𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢 | 𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚘𝚕𝚏 [1]

defending scott

—

It was the end of lacrosse practice.

That meant that that Ryder sadly had to return home. She put it in her parents heads that she only stayed after school because she was in tutoring, which wasn't a complete lie. She was supposed to be in tutoring but she usually ended up skipping to have time to herself.

However, today was different. That day she spent the last two hours with someone she had never met before in her life. Even if majority of their time was spent sitting in silence (mainly on her part), Ryder couldn't lie and say she didn't enjoy it. She was more relaxed around the new kid then she was with her own parents.

Though, she knew not to get attached. Despite how he ignored everyone's warnings, Ryder knew it was a matter of time before Austin was siding with everyone else. The same thing happened with Scott and Stiles.

The three used to be relatively close before Lydia went around saying how she slept with half the school in sixth grade. And whether or not it was true (it wasn't) she would've appreciated if the two boys were there to comfort her rather than abandon her.

Scott always seemed to be a lot more guilty about suddenly discontinuing their friendship, but Stiles didn't seem to care, as long as Lydia Martin was happy. And if dropping his friendship with someone he's known for almost his whole life made the girl happy, he'd do it.

Ryder never held it against them when they left her. If anything, she was thankful they did. She couldn't bare the thought of other people getting hurt all because they wanted to be friends with her. She was also glad that they only ignored her presence rather than expressing their disgust for her. She didn't know if she could handle more people hating her for just existing.

—

The next day of school felt like it'd be a lot less eventful.

Ryder sat in her English class with a frown on her face. It was only the second day of school and they already had partner work. She wasn't completely upset with who she got paired with, she just wasn't necessarily having a good day today.

"I don't understand it." Her partner says, his voice was so soft she almost didn't hear him. He tended to keep a low profile, so it didn't surprise her when he scooted close to avoid any unwanted attention.

Her voice was gentle as she responded, not wanting to startle the obviously nervous teen, "What don't you understand?"

"I thought this was a worksheet about the book we just started reading, what do they mean by 'optimistic outlook'? What does a book have to do with an eye doctor?"

Ryder can't help but pause.

Was he being serious? He couldn't be.