What Once Was

(24) I Knew You Were Trouble.

"Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in.
So shame on me now."
-Taylor Swift

"Ains!" Lacey exclaimed when I showed up to school on Thursday.

"Hey!"

We shared a brief hug before we started the walk to our first classes.

"I can't believe you left me here, by myself, for so long!" she whined.  

"Yeah, well, it was a push to come today. I am so not looking forward to seeing Ryder."

"That's fair. I still can't believe he said that. . . are you 100 percent sure it was him talking to you over the phone?" she questioned as we neared the English room.

"I don't know who else it would be. Anyways, I should get in there. I have a lot of work to complete."

"Alright, good luck," she said knowingly.

When I walked into English, Ryder immediately caught my eye, except he was not at his desk. Instead, he sat on top of Wynn's desk and was surrounded by a bunch of other boys on the football team.

With him not at his desk, I took that as the opportunity to sit at mine.

When the bell rang, Mr. Brown ushered all the boys to their seats. I kept my eyes on my work as Ryder approached.

"Feeling better?" he asked. He pointed in the direction of my knee that I had to wear a brace on.

I looked up and scowled at him - now he decides to talk to me, now?!

"Really? So now you are ready to talk," I jeered.

"I was busy."

I found myself laughing sarcastically. "So you ignore me for an entire week!?"

A red coloring appeared on his cheeks and he looked away from my eyes. "Your dad—"

I pointed an accusing finger towards his chest. "Don't you dare bring my dad into this. I was hurt and all you did was say, 'I'm with friends. I can't talk,' and then you proceeded to ignore me!" 

"Ains, come on, this isn't fair."

"Don't call me Ains, and how the hell is this not fair!? You had a week to say something!" I cried as tears began to fill my eyes.

"Is everything okay?" asked Mr. Brown while approaching our desks.

I shot a pointed glare at Ryder while the tears began to fall. "Can I go to the office, please?"

Mr. Brown looked between Ryder and me before nodding.

-

After yelling at Ryder, I had my mom call me out of school. I just could not bear it.

However, it was now Friday and I was on my way to school. Fifth period was just about to begin so I hurried up to my class. I had picked to show up at fifth because it's one of the only classes I don't have with Ryder.

I just do not get it. How did we drift so far apart? We were so happy and without a sign of ending.

I took my seat beside Lacey, who smiled. "I'm glad you're back. Will you be at the football game tonight?"

"No. . . we're heading out to LA this weekend, and I still need to pack."

She groaned loudly. "Ains! Just when you get back, and then you leave me, again!"

"I'll invite you when we head out to LA again. It'll probably be soon, but I didn't want to interfere with volleyball practices because we won't be back until Monday."