Chapter 50 Why do you like me?
Ryder's POV
I had let it go on for too long
And it had to end.
"Stop with the lies, Emma. We're not together." I confronted Emma, in the open.
At least, everyone would bear me witness this time.
She raised her eyebrow at me, walking carefully.
"What's this?" Her brows furrowed. "Hey, Uriel. Did you put him up to this?"
Uriel paused only noticing the commotion then. Her book was pressed to her chest and her hair wrapped up in a messy bun.
She looked out of it but yet, still killed the look.
Confusion etched all over Uriel's face, her brows furrowed.
"Leave her out of this. It's you who's the problem here." I glowered at Emma.
"Let me guess, this is your own way of breaking things off with me?" Emma yelled, a bit more dramatic.
I scoffed, tucking my hands in my pocket, "break up? There wasn't even an US."
Gasps erupted in the air, low chattering following suit. Emma's shoulder tensed up.
"That's not true. He's lying! We kissed."
I frowned, "can you prove that in court, Emma? Trust me, I can sue you for defamation of character. It's already terrible that I let you lie for this long to the mass but openly lying to my face? I won't condone that."
She swallowed hard. Then she lowered her voice, "You don't want to go down this lane."
"I openly denounce any rumor of association with Emma Kennedy." I yelled out loud before turning to face her again, staring pointedly at her, "I would never date someone like you, Emma. Not even in my dreams." I didn't even know why I was adding the extra details. "Only the less privileged hammer on overused leftovers."
A lot of 'ouuu' echoed in the hall way. I even caught Uriel covering her laughter with her book.
"You..."
"You've enjoyed the spotlight, right? Well, now's time to crawl back to your miserable hole, looking for the next top student to sell yourself to... For fame." I shooed at her to go.
My eyebrows raised up in confusion when she began to laugh. Then she walked up to Uriel.
"You know, I thought you were my sister." She eyed Uriel up and down. "You did this. You spoilt my name to him. What did you tell him?!" She screamed, holding Uriel's shoulders.
Was this girl okay?
Uriel's mouth dropped open, her eyes flickering to me in confusion.
"Oh I know." Emma chuckled. "You fucked him didn't you? You wanted to compete against me so bad, you fucked my - ow!"
A loud smack echoed, followed by loud gasp from the crowd of students.
Uriel's eyes were hard as steel. I don't think I had ever seen her that angry before.
"Did you just - ow!"
"Keep my name out of your mouth, Emma. That I haven't addressed what you did, doesn't give you the right to add more fuel to the fire." Uriel warned, pointing her fingers at Emma's face.
A small smile appeared on my lips, my boiling blood cooling off bit by bit.
"You'll see, Uriel. Just wait!" Emma screamed. Then she walked up to me, "and you. I was only trying to help you trend again after your downfall. I would never want anything to do with a loser."
"But you were riding Chase's dick." I scoffed, glaring at her.
"I... How..."
I placed my hand on her shoulder, leaning down, "I'd advice you walk away in shame." My voice was loud at first and then I whispered, "you don't want people knowing that you fuck our dear principal too and few male lecturers, do you?"
Her eyes widened, her shoulder stiffened.
I nodded slowly, patting her shoulder with a fake ass smile on my lips.
"Get out of here." I said with a strong voice. She turned away on her heels, shoving past Uriel as she ran away.
Uriel stared at me for a moment, her eyes holding a look of satisfaction.
I didn't know if it was satisfaction from smacking her sister in the face or from hearing the truth about Emma and I.
My legs moved until they stopped in front of her, "Swim practice?" I asked.
She nodded, a tight-lipped smile on her lips. It didn't look fake though.
Looked deliberate, like she was trying to suppress the real one.
We walked side by side, ignoring the stares we were getting from onlookers.
They could gossip all they wanted for all I cared.
"Does the stares affect you?" I couldn't help but ask.
"I'm so use to it, I see their eyes in my dream now." She tried to crack a joke.
"Real." I chuckled softly.
"So, you and Emma huh?" She spoke softly. "You never debunked it, you know? So, she wasn't entirely at fault too."
"You know, there's something I like about you." I blurted out before I could bite my tongue. My feet suddenly got stuck to the ground, my heart halting for a second or so.
"Hmm, foreign." She folded her arms, smirking. "Testing your vocabs, Connell?"
"Haha. Very funny." I rolled my eyes, resuming my steps.
"So tell me. What do you like about me, Ryder Connell?"
"You already ruined it."
"Oh come on! You're just shy now orrrr maybe, you just realized that you admitted that I'm such a likeable person and you're not happy about it." She taunted, rubbing it deeper.
"Leave me alone!" My pace increased, a small smile dancing on my lips as she tried to catch up.
"But I'm curious, you know." Uriel ran to my front, placing her hand on my chest, just right above the spot where my heart thumped.
We paused for a while, staring at each other - me, admiring how beautiful and smooth her face was and she... Well, I don't know.
"Your heart beats same way too. What does it mean?" She asked softly, placing her free hand on her chest - her book no longer in sight.
My jaw tightened, my head snapping back to reality. I shoved her hand off, glaring at her.
"Don't read useless meaning into meaningless things, Kennedy." My tone was hard, cold.
"Mr. Polar, is that you?" She rolled her eyes.
Polar?
"What's that? Polar?"
"Why do you like me?" She raised her eyebrow at me
Because you're very smart
And beautiful
And talented
And outspoken
And cool to talk with.
"Actually, I don't."
"And I'm Coach Ben." She chuckled, walking away. "Just admit I'm very likeable, Ryder. You won't die!"
She wished.
"Was thinking you both were having a separate meeting of your own." Coach Ben shot at Uriel and I when we opened the door to the arena.
"Sorry, Coach." We both said simultaneously.
"We're traveling to Holland for a competition next week. So we have to practice until we pass out. It's win o'clock." Coach Ben said.
Oh fuck.
"Ryder, Uriel, come here for a second." He beckoned at us, leading us to a corner. "Think you can stay together in a room? It'll help with cost."
"What?" We both yelled simultaneously, our voice high pitched.
"Great, thanks for understanding." Coach patted our backs, leaving us to ourselves.
We slowly turned to each other, our face morphed into a horrified expression.
"Ahhh!!"