Chapter 47 Power I hold over Ryder
Uriel's POV
"Uriel, can I talk to you?" Coach Ben stopped me in the hallway.
"Yeah, sure."
He sighed, "you see, it's about Ryder. He's been slacking ever since you stopped coming frequently."
"He has?"
"I don't know but you have to get him back on track, Uriel. He can hit it with this swimming. The guy is very good. At least, if he's not in basketball, he should be here." The coach adviced.
I nodded in agreement, "yeahhh... I'll see if I can talk to him."
"Thank you. I know he'll listen to you." The coach smiled
"I wish." Scoffing, I rubbed on my arms.
"You don't know the power you hold, Uriel." And he left.
I stood there for a while, trying to process what he meant.
Power I held?
Over Ryder?
Wait a minute...
Were we portraying what we were not?
That guy doesn't like my guts. Neither do I.
We just happen to get along sometimes.
"Hey Uri." Someone placed their hand on my back. I turned to find Lance smiling at me.
"Oh, hey Lance." My lips widened into a smile.
"You...you look beautiful today." He blushed, his eyes sparkling with admiration.
"You've been throwing a lot of sweet words at me, Lance. You can't be falling in love with me, right?" I teased. He tensed up, panic evident in his eyes. "I'm kidding. How can you not love me anyway. I'm your Uri."
I hooked my arms around his, walking side by side with him.
"So..."
"Do you think Ryder and I are giving off much?" I felt Lance grow stiff under my touch. When I raised my eyes to look at him, his face was neutral.
"Giving much, as how?" His voice was hard, losing its cheerfulness.
"I don't know. Let's say, portraying to be best of friends when we're obviously not." I chuckled, shaking my head. "Coach thinks we're close and wants me to talk to him."
"Why? Must it be you?"
"Exactly my point!" At least someone gets me.
"Don't do it if you don't want."
I sighed, shaking my head. "I'd have to. If that's the only way I can appreciate him for everything he did for me."
Lance halted, turning to face me, "look, you would've still dealt with Chase even without Ryder. He just...you know, added a cherry on top."
"A very important cherry. What are you saying?" I raised my eyebrow at him
He scrubbed his face with his palm harshly, blowing out steam before looking at me, "I'm not fond of him yet. You shouldn't be too. He causes trouble, remember? I ... I just want you to be safe from trouble."
Sure, I had entered trouble most times because of him.
But somehow, it didn't last for long. He took care of it some times, or most times?
I don't know
But Ryder wasn't all that he was portraying to be.
He was still not my type though. Just for clarity sake.
"If you're scared of me liking Ryder, you should actually not be. He's not my type and I'm not his. We just... need each other. In an academic way." I shrugged, pulling him so we could get to class.
"I hope it stays like that forever." Lance muttered.
When we got to the door of the class, Lance held me back by my arm. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"I was thinking we -" He swallowed hard, his eyes jittery. "It's been long we ..."
I don't know if he completed his statement but when that familiar cologne hit my nostrils, the hairs on my arms stood.
Impulsively, I spun around, searching for him through the sea of persons that entered into the class.
"Ryder!" I yelled, waving at him. "We need to talk. It's about school!"
He paused his steps, looking at me from few miles away. His eyes darted to me back and then to me again.
Then he rolled his eyes, tapping his finger on his earpod. I stood there with my mouth open.
"It's his audacity sometimes!" I cussed under my breath, eyeing his retreating figure.
I shouldn't be surprised as he had been doing that lately - avoiding talking to me.
He only stared at me with a scowl on his face and passed me like I was invisible to him.
He never returned my smile or graced me with a reply to my questions.
"Can you imagine that - Lance?" I searched around for Lance but couldn't find him. "Poor boy, I wasn't paying attention."
Pouting, I entered the class. Lance threw his face away, a frown on his face.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I just needed to talk to him about the coach thing." I placed my hand on his
"Did you see the way he ignored you? Seriously, you should give it a rest. The boy doesn't care." Lance snapped, making me flinch back.
"Okay?" I nodded slowly, taking my hand back to myself. "I get it."
"Uri, I didn't -"
"Okay class, take your seats!" English Lit teacher clapped his hand.
My eyes shuffled between my regular desk and that of Ryder's.
I would just try again. I said to myself.
So, I threw myself on the chair, next to him.
He raised his eyebrow at me, removing his earpod.
"What? I didn't see anyone here." I shrugged, placing my bag on the desk.
He rolled his eyes, facing the teacher.
A long, weak sigh escaped my lips. My eyes would constantly shuffle to meet his face. His jaw was tightly locked and eyes, deeply focused.
Whenever I turned away though, I felt his eyes on my skin. But that could be a product of my imagination.
So I scribbled down, 'are you mad at me?' on my note, pushing it to his front.
He looked down at it, pushing my book back to me.
Yeah, he definitely was.
So I scribbled down, 'what exactly is my offense?'
He sighed heavily, pushing the book with much more force. His eyes on mine - dark and gloomy?
I played with my pen, wondering if I saw correctly.
Why was he gloomy?
"You know you can talk to me if you need someone to talk to." I said to him in a low tone.
He didn't respond.
"Coach Ben is worried about you. He said you've not been practicing. When do we start? You should really take this swimming seriously since you know you can play Basketball because -"
"Can you stop talking?!" Ryder's voice echoed loud in the classroom, making the teacher grow quiet.
He narrowed his eyes at me, folding his arms. "Ryder, Uriel, detention after this class. Don't interrupt me again."
I bowed my head on my table, "Great."