Chapter Fourteen
Ryder
I have some time before the football game and sit down on my bed with my phone and video call my best friend.
Blake takes a little long to answer, and I hope I’m not disturbing him. He’s got a game as well. I know how nervous and stressed out he gets.
When his face pops on the screen, he smiles. “Ry! How’s it going? Been forever, hasn’t it?”
I laugh, so relieved to see his face. He makes me feel like home. “Hey, man. Things are good here. How about you?”
His cheeks puff up. “We’ve got a tough game coming up tonight. Hartwood High.”
I wave my hand. “You’ll smoke them, no worries.”
“Not without you.”
That makes my throat tighten. “You know that’s not true.”
“Isn’t it? We’ve been struggling since you left. Of course no one blames you for the injury, but we miss you, bro.”
I nod slowly, swallowing the lump in my throat. “I miss you and the others, too. But enough with this sad BS. You’ve got a game to win.”
He laughs. “We’ll try.”
“Not try. You’ll demolish .”
He smiles sadly. “I miss your pep talks.”
“Can always request them.”
“Yeah, thanks. So how’s that fancy school treating you?”
I roll my shoulders. “It’s fine. A lot of work, but it keeps me busy, you know? And I’ve got dance to focus on.”
He stares at me. “Wait, Carly’s dance thing? I heard she put a team together and they’ll perform at games and competitions.”
“Yeah, I tried out and got in.”
He bursts out laughing. “On Carly’s team? Man, please tell me she hasn’t tried to murder you.”
I laugh along with him. “Not yet, but there’s still time. She had no choice but to accept me on her team because of my sick moves. She knows she won’t win without me.”
“Still as cocky as ever.”
The side of my mouth lifts. “You know it.”
“Dude, how much are you pushing her buttons?”
I hold up my hands. “I’m totally innocent.” I tilt my head to the side. “But I called her dance team corny.”
He chortles. “And I bet she bit your head off.”
“Pretty much.”
“Are you ever going to stop messing with her?”
I think about it for a second or two. “Nah.”
He laughs harder. He and I used to tease her all the time when we were little. We’d climb a tree and she’d be too scared to join us. So we ignored her. Until she cried to her parents and they insisted we come down.
I regret how we treated her, but we were stupid kids. Unfortunately, I was annoyed when Carly hung around us. I felt like she got in the way and tattled to her mom whenever we were up to no good. Looking back now, I wish I wouldn’t have treated her like crap. She just wanted to play with us.
“Blake? We were jerks to Carly, weren’t we? When we were younger, I mean.”
He gives me a look like he has no clue why I’m bringing it up. “I guess, but don’t most older brothers treat their little sisters like that?”
“Well, sure.” Lots of our friends had “boys only” clubs and tree houses. That’s how some little kids are, but I feel bad about it.
He bends close to his screen. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just thinking.”
My home life sucked, which was why I loved hanging out with Blake.
He was like my brother. I guess that was why I kept pushing Carly away.
Because she didn’t understand what I was going through like Blake did.
I would talk to my buddy about something my parents said or did and he understood.
He was there for me. He’d talk to me and listen to me.
Then Carly would come and…I hate to say it, but she’d get in the way.
She didn’t understand that I was over at their house a lot because I hated mine.
But now that I’m older, I realize that it was no excuse to shut her out.
“My parents haven’t said a word to me,” I admit to him. “Not even a text since I enrolled here.”
His face fills with sympathy, same as it did when we were little. “I’m sorry.”
I hold up my hand. “Thanks, but I’m not surprised. Sometimes I wonder if I should just cut them out of my life.”
“Do you think you and them could ever…?”
I sigh heavily. “You know that all my life, I felt like they never wanted me. Then when I was twelve, I overheard them saying that I was a mistake.”
Blake nods slowly and sadly.
I was lying in bed and my parents were arguing, probably over something silly like usual, and then somehow the conversation shifted to me and how I held Mom back from following her dream to be an actress. She said I was a mistake. Imagine twelve-year-old me finding out my parents never wanted me.
“I’m surprised they even kept me. They could have put me up for adoption or I would have ended up in the foster care system.”
He doesn’t say anything. Most times, he just lets me talk.
“But I’m sixteen now. Soon, I’ll go off to college and start my own life. Do they even want to be part of that? And if for some crazy reason I settle down one day and have kids, would they want to be part of their grandkids’ lives?”
He nods and we’re quiet.
“Never mind that.” I force a smile. “Have you finally asked Tina out?”
“Nope. Asked Ximena instead.”
My eyes go wide. “Her best friend? How’d you manage that?”
He shrugs. “Tina asked Ximena to gather intel on what kind of girl I like and as we were talking, we hit it off and I asked her out. Tina was very cool and supportive about it.”
“Nice. I’m happy for you.”
He smiles. “Thanks. What about the girls at your fancy school? They hot?”
“Super hot.”
For reasons I can’t understand, Carly’s face and fiery red hair pop up before my eyes.
“How many have you gone out with?” Blake asks with a lifted brow.
We’re very similar, but where we differ is with girls.
He’s like Carly and hopes to find his soulmate in high school.
I like to have fun and couldn’t care less about soulmates.
I don’t believe in them or in love. What I believe in is having a good time.
Blake doesn’t particularly like that I’m not serious about girls, but he doesn’t judge me.
Besides, I always make it clear to the girl before we date that I’m not looking for endgame. Who’s endgame in high school, anyway?
“There are these twins…” I tell my best bud all about the Parker twins and that we hung out and danced together at the party.
“Man, you don’t waste a minute, do you?” he teases.
I stick my tongue out at him. “You should try having more fun instead of looking for your special girl.”
He sticks his tongue back out at me. “Some of us are romantic.”
I snicker. “No such thing, dude.”
One could say I don’t believe in love because of my parents.
But secretly, I kind of do know it exists.
Blake’s parents have been in love for years and are so sickly crazy about each other.
But they’re the exception to the rule. Most couples I know break up, so why bother to begin with?
All these movies and songs cry about heartache.
Why in the world would anyone put themselves through that?
“You have fun with your twins and I’ll have with my soulmate,” Blake says. “Whether it be Ximena or someone else.”
I salute. “Good luck with that. And good luck on your game.”
“Good luck on your performance, and send my regards to Carly.”
“Will do. Talk to you later.”