Ryder is looking forward to his first glee club meeting.
Even if half the members are weirdoes who spend way too much time wearing superhero costumes.
Afterwards he can't help but feel a bit dubious. Finn's idea of a Foreigner theme seems a little odd.
Xxx
The second time he attends glee club, Finn assigns him to sing a duet with Jake. Now he really wonders whether he made the right choice in joining.
As he leaves, Jake approaches him in the hallway, tells Ryder they should just bail. It's a ridiculous idea, Ryder thinks. Sure, he may not want to work with Jake at all, but the actual assignment seems pretty cool. He's already put some thought into it, tuning out while someone performed, and he's decided on his superhero name.
The two of them stare each other down for a bit, waiting to see who will change their mind. Jake relents first. 'I'll pick the song,' he announces forcefully. 'We can learn it for ourselves and just wing the performance.'
'Anything to avoid spending time with you,' Ryder tells him.
'Yea,' Jake sneers in agreement. 'It would be a tragedy if I actually beat you up properly this time.'
Xxx
The moment that Jake's fist connects with his face, the music stops. Finn is quick to dismiss the rest of the group, hurrying them out the door. Marley lingers at the door a moment, worried, looking between the two.
As Finn leads them down the hall, Ryder begins to freak out. They're being taken to the principal's office. That's the only possible explanation. He's gonna get in a whole lot of trouble and it's all Jake's fault.
He glares over at Jake, who turns after a moment, as if feeling the heat burning from Ryder's eyes.
'This is all your fault,' Jake insists. 'I told you we shouldn't perform.'
Ryder is about to respond, but he's distracted by Finn stopping at the door to the auditorium. Well, that's a pleasant surprise. Or at least, he hopes it is.
Xxx
Ryder sits in front of the tv but doesn't pay it any attention. He's too busy thinking about Finn's kryptonite lesson. What the hell is he supposed to tell Jake? There's one obvious answer, the one thing that seems to affect every moment of his life. But there's no way he could go through with that. No, Jake would definitely use it against him. By the end of the day it would be around the whole school. Everyone would know how stupid he was. Everyone would judge him. Life wouldn't be bearable if he told Jake.
This is a ridiculous assignment. Why would he want to tell Jake about a weakness? Why should he have to tell Jake? He already had a whole arsenal of weapons to use against Ryder. By telling him this, he would just be giving him one more. Another piece of ammunition. And there is no doubting that this one is so much more powerful than anything Jake had so far.
A new thought occurs to Ryder. He would know Jake's kryptonite too. He would have something to use against Jake. So when Jake tells the whole school, Ryder could just return the favour. Or he could pre-empt him, do it first. Or he could use his piece of knowledge as blackmail, keep Jake from divulging his secret.
Ryder realises that he's looking forward to finding out Jake's weakness. To being able to hold something above Jake. But also, something that makes Jake seem less threatening.
Then again, Ryder thinks, Jake hadn't wanted to do the last assignment. There's even less chance that he'll want to go through with this one. Yup, he's pretty sure that Jake isn't going to tell him anything. And if that happens, then Ryder doesn't have to share anything either. It's a reassuring thought, and Ryder finds himself calming down instantly.
Xxx
Of course, Jake would surprise him and actually go through with the task, Ryder thinks as he plods through the halls. And of course, he'd forced something out of Ryder as well. Although, he hasn't heard any whispered rumours yet, no one is side eyeing him suspiciously. Maybe Jake hasn't told anyone yet. Maybe he's just saving it up.
Ryder is kinda surprised the effect that knowing Jake's weakness has had. His perspective of Jake has changed slightly. He'd always assumed that Jake thought he was too cool for friends, that he'd pushed them all away. But now it's clear that Jake desperately wants those friendships, wants to be liked. He can tell that Jake is hurt by the comments in the hallway, saddened by the fact that he doesn't belong. It makes Jake seem more human. Ryder can't help but feel sympathy for him, and he wonders if it kinda makes Jake likeable. Actually, under different circumstances, Ryder thinks they might have actually been friends.
