Chapter 10: Ryder and Remy and the Awkwardness in the Air

Midnight left before midnight…

There was nothing to do in the backyard now that he was gone, so Ryder went up in her room. Only then did she realize how tired she was. This day had been so long and it had exhausted her physically and mentally. The bed felt like a bliss descended from heaven, yet as Ryder laid down, sighing in pleasure, the phone in her pocket rang.

There was not need to check who it was, for who else but Jasmine would call her at this time?

Ryder threw the blanket over her body and only then did she answer the phone. "What's up?”

There was a lot of noises coming from Jasmine's side. She must be somewhere crowded. Ryder could barely listen Jasmine as she answered. "I have good news and bad news." She sounded cheerful, but her tone was somewhat strained. Noticing this, Ryder who was just starting to drift into sleep, opened her eyes, sleep flying out of the window.

"Did something happen?”

"MH." Jasmine said, the voice barley heard as it blended with the noises and voices of the place, she was in. Where the hell is she at this time? "So do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

Ryder rolled her eyes. Was it the time to play such childish games? Just spill the beans, why beat around the bush? "Good news first."

"I won the fight."

“…”

Did this thug get into a fight in the middle of the night? What was she even doing outside at this hour? Who was the idiot that was courting death at this hour? "Jaz… who did you fight with this time?”

Jasmine laughed awkwardly. Her laughter rang in Ryder's ears awakening an urge to slap the idiot in the face for getting herself in trouble. "I was at the supermarket with Eddie and Fred."

“At this hour?” Ryder narrowed her eyes at the ceiling since she couldn't do that at Jasmine. Suspicion was clear in her voice even though she knew Jasmine wouldn't lie at her. She never had lied to her. This little muffin thug didn't even hide anything to Ryder and told her everything, every single thought and feeling, without holding back. This was mostly because Jasmine had noticed that if one didn't straightforwardly tell Ryder what they wanted or meant, most of the time the words would miss the mark when they were related to her. As a result of the events of years ago before the two girls became friends, Ryder had become too oblivious towards the subtle meaning of what people said or did to her, completely missing the point, which is also why Aiden's attempts so far had been in vain.

Understating this, Jasmine didn't hesitate to tell Ryder everything so she wouldn't misunderstand anything and to be on the safe side, even if it wasn't related to Ryder, she would still do the same thing. This was mostly because Jasmine wanted Ryder to know her as she was and understand her personality so again Ryder wouldn't misunderstand anything.

"We were craving for banana ice cream and popcorn." Jasmine enunciated as if this one sentence would explain and justify all of her actions. Ryder just couldn't fathom out who would be so desperate to die to pick a fight with Jasmine when she was with her brothers. Wait a minute… did she fight with one of her brothers? "So, we all snuck out." Jasmine continued.

"And?”

"And then we went to the supermarket, bought the things."

"Jaz, get to the point."

"Don't interrupt me!” Jasmine huffed. "When we left the supermarket, those three guys from back then that bullied Remy… you know… you zapped one of them half to death…”

"I DID NOT!” Ryder blushed in the darkness of her room.

"Whatever… anyway, those three had brought along some other guys and wanted to 'teach us a lesson'."

“…”

At this point Ryder didn't know how to feel. "How many of them were there?”

Ryder could hear the big grin on Jasmine's voice. She was literally beaming; Ryder didn't need to see her to know. "Six."

“What the fuck?” What the hell was wrong with these people? Ryder didn't even want to think if they intended to pick a fight with Jasmine alone, six against one, or if they intended to only beat up Eddie, again… six against one. After all Jasmine had told her that she would let Eddie handle things with those three dumbos. No matter how she thought about it, it was still terrifying. No one could handle six people alone, unless they were the Rock or something. It was fortunate that there were all three of them together, Jasmine, Eddie and Fred.

Jasmine chuckled. "So, we brawled. And I must say it was a grand victory. I don't think they will pick on Remy anymore."

"Are you okay?” Ryder asked anxiously.

"Ah… about that…. That's the bad news. We're at the hospital now." Jasmine said casually.

"WHAT?”

That would explain the noisy environment.

"It's not that serious. Eddie broke his nose, but this is nothing since has broken it before. This is the fifth time. He said he's trying to break a record or something, I don't know." Is… is that guy mentally stable? WHO THE HELL TRIES TO BREAK SUCH A RECORD? "Fred broke two fingers, but he told me to tell you that he's dying so you would come to visit him."

