Hey guys, sorry I took a little while to update! Thanks for your feedback from last time, it was amazing! I'm still not particularly happy with this chapter- I've had a little writer's block and have struggled with converting its plan into actual words- so it's a little shorter than usual, but it's filled with drama, so I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee!
Whilst Katie's threatening words had sent a chill through Ryder's spine, he was comforted by the events that followed them over the next two weeks…that is to say, nothing. On the next couple of dates with Marley, he had been on edge, always trying to spot something untoward which might suggest Katie's revenge. However, as a fortnight had gone by with no problems, he had fully relaxed, and, as the calendar page turned over to December, his mind was fully preoccupied with something else; the fast approaching Sadie Hawkins dance.
Marley hadn't asked him yet. He had been anticipating it on their date a few nights ago, but no. He was starting to suspect that perhaps, since they were almost officially dating, she might have just assumed that they were going together without having to ask- she had certainly hinted at that, anyway. However, Ryder wanted official confirmation, perhaps to boost his ego, perhaps to make him feel less bad about turning down all the girls who had already asked him; with that in mind he was currently searching the corridors of McKinley in search of Marley, hoping to give her a slight hint when he found her. He was just about to turn a corner when he was startled by a girl he had never seen before, grinning provocatively at him.
"Hi…" she started. Ryder forced an awkward smile.
"Hi…could I get through please?" He asked politely.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that." She said, with a threatening, fake-sweet tone. "It's part of my contract." She explained. Ryder raised his eyebrows.
"Your what?" He asked, confused and a little creeped out. He had spent so much time worrying about Marley, he hadn't even considered that he might be the target of Katie's wrath. Was this Katie? No. Her hair was too dark. However, he didn't have time to speculate further.
"My contract," she affirmed. "I get paid five hundred bucks at the end of the day, as long as I do this." With that, the girl grabbed Ryder's face forcefully, and almost shoved her tongue into his shocked, open mouth. Ryder pushed her off with as much strength as he could justify using on a girl, and wiped his mouth with his Letterman jacket sleeve, but not before the girl's employer, who was hiding behind the corner, had had time to take a picture of the events and make an escape without Ryder noticing.
"What the hell?" He yelled accusingly at the girl. "You just violated my mouth!"
"Payday!" She grinned, and sauntered away from the stunned boy, towards the school's entrance –and exit.
"What, so you kiss a random dude against his will then just walk out of school?" He asked furiously, more confused than he thought he might have ever been in his life.
"Oh I don't even go here, I was just doing my job," she exclaimed, smiling all the while, and making her way towards the parking lot. "Bye Mr Lynn. Pleasure doing business with you. I would love to stay and chat, but, I think I have $500 to spend," she taunted him.
"Who's paying you?!" He yelled.
"I think she said she was called Katie…" she smirked, "but I'm not so sure." She let out a smug laugh, before walking over to and getting into a car. Ryder stood there, stunned, wondering why the girl 'wasn't so sure', and what Katie was hoping to achieve by the whole ordeal. The bell rang for the next class.
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Ryder left his last class of the day, a few hours after the morning break debacle, and made his way towards Marley's locker, where he knew she would be as she always went there first at the end of the school day. He had taken the decision to tell her exactly what had happened to avoid any further repercussions…once he had brought up the subject of the Sadie Hawkins dance, of course. As he got closer, he sure enough could see her organising her books in her locker, so he jogged over to her.
"Hey beautiful," he whispered down her ear. She heard him perfectly well, but did not reply. "So, I've turned down quite a lot of date offers to the Sadie Hawkins dance already," he persisted, hoping she'd catch the hint.
"That was stupid of you." She said bluntly, not turning around.
"Well…I was hoping a certain someone might ask me," he suggested, forcing a worried grin. Marley simply sniffed, and he caught a sight of her quickly reddening face.
"Wait…Marley…are you crying?" he asked, more worried than ever.
"Yes I am, thank you very much," she snapped. "So who's this 'certain someone' you're hoping's gonna ask you to the dance?" She asked, her voice laden with bitter sarcasm. "That girl you were making out with this morning?!"
"Oh crap…wait, Marley let me explain-" Ryder groaned, knowing she had gotten the wrong end of the stick.
"Oh, like it needs explaining!" She screamed, causing people in the somewhat busy corridor to turn and stare. She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, pressing a few buttons before shoving it in front of Ryder's face. "This isn't just word of mouth…someone sent me this at the end of morning break, so don't even try to deny it!"
Ryder examined the phone. Sure enough, it was a clear picture of Ryder being pounced on by Katie's 'soldier'.
"I'm…I'm not denying it Marls, but I didn't want it to happen!" He tried to frantically explain. "She just sort of attacked me-"
"Really Ryder? Really? Because it looks like you're sucking her face off!" She shouted, hot tears running down her face.
"I…no! She kissed me and I pushed her away! I was on my way to see you, and BAM! She got paid to do it-" Marley gave a wry smile, evidently not believing a word of it, and interrupted furiously.
"Paid to do it? Oh, you are so full of shit Ryder Lynn," she cursed, earning a few 'ohhh's from the watching crowd.
"Marley you're not listening to me, just hear me out!" He pleaded. It was too late.
"I'm not listening to you because I don't want to hear any of it. And as for the Sadie Hawkins dance, you really should start thinking about accepting one of those offers, because I asked Jake Puckerman to go with me during lunch. And he said YES."
With that, she stormed off, hastily wiping away her tears. Ryder stood there dumbstruck. Not only had Marley gone, but she had gone straight into the arms of his best friend.
I'm sorry! Please don't hate me!
Or if you're going to hate me, hate me in a review :) Or send me nice things in a review, whatever you're feeling, because I'm still a bit iffy about this chapter myself and would love to know what you thought about it!
Also I'm intrigued that you don't know who the catfish is, so I tried to keep up the suspense here…but I thought I had heavily hinted at it in previous chapters, so if you can't wait, do some investigation and you might figure it out ;) If you're enjoying the suspense of not knowing who Katie is, I will gladly keep it up for you :D
To my lovely reviewers from last time:
Anon: Thank you so much, that's so kind :) Sorry that wait was little while!
Ember411: Glad you enjoyed the Ryley kiss…I have a feeling you won't enjoy this ryley as much and I'm sorry :p
LittleMusicalOwl: Aww, thank you so much! Well you saw some of it here, but who knows, this might not be the last of it :p Also, I LOVE your username :D
Savannaramirez35: Hey, not too much is up atm :p Oohh, well, that's a bonus, I'm considering it…maybe ;) Also yay for the Glee rumours! I know nothing's confirmed yet but I'm keeping everything crossed!
TeaAndGlee: Your obsession? Ohh you flatter me too much, it's bad for my online ego :p I hope this chapter doesn't stop it from being your obsession!
Gleeatic713: She certainly does have a bad side, and it reared its ugly head just now! Glad you're enjoying the story so much :)
Gleek555: Aww, glad you thought the last chapter was adorable! Again, I apologise profusely for this chapter…
Guest: Thanks for both your reviews! Don't worry about it, I enjoy having your reviews come in when I'm not expecting them, haha! Aww you're so sweet! I can only hope that my story continues to make you feel that way :')
Jessie: Aww, I'm so glad you love reading this story! And wow, that is a huge compliment, this review made me so happy! I will do my best with updating, sorry I'm a bit slow sometimes- unfortunately boring things like uni homework get in the way a little :p
Thanks again to everyone who reviews/favourites/follows this story, you guys are the best :)
Lauren xxx