Queen of the track

IX

Chapter 9.

Gray

          Ryan looks up at me as he closes his locker. There are still a few students walking in the hallway to their next class since the late bell hasn't rung yet, but I focus my attention onto him.

"What the hell, man?" I say, stepping forward with my eyes narrowed and quickly assess him. He doesn't look injured in any way, just calm and casual like he did before, maybe a bit more tired though. "Where've you been?"

"What's your next class?" He asks me when the late bell rings, disregarding my previous question.

"Spare." I tell him quickly. "Seriously, I was—"

"So do I." Ryan nods, cutting me off. "Let's go."

He starts to walk away, as if his brain is registering what I'm saying as completely different words. With a frustrated huff, I stay quiet and follow him out of the main building and over to the quad.

There are a few people sitting or lying in the grass, soaking up the remnants of the late September sun. Ryan leads us over to a vacant bench and sits down, setting his bag onto the grass.

I follow his actions and sit across from him, folding my arms onto the table. "Are you gonna tell me where the fuck you've been all week?"

Ryan suddenly looks uncomfortable and doesn't meet my eyes. "Home."

"Home?" I repeat, raising my eyebrows. "You've been at home? Weren't you the one that said you're behind on work?"

"I had a friend e-mail it to me." He shrugs.

"Thought you didn't have friends anymore." I say to him, watching as he smiles a little awkwardly.

He nods slowly and looks up at me. "Look man, I appreciate the concern, but I'm good."

I furrow my eyebrows, wanting to pester him with questions, but allow him to continue.

"And this thing I got with the Mitchells is my own, okay? No need for you to get involved."

I scoff, "too late for that. They started on me before they even saw me with you."

Ryan frowns and looks away, watching a group of Sophomores sitting on the grass. "There's a party tomorrow night. You wanna go?"

I couldn't help myself, I laugh. "Seriously? You tell me not to get involved with you, I watch with eighty percent of the school as Mountview's resident bitch humiliates you, then you disappear for three days and come back acting like none of the above happened by inviting me to a party?"

Ryan chuckles lightly, "pretty much."

I look down at the table and think for a moment. "If I say yes, will you tell me what's going on?"

"Nope," Ryan shakes his head. "Like I said, my own problem."

I nod at him. "Yeah, well I've got my own problems with them."

"If that's the case, maybe you shouldn't go to the party after all."

"Why?" I frown at Ryan who suddenly looks suspicious. "The party's at their place?"

He shakes his head, "Jonah Price's."

"Who?"

"A friend of ou-their's." He shakes his head a little, and licks his lips. 

"If he's their friend, then they'll be there." I say, ignoring his slip up. "You want to confront them or something?"

"Look," Ryan's tone changes, "do you wanna go or not? 'Cause I am."

I sigh and nod, "yeah. Yeah, I'll go."

At least I'll be able to stop Ryan from doing anything that'll end with him needing to go to the hospital, and maybe I'll be able to find out some more answers.

Ryan and I exchange phone numbers and agree to meet at my place tomorrow night. I decide not to question him anymore about where he's been as it'll probably just annoy him—something I don't actually want to do.

"So," he says when we sit at our 'usual' table in the cafeteria during lunch a couple of hours later, "where'd you move from?"

My eyebrow rises. So I'm not allowed to ask him questions, but he can ask me?

"Boston." I reply, sticking a fork into my salad.

"Wow." Ryan quirks an eyebrow in surprise. "That's far."

I nod, "yeah."

"How come you came to Mountview?"

I force the corner of my lip rises up. "What's with the twenty questions, man?"

Ryan shrugs. "You ask me questions."

"You never answer them."

"I'm not forcing you to answer," he counters. "I'm just asking."

I look down and nod, then glance back up at him. "My mom's a nurse. She got a job promotion up here."

"So she just packed you guys up and moved?"

"Pretty much." I shrug. "I didn't really mind. Boston's a little ... demanding."

Ryan frowns but thankfully doesn't question me further. "Uh oh," he says after a few minutes, looking over my shoulder. "Besties are here."

I turn to head to see Raven and AJ walking into the cafeteria with another guy—the one who was glaring at Ryan the other day—all of them heading to the counter to buy food.

"That's Jonah." Ryan points at the guy standing with them, he and Raven laughing whilst AJ shakes his head at them. "What?" Ryan asks me with a small smile. "Are you surprised that 'Mountview's resident bitch' can laugh?"

I turn to him and shrug, "kinda."

"They're not that bad, man." He shakes his head. I try hard not to scoff at him.

"Seriously? You're suddenly defending them?"

Ryan looks down at his food, not actually eating it. "Force of habit, I guess," he says quietly.

I suddenly feel pity for the guy. I have no idea what happened, but it's obvious that he was once close to the Mitchells, but now it's been taken away from him. I look back over to them, watching as they join their other friends at the table, and convey whatever joke Jonah had said, causing them all to laugh.

Turning my attention back to Ryan, I decide to lighten the mood a little. "So, what work do you need help with?"