CHAPTER 8
Ryan shut her locker door closed, and came face to face with Lela's own, making her appearance an unexpected one as always. She sighed and moved her head backwards, resulting in a giggle from her friend.
"Damn it Lela, you need to stop doing that!" Ryan exclaimed, trying and failing to seem angry
"But it's so fun to see you getting all fired up!" Lela replied, pushing her braids to her side, "Plus, as your only friend, I have the right to do as I please without a consequence.
Ryan rolled her eyes, and laughed. Her statement, while blunt, was absolutely true. Aside from her, and the occasional talk with Karlie – Lydia ran off whenever Ryan was anywhere near her within a 10 meter radius – Ryan was a loner in Tree Hill High, partly because she wanted to focus all her energy and time in passing her AP courses, and partly because ever since the party, Marcie had taken action in antagonizing her with all the student body. While most of them ignored to do so and were distantly amicable, the small but loyal group of plastics who conformed Marcie's entourage made sure to harass her with constant dirty looks and gossip. As expected, she was a bit of the talk of the town, 'cause the truth behind her sudden arrival to Tree Hill was kept a secret; some of the rumors said she was the lovechild of Nathan Scott, some said she was Haley's daughter, and some were even as surreal and as stupid as their inventors were.
"Earth to Ryan! I hate it when you space out like that, c'mon!" Lela's whining got her out of her thoughts.
"Sorry," she apologized, walking down the hallway next to her. The bell had rung some minutes ago - time for the lunch break, - so the outdoors was crowded, and it was a tough task to get a space to eat in peace. "What's your rush anyways? It's not like we'll be able to get a good table."
"Honey haven't we established to not question my actions? C'mon they're waiting for us," Lela pointed to a table located in the center of the cafeteria, and Ryan stopped in her feet. Sitting in the table were Tristan, and Lydia, establishing a casual conversation. She growled.
"Lela, you know I can't sit there," Ryan told her, grabbing her arm, "If I do Dwarf Girl will have my head cut off before I get to say a simple hi."
Lela glanced at the two directions, and scoffed.
"Don't be a pussy Scott, and she'd have to be able reach your head in the first place, and last time I checked, you were over a foot taller," Lela's snarky comments about Lydia made Ryan relax a little. She knew she was exaggerating; even if her niece was a little spitfire, she was sure she could handle her; what really put her on edge was the fact wherever Tristan went, a certain beautiful brunet, green-eyed Beatle boy who hadn't dare to talk to her in over a month, followed also. The pair reached the table, attracting Tristan and Lydia's attention. Tristan smiled softly at both girls, while Lydia saluted Lela and barely acknowledged the other Scott.
"Tristy!" Lela squealed, hugging him by the neck, "We finally manage to sit together at lunch, did your football buddies and your nerd worshippers dump you already?"
"Please Lela Vanilla," Tristan mocked her; Lela gasped, and hit in the in the arm, "You're the one who feels so elevated from all of us you barely do something else than paint and spend time with Ryan," Tristan threw Ryan a side look, but his cheeky expression told her it wasn't serious.
"Hey, it's not my fault Lela Vanilla here has come to extremely adore me in such a short amount of time, am I right Lels?" she told the other girl, who just grimaced at the use of her disgusting childhood name. Damn it, Tristan.
Ryan sat beside Lydia, and took out whatever baked good Haley had packed for her in the morning, today it was a cinnamon bun.
"So Lydia Bob, do you know if we have to be home for dinner today?" she wondered, making sure her tone was friendly enough.
Lydia made the attempt to ignore her, but gave into the conversation, as she smelled the cinna-bun lying in the table.
"Dad's cooking tonight," she responded, uninterestedly, "I don't think you'd like to miss it, though, he's making his famous prime rib."
"The image of Nathan wearing an apron does sounds worth the afternoon, I never imagined he cooked."
"He did it a lot when we were young and mom had a lot to do in the studio… mind if I take a piece of your bun?"
Ryan grabbed her food and put it in Lydia's hand.
"Take it all if you want, I'm not hungry," Ryan told her, smiling tightly. It'd been ten minutes and counting of them interaction, and so far nothing had gone wrong.
