. It was a simple question. Answer the damned thing.

"Ryder King." And just like that, Ryder signed her death contract. What the fuck? Her eyes widened. God, I messed up my own name. "I mean Ryder Quin." Great job Ryder. Well done. 

Aiden laughed lightly at her and "The scarlet baboon ass face" had a sequel. He looked sweet, so cute, so perfect and the laughter didn't sound like mockery at all, but embarrassment doesn't care and strikes mercilessly.

I am a mess.

"Nice to meet you Ryder, I'm Aiden Caley. I like your name." He sounded rather polite and gentle… surprisingly the prince charming didn't turn into a frog yet. It was such thought that stirred up a warmth in her stomach and Ryder found herself getting worried. Oh no! I'm catching feelings. That's when things went downhill and shit got worse and worse. If she was a mess earlier, now she was a total catastrophe.

"Your name is pretty too. No, I mean it is beautiful. I mean I like your name too. No... I..." The urge to slap herself for rambling like this was overwhelming. Now he will think I am stupid and laugh his ass off at me, Ryder thought sighing in her heart. Socializing is very difficult. It was as if this idiot had forgotten how to be human.

"Cute." Aiden murmured to himself as the corner of his lips lifted, finding the girl in front of him interesting. "Well, see you tomorrow." He chuckled and left or something like that, Ryder wasn't really paying attention after he called her cute. Her whole body froze and she forgot how to breath. This was a first… someone who wasn't her one hundred years old grandmother, and a guy her own age at that… called her cute.

For someone like Ryder, who lacked in human interactions… dealing with compliments felt like someone had thrown a grenade in her hands, being blown away from the overwhelming feeling of panic from not knowing what to do.

He thinks I'm cute.

With that sentence playing like a broken record in her head the whole time, which should have gotten quite irritating after a while, but it didn't seem to happen anytime soon with Ryder, the headless chicken walked back to her house. With every time that sentenced repeated, a monkey like grin would appear on her face scaring people out of her way or at best just made them worry she might have hit her head so hard the brain probably flew out of her skull. Poor girl. At such a young age. Very pitiful.

The house was empty and a deadly silence hung in the air. Her parents had gone to her grandmother's house since she had been feeling under the weather lately, and being old she was convinced she was dying. With no other option left her parents had left Ryder home alone for a couple of days. They would be back the day after tomorrow. Ryder didn't mind. Actually, quite the contrary… she was enjoying it. The whole house only for her for two days… Aah! Just like Ryder liked it, quiet and with no signs of humans around. Throwing her backpack on the floor of her room, Ryder headed out to the backyard.

There were a lot of things that fascinated this young lady. Maybe because there weren't many people she could hang out with and there was even less desire to hang out, Ryder loved to spend her free time undertaking new projects, some left unfinished, some forgotten or just labeled as failures and many others started in a whim because of a spark of inspiration.

At the moment she was dead set on making herself a drafting table because she thought it was cool and it would be pretty useful on those rare occasions when she felt like drawing. And so, much to her mother's displeasure, the backyard resembled more of a messy garage than the messy garage. There were saws and hammers, clay and cement, iron rods, brushes, paint, random scraps and pieces of wood or plastics, and God knows what else all around the place. It was a nightmare. The lovely green grass had been stomped to that degree of ceasing to exist, the flowers her mother had planted with so much love either had faded color or were crippled due to accidents during work. Even though both her parents took pride in their daughter being skillful, they both were pained, one because of the unsightly condition of the once lovely backyard and the other because a lot of money would be spent on this odd hobby of their antisocial child.

Since Ryder loved to work until late at night, she had installed a few lights around the place that sometimes wouldn't turn off until two a.m. or later.

Taking advantage of her parents' absence, Ryder decided to stay up till late, trying to figure out the blueprints of the drafting table, even though it was a school night. With the saw brought to her chin, her eyes were focused on the blueprints as the frown on her lips deepened. If it was a pen or a brush, damn it, even a God damn spoon, the image of this girl deep in thoughts was quite beautiful and mesmerizing. But of course, that wouldn't happen. With the saw on her hand and the cold blade of it lightly tapping her chin, this young lady looked like a psychopath about to cut up someone, but hadn't quite figured out of it would be more convenient to cut down the arms from the shoulder, or the elbows because there wasn't too much space inside the trunk of her car.

