His Safety Net

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

       Ryder walked into the house after school and slammed the door shut behind him. I didn't ask him what was wrong since he seemed kind of mad. I just watched him from where I was sitting at the kitchen counter, eating a bowl of fruit. I didn't go to school today because I had a check up at the hospital, so I had no idea why Ryder was so mad.

       Thought if I could guess, I'd have to say Jerome was involved.

       The door opened again and this time, Orchid and Alan walked inside. "Next time, wait until we're inside before you slam the door shut," Orchid said.

       "You were inside," Ryder said.

       "In the foyer," Orchid said. "Alan and I were following you up the stairs. We were right behind you."

       "Yeah, if you want to be dramatic, just come in last so you can slam the door," Alan said.

       Now I was getting a bit too curious about why Ryder was angry right now but I still didn't want to ask him. Ryder was a bit hard to approach when he was angry.

       Orchid walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge to find an after school snack, so I looked over at my sister. "What's up with Ryder?"

       "Oh, he's mad because Jerome is coming over so they could work on their project," Orchid said. "Ryder wanted to go to Jerome's just so Jerome couldn't mess anything up here, but Jerome refused."

       Ryder was listening to what Orchid was saying, so he looked over at us and said, "I also wanted to just stay at school, but he refused that as well."

       "You could have said no to him coming here," Alan pointed out. "It's not like he can force his way in here. Wait, never mind, he probably would."

       "And I really didn't want to argue about finding a place to work," Ryder said. "I just want to get this stupid project done and over with so I don't have to work with Jerome anymore. Speaking of, he's going to be here soon so I would make myself scarce if I were any of you."

       "You know, I suddenly remembered that I promised Mom andDad I'd help them in the clinic today," Alan said.

       "And I promised them I'd watch Tulip, William, and Rose," Orchid said, heading towards the stairs that led directly to the clinic. "That way, they can focus solely on the animals and... Yeah."

       "Wait for me," Alan said, following Orchid down the stairs, so the only ones left here were me and Ryder.

       I didn't move from my spot. I just continued eating out of the bowl of fruit I had in front of me. There was no reason why I should leave right now, especially because I had to eat and chances are, I'd still have to eat something after I was done the fruit.

       Ryder looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed. "Aren't you going to find an excuse to leave?"

       "No?" I said. "I'm..." I gestured to the bowl in front of me. "I'm eating."

       "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you," Ryder said. I just gave Ryder's a thumbs up before grabbing a slice of banana out of the bowl, popping it into my mouth.

       A few minutes later, the doorbell rang so Ryder sighed heavily, heading down to the foyer to go answer it, knowing that it was Jerome. A few moments later, Ryder came back up with Jerome following him.

       Ryder still didn't look pleased.

       "There's going to be some rules with you here," Ryder said.