Lydia took a bite and sighed; her mom made the best sweets ever.
"You barely eat, even at home," Lydia, commented, eying her aunt's skinny body, "Are you anorexic or something?"
Okay, the ten-minute mark was suddenly down to zero again, but Ryan was to at ease to put effort on being mad.
"I've never been used to eating a lot, niece-y," she answered, "Not all of us grew up with a full fridge 24/7," Ryan sensed the rest of the table lighten down with her words, so she added, "But hey, that way I just need a little bit of gym time and bam! Iron abs!"
After an awkward silence, a deep, seductive voice broke filled the air.
"I can't complain about your weird eating habits then, can I?" Jude Baker made his triumphant entrance, coming out of the teen crowd that swarmed the school's yard, "'Cause that body? Damn it."
Ryan held back her instant snarky remark, and instead walked towards him, stopping to leave a considerable distance between the two of them.
"Is my body always in your thoughts Beatle Boy?" she wondered, earning some giggles from Lela, "'Cause, y'know, if it's so difficult for you to control your libido I can just gift you some pictures, and that way you won't seem like a drooling fool every time you see me."
Jude scoffed, rolling his eyes at Ryan, and sat down with Tristan, who, same as Lela, laughed at loud.
"Damn, Scott! I adore you," Tristan exclaimed, "Please don't ever stop saying things like that okay? Dude, you have definitely met your burning match."
Ryan blushed a bit, and tried poorly to hide it, getting noticed by Jude, who smirked, and turned to Lydia.
"So Bob, what's up with Logan?"
So far, Ryan had seen her niece being happy, being somber, and being a bitch, but she'd never seen her get so red and nervous as she became in that exact moment.
"What's up with who now?" she asked nonchalantly, taking a sip from her drink.
"Um, Logan Evans maybe? As if you knew anyone else with the same name," Jude said, not noticing the uncomfortable look Lydia sported, or the lack of perkiness in Tristan's face regarding Lydia's reaction.
"Oh right, that Logan, what about him," she quickly responded, twirling a strand of her curly hair.
"Well I overheard a certain Brooke Davis talking on the phone to aunt Quinn and pointing out the fact that even though school already started Logan's been down here at least twice in the past two weeks, and well him being your cousin I thought…" Lydia interrupted Jude abruptly.
"Okay first, I'm not someone up for gossiping because I don't care for other's dirty laundry as much as you do, and second and most important, he's not my freaking cousin, got it? Good." The petite brunette finished her ranting sharply, stood from the table, and left everyone wondering what had gotten to the tiny spitfire this time around.
"Okay someone forgot to take her Xanax this morning," Lela mused, changing everyone's attention towards her.
"I didn't know she hated Logan that much," Jude mentioned, "Last thing I knew they got along just fine."
"Maybe she actually feels the opposite of hate towards him," Ryan added, earning a scowl from Tristan, and another scoff from Jude.
"You think Lydia likes Logan? That's impossible, I mean, he's her brother's best friend, and she's practically his little sister, they grew up together… oh," Jude finally realized the meaning behind his words, and cracked a grin, "Damn it, Lyds got the hots for him! Oh this is great she's never gonna hear the end of this."
"I don't think it'd be a good idea to tease her about it, after all, she does seem kind of touchy about speaking of him," Tristan said, looking over the direction Lydia took.
"Well, I'll question my mom about it later, she'll spill the beans really easily," Jude said mostly to himself, and suddenly grabbed his phone, which wouldn't stop ringing. He answered in a second.
"Jude here. Oh, hey Mars, what's up… do I really have to? But it's my next week's only free period and you know how do I like to spend my free periods…. Oh,…. I see.. well in that case, count me in.. perfect, see ya," the brunet hung up the called with a pleased look on his face, and turned to Tristan.
"Guess who's the new judge for the dance team trials!" he said smugly, and Lela faked gagged.
"Another poor excuse for girls to lower their expectations and throw themselves at you," Lela replied, "Isn't it right honey... Honey?"
But Ryan had taken off also, looking in the poster board the singing sheet for the dance team trials, and decidedly, singing her name on the last place available, smirk in face, and the plan to humiliate Marcie in her own territory forming already in her mind.
