when the day met the night || ryden

in the middle of summer

☽

People watched as I ran down the hallways.

I didn't care.

I needed to get to Brendon.

"Ryan! Why are you running?" I heard a friend call out. "Reasons, sorry Jon." I yelled back.

I stopped and looked around the split hallway and saw a tall person talking to someone else.

Brendon.

I turned to the right and yelled, "Bren!"

The two turned around and Brendon smiled. "Oh, hey Ry. I was just talking to Dallon." He waved. I stood there to catch my breathe for a brief moment. "Hey little Ross." Dallon put his hand on my head and ruffled my hair. I smacked his hand away from mine.

     "Why so bitter?" Dallon smirked. "You know exactly why you fucking giraffe." I took a few steps closer to him.

     "Ry! Calm down," Brendon grabbed my arm and pulled me back, "he wasn't doing anything."

I looked at Brendon, who had a sincere look on his face, then I looked at Dallon, who had an eyebrow raised and a smirk across his face.

"Ry, I know you two have beef, but please, just let me handle it. He's not going to do anything." Brendon whispered. "Dallon, I'm so sorry.

"No, it's fine. I get it." Dallon shook his head. "See, he's fine." Brendon smiled. "Yeah, well, I guess I'll go hang with Gee." I told Brendon before walking away.

I couldn't trust that Dallon would be nice to Brendon. Not after all the shit he had done to us in the past.

I stared down at my feet as I made my way to where I usually meet Gerard. He wasn't there. I sighed and began walking to his locker, where he is if he's not talking to me or in the back.

I shoved my hands in my pockets as I watched everyone pass by. They all seemed as if they had they're lives in order and under control.

Why can't I live like that?

I shrugged off my thoughts and continued on my way.

I turned the corner to where Gerard's locker was located, and he was already occupied. Girls were running up to him and trying to flirt. Hell, some girls we're even putting their hands on him. He quickly shook off each hand almost as soon as they made contact with him.

"Can you girls please leave?" He asked.

I heard that he asks this everyday at his locker, as nicely as he can, but they don't listen.

"God, am I not allowed to have time by myself with my friends at my locker?!" He raised his voice.

He finally listened to my advice.

The girls backed away and stared at him.

"Please, just give me some space for once!" He turned around and opened his locker.

The girls, slowly, made their way somewhere else, and the crowd was soon gone. It was just him and his group.

I walked over to the four boys in hopes of talking to Gerard.

     "Didn't you hear Gee? Fuck off." One of the boys took a step towards me. "Mikey, calm yourself, it's just Ryan." Frank pushed the boy, who I assume is Mikey, away. "Oh, you're the kid who beat the shit out of Dallon." The boy nodded. "Stop talking like you're big stuff, you're literally a five year old." Another boy pushed the one who told me to fuck off.

Gerard was still looking in his locker.

"Ryan, I am so sorry. The one who's acting like a dick is Mikey. The other one is Ray." Frank put a hand on the boys' shoulders as he introduced them.

"Mikey's kind of defensive about his brother." Ray shrugged.

I saw Gerard raise his shoulders, most likely taking a deep breath. He turned around and smiled. "Hey Ross." He said.

His eyes seemed pink and puffy and his face a little bit more pale than usual. "Holy shit, Gee, are you okay?" I widened my eyes.

"He's overwhelmed." Mikey put an arm around his brother. "I'm sorry, could we talk another time?" Gerard gave me a sad smile. "Yeah, of course." I nodded, completely understanding.

     I then left. Where to? I had no idea.

     I continued to walk through the hallways until I heard ringing. I looked up and saw people walking to their class.

My class was all the way on the other side of the school.

I shrugged and walked into a bathroom before locking myself in a stall.

I took my phone out and opened my Instagram. People were still commenting about the fight between Dallon and I. I decided to make a new post addressing the situation.

I took a quick picture of me rolling my eyes and began to make a caption for my post.

"Hey, don't mind that I'm in a stall, I was too far to get to class so I just hid in here. Anyways, yes, Dallon and I fought. Yes, I ran out so I didn't get caught. I still got in trouble. You can stop asking if I fought him now because I'm sure theres countless videos of the fight on here and I even said that we fought. Don't ask who won because I don't even know. Sorry if this sounded mean." It said. I reread it a couple of times before posting it.

After posting, I began to look through my feed. I found a post that had Dallon smiling with Brendon and I in the back. My face seemed pretty pissed yet worried at the same time and Brendon appeared to be mid-sentence. It was from this morning. Dallon had posted the picture with the caption, "My best friends".

"Creep, since when did you take pictures without people knowing?" I commented, partially to poke fun, partially serious. I put my phone down and shut my eyes for a second.

Could Dallon really be a nice guy beneath that shit personality?

My phone dinged.

I picked it up and looked at the notifications They were from Instagram, both replying to my comment.

The first was from Dallon, saying, "Since now.". The second said, "I thought you and Dallon hated each other?". To that, I replied, "Me too.".

I put my phone down once more and tried to relax.

However, my relaxing time was cut very short after I heard the words, "George Ross III, please report to the office."

Well, shit.