Ariel

Fucking late again. Always fucking late. Except that's not entirely true. Recently, I've been better. My system has been working. This morning, however, everything went wrong. My mum wasn't feeling well so I had to get the twins ready which meant my whole system went to shit. 

I may as well just sit outside Ms Healey's office now and wait for her to give me detention. I already know how this day is going to go, fucking terrible.

"What's up, El? You look like you're raging." Ryder's arm snakes through the strap of my backpack which keeps slipping off my shoulder because I somehow thought not putting on both straps would save me time. It saved me a total of five seconds which, in the scheme of things, is nothing because I'm already over an hour late for school.

"El!" Ryder says loudly as his long legs easily keep up with my jogging pace.

Striding towards the school entrance, I'm panting while he looks like he's taking a leisurely stroll. I wish I had longer legs. But if they were too long, I'd be taller than everyone, and that would give Teresa the self-nominated school bitch another thing to attack me over. Maybe, being average height isn't so bad.

"Seriously, El!" Ryder huffs and I focus on him.

Shit, I've clearly ignored him way too many times. "Sorry, I'm stressing about being late. My mum wasn't feeling well this morning. I had to get Tilly and Tobias ready then take them to school. I seriously wish their school was closer to mine rather than the opposite fucking direction."

"Relax, you have a good excuse. It's not like you slept in or couldn't be bothered." Ryder slings my bag onto his other shoulder, places his free arm over my shoulder and gives me a reassuring squeeze. "What's wrong with your mum?"

"It was my dad's birthday yesterday. She made a massive birthday cake, chucked it in the bin then ran to her room and she hasn't come out since. I'm worried about her. Also, the twins's dad is getting remarried. He told her yesterday morning. I heard her rummaging through the house last night, I think she was looking for her stash."

"You got rid of it though, didn't you?"

"Yeah. She's going to know it's me, but she can't ask me about it because she promised she wouldn't ever take anything again, even if it's legal." I exhale slowly. "I really could do without this. Things were looking good, I'd sorted out a system so I was more organised and punctual. I can't take the twins to school every day, I'll be late all the time."

"Ask their dad to drop them off."

"He's looking for an excuse to get full custody. It will destroy my mum if they get taken away. I know she can go a bit off radar sometimes, but most of the time she's good. She gets depressed but she's still a good mum. Her heart is in the right place. You know?"

"I know, but if they are better off with their dad you shouldn't stop that from happening. No matter how hard it will be for you and your mum. The twins need security and stability as well as love, so you need to think who will give them that." Ryder squeezes me again.

"My mum can give them that, I just need to get her out of this rut." I shake my head.

This conversation is too depressing although Ryders correct. My sister Tilly and brother Tobias, also known as the twins, don't have the same dad as me, luckily for them. They have one who has always been involved, who loves them and wants them to live with him. He was never in a serious relationship with my mum but, like every father should, he knew he had as much responsibility as my mum to take care of them.

The only problem is, he knows what my mum can be like. Since the twins birth, he's been waiting for my mum to fuck up so he can take them, and right now there's a real possibility she'll fuck up.

She's done it before, many times. Both before the twins were born and after but I'd covered for her. I'm not sure I can cover for her again. Especially now the twins are getting older and it could affect them. Then again, getting taken from your mum and only seeing her a couple of times a week will affect them, regardless of how stable and secure they are when living with their dad.

"Where were you all weekend?" I arch an eyebrow at Ryder.

"Checking out some wannabe dealers."  Ryder shrugs.

"With Faithful?"

"Yes. And before you ask why I didn't invite you, I did. But you were babysitting and you originally had plans with Poppy yesterday."

"Ugh, she's so needy. She kept messaging me yesterday, even after I said we were over-" I stop abruptly when I see the girl. The drug dealer girl from the party. She's typing away furiously on her phone as she heads towards the entrance of the school.

"That's her."

"That's who?" Ryder asks as he looks towards the girl I'm staring at.

"Hey, cupboard Wattpad buddy!" I shout out.

She looks up in confusion.

Waving, I jog towards her and Ryder follows behind with his casual saunter. He's so annoyingly cool. Like, really fucking annoyingly cool. 

"Hey," Drug dealer cupboard wattpader girl says warily as I stop in front of her.

"I'm Ariel but everyone calls me El."

"Ariel like the little mermaid?" She asks.

Ryder laughs from behind me and I glare at him before turning back to the girl. "As in Ariel from The Tempest, the Shakespeare play." I shrug. "My mum named me after a boy fairy because that's who my dad was acting as when my mum met him on some shitty budget play in some local theatre group. He was probably also wearing the costume when he got my mum pregnant, they both were asked to leave because they kept sneaking off and fucking backstage when they were meant to be rehearsing."

Drug dealer girl's eyes widen and she clears her throat. "Oh, ok."

Ryder is full-on laughing as he stands next to me and I elbow him in the ribs which makes him huff.

"What's your name?" I ask her

"Taylor."

"Did you enjoy the party on Friday?"

"It was ok." She glances at her watch.

"Am I going to get an introduction?" Ryder drawls as he slings his arm back over my shoulder. "I'm El's best friend."

"Best at being fucking annoying," I mutter. "This is Ry-"

"Ryder. I know who he is. Everyone does." Taylor shuffles slightly, looks at Ryder and adds, "you've got a reputation."

Ryder laughs. "Well, it's not all true, apart from the one about my name. That's definitely true."

Taylor arches an eyebrow. "The one that you're called Ryder because you're good in bed? I hope not, because you're actual birth name is Ryder which would mean your parents either know how good you are in bed, which is disgusting, or your parents predicted how good you'd be in bed which is not quite as disgusting as the first option but still disgusting."