And so, midnight came before Ryder could notice how late it was. Still deep in thought, at first, she was unaware of the shuffling sounds coming from the wooden fence behind her. It wasn't until a loud thump echoed through the silent night that she jumped up in horror and turned around.

The head fell again, she thought. The last project of hers had been a life size wooden doll that she had worked hard to make it look like Medusa, but unfortunately it turned out a bit deformed. Her parents had proposed to bring the doll to her uncle's farm to scare the crows in the fields… Needless to say, Ryder felt quite offended by such proposal.

However, it wasn't the head of the deformed Medusa that had fallen. Horrifyingly it was the dark figure of a man, lying on the ground in fetus position, groaning in pain. As if fate had decided that this night shall end like a scene from a horror movie, the man was hidden by the shadows because of course, the light of that specific corner burned out a few days ago.

I'm going to die tonight.

Her body tensed from fear, the grip on the saw tightened, as she eyed the hammer that wasn't too far from her, but unlike when forced into socializing, her mind was clear, having the time to analyze the situation, eye up the man and calculate how strong and big he was, and, of course, to curse. But her body still remained frozen like an ice cube. All she could do was to look at the man and accept her death.

At least I won't have to do the homework for tomorrow.

However, much to her surprise, the dark figure of the man didn't move, almost as if he was dead. Did he actually jump over the fence into my backyard only to die? How will I explain that to mom? She will never leave me alone if a random dude dies this one time, I have the whole house for myself.

Suddenly the broad shoulders of the man shook slightly a muffled sound came from him. A soft, heart-breaking cry. He was crying.

Is he drunk?

Still in high alert, Ryder dared to take her eyes off the man and look around for a phone, only to remember that it had no battery and died a few hours ago. It really must be her destiny to die today. What is this unrealistic horror movie setting? What is this kind of death… well on a second thought…? I will probably end up on the newspaper…

Should I scream?

But what if he jumps on me? I'm armed but he's probably stronger and taller than me so the chances of survival are few…

Just as she was about to decide if screaming or not was a good idea, the man spoke. "I'm sorry…” The voice broke and what followed those two words, Ryder couldn't make out. At first, she thought he was apologizing for intruding, but the man kept crying and muttering under his breath. It wasn't Ryder he was seeking forgiveness from… but then who?

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…” Hidden in the shadows the man bit his lip as tears washed his face.

Bewildered by such turn of events, as mentioned before, with that chicken mentality of hers, Ryder now felt more curious than scared of the man. With her saw still held in her hands ready to strike, she found the courage to ask. "Are you okay?”

Are you here to kill me? But of course, she didn't say that out loud. If the man didn't have such intentions; she didn't want to give him ideas.

The man sat up, his head hung low and knees brought to his chest. His hands covered his already hidden by a hood face. In such position, the shaking of his shoulders was even more visible. The man shook his head.

Oh… so he isn’t, okay? Okay~

It felt like an eternity drowned in silence before the man took a few deep breaths, sobering up and calming himself down. With a hoarse voice he broke that silence. "Can… can you give me some water? Please?" His voice sounded like breaking glass. As if there was something in him that kept shattering his soul from inside.

Never in her life had Ryder heard such pained voice… the sound sent a shiver down her spine, though what caused it was unknown.

"Will you leave afterwards?”

The man nodded.

Still keeping an eye on him, Ryder grabbed the bottle at her worktable. Since she always worked for hours nonstop, she would usually bring some snacks and a bottle of water with her in the backyard for her short breaks. The bottle was almost full, so it should have been enough.

Not daring to approach him, Ryder rolled the bottle to his feet. It felt like she was merely feeding a dog, but even though she had tons of homework to do, Ryder preferred to be alive by tomorrow.

The man took the bottle in his hands and brought it to his lips. The hoodie he was wearing kept his face in total darkness and the burned-out light bulb seemed like it was created just for this specific moment to hide the man's figure, yet as he lifted his head to drink, Ryder saw the white skin of his jawline.

