Chapter 3- Baseball games and human pains
Crawling over to the unconscious teenager, Ryan gently shook her awake, trying desperately not to scream as she rolled over and knocked her head against his ribs.
"Ryan?" she mumbled questioningly as she opened her eyes and blinked, trying to remove the fog which was affecting her sight. "What happened?"
The injured witch forced him self to ignore the pain as he extended his arm to help her sit up, his hand resting on her back in order to support her fragile frame.
"Some stupid drunk with a Halloween costume was playing with a lighter, the idiot nearly burnt his arm off." Ryan replied whilst shaking his head, figuring showing his disapproval would make the story seem more plausible. "Anyway are you okay? You hit your head pretty hard on the piano!" He continued whilst forcing him self to his feet, some how managing to keep his expression neutral, despite the erge he had to yelp.
He really hated lying to her, she was the only person who really bothered to properly talk to him, but he knew he couldn't tell her the truth, she wouldn't accept it, accept him! No one ever would! He preferred to lie to everyone than to have them hate him and more than likely join the demons in trying to end his life.
"Yeah I'm fine!" She replied as she took Ryan's hand and got to her feet, rubbing her temples as a wave of dizziness hit her.
"You sure? Maybe you should go home and rest!"
"No, honestly I'm fine! But are you? You're looking paler than usual!" Kelsi replied as she studied her friends face, concern written all over her own as she noticed his skin was almost grey and from the look in his eyes, he seemed to be in some sort of pain.
"I am? Hmmm, I think I just need some air! I'll catch you later Kel!"
Before the pianist got the chance to say another word on the subject, Ryan noticeably hobbled over to the door and yanked it open, knowing if he didn't leave soon, the girl would figure out that something was wrong, if she hadn't already.
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Walking past the main building, Ryan grabbed hold of his side and grimaced in pain, briefly wondering how he could explain his injuries to a hospital.
Quickly realising their was no possible explanation, other than he fell into a non existing fire, burnt his side and then got beaten up by a load of drunks, he instantly scrabbled the idea of getting some medical attention and decided to head back to the lake.
Walking though the gardens, he froze at the sight of his sister and tried to turn around and sprint in the opposite direction before he was spotted. Unfortunately, with all the bruises, he wasn't quick enough and the blonde girl easily noticed him.
"Ryan! Did Kelsi give you my message?" she shouted out, as she headed in his direction with her little groupies in tow, clipping her designer flip flops together as she did.
"Yeah!" He mumbled avoiding her attempts of making eye contact completely, still very much annoyed with the fact she had dumped him like that, it had confirmed everything everybody had always said, she was just using him until someone better came along.
"Oh goodie! That means I don't have to! Can you believe Troy has agreed to sing with me! I don't think this summer can get much more fabulous… now if only he'd dump that stupid geek, we could be together!" Sharpay continued her voice squeaky as she drifted off into her own little world."Sharpay and Troy, Troy and Sharpay it has a ring to it doesn't it!"
"No it doesn't for god sake get real Troy will never go out with you!" Ryan snapped, not in the mood for her little delusions about Troy Alexander Bolton, which was all that ever came out of her mouth.
As she opened her mouth to protest, Ryan just stormed past her, ignoring her screams completely, mainly because his side was still throbbing so he just didn't have the patients for her or her fascinations.
He just about managed to get around the corner of the gym, when another voice called out his name, only this time he didn't mind being stopped.
"Hey Ryan!" The voice called out, as a golf cart came to a stop beside him. The witch instantly turned around and gave a small smile as he saw a much more cheerful Gabriella and her best friend Taylor, grinning at him.
"You coming to the baseball game?"
"I'm not staff, I wasn't invited!" He replied quickly as he tried to unnoticeably put pressure on his side, which he felt was still bleeding.
"Everyone's invited!" Gabriella replied simply as Taylor drove forward slightly as Ryan began to walk away. "Come on get in!"
