Disclaimer: I own nothing. Absolutely nothing. I apologize in advance if you feel like too much happened off-screen between the last chapter and this one.

Author's Note: We're getting to the end, folks! This should be wrapping itself up in 2-3 chapters now. It got a little bit hard at times thanks to RIB and their ability totally kill Ryley feels, but it's looking like there's hope again! We're all in this together, and you guys have been awesome for sticking with this story.

Chapter 11

Ryder Lynn was confused, to say the least. Little did he know that, by the end of the day, he would only grow more and more confused.

Practicing their duet for Regionals with Marley was kind of awesome. They still avoided talking about anything even remotely personal, but they were having fun. They'd spend the whole time dancing and laughing at silly things the other would try out during rehearsals. They would end up warming up using various other songs they loved, which for Marley meant a lot of Disney songs that led to debates similar to the one they had had at Breadstix on that disastrously boring date with Angie. Additionally, Jake and Marley were still talking, but their interactions were noticeably less flirty.

Unfortunately, Marley still hadn't said a word to him about how she was feeling or what she wanted from him, and Ryder, not wanting to break any more promises after the consequences of his actions on Valentine's Day, didn't dare push her. Spending so much time with her made it harder and harder to push his feelings away, even as, at the same time, his feelings for his online girl were growing.

Ryder spent most of his time at home messaging Lily these days. Their conversations were fun and lighthearted, and they had a lot in common. Jake and Kitty were continuing to nose around in his business and read as many messages between the duo as they could, especially once Lily had agreed to be his prom date, but this only made Ryder feel embarrassed. Both of his friends were quick to point out the similarities between Marley and Lily, whether it was in regards to their love of girl-power songs, their desperate need for help recognizing brand names on Icomania, or their conviction that they were most similar to Belle from Beauty and the Beast. There was also that Hunger Games obsession, but Ryder tried to tell them they were being ridiculous. He didn't need to be reminded that he was still crazy about Marley, and it made him feel a little bit pathetic when he actually thought about how similar Lily was to his (sort-of?) best friend.

Ryder and Lily had been having a particularly awesome talk about football endzone dances the night before (okay, so maybe that topic had come from his dance rehearsal with Marley, but who cared about ther details?), and he was looking forward to getting home to chat with her when two things derailed his day. First, Marley asked him if they could have another rehearsal after school that Wednesday. Ryder thought that they were pretty epic already on their duet, but he didn't want to pass up on a chance to hang out with her, either.

The second thing was that Kitty grabbed him on his way to study hall that afternoon. He was walking past the choir room when a black-clad arm reached out and pulled him by the collar through the door.

"Do you have to do your psycho-ninja act on me all the time?" he asked crossly, rubbing his neck, which had a slight cloth burn.

"Cancel your prom date with the Online Abomination," Kitty said, a wide smile on her face. Ryder rolled his eyes - since Ryder still hadn't seen a picture of Lily, Kitty had convinced herself that this girl must just be some ugly chick. She hadn't, however, deemed her to be a total creep - she said those were mostly people who had fake-looking pictures, who were unable to provide a second picture that looked just like the first.

"What? Why? I thought you said it was good that I had another date so that Marley wouldn't think I was still pining for her," Ryder protested, confused by her demand. She seemed to have done a 180 in the past 48 hours since he had first gotten Lily's reply.

"Because Little Honey Boo Boo needs a date, now that Jake asked me," Kitty said. She did her best to try to act smug, but she couldn't contain her own excitement, and a real smile broke through. Ryder's heart dropped. For months he had kind of day-dreamed about what it would be like to have Marley as his date to a dance, but that had kind of gotten crushed when she had asked Jake to the Sadie Hawkin's dance. He had sort of hoped prom would be his second chance, but after the way the past few weeks had played out, he had been convinced it would just be another night where he had to watch Jake and Marley make googly-eyes at each other.

"I - but - Lily..." He protested. He was suddenly a lot less excited about the prospect of going with her, but he also wasn't the type of guy to abandon someone he had made a promise to, either. Plus, Lily seemed really cool so far, and Marley had still shown no interest in him... Why did life have to suck so much for him sometimes? Talking to Marley was definitely easier - it took him ages to type responses to Lily because of his dyslexia - but once he met her, maybe the two girls would be on a level playing field. Maybe he really did just need to give up on Marley Rose once and for all.

"Oh, please. She probably is going to look like a whale in her prom dress. What's wrong with you? This is your chance! This is what you've been pitifully singing about every time I turn around for ages," the blonde persisted.

"You caught me singing once!" he protested, and Kitty just laughed at him.

"Key word - caught you. I'm sure you've gone through every mopey unrequited love song you could find on Google," she said scathingly. Ryder ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.

"I can't just ditch Lily! I made a promise to this girl, and she's been really cool. And just because Jake doesn't want Marley - how did that happen, by the way?" Ryder lost his train of thought midsentence, looking at Kitty expectantly. "Did you do something to sabotage this for her? You promised you wouldn't play dirty or do anything that would end up hurting her."