When the bottle was brought back down it was completely empty. The water had sobered up the man. He stood up and dusted off his dark clothes, his voice clearer. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I better get going." The shattered glass of his voice turned into burning ice. The stranger was about to jump over the fence again, leaving the same way he came, but his movements came to a halt, making the blood turn cold down Ryder's veins. "Thank you for helping me, Ryder." The tone of the man said softly and warmly, holding the taste of a smile...

And then he was gone.

"Thank you for helping me Ryder."

How comic for such a sentence said with such a soft and warm voice, sounding so sincere to make one fall in their knees and keep sleep at bay all night.

It was like she could hear the voice of that man saying that sentence over and over again, as if he was taunting her.

He knew her name.

If this fact alone wasn't disturbing enough to keep Ryder all night awake, she also couldn't shake off the feeling that that voice was terrifyingly familiar, but not so much at the same time. She couldn't say much about it when the man spoke in the beginning for the voice was mixed with sobs and broken in tears, but when he thanked her… Where has she heard that voice?

He knew her name.

Ryder turned inside the house in a rush. Her feet tripped and her knees almost gave away a few times. She was trembling and cold sweat rolled down her back. What in the name of heaven did just happen? What the fuck was this out-of-a-horror-movie experience she just had? And most importantly… how the fuck did she not die?

The night never felt so long and terrifying. For the first time, Ryder didn't feel comfortable in her loneliness. It took hours for her to calm down and a lot of reasoning to shake away the unreasonable fear of darkness that bubbled up out of nowhere because of the unpleasant experience she just had. It felt as if the man would jump out of every dark corner of the house, but Ryder detested such feeling. She liked the darkness… she refused to allow such experience to change this. This idiot of a girl was such mule-headed that she would rather die than let go of her old habits and preferences regardless of the dangers, let them be reasonable or not.

As the night passed and sleep seemed to not be planning to take her consciousness, Ryder found herself less scared and calmer. However, the calmer she got, the more curious she became. With fear slipping out of her heart, another feeling found its way in. She now was actually deeply interested about all that happened. It couldn't be helped for this girl had a very curious nature. She was a little curious headless chicken.

And so, Ryder started to wonder.

The man could be one of the boys living in this neighborhood, but if it was so, wouldn't she recognize them? They were all flirty and annoying, bullying people just for fun, trying to look almighty and powerful. Ryder had watched them countless times harassing women shamelessly regardless of age and bullying little kids for fun. However, the man didn't give that kind of aura… he was... different. Ryder refused to believe that the assholes from her neighborhood knew how to apologize or even know what the words "I'm sorry" meant. Yet just to be on the safe side, she decided not to exclude this man being from this neighborhood as an option. After all, it's not like she knew every single person for she was too introverted for that.

The man sounded quite young… he couldn't be much older than her… what if… what if he was from her school? If it was like this, then she knew even less about the guys of her school. This chicken had no interest in getting to know new people and so she knew very little people from school. And Ryder also had a problem remembering names, sometimes even faces. The people from her neighborhood, she knew because she had been living in here her whole life, but people from school? Nu-uh!

As a sigh puffed out of her lips, Ryder recalled the shaking shoulders of the stranger and felt a bit vexed.

The man looked drunk at first but when he thanked her this impression shattered to nothing. As she tried to make sense of this, a phrase from her favorite author came to her out of nowhere and replied in her head over and over again… Drunk in pain…

The corner of her lips lifted slightly as she shook her head.

The man did seem to be in pain, and not physically. His voice carried sorrow and reflected the agony of his heart, but Ryder didn't dare wonder what might have happened to this stranger to be in such state. For her own good, she didn't let her imagination run astray. What if she accidentally scared herself?

When the morning came and Ryder left for school, she looked in a miserable state. Her hair always was tied up messily, but this time it wasn't even combed. Her feet dragged lazily and dark circles hung under her eyes. This girl looked in desperate need for sleep. If it wasn't for the fact that she had pulled an all-night the day before yesterday she wouldn't look so disgustingly tired by just one sleepless night, but two nights without so much of a blink of sleep were a bit too much for her.

Jasmine looked at Ryder and scoffed. "Let me guess… new project?”

