Bounce Back

Chapter 13

Ryan's POV

Jordan had moved to sit on one of the chairs in my room and I sat up more so my back was resting against the head of the bed. He closed his eyes for a moment before looking at me again.

"I'm serious Ryan. You are going to hurt yourself," he started.

I ran my fingers through my hair and he moved across the room and sat down beside me. I moved slightly so that he had more room.

"Ry, you are my best friend and I don't want to see you wear yourself out," he continued.

I rested my head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around me.

"I just don't realise," I admitted softly.

"I know but you have to listen to us. We are here for you," he told me.

I smiled briefly and that was the last thing that I remember before the morning. It wasn't the first time that we had fallen asleep in the same bed so it wasn't awkward. I groaned slightly but I felt more rested than I had in a couple of days.

Jordan was already awake and was scrolled through something on his phone.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better, thanks for looking out for me," I whispered.

"Always"

I climbed out of bed and threw clothes at Jordan that he had left here previously. We both moved around each other and my parents weren't surprised to see him there. Once I got to school I headed away from Jordan to go and find Tyler.

I found him outside his own locker with a couple of his teammates.

"Ryan, you feeling better?" he asked.

"Yeah, do you have time this afternoon to make up for yesterday?" I asked.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, do you have training?"

"Yeah, I'll see you after that then," I smiled.

He nodded as the bell rang. I walked away from him and I could hear his friends talking. I didn't care what they had to say about me though. The day past quickly and I knew that all my friends, and Jordan in particular, where watching me.

We headed into the library and I started to spread my stuff out on the table. I still had quite a bit of work to get done in the couple of days but I knew that Jordan would be making sure that I wasn't overworking myself.

I managed to get quite a bit done before Tyler joined me. He slipped into the seat beside me and I barely noticed until he placed his hand on my shoulder. I visible jumped which made him laugh.

"How was training?" I asked.

"Not too bad, I guess," he said simply.

I stopped what I was doing and grabbed my stuff out to do maths work with him. We didn't bother moving tables and started to quietly talk through his latest math sheet. He didn't ask to go through basketball stats so I didn't offer.

We all had other work to do and Tyler stayed with us and started doing his own thing. I was so focused on my own work that I barely noticed Drew and Morgan leave and that the other two had stopped working and started talking.

I only realised once Jordan started waving his hand in front of my face and when I looked up the two guys were laughing at me.

"I've literally been calling your name for five minutes," Jordan smiled.

I blushed slightly and ducked my head.

"We were going to head out," Tyler said.

The end of that thought was that I should come with them so I nodded.

Jordan and Tyler seemed to be closer than before and were easily talking. I trailed after them, listening to their conversation about Tyler's basketball team. Jordan headed off towards his house leaving me with Tyler.

"Do you want to go over the basketball stats tomorrow?" I asked.

"Are you sure that you aren't too busy?" he asked.

I knew that Jordan had said something to him yesterday. I nodded and he smiled.

"I'll see you in the library then," he smiled.

I nodded. I didn't really know why Tyler cared that much. I was just his math tutor, so that he could stay on the basketball team.

"Do you want to come around for dinner? Mom wants to meet you," he said.

I nodded a third time because Mom and Dad were going out and Jamie was out with other friends so I knew that no one was going to be home. I then followed him and found that his house wasn't that far from mine.

We got greeted by a little girl that I assumed was his younger sister, Lisa. She grabbed my hand and dragged me inside the house with Tyler laughing behind me.

"Mommy, Tyler brought a friend home," she smiled.

"Lisa, let go of the poor guy," the women said, probably their Mother.

"Mom, this is Ryan. He's the one tutoring me in maths," Tyler said from behind me.

She introduced herself as Holly and was really nice to me. I felt so welcome in the family and it was really easy to spend the time with them.

After dinner I followed Tyler into his room and sat down on his bed.

"Thank you for inviting me around. Your family is awesome," I said.

"Yeah, I love them a lot," he smiled.

We talked a bit more about his basketball team and at that point I realised that I considered Tyler one of my friends now. I don't know if he would consider me a friend though. We stayed there talking for a couple of hours before I needed to go home.

I left Tyler stretched out on the bed because he was pretty much asleep and I didn't want to disturb him. I said goodbye to Holly as I walked through the lounge.

"Thank you for having me," I said politely.

"It's alright. Tyler doesn't have people around that often so it is nice to see his has nice friends like you," she said.

I didn't say anything else but it gave me something to think about as I walked home. How come Tyler invited me around?

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I'm going away for two weeks and not taking my laptop so it will probably be about two weeks before I update again.

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The Wise One