"JASMINE! TRAITOR!” Fred's voice roared through the phone as Jasmine giggled like a four-year-old kid. There was some swooshes, thuds and grunts mixed with shouts and giggles. Fred was cursing at Jasmine, probably trying to grab the phone off her hand, while Jasmine fought for the right of her phone. "Why did you tell her that!”

"Like she doesn't know how you are."

Jasmine had told Ryder that Fred had a crush on her, but Ryder didn't pay it no mind, since Fred had a very playful and dramatic personality. He would make a fuss of everything and declare love to everything he found beautiful, cute or delicious. Which means she declared love to puppies, cats, random girls, pizzas, donuts, cakes… the list was too long.

"How are you?” Ryder asked again.

"I'm fine. I just dislocated my shoulder and broke a few fingers."

"DON'T SAY IT LIKE IT'S NOTHING!”

“It's really nothing. Anyway… this is not why I called you."

Ryder furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and worry. What else happened?

"I'm not coming to school tomorrow so I need you to look after Remy."

"Remy isn't a kid. He can take care of himself." Ryder glared at the ceiling. This moron. She is already in such a state and still has the nerve to ask me to stalk Remy.

"But I don't want him to be alone. And I don't want you to be alone as well. Please~”

Ryder rolled her eyes and nodded with a sigh. "Okay, fine."

"Don't tell him what happened. He will feel guilty."

"What should I tell him then?”

Jasmine thought about it for a moment. After a while a smug smile appeared in her face. "Tell him I died."

Ruder: =_=

"Like hell he will believe that."

"Then tell him that I'm angry at him and don't ever want to see his face."

"Jaz…”

"Hm?”

"You can't play hard to get when you're the one chasing after him."

Even though she said those to Jasmine, the next day Ryder kept her promise. Or at least tried her best to do so. She didn't have any classes with Remy so it was impossible to keep an eye on him during class hours. Still, Ryder didn't want to break her promise and so the first thing she did when she went to school the next day, was to find Remy.

Since Jasmine had made it a habit to spurt out random information about Remy, it wasn't that hard to find him. But there were no way things would go as smoothly as Jasmine had imagined. Ryder had no idea how to start small talks, and Remy had no desire to be around anyone. This resulted in Ryder just watching Remy from afar, feeling like a creep and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Whenever it was possible, Ryder would mutter a hi at Remy, who would just nod once before going in his merry way.

Remy didn't have any bad impression of Ryder. Actually, he didn't have any impression at all since he had met her just twice. All he knew was that this girl had some sense in her brain and would help him escape Jasmine's claws. As for what happened back at that Saturday, he didn't know what to think of it. At least Ryder didn't throw punches at random?

Still, for both of them, it was a bit weird to just suddenly start a conversation. What would they even talk about?

Ryder felt depressed. She was doing the best she could, but why did it feel like she wasn't keeping her promise to Jasmine?

Determined to at least strike one single conversation with Remy so she would have some face to show to Jasmine, at lunch, Ryder walked to the cafeteria with an expression that made her look like she was going to battle. Only after she had reached the cafeteria did she remember that Remy didn't eat there. So, she immediately turned around and left.

Since she was too focused on finding Remy, Ryder failed to notice Aiden who, after noticing her, rushed to her with a face full of smiles. However, just as he was about to call her, Ryder left without sparing him a single glance. The smile faded to nothing, his mood worsening. As if this wasn't enough, his friends came by his side to laugh at him.

"Is your charm not working anymore?” One of the friends, Greg, asked as he threw his arm around Aiden's shoulders while he looked at Ryder's back.

"Shut up." Aiden snapped at him.

"Is she trying to play hard to get?” The other one, Mike, wondered at loud.

Aiden shook his head with a frown. "I think she's just dense."

At this time, Ryder was walking down the hallways until she reached the running track. There she found Remy sitting on the stairs at the side of the track, munching on a sandwich. His backpack was thrown on the ground next to his feet. A book was opened by his side as he wrote down on a notebook on his lap, his eyes going back and forth between the two. His black hair fell over his eyes as he wrote and moved with the movement of his head.

Ryder took a deep breath and walked to him with quiet steps. When she was five steps away, Remy rose his head and looked at her. Even though Ryder understood why Jasmine liked him, she couldn't help but feel uneasy when being looked with those dark eyes with no warmth in them.

"Hi." She muttered and sat by his side.