Ryder pondered over it on her way to school if it was a good idea to tell her about what happened or not. She wasn't sure if telling her would bring more problems or not, because she knew Jasmine would go all mama-bear on her, probably call the police, alarm her parents and before Ryder could have lifted a finger to stop her, she would have lost the privilege of being home alone as well as staying up late with her projects. As mentioned before… she would rather die than give up from her comfortable lifestyle.

Yet still it felt a bit unfair to keep her in the dark.

Ryder shook her head.

"Read another book?” Jasmine tried to guess again as they walked to class together. Ryder shook her head again. "Then what?”

"I will tell you if you promise me to don't scream, yell, lecture me or try to handle things yourself."

Upon hearing this, the expression on Jasmine's face darkened. Her dark eyebrows furrowed and people stepped two feet away from her as they walked by. She looked scary. Her worrying face truly was frightening.

Hesitantly, knowing very well she would regret it later, Jasmine nodded. If she didn't agree Ryder most likely wouldn't tell her at all and just keep it for herself and after that warning she HAD to know.

Only after she saw Jasmine nodding, Ryder started to elaborate. "Some guy broke into my backyard last night at midnight."

Ryder hadn't even finished the sentence when all color left Jasmine's face the moment she heard the words "broke in". By the time Ryder had finished talking, Jasmine had already patted her all over the body, lifting her sleeves and checking her neck, personal space be damned. Her hands trembled. "Are you okay? Did he do anything to you? Are you hurt? Where does it hurt?”

The rapid questions showered Ryder not leaving her room to speak.

"I'm fine." She assured her and continued to explain what happened.

Jasmine had wanted to yell at her out of distress, but she had promised not to do so. Then she wanted to lecture Ryder for being careless and not reasonable for not calling the police, but once again she had promised not to. Just as she was thinking of letting Ryder's parents know in secret so at least they wouldn't let her stay out until so late, scared that such thing might happen again, Jasmine almost blew up from anger… ONCE AGAIN SHE HAD PROMISED NOT TO DO SO. Fuck you, Ryder.

After being defeated so mercilessly by Ryder, Jasmine wanted to throw a fit, but right then a boy with hair falling over his eyes as if trying to hide the face from others' gaze, passed by her. Their eyes met for just for a brief second before the young man looked away as if Jasmine's eyes set him on fire.

Jasmine looked back at his back and scoffed as a smirk hung on her lips.

Ryder, who had noticed all this, looked at the youth and Jasmine back and forth a few times before not being able to handle her curiosity any longer, asked her. "Who is he?”

The smirk on Jasmine's face intensified, almost giving her an eerie aura. Sis, is Ursula your mother?

"My new baby…” Jasmine answered as if the words leaving her mouth weren't creepy nor showing that she might be a bit mentally unstable at all.

Ryder looked at the back of the young boy once righter before he disappeared in the midst of the people walking down the hallway and pitied the poor guy.

Ryder sighed.

"Don't worry, mama won't love you less." Jasmine threw her arms over Ryder's shoulders as they walked to their seats. "My heart is big enough to have room for both of you."

Ryder "What happened?”

Jasmine "He was getting bullied and I beat up the brats. He's so cute, isn't he? How can I allow such cutie get treated like that? I must protect him at all costs." Oh... That explains the bruises on her lips and cheekbone. Ryder didn't bother asking because she had gotten used to Jasmine's face being bruised most of the time because of her bad habit of "playing" with her older brothers in hardcore mode. Eventually things always got out of hand and the three of them would start brawling and then their father would beat the hell out of all of them to stop the fight. But this time the bruises had another story behind. Mama-bear, apparently, had begun adopting again. "You are my adorable daughter… and he will be my adorable son. I always wanted a son, anyway."

This thug really has a weird way of thinking.

Ryder was shaking her head softly laughing at her best friend's stupidity when a shadow fell upon her and she looked up to see what caused the eclipse only to be met with two pair of green eyes and a dazzling smile that made her heart skip a beat.

"Good morning." Aiden greeted her so casually, Ryder was baffled. How can he talk as if we have known each other for years? What is this skill? Is this how normal people act?

"M-morning." Her cheeks reddened a bit. She was caught off guard alright?

