Chapter 10: 10. The Quandaries of a Simple Tee

10.  The Quandaries of a Simple Tee

Days rolled by without any notable interaction between me and Ryder Black. I genuinely thought that once again I’ve fallen under his radar.

He definitely didn’t fall under my radar, much to my dismay.

I think I have developed some sort of Rydermania, which is just a medical and slightly less creepy way of saying that I was taking notice of his comportment a little bit too obsessively.

This hasn’t been doing my health any good.

I had always known that I knew him a little too much to be considered normal. I certainly took advantage of my position as his neighbor. But ever since he slept on my bed, my curiosity over him was piqued. I wanted to know why he was so angry all the time. I wanted to know why he was so alone.

Most of all, I wanted to know where he got his tattoos.

He was staying less and less at his house, which was easily characterized by the absence of screaming matches and the absence of punk/rock songs that played on the night. While I slept better and got better complexion due to this, sometimes I found myself staring at his window at night.

Of course, Marcy and Corinne were both saddened with Ryder’s disappearance. Their favorite activity whenever they visited my home was spying on him in a way that reminded me of Disturbia.

You see, Ryder had a habit of walking around his room half-naked. I guess that months of street-fighting and the private gym sessions at night hardened his abs so much that he just felt the need to look at his naked glory all the time. That was why there was a ginormous standing mirror inside his room, anyway.

Marcy and Corinne, too, shared his appreciation on his body. Sometimes a little too loudly.

When that happened, however, Ryder simply closed the blinds and resumed weight-lifting while reading yet another of those smutty Harlequin novels.

“I’m missing my daily eye-candy,” Corinne sighed. Perched on her nose was a new black-rimmed hipster glasses. We were just about to get into the class, which was the only reason why she talked to me. Both Marcy and Corinne went into a total silent mode whenever the teacher lectured. They claimed that it was their way to appreciate the education.

“Are you sure that Ryder Black hasn’t been home for a couple of days? Where does he live?” Marcy said.

I shrugged. “He’s got a few friends outside from school, I guess.”

“I still think it’s so auspicious of you to be neighbors with him,” she sighed wistfully. “I mean, if not for that forsaken window, us nerdy girls couldn’t get any legit actions. I wouldn’t know what a real, breathing sixpack would look like and would always under the notion that those abs on TV are digitally remastered.”

Note to self: Search on the dictionary for ‘auspicious’.

“Oh my God, totally, Marcy!” Corinne said a little too excitedly. “It’s just too bad that we still haven’t been able to talk to him. Like, in person.”

Marcy sighed. “Or any other boys.”

“Well, I can talk pretty damn well to the that Johnson lad, but I’m sure if he lost weight and cured his acne, I’d freeze whenever I see him.”

Both of my friends high-fived sullenly while I frantically racked my brain for any kind of reassurance for them. But then I realized that I couldn’t find anything nice to say about their selective-oddity whenever they were around pretty boys because their cases were too severe.

Marcy suddenly gasped and her whole movement stopped. At the same time, Corinne started whimpering ‘my holy gif reactions please help me’ and started to twiddle on the hem of her shirt.

My brother was prancing towards us, which explain why the sudden change of mood.

“Wazzup girls,” he nodded to both of my friends, totally understanding their predicament. Then he turned towards me. “Ap, there’s an emergency.”

Quentin looked like he was about to either cry or stomp something. His whole face turned red as he looked at me with his big blue eyes and spoke, in a voice that was slightly hoarse. “Guess what I just saw.”

“Kayla shaved her head and ate two cupcakes too many?”

Quentin’s lip curled in disgust. “That’s horrid, but not as horrid as finding out that Ryder motherfucking Black has the same exact clothes that I have!”

My eyes widened in surprise.

Right. So I might have given Ryder Quentin’s t-shirt in an attempt to save him from hypothermia. I never thought that Quentin would notice, considering the amount of clothes that he had.

I didn’t even remember what kind of t-shirt it was.

“Oh,” I said, not knowing if I can say much else with all the guilt riding me. “That.”

Quentin’s terrified face suddenly metamorphosed to be something of jubilance. This was legit scary, because a smiling, angry Quentin was like a recipe for disaster.

“I shall go home fast,” he dramatized his oath. “I shall destroy that cursed t-shirt of mine, for I refuse to possess anything identical to the arrogant bastard.”

I could practically feel my heart beat in unbelievably fast rhythm. “Maybe you’re wrong. You have so many clothes, Quentin. Maybe Ryder’s t-shirt just resembles one of yours.”

