In 7 Days [Book 1]

Chapter 47 - Cool

I had been sitting on the floor of Ryder's closet, in the dark, for what felt like hours. I had paced back and forth, gone through boxes of Ryder's old toys, and looked at his wardrobe (and his underwear), before deciding I needed to just wait it out. I heard Ryder's family eating dinner right under me and talking about school, so I knew it was at least seven. 

My phone rang loudly in my pocket and I hurriedly answered it, worried they would hear me. "Hey, mom!" I whispered. "Be quick, please."

"Where are you?" Mom sounded worried. 

"Oh, I'm at Ryder's house." 

"Why are you still there?" 

I couldn't dare tell mom I was stuck in his closet, or even that I was in his room. I thought she might be bad, so I lied; "They invited me for dinner."

Mom sighed heavily. "You should have told me, Marley, I was worried." I imagined her anxiously playing with the fringes on the pillow. 

"I'm sorry, I'll be home soon," I whispered to her. I wondered when I would be able to get out of the closet and head home. Probably never. 

"Why are you whispering, Marls?" 

I started to panic - what was I going to say to that?

"Sorry, we-we are in the middle of dinner. I'll talk to you later, I love you, bye." I hung up on her straight away, burying my phone into my pocket. That was a close call. 

Only a few minutes later, the closet door opened. For a split second, I got scared and thought it was Ryder's mom - but it was only him, coming to save the day. "Hurry, hurry," he pulled me to my feet and raced me down the stairs. We crashed into his brother on the way down, and he opened his mouth to yell, but Ryder pushed him into the railing. "Don't you dare."

 I ran down and opened the front door. He pulled me in for a kiss on the lips and then pushed me outside, into the cold air. "See you tomorrow, bye, love you." He said quickly and slammed the door. 

I was thankful I was finally able to leave the cramped closet. 

***

"5, 6, 7, 8!" Finn clapped us in as we practiced our dance routine for Regionals. Brittany had choreographed it on her own, and had forgotten that she was the only professionally trained dancer in the club. "Come on, guys! Follow Brittany!" Finn yelled, trying to motivate us. 

I watched Brittany do a complicated dance sequence; a step, two turns, an "american swing", a complicated leap, and another few spins. When we tried to copy her, we tripped all over each other and ended up in a pile. 

"Brittany," I panted, "do you think it's too complicated for people like me, who can't dance?"

Finn awkwardly laughed. "Yeah, do you think you could tone it down a bit?"

In a matter of minutes, Brittany gathered us back together to teach us the new (and simpler) routine. "For the first line of 22, us girls will be gathered in the center of the stage and Marley will stand right in the middle," she pulled me to the center, "and she will go step, step, step, and hit her skirt, and then..." I followed Brittany as best as I could, but I was nowhere near as graceful as her. Every step she took, her feet were positioned so perfectly, every turn and jump was landed perfectly. I could hardly stay in a straight line. 

We repeated the dance over and over, until our legs were on the verge of falling off. 

"Please, can we stop?" I begged, falling onto Ryder's lap. 

"Oh, sure, I guess," Finn shrugged, throwing his packet of chips in the bin and walking to the front. "Now, let's here Marley sing!" He gestured to me with a big smile on his crumb covered face.