Rhydian ran. He ran for what felt like hours; ran from the world; tried to run from his own soul destroying thoughts. Maddy had been the only thing that Rhydian had ever been certain of in his entire life. He only had his first home when he found her; his first pack; his first love. It was incomprehensible to him that anything the K's or Jimmy had said could have affected him so; but it had.
Maddy was confused. Where was Rhydian? Why wasn't he in last lesson? As the bell rang, the class began to stuff their books and stationary back into their bags, whilst having idle conversations about the day. Maddy's best friend, Shannon, stood up to put her backpack on, facing Maddy.
'Where's Rhydian been, Mads?' As Shannon said this, Tom eyed Rhydian's empty seat suspiciously, before moodily scurrying through the door of the history class without a word.
'Yeah, where's he gone? Haven't seen him since he ran off earlier,' one of the K's interjected. They had rather been hoping to see him after school and catch him alone. Maddy's eyes widened in concern as they detailed his earlier actions, what had they done?
'What did you say to him?' It must be serious if he took off in front of the K's.
'What? Nothing! We just wanted to see if he was alright after Tom earlier!' The K's began.
'Honestly Maddy, you need to set that boy straight about you and him. I don't know why,' Katrina looked Maddy up and down in distaste, 'but it's clear Tom's not over you.'
'It's not fair on either of them.'
'But then again, why should Tom be mad anyway? Of course Rhydian isn't a threat, how could someone like him ever look at you?'
'Oi!' Shannon protested, but her friend stayed silent as she realised what was going on.
'What did you tell him!?' Maddy could feel the tingling flood her limbs, but she had to control it so that she could get full measure of the situation.
'We just filled him in about why Tom would be upset, you know? After you and he…' The K's tones were light easy as they relayed the information to Maddy, not understanding the magnitude of the consequences of their loose tongue.
Maddy fled the emptying room, pushing past her peers as she fought her way outside. Back in the classroom, the K's had confusion plastered across their faces. To Shannon it was pretty clear what was going on, but Kay, Kara and Katrina, who were consumed in their own vanity, couldn't understand. Maddy and Rhydian couldn't be together; after all, who could prefer plain, little Maddy Smith to them? The idea made them laugh.