Ch. 10
The rest of the day goes on uneventfully. I arrive home, seeing my dad on the way in. He is beaming.
"Hey, Dad. Good day at work?" I question.
"Yep. We fixed the prices. Go ahead, check yours!" he says excitedly.
I do, and it is back to its normal $694. Perfect! This is awesome. I don't know why I was ever worried. Of course the company could handle it.
I send Dad a quick smile and run up to my room. I am working on homework when I remember our partner project. I check the due date on my Tab, and I realize that it is due tomorrow! Oh man, with all of the drama recently between Kaden and me, I completely forgot about the project!
I quickly send Kaden a message, "Come over. We need to work on the history project." Minutes later, I receive one back, "Dang it! Sorry I forgot. I'll be over in a bit."
As promised, Kaden shows up soon, and we work on our project. Within a few hours, we have a car that isn't that great, but it'll work.
"I'm really sorry that I forgot about the project, Brin," he apologizes again.
"It's fine. I forgot, too," I respond, "and now we have a project, don't we?"
"I guess that in the end, we got it done, and we are still good, so that's what matterrs," he says.
I smile and give him a quick kiss.
"You know, we really should tell our parents that we are together," he mentions.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just scared for how they'll react. Can we tell them another time?" I suggest. Well, more like plead.
"Whenever you're ready," he answers.
He's so sweet and caring. I couldn't ask for anything more.
After a bit longer, Kaden goes home and I go to bed. When I check my price again just in case, it remains at $694. I'm so glad that this was sorted out. I sleep soundly and without dreams for once.
The next morning, I wake up and move over to my makeup table. I curl my hair loosely, and I apply eyeshadow that starts white towards the inside of my eyes and fades to a nice purple as it goes out. My lips are a light pink, only a little more colored than natural tone.
I wear a pair of very tight jeans and a purple cami with a white sweater over it. The sweater goes a little past my hips and has lace-like tassels. It reaches just over my elbows. For shoes, I choose light brown heeled boots that come a little over my ankles.
I hug my parents goodbye and leave towards the shuttle stop. When I turn onto a busier walkway, I run into Ryder, on the way to the hovershuttle, like me.
"Hey, Ryder," I greet.
"Hey, B," he uses Kaden's nickname for me, "It's alright if I call you that, right?"
"Well, actually, that nickname is kind of reserved for Kaden," I answer honestly.
His jaw clenches at the mention of my boyfriend. We walk in awkward silence for a few moments before he grabs my hand.
"Ryder?" I question.
"Yes, that is my name," he responds.
"Why are we holding hands?" I ask.
"Because we like each other and are in a secret relationship, obviously. And as far as I can tell, your boyfriend isn't around," he replies.
What?! I am not a part of some private relationship away from Kaden!
"You were basically asking for this when you told me you didn't like me yesterday. By the way, great acting. I was almost fooled at first, and you definitely tricked Kaden," he continues.
I shake myself from his arm, which is now snaked rather low around me.
"I am not in any sort of relationship with you other than a platonic friendship, and there is absolutely no way I would ever cheat on Kaden. I don't know what you are talking about, I meant all that I said yesterday. You can have me as a friend or not at all," I firmly state.
"Playing hard-to-get, are you? No matter, you'll be mine soon," he says as he begins to walk away.
I hadn't realized that we were nearly at the bus stop already.
"Oh, and you had better not tell anyone about us or fail to comply to me, or you'll have serious consequences. Or should I say your special lover-boy will," he whispers at the last second.
I quickly walk away. I don't know what to do. I can't cheat on Kaden, but I can't let him know about Ryder or one of two things will happen. One: he freaks out and hurts Ryder, getting him in trouble. Two: Ryder finds out I told him and he gets in trouble.
I suppose that I only have one choice as of right now, and that is to go along with Ryder's messed up, psycho plan until I find a loophole.
I never would have thought that Ryder had this side to him. I am honestly very scared.
"Hey, B," Kaden greets, and I plaster on a fake smile.
"Hi, Kay," I return, but the smile doesn't reach my eyes.
"What's wrong? And don't tell me that it's nothing, because I know you too well for that," he questions, demanding yet soft and caring.
"I'm just nervous for our project, that's all," I lie.
He sees right through it, I'm sure, but he just nods and accepts it for now. White lies between us generally mean something like, "I have something to tell you, but with the circumstances right now I just can't."
We ride to school only making small talk, and that is fine with me. On the way, I check my wrist again. Still normal.
History class goes by, and, as expected, we totally mess up our presentation, but who really cares? I personally think that we did very well for how little time spent on it.
I need to ask the teacher a question about some school events coming up soon, so I decide to stay after class a few minutes. I tell Kaden to go ahead to lunch, and I'll meet him there.
I finish speaking with the teacher very quickly, and I am almost to lunch when I am jerked into the same closet that Kaden pulled me into during lunch when I became his girlfriend.
Assuming it is him, I say, "Hi, Kay. Not that I mind missing lunch, but why are we in a closet again? Does this have to do with this morning?"
"What happened this morning, hmm?" not-Kaden responds.
I clamp my hand over my mouth.
He can't know that I tried to tell Kaden, can he?
"You didn't already spoil our little secret, did you?" a sneering Ryder asks.
"N-no," I tell him.
"And will you?" he questions.
When I don't respond soon enough for him, he barks out, "Will you?!"
"No," I state, a bit more confident in my answer this time, even though it is a lie. I will tell Kaden, but I am unsure when or how.
"Good," he simply replies, before releasing the grip on my arm that I forgot he was holding. That is going to bruise.
Before I can focus too much on that, though, he backs me up against the wall and pins my hands above my head.
"What are you doing?" I ask, now scared.
He just smirks.
"You used me without a care, so I figure that you won't mind if I do the same to you," he responds.
Then he pushes his lips onto mine. I remain still, and my eyes are wide open, although his remain closed. He pulls away.
"Is that any way to treat me? I expect you to be responsive when I kiss you. Try again," he commands.
He presses his lips to mine, and I answer back with my own slightly. I don't want to, but I fear for myself and Kaden if I don't. Tears roll down my face. His lips aren't kind, they are rough, and he bites me too hard, almost making me bleed. His hands are rough and cold. One still pins my arms above my head, and the other keeps my head from turning away. I struggle to escape, but it is no good. He is too strong.
I am lucky when he pulls away a few seconds later and tells me to go clean up before the end of lunch. I have no idea what he is talking about until I make it to the restroom. My makeup is smeared, and tear marks line my face. I do the best that I can to clean myself up before lunch ends, and nobody seems to notice when I enter fashion.
During class, I receive a message on my Tab from Ash and a similar one from Kaden. I open a group message and send to both of them that it took a lot longer than I had expected to talk to the history teacher, and so I just had time to make it to fashion after that. Not the most believable lie ever, but it'll do the job until I figure this out. By the time that they realize that I wasn't there, I will have told them what is going on.
For now, I just have to think about how to get out of Ryder's trap. I still can't believe that he is the horrible person that he has revealed himself to be now. He seemed like such a nice person.
At the end of the day, I ride home and collapse onto my bed. After a few seconds of trying to clear my mind of the day's events, I take off my shoes and get into a yellow robe with my initials in orange, ignoring my homework.
It is only afternoon, but I cry myself to sleep.