I laugh hard. Like spit flying, ugly looking laughter. I fucking love this girl. She needs to be my best friend. She knows about Wattpad and puts Ryder in his place. What more could I want in a friendship?

Ryder looks unfazed as always. "And how do you know my parents named me Ryder?"

"Because the Principal only calls people by their real names and whenever he shouts at you he always calls you Ryder which means it's not a nickname." Taylor crosses her arms in front of her chest and waits for his response. 

"You're the first girl to figure that out. I'm impressed." Ryder smirks.

"If I'm the first girl to figure that out you need to start hanging out with more intelligent girls. Making sure they can spell their name would probably be a good start." Taylor glances at her watch again. "We should go in, we're really late."

"I'm going to get in so much shit," I groan.

Taylor walks towards the school entrance, and I go to follow but Ryder holds me back.

"Are you sure it's her?" Ryder frowns, glancing at Taylor as she stops by the entrance doors to the school and types on her phone.

"Hundred Percent. Poppy's brother told me."

"Poppy's brother?"

"Yes. I was talking to him when I was waiting for Poppy to put on shit loads of make-up. It took her over an hour, and I don't mean to be rude but when she was finished she looked worse than-"

"El, what did Poppy's brother say about Taylor?" Ryder interrupts.

"Oh. He said he doesn't have direct contact with her. He messages what he wants and it gets delivered to his locker. Part of the deal is if the supplier gets identified they get cut off from their supply. But he saw that girl taking the money he left and putting the envelope of pills in his locker." I nod my head towards Taylor who is still typing on her phone. "The same girl who just fucking owned you."

I laugh at Ryder's unimpressed face and kiss him on the cheek. "She's going to be my new best friend, I can feel it. This is the beginning of an epic Wattpad story."

Ryder groans. "If you start going on about your Wattpad stories, I'm not coming to yours tonight."

"Liar. Nothing would stop you from coming to mine, you love seeing me too much." I dash off towards Taylor, who is still typing away. This girl must have strong finger muscles.

"I thought you were in a rush," I say, glancing at the phone in her hand.

She locks her phone and quickly slips it into her pocket. "Just needed to sort something."

"I'm dreading going in. That bitch on reception fucking hates me."

"She's alright," Taylor says.

"Compared to the devil, yeah, she's alright. Actually no, I think the devil has more friendly qualities than her. She's the devil's evil twin, her aim is to make my life hell."

Taylor chuckles. 

"I'm not even joking. Talking about the devil, I'm reading this really good Wattpad story called 'Faithless' you need to read it." I shake my head as we enter the school and walk towards student reception. Eagle eyes behind the desk puckers her lips.

"I'm so sorry for being late," Taylor says.

"It's ok." Eagle eyes writes her a note. "Quickly, off to class."

"Thank you," Taylor says, nods at me and quickly strides off.

Eagle eyes turns to me and her face creases into a frown. "This is not acceptable, Ariel. Lateness affects you're learning and-"

"I haven't been late for ages-"

"Don't be rude and don't interrupt me."

"Seriously? You just gave Taylor a note and didn't say a word but you're going to-"

"Don't question what I do. You need to learn some manners..."

Fuck, she's such a bitch. I can't believe she's telling me off. I've been so much better recently. I haven't been late in weeks until today, and she's acting like this. This morning was a shit show. It wasn't even my fault but they won't accept that excuse. The way they talk to me you'd think I enjoy being late. I don't. I don't like getting told off.

I stare at her mouth still moving. How is she still talking? I glance at the clock, I've already missed the first lesson and at this rate, I'm going to miss the second which is Photography. I love Photography. I even love English Lit which was first period. My English Lit teacher allows me to listen to audiotapes whenever we do independent reading for long periods of time which helps with my concentration. I can deal with reading for short periods which means it takes me ages to read a book. I wish Wattpad did audio for every book however sometimes the voices they choose to read are horrendous. This one story, I listened to the first chapter then fell asleep because the voice was so monotone. Why would you choose a monotone voice?

"Ariel, are you even listening? I don't think you're taking this seriously."

"I am, which is why I'm very aware that you telling me off is only making me more late which means I'm wasting more valuable learning time. You're making me become less educated!" I blurt out.

"Go to Ms Healey's office now," Eagle eyes snaps.

"Of course," I grumble.

Trudging to Ms Healey's office, I realise I need to sort out who's going to pick the twins up after school. I can't guarantee my mum will show and I'm not sure I'll get there in time. Ryder has a motorbike. He'll definitely give me a lift but I avoid going on that bike unless I absolutely have too. I wish I had a bike but knowing me I'd end up driving it into someone while looking at something interesting behind me. Maybe a push bike would be better however that would require me to do exercise, and the least amount of exercise I can get away with the better. I don't like sweating.

"El," Faithful says dragging me out of my head.

Stopping in the school hallway, I look down at Faithful who is sitting in one of the chairs lined up outside Ms Healey's office.

"Hey, how's Kia? I hope you washed your fingers. What you doing here so early? Don't tell me you were late and Eagle Eyes sent you here too?"

"I'm ignoring the first part. I'm here because, according to Ms Monroe, I was being aggressive. I wasn't late and I don't know who Eagle Eyes is." Faith smiles slowly.

I drop into the seat next to him. "Ms Monroe is a fucking idiot, she only thinks you're aggressive because-"

"Yeah, I know but what you gonna do about it." Faithful shrugs.

"Just think, soon we'll be out of here and free."

"Don't think the outside world is much different to school, to be honest. Same prejudices, same shit."

"Fuck, your depressing today." I stand up. "I'm going to class. Strangely enough, I actually want to learn. I'll see you later."

Walking away, a door squeaks open.

"Ariel, where do you think you're going?"

There was me thinking, I may actually escape and learn something today. No chance.

Author's Note

Faithless is byrafaela_bara check out her stories xx