When Ryan made no attempt to move, fear over another demon attacking her keeping him rooted to the spot, Gabi began waving him over and repeated her previous statement. Seeing no way of getting out of it, Ryan reluctantly dragged his feet over to the cart and sat in the back, thanking his lucky stars that they couldn't see his face as his bruised back jolted against the seat as Taylor pulled off.
Gabriella's eyes however didn't leave Ryan as her friend began to drive, wondering why the hell he flinched as she started the cart off once again.
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Watching the cart pull away, two demons stood in the shadows, their long claws tapping against the building as they noticed the injury the sixteen year old had obtained.
"Defiantly Wyatt?" The slightly taller and younger looking creature questioned as his companion took a step forward.
"Oh yes! The skills he showed earlier proved that, only the twice blessed child has such abilities!" His partner replied as he scratched his scared face, with his claws.
"But demons have been after him for years! How have they not realised that Ryan is Wyatt?"
"His mother told the world he was dead my friend, no one suspected a thing and as far as anybody was concerned she wouldn't lie about something like that!"
"But she obviously did, seeing he was standing right there a minute ago!"
"Yes but it didn't take long for people, even the elders to suspect something was amiss, and lucky for us, he is currently unaware of the depths of his powers, meaning now is the prefect time to strike, before the lady of the lake calls him!"
The two demons nodded to each other, before shimmering out, today was going to be interesting indeed, the witch's strength was truly going to be tested, meaning they could watch from a distance and discover just what his weakness' really were.
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As the cart pulled up inside the baseball field, Ryan hopped out of the vehicle along with the two girls with a small smile, one which instantly disappeared as he was greeted by an afro wielding wildcat superstar and his team mates, who were looking far from impressed.
"What? Did Fulton send you out here to spy on us?" The leader, now that Troy had ditched them for some collage kids, called out.
"No actually my sister did, she thinks you guys are going to upstage her show!"
He didn't know why he said that, but the part of him which usually told him to shut up didn't seem to be working today.
"Well she doesn't have to worry! We were going to do the show, but Troy bailed on us, so whatever!" A dark skinned boy, who Ryan recognised as the one who had a major thing for Sharpay, replied as he appeared beside Chad.
"What do you mean whatever? It's our summer remember? We can still do the show!" Gabriella replied instantly, shaking her head as she glared at Zeke.
"And make a fool of ourselves? I don't think so!" Chad replied bluntly as he blew a bubble with his chewing gun, looking rather cocky.
"But if we have a real director putting it together it could be great!" Gabriella continued looking directly at Ryan.
The witch looked up at her at that, praying she wasn't talking about him, as much as he loved dancing and performing, the talent show was a week away and he didn't have the energy to teach anyone anything, especially the wild cats.
"I've seen what you can do Ryan! So why not do it for us?" she continued as she put a hand on his shoulder. Luckily for him, he didn't get the chance to reply as Chad's voice spoke up once again.
"If you want to play ball, then grab a mitt! But I don't dance!"
Once again, before he could stop himself, Ryan's mouth opened and he replied, in fact if he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that someone was having a lot of fun at his expense, pulling his stings like a puppet.
"You don't think Dancing takes some game?"
"You got game?" Chad asked, surprise evident in his voice as he raised his eyebrows, trying not to laugh.
"A little!" He replied with a shrug, okay so a little was a bit of an understatements, he was actually pretty good at baseball, his little league team had won the championships five years in a row… until he quit with his dislocated shoulder anyway. Saying baseball was the reason he nearly broke his arm, was the only thing Ryan could think of saying at the time… something which he really regretted now.
Seeing the referee throw the baseball bat in the air, Ryan found himself grabbing hold of the bat a second after Chad. Glaring with an amused smile, Chad put his other hand above Ryan's and smirked.
Ignoring the voice which told him to just walk away and that he was way to hurt to survive a game of baseball, Ryan's other hand left his side and hit the handle of the bat.
A series of ooing then erupted from everybody who was watching, as it became apparent that Ryan had not only challenged Chad to a game, but also had chosen to be a pitcher.
Someone who Ryan had never seen before quickly handed him a ball and glove as the rest of the teams ran off to get into position.