As the teacher entered the class and didn't waste time, but begun writing on the board, Jasmine raised an eyebrow at Ryder in surprise. Her look was as if she was asking "What just happened?”

Ryder shrugged. How was she supposed to know? When did this chicken ever know how humans worked? Maybe she was a chicken from Mars.

The confusion got worse when the class ended and this prince charming flashed Ryder a smile, waved and muttered a "See you around" before leaving. Ryder didn't know how to react to such behavior. She felt like she should blush but wasn't so sure about it. In the end all that was done was blank staring. "Did he hit his head?”

"Maybe he's interested in you." Jasmine narrowed at Aiden's back. It is pure interest, or this thug here will crush him to dust.

"Is that possible?” Ryder highly doubted it. They never had a proper conversation so why would he take an interest on her… but then again, the same was for her as well but she still has a crush on Aiden.

Math was the only class the two had together so unless it was in this classroom, Ryder wouldn't have much chance of meeting Aiden. There was also PE but the teacher loved to tire the students to death so who would have the nerve to stare at their crush while looking like a sweating pig and almost dying by breathing problems?

Yet throughout the day every time Aiden would pass by Ryder, he would offer a smile and that classic nod of acknowledgement boys usually do. With every smile and nod, Ryder felt that the degree of the blushing increased, which wasn't a nice feeling at all. She hated how she looked like when she was blushing.

What was going on?

"I'm starting to think you either knocked his brains out yesterday or he magically developed a crush on you overnight." Jasmine said when they were eating lunch in the cafeteria. She was biting down on the plastic fork not actually eating, while her eyes wandered through the place as if she was looking for someone.

Ryder flipped the page of the book she was reading and shrugged playing it cool, but in reality, she wasn't that cool about it. Her ears turned a nice shade of pink and her teeth bit on her lip. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad if her crush likes her back… Wouldn't it be… nice?

Jasmine pushed an apple to Ryder, still looking around the cafeteria. Ryder took the apple and put it aside. She didn't usually eat during lunch because unless the food was a bliss to her taste buds, she wouldn't want it. The only food that went in her stomach had to be something she craved for or she wouldn't put it in her mouth. Still Jasmine tried to feed her. "Are you looking for that guy?”

Jasmine nodded as if lost in thoughts. Then her eyes suddenly widened and she looked at Ryder with eyes filled with concern. "What if he's getting bullied right now?” The sentence hadn't even let her mouth when she stood up taking the empty tray with her. "I'm going to look for him."

"Oh… okay."

Not wasting any time Jasmine left, leaving Ryder alone. Ryder didn't mind it at all. It's not like they were joined at the hip, besides she knew how seriously Jasmine took her adaptation process. When she "adopted" Ryder, that brat would pop out of nowhere all smiles and grins, starting conversations and trying to help her with the smallest stupidest shit. Even an asocial hermit like Ryder can't ignore all those caring looks and genuine smiles.

Since she wasn't eating anyway, Ryder grabbed her things and put them in her backpack ready to leave as well. Just as the backpack was thrown over her shoulder, Aiden passed by. Upon noticing Ryder, he muttered something to his friends and sat on the chair Jasmine had been sitting a minute ago.

"Hi Ryder!" Aiden grinned.

What the fuck? "Hi!" Her voice came out shaking. In her defense that was unforeseen and sudden.

The green eyes fell on the book still on her hands and with that unwavering grin on his face, as if they had known each other for years, Aiden took the book from her hands. "What are you reading?”

Isn't he being overly friendly? How extroverted is this guy?

The corner of his lips twitched a bit as he read the title. This didn't go unnoticed by Ryder who felt her inner bookworm awaken. "Have you read it before?”

The book was rather thick, the number of pages usually scared people away… and by people, I mean "uncultured lads" who didn't like reading. The cover of the book was bit damaged even though the title "The Ashen Soul" looked as good as new and the pages felt old to the touch from the overusing. There were stick notes and bookmarks every few pages.

Aiden shook his head and flipped through the pages before stopping randomly on a stick note and read it. "What are these for?”

Ryder felt her cheeks heat up. "Oh… I just like the writer's style. I like to note down the phrases I like."