“Shit no! I remember every single cloth that I buy! I remember buying that t-shirt that Ryder’s wearing on a secluded indie-shop for fifty fucking bucks! The TA said it was limited edition! She must have been lying!”

Maybe I should take Quentin’s photographic memory and his severe case of vanity into account before blurting anything out at all.

Quentin’s face was now so red that water would dissolve to air if it meets his skin. “I’m going home,” he patted my shoulder, and true, his palm felt so hot it burned me.

As I saw my brother whistling away from me, my vision blurred. Oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my.

What if Quentin found out that Ryder’s t-shirt wasn’t just identical to his, but was actually his?

Oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my

What if Quentin found out that the vomit on the trash bin last week wasn’t mom’s but actually Ryder?

Oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my

What if Quentin found out that Ryder had slept in my room, in the same house where he lived?

I kicked myself inwardly, trying to stop all of these ‘what ifs’ question before I developed a heart-attack. I needed to formulate a plan to prevent all of these from happening. And I needed to do it fast.

“I know that your brother can be kind of mean,” Marcy spoke as her found her voice once again. “But just now I feel like he’s going to be extra mean to Ryder.”

“I’m scared of your brother, April,” Corinne confirmed. “He’s good looking, and if I squint hard enough I can actually see your face on his head, but he can be quite a monster.”

“I’m nodding in agreement” I nodded in agreement to them, and at that time, I knew I had to do something to avoid world war III from breaking out.

And maybe something drastic, such as meeting Ryder Black at the school grounds.

-

Finding Ryder was surprisingly easy. Ask anyone who had a weird material embedded on his or her face, such as metal piercings or unnatural hair color, and they’d definitely know where Ryder was. The freaks and the dregs adored Ryder because he was the epitome of badassery (but their opinion would change if they knew that Ryder had an affinity to romance books targeted to women).

“You looking for Ryder?” the guy with green hair peered at me with narrowed eyes. “What for, chump?”

I started chewing on my finger because the fear started to consume me. “Um… stuff to talk… stuff important.”

The black girl with eyebrow piercing looked at me like I was growing a second head. “Girl, can you even speak english?”

“She looks kinda familiar,” the guy with green hair said as he leant closer to me. “Fuck me gently with a chainsaw! The weirdo is Quentin’s twin sister!”

“You’re shitting me!”

“I’m not! Look at her! They’ve got the same face, only she looks kind of…” he paused as he searched for the right word to describe me. “-weird whereas Quentin looks plain mean. Look at her nose!”

“Christ! It is Quentin’s nose! You think she’s into black girl with lots of piercing? If I can’t snag Quentin, I’m pretty okay with the sister.”

“Homophobic nor racist I am neither, but into guys I am,” I said softly, to avoid any unnecessary rage.

The black girl snorted in disappointment, but she pointed the place where I might find Ryder.

“There’s this abandoned class, okay? It’s class 42 and usually around this time Ryder would be there.”

“What is he doing there?” I had asked.

The girl had smirked. “Business.”

When the girl said business, I thought of grown men with suits and neat tables and bitter coffee. What the girl really meant was something of a different variety.

When the girl said business, she meant a dark classroom filled with shady looking men who didn’t even go to this school (and past the age of going to high school) and Ryder behind the teacher’s desk, looking extra intimidating while counting a huge stack of money. When the girl said business, she actually meant that these people were armed with knives and would throw the knives to anyone who came through the door uninvited.

Aka me.

“Who are you?!” one of the men bared his teeth to me. The fact that his teeth were yellowish and lots of it were missing didn’t serve the purpose of scaring me at all.

“Um, I’m April Hale,” I said.

“How the hell does she know this place? She one of your customers, bro?” he asked Ryder.

“Kitten,” Ryder blinked several times. “This is Billy and Keegan sans the sunglasses. Billy and Keegan, meet Kitten, my neighbor.”

“Oh it’s the Wet Girl!” Billy’s laughter echoed thorough the room, his black beard bounced.

“The only person cool enough for school,” Keegan came up to me and slapped me hard on the back.

There was another guy standing on the corner, and I noticed him as the guy who approached Ryder on the day I found him streetfighting. He was younger than Billy and Keegan, much younger, but he had an air of arrogance that could only be achieved when you’ve lived long enough to taste success.

“Who’s the chick, Ryder?”

“My neighbor,” Ryder said. “April, Alex. Alex, April.”

Alex smiled at me sweetly. “You here for some pot, sweetheart?”

“She’s definitely not!” Ryder answered for me. “Isn’t it?”

“My mother could use a few new pots for her flowers,” I said. “I mean, you almost peed on it, Ryder.”