Walking over to the pitches spot, Ryan sighed as he turned around and prepared to throw the ball to Chad, knowing this was going to be one of the longest and most pain filled games he had ever played.
As the ball left his hand, Ryan squeezed his eyes shut as he bit his lip to prevent himself from screaming as his whole body was almost paralyzed by the twinges currently going though him …oh yes it was defiantly going to be a long couple of hours.
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Two hours later and the game was finally over and although Ryan's team ( not surprisingly due to his condition) lost, Chad asking what he would have them do in the talent show, showed Ryan that he had finally gained some respect.
As the wildcats jumped up and down in celebration of their victory, the witch unnoticeably slipped away limping towards the changing rooms. When he was finally inside, he collapsed onto a bench and banged his head against the wall. Why had he thought playing in his current predicament was a good idea? Now not only did his whole body feel like it had been chucked off a 50 foot cliff and landed on spikes, but after skidding along the sand to try and beat Chad to the base, his side was actually hurting ten times worse than before.
Holding his hand out, he instantly conjured four very strong painkillers and threw them in his mouth, not caring what the recommended dose actually was. After a few minutes of just sitting there, breathing heavily, Ryan reached towards his black shirt and peeled the material away from his skin. He instantly winced in an unbelievable amount of pain as the shirt rubbed against his skin, dreading what the wound would now look like.
His eyes instantly snapped shut as they landed on the energy ball burn, which was oozing green gunk as well as blood. The edges were all crispy and black, where as, the actual wound from what he could tell was a mixture of a deep purple and white. Finally doing the one thing he had prevented himself from doing throughout the whole baseball game, Ryan screamed as his whole body began to shake. He soon wished he hadn't opened his mouth though as he was unable to hear the sound of the changing room doors being opened, or the presence of another individual… that was until their voice yelled out.
"OH MY GOD! Ryan!"
Looking up, he saw none other than Chad Danforth walking towards him, his eyes locked on the wound Ryan had sustained, looking very much like he was going to throw up.
"How the hell did that happen?"
As quick as his weak body would allow, he dropped his shirt and shrugged at the dark teenager as, who instantly walked forward and sat down next to him, concern written all over his face.
"WELL?"
"Umm… I did it before the game, tripped over…. ended up pouring hot chip fat all over me!"
Chad instantly reached over and pulled his shirt back up, shuddering as he took a proper look at the gash.
"Dude you need to get that seen to!"
"No!" he quickly yelled, a little too quickly for Chad's liking, who raised his eyebrow, surely if what he was said was true, there was no reason not to get medical attention. "It's just a little swore that's all!"
"A LITTLE!" he repeated, shaking his head in disbelief. As if to prove a point, he reached over and gently touched the wound. As he did Ryan once again screamed, as he tried to choke back the tears that instantly threatened to fall. The basketball player jumped in shock at the obvious pain the boy was in, he had barely touched his skin.
Seeing a single tear roll down the boy's check as he squeezed his eyes shut, Chad stood up and walked into the toilets. Two minutes later he returned with a first aid kit tucked under his arm and a wet cotton towel in his hand.
"Take your shirt off!" he demanded as he set the stuff down on the bench beside the teenager.
Ryan instantly stiffened as he heard Chad's request, explaining his side was one thing, but the rest of his body? He'd end up looking like his parents were raging alcoholics with anger problems.
"No!"
"Oh come on! My dad's a doctor, if you won't go to hospital at least let me see to it!" the first- aider replied as he took a seat next to the witch.
"NO!"
"Fine then, I guess I should go and get your parents… and Fulton…" He didn't even have to finish his sentence before Ryan began undoing his buttons, and carefully lowered his shit so it slid down his arms, being extra careful not to wince as it rubbed against his badly beaten back.
As soon as it was off, he pressed his back firmly against the cold wall, determined, that, no matter how much it hurt, he was not going to let Chad see any more injuries than necessary.
As he anticipated, the dark boy gasped, and stared questioningly at his stomach and shoulder, which were both severely bruised, but instead of commenting, he got hold of the cloth and placed it on the blonde's side.