"MH." Aiden flipped through the pages a few more times before closing the book and giving it back to her. "So, how have you been?”

Ryder “?” Is he okay? Is he feeling unwell somewhere? Ryder had to fight the urge to check if Aiden was having a fever. "…Fine, I guess."

Aiden rested his chin on the palm of his hand, his head titling a bit. The green eyes were twinkling, the lazy smile looked so dazzling, her heart skipped a beat and Ryder felt her ears turn red. The young man in front of her was too handsome. "You look a bit tired."

"It's nothing…” Damn it… her voice came out a bit hoarse. Ryder looked away, and failing to clear the throat without making it too obvious.

"Do you want to hang out sometime?”

Excuse me, what?

Her mind went blank for a moment.

"You hang out only with that boxer girl, right?” Since her father owned a boxing gym and she had the bad habit of getting into fights, Jasmine had gotten the stupid nickname of Boxer Girl which much to Ryder's surprise, the girl didn't even mind. Quite the opposite actually, she liked it. "Why don't you hang out with me too? Having more friends is nicer, isn't it?”

"I don't…”

"Let's be friends."

Huh?

Ryder was at lost for words. Is it that simple? Just like that? One question and they can be friends? Is this… what-…. Huh?

The smile on Aiden's lips was too beautiful and soft, too friendly. It made it hard for Ryder to tell him that she didn't like socializing that much. How could she tell him no when he was looking at her like that, making her blush once more? "I… okay? I guess."

The smile grew bigger. "Great then. I will see you around." And with that Aiden stood up and left.

What just happened? Why isn't prince charming turning into a goblin or frog?

For the rest of the day, Ryder's thoughts were messy and tangled with each other like a ball of yarn being played around by a very energetic kitten. On one hand she was overthinking what happened in the cafeteria and how should she act with this newly made friend of hers and on the other hand, Ryder couldn't help but keep her ears open, trying to find a specific voice among hundreds of male voices in the hallways and classrooms. It was a very pathetic strategy. Voices are the first thing of a person to be forgotten and she didn't even see the face that stranger so there was no way of finding out who he was. Still… Ryder couldn't shake the feeling that she had heard that voice somewhere before.

When she was back home, after a long hour of convincing herself that what happened last night was a one-time thing and two hours of procrastinating by doing homework, Ryder finally grew some balls and walked out to the backyard to continue with the making of her drafting table.

The place was like she had left it last night, the saw still on the ground from when she had thrown it away before running inside the house like a madman. Still a bit hesitant and harboring three teardrops of fear in her heart, Ryder got into work. After a while her body relaxed and things were back to normal, as usually. Music played on her phone, coloring the messy backyard with sweet rhythmic notes carrying different emotions. Ryder's dark hair flew with the rocking of her head, a serene smile lifted the corner of her lips as she from time to time mouthed the lyrics of the song without noticing it, the sky turned dark, stars filled it like little fireflies everywhere. The lights on the backyard were on, but the girl didn't stop working.

Just as the voice of the singer died down as the song "When I was young" by MØ ended and when Ryder plugged in her nail gun, a voice came from behind her. "What are you doing?”

The voice scared her so much, a high pitch squeal came from the bottom of her heart as she jumped back in fear. The nail gun shoots a nail that firmly nailed down on the ground just two inches away from her foot. With her body trembling, Ryder turned to the direction the voice came from, wanting to aim the nail gun to that person but didn't dare to in fear of accidentally killing him.

The young man from yesterday stood behind the fence, only his crossed arms and his head resting on them peeping out of it. His figure was hidden by the darkness since this dumbass forgot to change the light bulb.

"What are you doing here?” Her voice shook as she asked. With swift moves Ryder grabbed her phone and stopped the music. Her eyes glanced at the time. It was midnight. When the hell did it get so late?

"I wanted to apologize for last night." The young man said.

“Apology accepted. You may leave now."

"MH." The young man muttered. For a second, he seemed like he was going to leave, yet before Ryder could have the chance to sigh in relief, he stopped moving. "What are you doing?” The young man asked again.