"What are you doing here?” Remy returned his gaze on the notebook and took another bite from his sandwich.

Fuck! What should I say? Jasmine didn't prepare me for this.

Rubbing her sweaty hands against her legs, Ryder shrugged. And then silence fell upon them. The two both inwardly cursed, feeling awkward. Neither of them wanted to be there anymore, yet none of them left for some reason. After a while, Remy who had been tapping his foot on the ground anxiously, finally couldn't help himself anymore and asked. "Where is that moron?”

Ryder was taken aback. She didn't expect Remy to take the initiative to talk first let alone ask about Jasmine. As her eyes focused on his face. Even though his head was lowered as he kept writing down on the notebook and his hair covered most of it, Ryder noticed the tips of his ears turning red.

"Jasmine?”

"MH…”

Fighting the urge to chuckle, Ryder looked away from Remy. "She said she was angry with you and didn't want to see your face anymore."

With the corner of her eyes, Ryder noticed Remy's hand freezing above the notebook for a few seconds, before he got hold of himself and acted as if nothing happened. "Does this mean she will finally leave me alone?”

"I guess so…” After a while Ryder added. "She's pretty scary when angry. I remember the last time she got angry at me. The moron ignored me for a whole week, pretending I didn't exist."

This time it wasn't the hand that froze, but the whole body. Ryder cheered inwardly for Jasmine as she tried to surpass a smirk on her face. She didn't want to embarrass the poor guy, but he was really fooling no one right now. Jasmine was right. Little Rem Rem was really cute.

"That's great then." Remy said through his teeth.

"Do you really mean that?”

"What?” Remy looked up at Ryder but she wasn't looking at him.

"Don't you like Jasmine even a bit?”

Remy's whole face turned a nice shade of red immediately. Without noticing it, he was shouting. "WHAT IS THERE TO LIKE?”

Ryder bit her lip to don't chuckle. "I know she's too overwhelming sometimes, but Jaz really cares about you."

The redness of Remy's face turned darker. "WHY SHOULD I CARE?”

This time Ryder turned and looked him in the eyes. Then without saying anything, her line of sight shifted to the backpack on his feet. It was thrown carelessly and the zipper was open, the contents of it in full display for everyone to see. Inside it, Ryder had noticed the black wolf she and Jasmine made for him. When Remy realized what Ryder was looking at, his face had turned so red it looked even worse than Ryder's scarlet baboon ass case. With widened eyes, he grabbed the backpack furiously and hid it behind his back.

“Jasmine made it herself especially for you." Ryder smiled at him.

It was like whatever Ryder said, it would only make Remy blush more and more to the point he looked like he was going to explode. His dark eyes stared at Ryder the way someone looks at a ghost… terrified. Poor Rem Rem was scared of Ryder saying anything else and he wouldn't know how to handle it when he knew very well his face and voice would betray him.

Ryder on the other hand, decided to change the topic for his sake. The poor guy was so red, she was scared it might affect his brain. Besides… he reminded her a lot of herself. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to talk to him.

"Why do you hide your face?”

(Remy: IS THIS HOW YOU CHANGE THE TOPIC? HOW IS THIS FOR MY SAKE?)

Truth be told, Ryder was mostly curious because of Midnight. Maybe if she knew why Remy hid his face behind his hair, she would get a better understating of why Midnight did it. She was unaware that such question would make poor Remy uncomfortable.

"You are very handsome. I don't understand why." Remy wanted to perish be it himself or Ryder. As long as one of them did, it was fine by him. However, before he could throw another fit as a result of the overbearing embarrassment, Ryder continued. "I have a friend that hides his face, but I don't know why he wants to do that either…” She sounded like she was talking to herself, making Remy feel lost.

Both of them are weirdos, he thought. I thought this one might have been saner, but I guess I was wrong.

"…Okay" Remy dragged his voice and threw his things in the backpack, wanting to leave as soon as possible.

Right then Ryder thought of something. "Do you want to eat lunch with me and Jasmine tomorrow?”

"Didn't you say she was angry at me?”

"Oh…” Shit, I forgot about that. Ryder just thought Jasmine would like that. Besides after this conversation, she also didn't want Remy to be alone anymore. He was nice.

"She told you to tell me that didn't she?” Remy gave Ryder a blank stare, taking satisfaction in making her blush even though it was just a bit. The cognac eyes lowered in embarrassment.

Ryder: Fuck! I got exposed. I blame Jaz for this.

"I will think about it." He chuckled and left.