"Sorry!" he said instantly as Ryan jerked backwards, further into the wall as the warm towel touched the burn. "But I have got to get this cleaned!"
Grabbing some antiseptic burn treatment spray, Chad paused before he actually sprayed it, as he noticed how white Ryan's knuckles were going as he gripped the bench. He couldn't quite tell however if it was due to the pain he was expecting to happen or the pain he was already in.
"Tell you what… squeeze my hand! Because im pretty sure that poor bench can't take any more!" Chad joked, but held his hand out for Ryan to take anyway. The blonde teenager glanced at him and shook his head, tightening his grip on the wood. Chad rolled his eyes and grabbed hold of Ryan's wrist, pulling it with ease of the bench before taking his hand.
"Oh come on! I very much doubt you'd actually be able to hurt my hand! And if you do, I will stop spraying the stuff! Sounds fair to me!" He continued with a cheesy grin on his face, one that only he would be able to pull off. Ryan just rolled his eyes but stopped trying to remove his hand from Chad's nonetheless.
Grinning in victory the afro man started spraying the cream on his wound but instantly stopped as Ryan began shaking, despite the fact he was barley squeezing Chad's hand, but the witch's other one, the one still on the bench was going grey.
Deciding that it was obviously really hurting him, the basketball star, discarded the can and carefully placed a large bandage over the burn.
"Look, can I ask you something?" Chad eventually asked after he was finished seeing to the wound. If it was at all possible Ryan's face went even whiter at the thought of having him ask about the other injuries.
Taking his silence as a yes, Chad continued, looking the teenager directly in the eye, figuring it was the best way to get a straight answer.
"Why the hell did you play baseball? I mean you were obviously in a lot of pain… especially judging by your expression before… so why did you do it?"
Ryan visibly relaxed as that left his new friend's mouth, relived that he had decided not to ask about the bruising.
"Because im sick of people thinking I'm Sharpay's gay poodle and that all I do is dance. I do actually play some sports, I love baseball and even…" He paused as his voice trailed off, deciding he shouldn't reveal that particular hobby, especially to Chad. "Never mind, it doesn't matter, I just thought it was a chance to have fun for a change, and see what it was like to have people not completely hate me!"
"People don't hate you!" Chad replied, actually stunned by the sixteen year olds confession, Ryan always seemed to be such a happy person, always smiling, to hear him talk like this was just weird.
"Yeah, whatever!"
Wincing once again as he stood up, Ryan grabbed his shirt and put it back on, keeping his back to the wall as he did, however, he never saw Chad take his wildcat jacket off, that was until he felt something heavy appear over his shoulders. Glancing at the red and white coat in confusion, he was about to ask what Chad was up too, when the boy opened his mouth.
"I think you earned a wildcat title today!" He replied simply as he grabbed Ryan's hat and placed his own back on top of his head. "Now come on, we are missing out on all the food!"
Generally smiling, Ryan followed his new friend out of the changing rooms and down the rocky path, heading towards the barbeque area.
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As they mucked about and laughed on the way down to the party, they were completely unaware of another presence, standing on one of the cliff sides, watching them, a small smile on her face.
Staring at her son lovingly, Mrs Evans sat down on one of the many rocks and sighed, pleased with the fact her baby boy was finally joining in with his classmates. Her smile only widened as she heard him laughing at some joke, one of her staff members had said.
Hearing the same laugh she did all those years ago, she found her mind wondering back to the day she first met her son.
Flash back
Gripping hold of her husband's hand, Hannah Evans gently knocked at the big green doors and waited patiently for someone to answer it.
Today was the day they were finally, after much discussion, going to try and adopt a little baby and finally fill the gap which had been left by Alex's death thirteen months ago.
Watching the doors open, Hannah tightened her grip on her husband's hand and they both walked into the rather small building at the edge of San Francisco.
"Mr and Mrs Evan's I presume?" A small woman in her late thirties asked, holding her hand out to shake their hands. She was a rather scary looking woman, very tall, with rounded glasses and sleek black hair tied into a little bun on the back of her head, her face was almost hidden by her nose.