"Who, me?" Kitty put on a mask of innocence. "Relax, Bieber-hair - I played by the book on this one. I did everything I promised you I would. It just seems that Jarley wasn't meant to be."

"Since when did you give them a couple name?" Ryder said, resisting the urge to make a gagging noise.

"Oh, please. We're part of the most incestuous glee club in North America. Everyone has a couple name. Your brother told me that one day the old members just sat around and listed all of them. You and Marley are Ryley, by the way - sounds much cuter, don't you think?" Kitty teased. Ryder tried not to blush as he was temporarily at a loss for a witty comeback.

"What does that make you, Kake?" he said when he regained his composure.

"According to Brittany's script for her post-prom episode of Fondue for Two, we're Jitty," she said with a shrug. "Not that I care," she added with a forced air of nonchalance. Ryder was kind of psyched to see her bitch-face come down and be replaced by a look of pure joy that he hadn't seen since he met her, but at the same time, he was torn. Marley still seemed so happy when she was around him lately - guarded, but happy - but apparently she and Jake had broken up. He had no idea when that had happened or how he had missed that development, but he couldn't help but think there was a reason she had hidden it from him.

"Look, Kitty - I need to go get some studying done," Ryder said, turning towards the doorway.

"You're running away," she pointed out, and Ryder didn't even deny it. His thoughts were jumbled, and he had no idea what he should do - he was trying so hard to finally get over Marley, and it sucked a lot that she had never bothered to tell him how she felt. Part of him wanted to ask her, but part of him still felt so tentative around her and Jake that he didn't want to screw things up again for all of them.

"Congratulations - I'm really happy for you," he called over his shoulder as a final thought as he headed towards his normal spot in the library.

Ryder had hoped to find some peace and quiet in the library, but instead Jake was sitting there waiting for him. Sure, they had been hanging out again and were back on decent terms, but Jake wasn't the type to sit around waiting for him. Instead of waiting to see what he wanted, he figured he'd just cut to the chase.

"So you're taking Kitty to prom," the brown-haired boy stated it half as a fact and half as a question.

"Sure am," Jake said, smirking a little bit.

"So you – I mean – when did you and Marley break up?" Ryder asked, confused.

"Dude, we never really got back together," Jake said, shrugging.

"But you guys were hanging out and talking. You were getting all possessive about her not doing the duet with me in the first place. I thought…" Ryder protested.

"Nah, dude. I was just pissed off at you. We were trying to figure out a way to still be friends, but pretty early on I realized that, even if she did for some reason choose me, I couldn't be the right guy for her."

"Why's that?" Ryder questioned.

"Well, I started to get a little bit suspicious of the fact that Kitty was following her around everywhere – I thought it was some new form of sabotage. Like, she was that desperate to get me back from Marley that – " Jake began, and Ryder shook his head.

"You have this opinion of her, and yet you're still taking her to prom?" he chuckled.

"Not the point. She makes me laugh. And she's totally hot. Besides, as you well know, she wasn't up to anything awful. You're the one that asked her to tail Marley every time she went to the bathroom," Jake chided.

"So what does any of this have to do with what's going on with you and Marley?" Ryder tried to contain his curiosity, but he was doing a bad job. He had been dying for some news of how Marley was feeling about the situation with him and with Jake, but aside from occasional reports from Kitty and the things he (probably somewhat creepily) observed for himself, he had respected her need for space and had tried to leave her alone, at least as far as her personal life was concerned. They had been getting along and having fun working on the duet, but Marley had still never addressed their personal situation, and he had been focused on talking to Lily, anyway.

"I never would have thought of that, man. It never even crossed my mind that she wasn't okay. To keep an eye on her and make sure that she doesn't try to hurt herself again... I'm not the type of guy who knows how to really, really take care of a girl like her," Jake admitted.

"It's not your fault – she wanted you to think she was okay. There's nothing wrong with you for not noticing," Ryder assured him. This rekindled friendship with Jake was too new, too delicate – Ryder didn't want to be anything but completely supportive lest he end up on the receiving end of that Puckerman right hook again.

"Yeah, but you knew. Plus… you'd never make her feel that way. Like she needed to do that to keep you around," Jake muttered. His words were quick and quiet, and Ryder had to really think about them for a moment to make sure he had heard them correctly.

"What do you mean, I'd never make her feel that way? You wouldn't make her feel that way, either," Ryder said, trying to keep a questioning tone out of his voice. He wasn't trying to accuse Jake, but his stomach had dropped a little bit.

"The day before we admitted that space really just meant we were done, Kitty caught her – you know – about to…"

"What?! What good is having someone keep an eye on her if she doesn't – " Ryder exclaimed, but Jake raised a hand to shut him up.

"Dude, do you want me to punch you in the face again? Just let me finish talking," the other boy said in as joking of a tone as he could muster in this situation.

"Not particularly," Ryder admitted, trying to stay casual. "So what happened?"