All three men laughed even more, whereas Ryder broke into a sheepish smile. He shook his head as he came towards me, his fingers slipped something to his pocket. “Aren’t you going to get into trouble for ditching another class?”

“Ms. Allister gave me permission to leave the class early because I finished the pop-quiz earlier,” I explained. The last thing I wanted was for Ryder to think that I’d grown accustomed to his ditching ways. “I’m legal to be here, I swear!”

“Are you for real?” Alex shook his head in amusement. “Hey, April. It’s April, right?”

I nodded.

“How can you be that pretty and that naive? It’s a weird combination for a high school girl, especially in this neighborhood.”

As Alex was saying that, I could see Ryder rolling his eyes.

The other two men couldn’t stop laughing and after a while, Ryder asked me to come with him outside the class. After we were out from the abandoned class-room, I stated my business fast.

“My brother thinks you’re wearing his t-shirt.”

Ryder looked down to his clothes. It was a gray, fitted t-shirt with a bunch of cartoon monster running rampant printed on the chest. “This thing? I don’t remember where I got it. I just picked it from the top shelf of my wardrobe.”

I studied the monsters. “I think it is my brother’s t-shirt.”

“So what?”

I cringed. “Well.. My brother’s pretty anal about this… fashion thing. He doesn’t like the idea that you’re wearing the same clothes that he have.”

“So you want me to take off my clothes?” Ryder smirked. “Because I can do that for you.”

“No-no. If you walk around the school topless, the teachers will punish you for indecent exposure.” I speculated. “And you will make a lot of females in the school experience heart attack.”

“And how about you, hmm? Are you going to faint at the sight of my abs?”

“I’ll be slightly uncomfortable,” I admitted. “But as long as you’re in a safe distance of 3,5 meters away from me, I won’t faint. But Marcy and Corinne will probably stop functioning.”

His voice was barely a whisper now. “So you’re affected to me.”

I nodded. “Yeah. But then the school will punish you for-“

“Indecent exposure.” Ryder looked tired.  “No, April. I mean, I’ll take my clothes off for you.”

“But it’s not for me. It’s for you, Ryder. You see, if Quentin finds out that the tee is his, then who know what he and his friends would do to you?”

Ryder sighed impatiently as he scratched the back of his head. “God. Either you’re brushing me off or you’re ultra clueless about these things.”

“Of course I’m not brushing you off!” for the first time ever, I actually was the one who took the step closer to him. “And I’m not clueless about these things either. I know all about the school rules, which is why I know the rules about ‘Indecent-“

“Exposure,” Ryder finished for me as another sighed escaped his mouth. “Alex’s right. Are you sure you’re Quentin’s twin sister? He’s a fucking vanity-sack walking on two legs, and here you are, you’re so fucking… naive.”

“I actually had asked my mother the same question several times. She said that she needed to check the hospital to make sure the doctors didn’t swap her real daughter with me but she’d grown to love me so she didn’t want to know.” I told him.

Ryder burst out laughing. “I love Mrs. Hale. She always cracks up the best jokes and she drinks straight up shots. Not many mothers can do that.”

“You can hear my mom’s jokes from your house?”

“If you can hear my family fights, I can hear your family jokes around.”

I blushed. His words made sense, actually, and I tried to remember whether I’d made any rude remarks about his family.

“Don’t worry. I don’t listen that much,” Ryder smiled at me. “So right now I have to change my clothes?”

I nodded.

“Preferably before Quentin sees me wearing this goddamn tee again?”

For the second time, I nodded.

“Right,” Ryder twisted the doorknob to the abandoned class and poked his head inside. “I’m going out for a while, motherfuckers. Gimme the keys for your bike, Billy.”

“I am my son’s motherfucker, you bastard!” Billy laughed, but then I heard a jingling sound as Ryder caught the keys. Ryder closed the door and then grabbed me by the elbow. “We’re going out now.”

“We are?”

"We definitely are," He looked at his watch. “After this period it’ll be lunchtime, right? You won’t skip any class and by lunchtime, I’ll be wearing new clothes. How’s that sound?”

“It sounds… good? But where are we going?”

Ryder smirked as he looked at me over his shoulder. His dark eyes twinkled in a way that somehow made me forget all the primary casts for Star Wars.

“We’re going shopping.” And then Ryder’s teeth showed a bit. “And since we’re going by bike in full speed, you’re gonna learn how to hug me tight.”

It took me a while to decide whether it was a good or bad thing.

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Thank you thank you thank you everyone for reading and waiting patiently for me. :) I've been sick and so dizzy for the last couple of days, hence the late update. Sorry.