The two nodded and shook the social worker's hand, glancing at each other as they took in the building. It was almost falling apart, and had an eerie wet feel to it, it was freezing inside despite it being the middle of April, and the windows barley let any light though.
"So…" The woman said, not even bothering to introduce herself, as she led the duo towards her office. "You two are interested in adopting a baby, is that correct?"
Vance nodded as he sat down on one of the chairs, seeing the woman wasn't going to offer either of them a seat.
"Well from the file, you've passed all necessary tests with flying colours, so there shouldn't be any problems… would you prefer a girl or boy?" she continued, getting out her notes and spreading them across the desk.
"Well we were thinking a girl… a sister for our daughter." Hannah replied, as she studied the office, it wasn't the most welcoming of places that was for sure. It was as dull as dull could get, with very little colour, other than the books on a shelf behind her, and a small plant on her desk.
"And she is how old?"
"Two and a half!"
"Okay, well everything seems to be in order… the youngest child here, is currently six months old, she goes by the name of Ella, I'm sure you'll love her!" The social worker, who the Evan's assumed was called, Victoria, based on her name tag, continued, before getting to her feet and indicating towards the door." If you like to follow me, I'll take you too her!"
The two parents got to their feet and were about to head towards the door, when a flock of blonde hair caught their attention.
Sitting to their right was a small boy, not much younger than Sharpay, he had a teddy bear gripped in his hands and was staring at them in wonder with his electric blue eyes.
"Well hello there! And who are you?" Vance asked bending down so he was only slightly taller than the boy, in an attempt to appear less threatening.
"Oh that's Mathew, he was left on our doorstep about two months ago, he's been in a number of foster homes, but they keep brining him back, screaming about his blue eyes or something." Victoria answered barley looking at him, he had a habit of appearing out of no where, and she was past trying to figure out how he did it.
"WY!" the little boy replied as he folded his arms and glared at his social worker, his teddy still firmly held against his chest.
"That's all he keeps saying, hasn't said anything else since he got here! We're not even sure his name's Mathew, he had a piece of paper clipped to him, but he tore it up, we could only read the name Mathew." She continued, tapping her foot on the solid wooded flooring, indicating for them to hurry up and follow her.
"Well you're a little cutie aren't you Mathew!" Hannah said, crouching down next to the toddler, ignoring the social worker's impatient tapping completely.
"WY!" he repeated, stomping his foot on the ground. Despite this, Hannah still thought he was adorable, and the blue all in one suite with ducks all over it, just made her think he was even cuter.
"Ry?" Vance repeated, trying to listen to what the child was actually saying. The blonde boy instantly nodded and pointed to himself before saying the same word again.
Raising his eyebrows, he glanced up at Hannah and then over to the woman who was now texting on her phone.
"You sure he isn't trying to tell you his name's Ryan?" The male continued, but all he got in return was a wave from the social worker, who then turned around and wondered off.
Sighing Vance shrugged his shoulders at his wife before turning his attention back to the toddler.
"So your name is Ry?" he asked, to which he received a nod. "Is that your teddy bear?"
The blonde, who couldn't tell the difference between the sounds of some letters nodded and tightened his grip, if that was at all possible, on his bear, unsure of what to make of the people in front of him.
"Well I think he's really cute! I had a teddy bear once… but I didn't take good care of him and he lost all of his fur!"
Wyatt looked up at that, his eyes resting on Vance and then Hannah and then back to Vance. Then ever so slowly, he opened his mouth and allowed himself to smile, before giving the sweetest laugh either of them had ever heard.
And it was at that moment that Hannah knew, she knew exactly who she wanted to be apart of her family.
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Smiling at the memory, Hannah watched her son until he disappeared from site. Once she was sure he was gone, she turned around and headed back to the golf cart, deciding to head down to the spar and spend some time with her daughter.
Although Sharpay was technically seven months older than Ryan, they passed as twins easily, and she was determined it would stay that way for a very long time, her ducky was never going to know that his birth mother abandoned him, not as long as she had a say in it.