"So Kitty followed here into the bathroom and caught her trying to duck down by the toilet. Apparently she did some kind of psycho cheerleading kick that Coach Sylvester taught them to break locks with, and she confronted Marley about it. It's not like she does it consistently, just when she feels overwhelmed and not good enough. And when Kitty asked her to fess up, it seemed kind of like all those instances coincided with whatever was going on with me." Jake hung his head a little bit, obviously feeling very guilty. Ryder could barely contain the anger that was coursing through him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ryder demanded. "What kind of shit did you say to her?" Ryder knew that he was breaking his promise to keep his cool and appease Jake, but seriously? How could he be so casual about the fact that he made Marley feel like she needed to throw up?

"Dude, chill. I know it sounds bad, but I never put her down or anything like that. I always tried to tell her she was awesome and make her feel special; even if I sucked at it, she knew I was trying. You knew I was trying," Jake reminded him. "You know how Marley is, though – she's always had this screwed up idea that she's not good enough for me. She thinks I'm better than her, and like she has to change herself to be like the girls I was with before. I think she's always been worried that I would abandon her the first time someone skanky walked my way, and I don't know how to make her stop feeling that way." Ryder wracked his brain for something to say; he could tell that Jake legitimately felt ashamed of himself, and he knew it really wasn't his fault.

"I'm so sorry, dude. For what it's worth, you seemed like you were doing a pretty awesome job with the boyfriend thing," Ryder admitted.

"Ha – I appreciate that attempt, man, but most of my best stuff was all you. You don't need to pretend that you're disappointed about things not working out with us; she was never gonna be as happy with me as she could be with someone else. She just didn't want to lose me completely, so I think she held on longer than she should have until I realized on my own that we weren't gonna make it," Jake said.

"With me, she was kind of infatuated. She liked the idea of the reformed bad boy, this guy that she got along with really well that made her feel special but was dangerous at the same time. But you – she's still got the special thing, but she feels safe with you. Even now, when you've barely been hanging out for acouple of months, she still knows that you'll always be there for her, at least as her friend. I was too unpredictable; she didn't think I would stay around if she admitted she wanted you," Jake concluded.

"Who said anything about her wanting me? She hasn't talked to me about what's going on either, you know. I told her I was giving her space to figure out what she wanted; if she wants me, she could have told me by now," Ryder pointed out.

"Dude. You're so blind," Jake rolled his eyes.

"What?" Ryder asked cluelessly.

"You know what I think about your whole situation," Jake said, dramatically waving a hand at the computer that Ryder usually logged onto during his study hall.

"Will you give it a rest? I'm sorry if you seem to think that Lily is just an exact clone of Marley, but that has nothing to do with how Marley feels about me. Maybe it makes me pathetic, okay? Is that what you wanted me to admit all this time? That I can't have Marley so I found someone who loves all the same things as she does? In case you forgot, they're all things I'm really into, too. That's why Marley and I get along so well. Because she's the only person in this school who won't judge me for having a Charmander stuffed animal in my bedroom. She's the only girl I know who thinks it's cute that I have Superman bed sheets still. She's the one person who gets that sometimes I just like to start dancing around doing the YMCA for no reason. Can you really blame me for wanting to find someone else who appreciates all that stuff?"

Jake gave Ryder a glare that made him feel like he was clearly missing the point, but Ryder pulled a book out of his backpack and indicated that he had no interest in further conversation.

"Squirtle's totally cooler than Charmander, dude." Jake couldn't resist, and Ryder glared at him.

"Okay, okay. I'm shutting up now. But you know, Marley's not planning on getting a date to prom – she told me she was going with friends," Jake said, making air-quotes, "If that means anything to you."

"It doesn't. And that doesn't sound like you shutting up. I don't know what you're getting at, and I don't want to know," Ryder insisted, opening his homework to pretend that he was going to get work done, even though he knew he would just spend the entire period dwelling on what could have possible happened if he had just waited a little bit longer for Marley.

There's no point in wondering – she just wants to go and have fun with Unique and forget all about me and Jake, Ryder thought to himself darkly, barely even noticing that Jake was still hovering over him. He looked up and acknowledged his presence with a grunt of agitation.

"Seriously, dude. What?" Jake just smiled.

"Just wait 'til prom – you'll see," the darker boy said mysteriously before finally leaving Ryder to his not-so-peaceful thoughts.

Thank You for Reviewing Chapters 9 and 10!

Lady Emily and Guest: I'm glad you guys feel like Jake is a more well-rounded character than before! I don't hate Jake, I just really think he and Marley have no chemistry together, and Ryder is such a sweetheart! Hopefully you liked the turn of events here!

Chapter 10 Guest: Haha, you predicted it with the Jake asking Kitty thing! I couldn't resist throwing in a little bit of Jitty because I think they're adorable! And I'm sorry for killing the Ryley feels last chapter – I wrote this right as mine finally came back, so I promise I'm not steering them too far off in the wrong direction!

Maiqu: Thanks for reading! I'm glad you're enjoying the story :-D