Chapter 11: 11: He Never Learns to Know My Name

Recap, for those who are forgetting the story:

April Hale is a real weird girl. She has a neighbor whom she often eavesdrop to, and her neighbor is none other the school's bad boy, Ryder Black. April and Ryder never really interact, before then an incident brought them to each other's attention, and Ryder asked her to stay in her room when his father threw him out.

Now, the thing is, when Ryder was staying over, he borrowed Quentin's shirt. Quentin is April's twin brother and he's very anal about fashion, and a few weeks later, when Quentin sees Ryder parading around with his shirt, he's infuriated. April decides to save the day by telling Ryder about the situation, but this leads Ryder to kidnap her to the mall.

This story picks up right after Ryder tries to get her to go to the mall with him.

And so far, he only called her with her real name once, when he was drunk.

(I know, I was abysmal at this recapping thing)

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11: He Never Learns to Know My Name

“This is not my bike.”

That was what Ryder said when we got onto the school parking lot. True enough, the bike didn’t look like it belong there. It was huge, black and it looked like it had killed people. By its own.

Ryder started up the bike and got onto it. The big black vehicle roared and I nearly jumped in shock.

“Get on, now.” Ryder commanded.

“C-Can I just stay here and wait until you come back?”

“Can I say ‘no’?”

The question threw me off, and before I knew it, Ryder had taken another steely grip of my wrist and pulled me onto the bike. “This is going to be the first time you’re getting on a bike, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

“This is going to be the first time you’re going out at the school hours, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

“And this is also going to be the first time you’re going to be in a close vicinity with a guy that’s not your brother isn’t it?”

“There’s my father!”

“Family. Doesn’t count.”

“Holy Sith*,” I sighed.

Ryder laughed at my rendition of ‘Holy shit’. “Anyway, there were three firsts already that I’m going to take away from you, so I won’t be passing this up. Get on, freako.”

“I have a name, you know.”

He rolled his eyes as he watched me getting on the bike. “Yeah, March.”

“It’s April,” I pouted.

“Hold on tight, then, May.”

“It’s April,” I repeated with more enunciation, my fingers gripping on the metal rods on either sides of his bike.

“Not there,” Ryder surprised me by actually taking my hand. Around the time our fingers touched, I was pretty sure I dropped dead and came back to life a second later. It certainly felt so.

“Here,” he put my hands around his sides. “June.”

“Well, at least I’m not a cat anymore,” I said, finally giving up. That, and the fact that Ryder’s back was half an inch away from my chest was making me forget everything that was supposed to keep me alive. Like breathing.

“You should hold on tight, Kitty cat.”

Sweet mother of monkey milk!

When Ryder hit the gas, however, not only did I forget the basic body function, but also it was like my whole brain was blown away with the amount of wind that hit my face.

I couldn’t even scream if  I wanted to, because half of Ryder’s hair was inside my mouth.

Safe to say, it was the scariest fifteen minutes in my whole life.

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“You basically rained all over my hair,” Ryder said as soon as we got out from the bike. He ran his hand over his hair, before then making a disgusted face on how wet it was.

I was doing the same thing with my tongue either. “But I get to eat your hair bacteria while all you need to do is wash your hair and be rid of my mouth bacteria.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Although, it’s said that there are over 100 million in every mililitre of saliva from more than 600 species of bacteria inside a person’s mouth,” I pondered, trying to remember the page of Wikipedia that I had read a month earlier. “So yeah, I guess you have a reason to be upset that some of my bacterias get into your hair. It’s a jungle inside here.””

Ryder only stared at me like I was growing another head, but once I started on spouting some random facts, I couldn’t stop myself.

“I don’t get why people kiss. It’s basically an equivalent exchange of bacterias. Sometimes not even equivalent, especially when your kissing partner doesn’t take care of his or her oral hygiene, or if he or she had just eaten something with lots of onions.”

“Kissing is pretty damn amazing, you know,” Ryder said. “Although I agree that onion is a turn off.”

I shuddered even at the thought of it. “It’s unhygienic.”

"You wanna try?"

I gagged at the question.

“Suit yourself,” Ryder said, a little offended. “Just know that you’re missing out.”

I knew very well that I was missing out a lot of things. Being me was hard; being me meant that I wasn’t naturally enamored with the normal teenage activities.

We walked inside the mall, before finally we stopped in front of a clothing shop. Ryder stepped inside easily, as if he’d done it thousands of times before. When the store worker beamed at him, it was clear that they were in good terms.

“Ryder!” the woman smiled, showing all of her teeth. I noticed that she looked rangy and scraggly. Kind of like a person who hadn’t eaten for a long time.

