Two things- 1. sorry I took a good few days to update, my parents have been visiting me as I'm studying abroad, so I've been too busy to write much. 2. Thanks so much for your amazing response to the last chapter, the most reviews I've ever got for a single update! I admit it was probably because I broke your little Ryley hearts, but it means a lot all the same. So…I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or the song in this chapter.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Ryder roared as he slammed Jake to the ground and administered the first hard punch to his face. Jake tried to yell something back but was unable to, as the second punch came flying in. A large crowd gathered around the supposed best friends in the corridor, and the boys could vaguely hear the chants of 'Fight! Fight! Fight!" as they struggled on the floor.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Came the familiar voice of Coach Beiste, and Ryder felt himself being pulled off of Jake against his will. "Principal Figgins' office, NOW!" Beiste bellowed, and grabbed one boy with each strong hand before frogmarching them there.
"Why were you two boys fighting anyway?" Figgins drawled, after hearing the Coach's account of events.
"The asshole STOLE MY GIRLFRIEND," Ryder yelled furiously, and turned to sneer with little remorse at Jake, who was nursing a bleeding nose, which nevertheless did not stop him from defending himself.
"I didn't steal her. She asked me to the dance, not the other way round. I therefore assumed you weren't together any more…that means it's my turn!" He shouted, coughing on blood in the process.
"Your turn?" Ryder spat out in confused disgust.
"Yes, asshole. We had a deal. You get first try and when you screw it up, I get my turn. We agreed this in the first English lesson of the year, remember?" Jake explained. Ryder thought to himself, and vaguely remembered that they had indeed made such an agreement. He groaned. It really was Jake's turn, douchebag or not. He was interrupted from his thoughts by Coach Beiste's voice, which was filled with even more anger and disgust than usual.
"Boys, that is the most misogynistic damn thing I have ever heard in thirty years of teaching-"
"-But it is not against school rules," interjected Principal Figgins. "Fighting on school premises, however, is. I understand you are both bidding for a football scholarship. I am going to give you a final warning because you are star football players, but any more acting out from either of you and you will have a permanent mark on your school disciplinary record and your football dreams will therefore be over. Am I clear?" Figgins asked.
"Yes, sir," the boys mumbled in unison.
"Good. You may leave." Figgins announced, in his usual monotonic way. The boys stood up and shuffled out of the office, the tension filling the air around them. Once they had got out into the corridor, Ryder turned to Jake.
"You know what?" Ryder started, through gritted teeth. "Fine. It's your turn. If you make Marley happy then I guess I'll have to accept that. But I'm not gonna apologise for kicking your ass, and you can go to hell for all I care." With that, he turned away, kicked over a bin in fury, and, without waiting for a reply, started to march down the corridor to go home, as the bell signifying the end of the school day had gone several minutes ago.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
2 weeks later, on the Friday evening of the dance, just before 7pm, Ryder walked up to Kitty Wilde's house and rang her bell. A couple of minutes later, the pretty blonde answered, looking perhaps a little overly sexier than was appropriate at a high school dance. Ryder sighed. Marley would look much classier, but Kitty was his date, and so he complimented her all the same.
"You look nice," he told her with a forced smile, and she rolled her eyes.
"Oh please," she sighed. "Let's not pretend like we actually want to go to this stupid dance with each other when we both know the people we wanted to go with are going together." Ryder gave a wry smile. Kitty always got straight to the point.
"Thanks," he replied sarcastically. "Way to knock a dude when he's already down."
"Whatever," she snapped. "Let's just go to this dance, put on a brave face, maybe make out a little, and make sure that Jake and Mona think we're having a really awesome time-"
"She's actually called Marley," Ryder informed her pointedly, as they climbed into his car.
"Mona, Marley, 'bitch who's taking Jake to the dance', I don't care," she sighed. Ryder forced a chuckle, and started the engine.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The dance was in full swing, and Ryder and Kitty were hating every minute of it. Despite the fact that Marley did not seem particularly enamoured with Jake, seeing his supposed best friend dancing with her, running her hands all over her back and waist, and looking at her like she was a piece of meat, was difficult for Ryder to take. He was simply transfixed; partly staring at Marley, who as ever, looked absolutely beautiful, and partly glaring at Jake. He was broken out of his trance by Kitty's brash voice.
"Jesus Bieber, at least try and be subtle about it," she snapped. "And you're a crappy enough dancer as it is, the last thing I need is you not even paying any attention to your feet cos you're so busy staring at her."
Ryder gave her a vaguely apologetic look, but immediately after diverted his gaze back to Marley, who briefly caught his eye and gave him a sad, perhaps longing look (or was that his wishful thinking?) before making a point of laughing particularly hard at something Jake said to her. It made Ryder's blood boil. He dropped his arms from Kitty's waist.
"Kitty I'm sorry…I can't just stand here and watch this…I have to do something," he told her. Kitty sighed heavily, and looked back at him with an expression of exasperation.
"Like what?" she asked, annoyed.
"…I asked my Dad earlier what to do to win a girl's heart…he told me that what a girl really wants is for a guy to get 'naked emotionally'." He informed the blonde.
"So?" Kitty asked, clearly wondering why the boy was telling her this.
"So…watch and take note, Wilde. Ryder Lynn is about to get emotionally nude."
"Ew," Kitty started, her voice laden with sarcasm and disgust, but Ryder wasn't listening, for he was already galloping towards the side of the stage, waiting for the band to finish playing the current song. When they finished playing, he stepped up and interrupted them before they could start the next one, and whispered in the singer's ear. After a few seconds of negotiation, he stood aside and allowed Ryder to take the microphone. The throng of students before him looked up in confusion and annoyance, wondering what the asshole football player was interrupting their dance for.
