Something Worth Living For {Ryden AU}

9a

masterpost

Chapter Nine

Everything is a bit strange now.

It's been two days since I took Ryan home with me, and now the weekend is over and it's time for school again. And the reason it's strange is because there are no more secrets now. No mystery, no more trying to figure him out. It's all out in the open now, and that's different after spending so much time trying to decipher the odd behavior and puzzling questions.

I finally convinced Ryan to go to the police. I don't know what finally changed his mind, but he agreed that if I went with him he'd go. And honestly, I've never been more relieved in my entire life. I don't know what's going to happen, and that scares me, but I do know that whatever it is, it has to be better than everything his parents have put him through.

I'm lying in bed, chewing on my lip in thought and just about to get up for school, when I hear my door open quietly. Jayda tip-toes across my room in her pajama pants and a t-shirt that I'm pretty sure is actually Spencer's. "Hey," she says in a hushed voice, noticing that Ryan is still sleeping soundly beside me. I glance at him, easing myself off the bed and walking over to sit on the couch with Jayda. "How's he doing?" she asks hopefully. Ryan wasn't doing well at all at first, barely saying a word and doing nothing but sleeping. But he's getting better.

"Good," I reply with a sigh. "Well, good compared to how he was at first," I correct. Jayda nods, looking over at Ryan's sleeping form with sadness in her eyes. She pulls her legs up onto the couch and curls them underneath her.

"I was thinking maybe we should just skip school today. Mom won't be home until Wednesday and you know we could all use a day off. I'll call Spence and we can all just hang out," she suggests, wide eyes imploring me to agree with her. Usually I'd argue, say that I don't really feel like making bad grades and that we should go. But today is different, and she's right. We could all use a day off.

"Okay," I agree easily, lifting one shoulder slightly. "I'll just let Ryan sleep then," I say, getting up and switching off the alarm clock before heading out of the room and nodding for Jayda to follow me. "So," I start once we're in the kitchen, Jayda getting two coffee mugs from the cupboard. I smile a little, knowing what she's doing. When we were in middle school we'd skip all the time when our mother was away, just stay home and hang out all day. And every time, we'd get up and make hot chocolate and go watch cartoons right when we woke up. "Ryan said he'll go to the police," I tell her, watching as she fills the kettle with water and places it on the stove.

"Really?" She stops for a moment, looking at me eagerly. "That's good. That's really good," she sighs in relief.

"Yeah, we're going to go tomorrow."

"I'm sure everything will turn out okay, Bren," she smiles kindly, obviously sensing that I'm worrying about the whole situation. I smile back, hoping more than anything that she's right.

Once our hot chocolate is done we settle into the couch in the living room, Jayda flipping through the channels until she lands on SpongeBob.

"What do you think is gonna happen, then?" she asks tentatively, glancing at me across the couch. She's trying not to let me see the worry in her eyes but that's something she's never been good at hiding from me. "After you go to the police, I mean," she elaborates. She blows softly on her steaming drink, bringing it to her mouth and taking a small sip. "Ryan's still seventeen..." she trails off, her eyes dropping down and her eyebrows creasing.