“Linda,” Ryder smiled back at her. “Long time no see.”

Linda walked towards us, she had a loping grace and when she smiled, it was like all her skin around her face was pulled. Her voice was cheery and youthful, but her face was anything but. Her thin figure made her look even older. Maybe older than 30. And yet she was conversing like she was old friends with him, a mere high-schooler.

Maybe Ryder’s charms worked best on middle aged people. I’d never seen girls my age act like that around him. A little more giggly, yes, but not in a way that would have been even obvious to the likes of me.

“So what brings you here?” Linda asked.

Ryder had an answer ready for that. “You, of course.”

Even beneath the thick cake of make up, I could see Linda’s cheeks burnt red. She giggled a little before then she smacked Ryder on the head. Hard. “You little rascal.”

“How you doing, Lin?” Ryder asked.

“I’m managing. How about you? You bringing a friend over? Oh my God, she’s your age!”

“I’m actually five months older than him,” I said. “I’m April.”

“Linda,” she grabbed my hand and shook it.  “You’re so pretty! You have such nice hair.”

And then she waited for me to respond.

I only gaped, because I could never respond to any kind of compliments. It wasn’t wired within me to do such. I reacted much more better to insults and mockeries. Well, maybe not better, but at least I wouldn’t be reduced to a non-talking machine.

“Yeah, Lin, I forgot to tell you that this girl here is a little different. She doesn’t speak Femaleville. Ask her about Star Wars and anything Nerdville if you want to talk to her.” Ryder said.

“It’s a very mean generalization, but it’s kind of true,” I admitted. “I’m horribly sheltered for a seventeen year old.”

“No, no, sweetie. Oh, honey. You’re adorable. This is the first time I see a teenage girl that’s not bitch-slapping or trying to sleep with this Rascal over here,” Linda ruffled Ryder’s hair. “He's too pretentious to be a teenager. Guys his age are supposed to play video games and talk about how to get more hoochies, not street fighting and brood and create an aura close to a closed off Vampire.”

"Linda!"

"Hey, you know it's true. You admitted it, too, kiddo," Linda pinched Ryder's nose. "If only you weren't so good looking, you wouldn't be able to get away from half the shit you're trying to pull."

“You know, everyone who’s friends with Ryder has been telling me that.”

“Telling you what?”

“That Ryder’s been acting as if he’s the…” I tried to say the dirty word but it just couldn’t come out from my mouth. “Um, feces.” It came as a mere whisper.

Both Linda and Ryder burst out laughing as they heard it.

Linda was the first to regain her composure. “You see, around the age 15 to 25, girls are attracted to the concept of a free-spirited bad boy. Inked, and composed and reveling in the aura of danger. Ryder here notices that sensation and embodies it because he desperately want attention from those poor, gullible, unguided-“

“-And extremely horny-“ Ryder added mischievously.

“And extremely horny girls,” Linda finished, and then her tone picked up. “This guy’s screwed up, but he's a genius in his own way.”

I nodded. “I confirm that he’s been successful in his endeavors. I’ve lost a lot of sleep whenever he gets home with a new conquest.”

Linda’s mouth formed a little O.

“I’m his neighbor. I’ve lived only ten meters away from him.”

This rewarded me another series of laughing from Linda. “This is the neighbor that you’ve been telling me about?!”

“The very one,” Ryder said, his face a little pink.

I looked at Linda’s face, which was a combination of shock and awe. And then it hit me. I knew that her face was a little bit familiar. “Are you one of Ryder’s conquests? I think I’ve seen you before.”

Both Linda and Ryder’s faces changed.

“Well, that’s awkward,” Linda tried to laugh it off, but her giggling didn’t convince me at all.

“Ryder has a habit of not closing his blinds,” I told her. “I never intentionally try to spy on him, I swear! Whenever he brought you or the other two girls home, I would always raise the volume on my TV.”

“Well, yeah, we kinda dated last year,” Ryder said as he scratched the back of his head. “Not anymore, though, but we’re still good friends.”

“But you’re old,” I said to Linda.

Linda didn’t look at the very least offended by that, even though I just realized that I had just made a pretty big social blunder. Women didn’t like it when their age was questioned. “Yeah, I’m old. But like I said, Ryder is screwed up in the head.”

“Linda,” Ryder’s nose crinkled. “Could you not?” then he glanced at me surreptitiously as he widened and narrowed his eyes towards Linda, as if trying to communicate in eye-morse.

“Anyway, we’re definitely not dating now, and we’re just friends!” Linda said in a overtly cheerful voice. “So don’t you worry.”