"If you're not leaving, I'm calling the police." Ryder pathetically threatened. Her voice shook and her hands trembled, making her demeanor not look as threatening as she wanted it to be. Damn it man, what's wrong with this man? Why is he back? Who the fuck returns to the "crime of scene" to apologize?

But if he was able to find the house again… doesn't this prove that he wasn't drunk last night?

Ryder didn't know if this made all this situation scarier or not.

"I'm just curious."

I'm curious too as to why do I have such a damned luck, but you don't see me complaining, do you? Eyeing up the man, that part she could see that wasn't behind the fence at least, Ryder sighed in relief. He wasn't intruding this time… this was a good thing, right?

"It's a drafting table."

The young man sounded surprised. "You're doing it from scratch?”

"Yeah…”

"Amazing."

Ryder waited for him to leave but the young man just stood there, not moving as if he was waiting Ryder to continue working. She could feel his eyes on her. With none of them moving nor saying anything, the atmosphere transformed from a scene from a horror movie to an awkward scene that caused horror to the asocial Ryder that didn't know how to handle small talks. What is this shit?

Maybe it was because the young man didn't sound that dangerous, his voice sincere, or maybe because she didn't sense any hidden intentions, but most likely because she wanted to satisfy her curiosity as well, that made Ryder ask the young man. "Why were you crying last night?”

Hidden from shadows where Ryder couldn't see him, the young man's body tensed, his body suddenly feeling heavy. "Sometimes tears can ease the pain in one's heart." He answered with a sad tone.

Ryder frowned. This dude sounds smart. Smart people don't just jump on other people and carelessly kill them, right? Coming to such conclusion, Ryder managed to relax a bit. For some reason those words sounded familiar… she must have read them somewhere…

The awkward silence fell on the heads of the two people again, one in the light and one in the dark, both with gazes fixed on each other.

Seeing that the man wasn't going to leave for the time being and since he didn't seem like he had any intentions of harming her, Ryder decided to satisfy her curiosity a bit more. "Are you from this neighborhood?”

"Pass."

Ryder raised an eyebrow. What the… is this a game? She tried her luck again. "What's your name?”

"Pass."

"Are you from Rosevale High School?”

"Pass."

After the third "pass" Ryder turned red from frustration. "Why did you break into my backyard last night?”

"I was running away."

"From whom?”

“… life…”

"That's doesn't explain why you jumped over my fence."

The stranger sighed. Whatever… might as well tell her. "Some guys wanted to beat me so I tried to find somewhere to hide."

How dumb is he to jump into someone else's backyard that had lights on? But then again dealing with the owner of the backyard sounds better than getting beaten up…. Okay he might not be that dumb… just a bit.

"How do you know me?”

This time the stranger didn't right ahead answer but hesitated for a bit. "We have crossed paths a few times…”

She has met him before? Ryder was flabbergasted. That would explain why his voice sounded familiar. But then again… as asocial as she was, the number of guys she had talked to could be counted with the fingers of one hand. Yet for the love of God, she had no idea who this guy might be.

With his eyes focused on her face, seeing her cute confused expression, with the corner of her upper lip lifted a bit and head titled on the right like a little kitten, the young man's eyes softened and his lips curved up in a gentle smile.

"When?” Now she HAD to know who this guy was. By the look of it he wasn't going to tell her anything so she might as well figure it out herself.

The young man shrugged. "It has been a while, hasn't it?” Ryder could hear the smile on his voice, his tone sounding as if he was thinking at loud.

"Can you give me another hint?”

The young man surpassed a chuckle. What a curious kitten. "Why do you want to know?”

Ryder angered, raising her voice. "Isn't it obvious? All this isn't normal. I want to know who you are."

The young man lowered his head that was still resting on his crossed arms, and bit down on the back of his hand as he pondered over it for a moment then with a voice sounding so innocent and serious, sounding almost as if he was pouting, he asked. "Isn't it nicer when some things are left a mystery? Reality can be bitter, you know?”

Ryder was taken aback by his words. She wanted to disagree, but wasn't this exactly how she felt about trying to get to know her crush? She wanted to be shameless and just go against his words, but she didn't want to betray herself like that, to betray her own notions. In the end, all she could do was to agree.

"Ignorance is sweet sometimes." Ryder admitted. "But this time it's bittersweet."