𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢 | 𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚘𝚕𝚏 [1]

school fight

—

If he didn't like her before, he definitely liked her now.

The way she spoke to him so comfortably compared to how she was with others truly warmed his heart. He knew for sure that he had a crush on her, even before they went on their not so dates.

While a lot of the time it would always be 'only an hour' or, 'it's not a date', he couldn't help but grow attached to her. And after going on an actual date, he was convinced he wanted to marry the girl.

Of course, she'd have to meet his mother first, but he was certain the woman would like her just as much as he did.

As he entered the school drive way, he glanced around in hopes of finding someone he knew, his eyes fall on Danny, the boy running up to him with a frantic expression on his face.

"Hey, Danny."

"There you are, dude. Ryder's fighting."

"What?"

•••

It's not that Ryder enjoyed fighting, she definitely didn't enjoy arguing with people. She thought it was dumb, while a lot of her time was spent arguing back and forth with Lydia, the two never went as far to put their hands on one another.

The girl that attacked her wasn't even someone she really recognized. Maybe spotting her in the halls every once in a while, but that was about it.

So for this girl to walk up to her and attempt (and fail) to throw a coffee at her, confusion was flowing through her body as she continued to defend herself.

As the girls hit the floor, Ryder on top of her, she could feel someone else make their way near her and hit her head.

She held in a groan of annoyance as she came to the conclusion that she was getting jumped. Why? She didn't even know. After successfully managing to bust the girl below hers nose, she reached behind her and grabbed the hair of the blonde on her back.

She succeeded in tugging the girl off of her, forcing a scream to exit her mouth when she hit the hard ground.

Her body gets pulled off the floor, soft hands holding her back and away from the two girls that jumped her. She watched as the two girl are held back by Danny and Jackson. Looking between the two boys, she took note of Lydia standing near them, and from the look in her eyes, she knew the Martin girl had nothing to do with this.

Her eyes then move to the ones holding her back, immediately recognizing the snake tattoo on his wrist.

"Get me out of here." She mumbled him, no longer being able to handle everyone's eyes on her.

•••

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"What the hell do you think happened?" She snapped.

Ryder didn't want to be rude to the man, but it was abundantly clear what happened. And even if that wasn't enough, there were cameras in halls they fought in.

"Ms. Miller."

"Mr. Vice Principal, sir, if it wasn't clear enough, i got jumped for standing next to my locker. I don't even know who those girls are, I couldn't even give you their names if my life depended on it."

"We called your dad and talked to some of the witnesses." The man starts, "He, and the others, told us that you have problems controlling your anger—"

"Are you being serious right now?" She cuts him off.

"Ryder—"

"I didn't do anything wrong! Why am I suddenly getting blamed for standing in the hallway?"

"Based on what the witnesses said—"

"Is this a fucking police investigation?"

"Watch your language." He warned, sighing as he knew she wasn't in the wrong, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

"I don't talk to anyone! Why on good Gods green earth would I walk into this dumbass school and choose to pick on someone I don't even know?!"

•••

Austin's head fell to his hands as he listened to the shouts coming from behind the door.

He could practically feel her angered energy seeping though the wood. He believed her, he knew she wasn't one to just pick on someone because she felt like it.

Heeled footsteps catch his attention, he huffs a breath as he watched Lydia Martin walk in his direction.

"Were you the reason they did that?" He asked, not wanting to yell at the girl, but he couldn't help how upset he was.

"No, I swear." She spoke, "Is she okay?"

Austin scoffed, "She's fine. Barely a bruise, they almost ripped out her nose piercing."

Lydia sighed, moving forward to knock on the door.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna clear this up." She vaguely answered, continuing to knock until the vice principal opened the door for her.

"Ms. Martin, can I help you with something?"

"You can, actually. Um- I'll just say it... Ryder didn't do anything wrong."

"Lydia..." The man sighs, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Mr, Thomas, when have i ever lied to you?"

While she wanted to intervene and mention the plenty of times she's caught Lydia lying to man, Ryder chose not to speak, allowing Lydia to hopefully get her out of trouble.

"Not once."

"Exactly. And you can trust me when i say this, because Ryder and I don't even get along, i promise you that she didn't do anything." Lydia rambled out, her eyes filled with some sort of desperation.

"Even if she didn't start the fight, she still managed to break the girls nose, there's still consequences for her actions."

"So, it's her fault for defending herself against someone that can't fight?! You quite literally just said people should have 'consequences for their actions'? They jumped Ryder and just so happened to leave with a broken face. Who's truly to blame for that?"

The air grew silent, the three people in the office quiet as Mr. Thomas went through his thoughts. As he let out a huff of air, Lydia was certain she had gotten to him.

•••

"I'm don't think I want to say thank you."

"I don't want a thank you." Lydia reassured, "Even if we don't get along, you didn't deserve what you got."

Ryder squints her eyes at the girl, observing the way that her eyes trailed over her tattoo.

The Miller girl most definitely wanted to question why Lydia stood up for her, but nothing bad had come out of it. She was grateful for what the strawberry blonde did for her but it'd take a lot for the girl to earn her trust back.

Humming to herself with a nod, she catches Lydia's eyes, she speaks almost mockingly as the two keep eye contact, "Thanks, Lydia."

Lydia smiled to herself as she watched the brunette walk away, wringing her hands together in front of her before turning the opposite direction with a proud smile on her face.