We went on talking for a while, mostly about Ryder’s schoolwork, before then Ryder finally bought a random shirt that was black in color. As Ryder was changing, Linda scooted up closer to me.

“Are you his girlfriend yet?” she asked.

“No no no no no no,” I stopped to catch my breath. “No no no no no no.”

“That’s a lot of nos.”

“He doesn’t even remember my name. He calls me March and June when I’m actually an April.”

“Does he?” Linda giggled.

I attempted to smile, but then it hadn’t been instilled inside me to converse with a middle-aged lady comfortably, and instead my mouth formed a cringe.

Despite my facial blunder, however, Linda’s eyes were kind. There were wrinkles all around her eyes, and as my gaze studied her featured, I noticed that she looked pale and sickly, as if a single gust of wind could blow her over.

"Do you know that teenange boys tease girls that they like?" There were deep laugh lines when she smiled. “Ryder might look like an outright jerk, April, and sometimes he is, but he’s a good kid.”

I shrugged. “Yeah?”

“He found me when I was in a dark place. If it weren’t for him, I didn’t know if I’d still be standing here today… in the amazing age of 28….“ she trailed off.

“Working as a salesgirl in a mall,” I finished for her.

That didn’t impress her as much, but the kindness hadn’t been swept off her eyes. “Working a minimum wage job, yes, but working nonetheless.”

“So where were you when Ryder found you?” I asked.

Linda glanced at me, but when she said the word, she looked elsewhere. “The hospital.”

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After getting the shirt, Ryder and I went back to the school because I refused to get lunch at the mall and Ryder noticed that I was close to crying if I spent another minute outside the school grounds. Lunch break was ending in only five more minutes, and I was too nervous to skip the History class.

But then I could never really get Linda’s words out of my head. It was none of my business, and I knew I’d better off without knowing more.

However, like always, my brain never failed to search for ways to screw itself up.

“So you and Linda dated?” I asked on our way to the parking lot.

“Not anymore.” There was a few seconds of pause more explanation came from his mouth. “But yeah, we shared a lot of unhygienic bacterias in the past.”

I tried so very hard not to let the images of those squirming microbes bothered me. “She’s old.”

“She’s 28. She’s not that old.”

“And your friends Keegan and Billy are also old.”

Ryder’s brisk walk suddenly came to a halt. He looked pissed. This wasn’t good. “What are you suggesting, Weirdo?”

“That… um.. That you have.. A lot of old friends?”

“So?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“You’re not going to ask how I came to know that many old people?”

I shook my head again.  “No.”

Ryder raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. “That’s surprising.”

“You didn’t ask me why I only have two friends either,” I fiddled with my fingers as I spoke. “Although it’s pretty easy to figure out. I’m as weird as anyone could be at seventeen year old.”

Ryder didn’t say anything to dispute or confirm my statement, but he did tilt his head in acknowledgement.

“You fight a lot and you seem to have a bad temper and not only that, you are a little too scary and intense and wild for a seventeen year old. So yeah,”  I nodded, mostly to myself. "I think I understand why your taste of friends is a little different.”

There was a complete and utter silence after I enclosed my mouth. I didn’t dare to look up to meet Ryder’s eyes, but I fully knew that he was watching me, beguiling me to look at him. In the end, though, I nearly jumped when I felt his hand on my back.

“You’re fucking amazing, you know that?” he said, before then he tapped my back.

I stood frozen as he walked away from me. My heart was doing all kind of somersaults and my brain temporarily left whilst my poor body was having crazy reaction over the simple tap of Ryder's palm. After a while, I managed to rasp out to him. “Please don’t touch me without any announcement!”

Ryder had already started the bike. “Get on, April, your next class’s starting in five.”

I willed myself to care about my next class, but again, the insides of my head went to a mini kaput as I heard my name slipping off his lips.

Finally.

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Glossary:

* Sith: the characters capable using the 'Dark Side' from the Star Wars. Honestly, the more fun characters in the universe. Yep, I didn't misspell shit with sith.

Thank you SO much for sticking up for me. Thank you for reading my story. Please don't forget to vote and comment, because right now I've been in a writing rut, and the only thing that keep me going is your support. :)

I've been putting more heart on this story, and I hope this shows in this chapter. This story is not only for LOLs (although I do hope that this is entertaining enough for you). It has actual drama and I hope this can also wrench your heart (that came out a little too strong, but you get my point haha). Please be patient with the development with the characters, that's all I ask. I'll make sure to make everything worthwhile for you guys.

Thank you again, for choosing to read my story!

p.s: right, regarding my comment earlier about living in a third world country. I originally came from Indonesia.