"So…" he began, uncharacteristically nervous. "I'm…er…I'm actually gonna sing a song for you now…" He was interrupted by an inevitable wave of excited and shocked chatter, and perhaps a few laughs. His eyes briefly wandered over to where Marley and Jake were standing. Marley looked back at him, wide-eyed, and Jake looked absolutely furious; in short, they both knew exactly why this was happening. It only spurred Ryder on more, and he continued. "This song is for a very special girl, who didn't come with me tonight, but…I wish she did, and I wish she'd let me talk to her. I'm sure she knows who she is…" With that, he turned briefly towards the band members and told them to start playing the song he had requested.
"My love must be a kind of blind love…I can't see anyone but you…" Ryder began to sing. To the shock of the majority of the school, his voice was good, and they began to slow dance to the romantic song…except for Marley and Jake, who stood frozen, watching Ryder carry out his grand gesture.
"I only have eyes….for you…"
For the entire duration of the song, Ryder locked eyes with Marley, and they simply stared at each other. Whilst he hoped and prayed that it was working, Marley was going mad. Her brain was jumbled up with feelings and emotions. With every word Ryder sang, it became clearer and clearer to her that she was in love with him, but he had hurt her so much, he had broken her heart…it was too much to take. She wanted to sprint away from everything, but her feet remained as if glued to the very spot she was standing in, and Ryder's eyes seemed to burn into her soul as she stared back, salty tears beginning to form in her eyes.
"I only have eyes…for you…"
Ryder finished the song and, as the people around her started to clap and cheer, Marley's feet finally began to function again, and she ran out of the gym as fast as she could. Ryder, considering his eyes had never once left her, immediately saw her flee, and ran after her, cursing her reaction to his song and thanking his long, fast, athletic legs at the same time. Jake and Kitty, the forgotten dates, also followed. Ryder finally caught up with Marley, who was by now sobbing, in the parking lot.
"Marley, wait, please!" He begged. She turned to him, her face bright red and covered in running mascara.
"I'm…so…confused…" she told him. "You can't do that…and then that…" she choked, somewhat incoherently through the sobs.
"Marls, I didn't do what you think I did, I swear on my own life-"
"But you did, Ryder!" she persisted. "I saw the photographic evidence! And now you're serenading me with a love song in front of the entire school and it just doesn't make any sense!" She shrieked.
"The only reason it doesn't make any sense to you is because I didn't kiss that girl!" he shouted, the frustration building up even further inside him. Marley stared back at him, finally beginning to wonder if she wasn't giving him enough of a chance, until she noticed Jake (and Kitty) jogging over to them, and she remembered that she was here with him because of what Ryder had done, and the moment of hope was gone. She looked pointedly at Jake.
"Take me home," she ordered bossily.
"Wait…really?" Jake asked by way of reply, flustered and excited. Marley sighed loudly and threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.
"What is wrong with boys?" She asked rhetorically. "I don't mean like that! Drive me home, drop me off at my house, then leave!" she snapped, and Jake's face fell, while Ryder gave a small sigh of relief, whilst still distraught that he hadn't won her back, and she still didn't want to be with him. Jake sighed and opened his car door for Marley, and the two drove off, leaving Ryder and Kitty standing forlornly in the parking lot. Kitty walked over to Ryder, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Come on Bieber," she whimpered, almost as hurt as he was by the events. "Let's go and get so drunk we forget they exist for a while," she suggested. Ryder nodded sadly, and they walked to his car.
Hmmm! What do you think about that? Let me know! I understand it's probably not the way you wanted the chapter to end, but look on the bright side…I originally planned to have Ryder and Kitty drunkenly sleep together after the dance, then changed my mind, so it could be worse, right?
So…to the amazing reviewers from last time:
Gleeotch13: Nooo don't die! :p And sorry! It's all about the drama! Here is your update, sorry about the wait!
Ember411: Sorry again! I hate Jarley as much as you do, rest assured. Hahaha, I should write you into the story to deal with Katie :p
TeaAndGlee: Phew! I worried the last chapter might put people off! Don't worry…I hate sappy jarley-related goo!
LittleMusicalOwl: Haha, you correctly predicted the grand gesture, but Marley is being stubborn! Glad you loved the last chapter, despite the ryley breakup!
Savannaramirez35: Sorry for killing your feels! Marley's got the wrong end of the stick! Here's your update!
Guest (1): I do apologise! But I'm glad you thought the chapter was good even so…I hope so too, haha!
Kalette: Aww, I'm so glad you love the story and my tumblr, that's so kind of you to say! Aww thanks, being complimented on writing style is probably the best thing that can happen to a fanfic author, so big hugs to you!
guest (2): Aww, please forgive me, haha! Hahaha, I will never call anyone who wants a jarley break up mean, I will call them 'someone with common sense' :p Hmm…good things at the dance for Ryder and Marley? I guess that's up to your interpretation of the events :p
Gleeatic713: Haha, I'm wondering if you've worked out who Katie is…I do enjoy reading people's guesses for it :p A whodunit without the murder, I like it! As ever my dear, you are so very welcome :D
Gleek555: Sorry…I know you didn't want Jarley to go to the dance together but unfortunately I have had the chapter fully planned for a while! Haha, I agree, Katie most definitely needs a slap :p
rosepetalpout: Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere! Oh, so many compliments in one review, thank you so much, and I'm glad you are entertained by the story. PS- I love you name!
Thanks so much you guys, you are the best! Thanks also to favouriters/followers :)
Until next time, goodbye!
Lauren xxx