As Ryder turns a corner, he spies Finn in the distance, waiting for him. He wonders what he wanted to see him for, and hopes that he hasn't set another assignment for him and Jake.
Xxx
Ryder can't believe that Jake told Finn about his weakness. At first, when Finn had explained it to him, he couldn't believe it because it felt like such a betrayal. Yea, so he had been expecting it to happen, but it didn't make it hurt any less.
But now he's had some time to think about it. The word 'dyslexia' has had some time to sink in. He realises this isn't such a bad thing, to have this knowledge. Actually, it's going to be handy. In time, he's going to be able to overcome it, work through it. He'll be able to improve his reading. With the right techniques in place, school won't continue to be so impossible.
It turns out that Jake actually did him a favour. He hadn't thought it possible, but he now realises that Jake had his best interests in mind. Jake was helping him out, which really doesn't fit in with the guy that Ryder knows. Maybe he'd been wrong about Jake all this time. Maybe Jake actually is a good guy. Maybe they'll actually be able to get along. Maybe Ryder could be the friend that Jake has been looking for.
Xxx
As Phil and Bobby and the rest of the jocks disperse, Ryder guides Jake over to an empty table.
'Look man, I think we need to talk,' he explains. 'We kinda got off on the wrong foot.'
Jake nods his agreement. 'Yea, you're right. And thanks for coming to my defence. It means a lot to know that someone has my back.'
'Of course,' Ryder tells him, waving it away. 'Um, I just wanted to apologise for misjudging you. Helping me out with the dyslexia thing, it made me realise that you're not the jerk I assumed you were.'
Jake pokes at a bit of potato. 'Turns out I was wrong about you too. Like seriously, Marley flirted with you, and I suddenly thought you were the worst person in the world.'
Ryder is about to comment when the girl herself arrives. 'Hey guys, what's going on?' she looks confused as she sits down.
'Can't two friends eat lunch together?' Ryder asks, glad that Marley gave him the chance to offer this olive branch.
'Yea but – Wait, are you two friends now?' She squeals in excitement. 'My two favourite guys are friends. Now we can finally be the Three Musketeers.'
'Seriously Marle?' Jake asks. 'You couldn't choose a cooler group to model ourselves after?'
'They're classic, Jake.'
'So are the Three Stooges,' he replies.
Ryder got lost by this conversation a long time ago. 'Wait, who are you talking about?'
Jake looks at him incredulously. 'Have you seriously never heard of the Three Stooges?' Ryder shakes his head. 'I'll have to send you some YouTube videos. And maybe at some stage the three of us can watch a couple of their movies.'
Xxx
Sam somehow organises for the glee club to do graffiti clean-up on the Sunday morning. Ryder, Jake and Marley all agree to go. It's fun, Ryder thinks, hanging out with his friends, chatting and laughing as they paint.
It gets a whole lot more fun when a paint fight breaks out. He's not sure, but he thinks that Marley might be the one who starts it, spattering a whole lot of paint on Jake. Ryder laughs, but at the same time the two of them are communicating silently, planning on ganging up on Marley together. As she turns around, Ryder dabs at her nose, cracking up as she goes cross-eyed trying to see it. At the same moment, Jake draws a smiley face on her back, which Ryder sees as she whirls back around. Ryder goes to flick paint at her, but she steps out of the way at the last minute, and he gets Jake instead.
Suddenly, they're no longer on the same team. They're fighting each other instead. They jab at each other with paintbrushes, rollers poised in their spare hands. Jake rolls a long line of paint up Ryder's front, and he counteracts by swiping down the side of Jake's face. It's fun, fighting like this, all the animosity gone. It's different, and now Ryder actually likes being this close to Jake. The adrenaline is pumping not from fear, but from enjoyment.
By the end, they are just using their hands, paint sliding along whatever exposed skin they can find. Ryder feels the slight stubble of Jake's jaw scrape against his palm, the flexing of a bicep as he slaps a handprint there. Caught in the exhilaration of the moment, every feeling is amplified.
