The following day, Kitty was closed off from everyone, including Ryder. He tried talking to her before first period, but she brushed him off. "You're lucky I'm not six feet under, Ryder. My mom and dad were pissed when they found you in my room," Kitty said, shutting her locker and walking into her first period Spanish class.
Ryder entered Biology and sat next to Marley, the only person he knew in the class. "Hey," she said, so quiet Ryder had to focus just to hear her speak.
"Morning," Ryder said with the friendliest smile he could muster.
"So, uh, Tina told me she saw you at Kitty's house yesterday," Marley said, playing with the corner of her worn notebook.
Ryder's face fell, he completely forgot Tina lived right around the corner from Kitty. "I just wanted to talk to her about what she did yesterday, that's all," Ryder promised his good friend.
"Just be careful about her, alright? One second she's your friend and the next second she's suggesting you pick up an eating disorder," Marley said.
"She has some stuff going on her life Marley, that no one knows about it. I'm surprised she even told me about it," Ryder said.
Marley didn't look interested in what Ryder had to say about the girl who made her life a living hell the moment she walked into McKinley. "Whatever she has going on, doesn't make up for all the things that she does to us," Marley said, rather snotty.
Ryder had enough. He slammed his fist down onto the lab table, causing Marley to jump in fright. "Enough, Marley. Her life isn't perfect. Being a bitch is the only thing she has going for her at the moment. Cut her some slack. We all cut you some," Ryder said, then standing up and moving to another lab table to sit with a fellow football player.
Three class periods later Kitty found herself holding a tray of salad from the school's salad bar and a small oatmeal and raisin cookie. She took one step towards the lunch table which was occupied by the New Directions, but caught herself as soon as she saw all the death glares she was receiving. She quickly changed directions and started heading for the table where all the Cheerios and football players were sitting. She caught herself and realized she left that table for a reason.
Kitty soon found herself sitting in the choir room. She managed to convince Mr. Schuester to eat in the cafeteria so she could "get some studying done".
"What are you doing here?" Kitty looked up to see Ryder standing in the doorway to the choir room. He had a sack lunch in his hand, and a history textbook in the other.
"What are you doing here?" Kitty snapped back.
"I'm here to study. Mr. Schuester lets me study in here during the week," Ryder said, moving to a chair just two seats away from Kitty. "So are you going to tell me why you're here, or should we make it into a guessing game?"
"I didn't have anyone to sit with at lunch," Kitty said, looking down at her tray, which was balanced on her two legs. She felt like she was a shy freshman or a new girl in the school when she spoke the words.
"Well, you consider me someone to sit with at lunch," Ryder said, causing Kitty to look up at him and give him a strange expression, causing Ryder to chuckle. "Look, Kitty, like it or not, I'm the only friend you got so far. You really screwed everything up in glee club. So whether you like it or not, I'm your friend."
Kitty smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but Ryder's phone vibrated. He pulled it out of his pant pockets and looked at the screen, smiling. "What's got you all smiles?" she asked him.
"Nothing," Ryder said, obviously hiding something from his new friend.
Kitty cocked an eyebrow. "I thought friends shared everything with each other," she said, adding a sweet, but sinister smile, at the end of the sentence.
"Alright, fine. You know how I thought that Marissa girl was Katie? Well ever since I found it was Unique, me and Marissa started talking," Ryder said.
"I thought she was a Senior," Kitty said, showing a little jealously in her eyes. Was she already starting to like Ryder again?
"She is. But she doesn't mind the age difference. And neither do I. So what's the big deal, y'know?" Ryder asked, as he punched in a reponse.
"You like her, don't you?" Kitty asked, not waiting for a response before continuing, "If you like her so much, go for her. The worst thing she could do is turn you down," Kitty said, referencing what happened between her and Ryder just a few week earlier. She hoped Ryder would get the reference, but it went right over his head.
"Well, I was thinking about asking her to prom," Ryder said, taking a bite out of his sandwich.
"Go for it. Again, the worst she could do is turn you down. And if even if she did that, I would have to call her out on being completely crazy," Kitty said, avoiding Ryder's eye contact the best that she could, but that didn't Ryder to linger on Kitty for a little bit longer than he should have.
Marissa exited the showers after a longer-than-expected field hockey practice. She was shocked when she saw Kitty leaning against her P.E. locker. "May I help you?" Marissa asked Kitty, who she never spoke to in her entire life.
"No, but I can help you," Kitty said with a smirk.
"And how can you do that?" Marissa said, as she spun in her locker combination.
"I heard you and my friend, Ryder, have been talking over the past couple of weeks," Kitty said.
"Yeah, ever since he found that Unique girl was catfishing him, we kind of started talking. He's really sweet. And really funny," Marissa said the last sentence as if it was surprise.
"Just some words of advice, Malibu Barbie, treat him with respect. His past with girls haven't been the greatest, especially with this catfish scandal," Kitty said.
Marissa turned to her and gave her a half smile. "You really care about him, don't you?"
"I guess you could say that," Kitty said with a smile. "I have to go." Kitty then walked out of the locker room and into the hallway.
Really care about him? That's one way to say it. Kitty realized as she made her way down the hallway towards the front of the school where the late bus was waiting for the kids who stayed after school, that the feelings she thought had gone away after that conversation with Ryder in the library never went away, and that they were slowly coming back.
"This is not good," Kitty said to herself in a low voice.