Chapter 4: Rhydian
After a few days of settling themselves back in, knowledge of the Smith's presence in the village had been spread around. The first person who noticed was Mrs Vaughan who found it especially suspicious when her foster son went out all day instead of staying upstairs drawing. This was a habit that he had taken to after Maddy had left.
Eventually, Mr Jeffries had gotten word and popped around to see whether Maddy would come back to school. Maddy's parents settled on the cover story that a distant family member had suddenly died and left a mess behind them, resulting in a lengthy legal battle over the will. With all that settled, she was starting back at school today.
After picking her up like usual, they ran through the woods to get to school. The past few days had been bliss getting to reacquaint themselves with each other and the surroundings. Running through the woods together felt like a dream come true that he never thought he would experience again.
They hadn't talked about the kiss before she had left. It was like there was a line that they were each too afraid to cross. Their actions had remained in the same friendly manner as before, yet at times a situation would occur when something clicked and they both became very awkward.
Maybe one of their hands would linger too long when they were passing something over, or when he would catch her when they were chasing through the woods, his hands would hold her a bit tighter around her waist. He often covered these up well with a small blush or chuckle and would move on, but Rhydian was beginning to find it infuriating.
As they arrived at the school, Rhydian found that seeing everyone's reaction to Maddy's return was hilarious. The Kay's seemed to simultaneously squeal and hurry over to find out the gossip as to why she had disappeared so quickly and without explanation. Whereas Jimmy and the boys feigned indifference as they strolled over, hungry for whatever information they could find in their relatively quiet village.
"Wow. Am I becoming popular now?" She joked at the surrounding crowd before settling their questions and doubts. While Maddy was preoccupied, Rhydian observed their classmates and took note of something that he found deeply troubling. The boys were looking at Maddy.
The problem was that they weren't looking at her in any way different than they had before, and usually would. It's just that Rhydian was suddenly more aware of it. It was like a voice inside his head was alerting him to competition, though he would usually never see it so.
He was more than aware that she had changed slightly over the last few months; with longer hair that framed nicely around her face, and a surety in her step that hadn't been there before. Recently, he had found that he often got sidetracked by just looking at her when they spent time together.
Rhydian did not like how Jimmy, Liam and their friends were looking at her. They were so blatant and did not really seem to be paying attention to what she was saying. Instead looking at her bare skin she showed due to the still warmish weather and from the heat she felt from the run.
Or that was what Rhydian may have seen them doing in the moment. But in actuality, they may not have been doing anything of the sort, as his mind was often playing tricks around Maddy these days.
Something forced him to act and he stepped closer to her, staring in a pointed way at the boys. This seemingly small gesture didn't seem to draw the attention of many people, yet the message was delivered loud and clear to those he directed his glare towards. She is mine. While Jimmy's eyes widened and he stepped back a bit, Rhydian suddenly realised what he had done.
Why had he done that? If Maddy had seen she would have been angry and would have made a point to mention how she was not an object. He agreed wholeheartedly. In the past when the gang had had movie night, he distinctly remembered the distaste he felt for the male characters who showed such sexist ownership of their partners. Yet here he was doing the exact same.
He caught eyes with Tom across the group and took notice of the questioning glint within his eye, yet before he could make any signal or motion back, Maddy was turning around and walking straight back into his chest. It was one of those moments again. He took in the slight tint of her blushed cheeks and the surprised look in her eye and grinned before moving out of her personal space. As he looked away he again caught Tom's eye, disgruntled at the smug smile he found there.