"Just because I'm not going to school doesn't mean you don't have to go," He's refusing to attend school all because I am not going; I don't need him to stay here and babysit me.

"I'm not going," he shouts over top of the water rushing from the showerhead.

"But you have to, if you don't go, then who is going to get my work?" I don't want to get any further behind than I already am.

The shower knobs squeak as he turns them off; I step back from the bathroom door, just in time, he comes out in nothing but a towel. I keep my eyes on him and not his chest, his abs, his sculpted V line leading to his...

"I'm staying!"

"What?" I pull away from my thoughts. What were we talking about? Oh right. "Ryder-"

"I'm not talking about this anymore," He walks past me and over to his dresser.

God, he smells so good! You think after seeing him naked, I wouldn't quiver at him in a towel, but my insides do backflips at the perfect picture in front of me. I can't believe I saw him naked; I can't believe he saw me naked. What the hell was I thinking jumping into that shower?

My insecurities didn't even take over and stop me. Something just took over me, and I quickly undressed in the middle of his room and then walked into the shower. I didn't care if he saw me naked; I didn't care to see him naked; all I knew was I needed him.

I'm grateful for him. If he was anyone else, I have no doubt in my mind they would have slept with me. I told him to have sex with me, I told him I wanted to do it, he had permission, and yet he didn't. He respects me enough; he knows me well enough to know I wasn't in the right state of mind yesterday and that I wasn't thinking clearly.

He closes his drawer after finding some clothes and then walks back into the bathroom; he also knows I was about to say more about him staying home, so he closes the door in my face.

"You can't stay in there forever," I say and turn around.

Evelyn walks into the room, her eyes light up, seeing me. "Jayda, hello,"

"Hi,"

She looks me up and down, and then a simple smirk comes across her face, I look down also and then soon realize I am wearing his clothes, and she knows it, oh my god. I hope she doesn't think something happened, like I slept with him or something, though I almost did.

She clears her thought and says, "Well, since you are here would you like to join us for breakfast? Thursdays are the only days I am home and not in New York in the mornings,"

"Uhm... Sure I would-"

The bathroom door swings open, "No, no, she's fine," Ryder answers for me.

"Darling, I was asking Jayda, not you," Evelyn looks back at me.

And just to piss Ryder off, I say. "I would love to,"

"Great," she smiles. "I will go tell Denita," their maid. "To set an extra plate,"

When she walks out of the room, Ryder looks down at me and says, "You like fucking with me, don't you?"

"I do,"

...

There are five placements: me, Ryder, Evelyn, his dad. I do hope the fifth plate isn't for his brother. Evelyn sits at the left end of the table and says, "Your father should be down in a minute," to Ryder. I guess they're the type of family who doesn't eat until everyone's here. Couldn't be me. Ryder takes a seat beside me.

My phone rings in my lap. It's my mother. Now she decides to call. She's probably just now checking my room and noticing that I am not there. When it hangs up, another call comes. It's Caleb.

"Why is he calling you?" Ryder says low enough only for me to hear.

"I... I don't-" He snatches the phone out of my lap and answers it, "Ryder!" I try to reach for it, but he leans over farther from me.

He says, "Sorry, Jayda can't come to the phone now she's in the shower," and then hangs up right after, handing it back to me.

"Why would you just do that?" I ask. Caleb must think...

"Do you want him calling you?"

I didn't tell him we made up and are somewhat friends. "No, but I don't care if he does,"

"What are you, friends?" He's clearly jealous.

"Would it be so bad if we were?" Damn, can we normalize exes being friends?

He looks at me and shakes his head, then he stands up and walks around the table to the other side, taking a seat away from me but in front of me. "Really? Very mature," Ugh, why is he like this?

"He's always been a stubborn child," Evelyn chimes in.

"Still is," I mutter.

I look away from him and down at my phone, shutting it off; the doorbell rings, a few seconds later, Jacob walks in. Damn. Evelyn greets him; he walks over to her and places a kiss on her cheek. "Jayda, nice to see you as always," he smiles at me; I would give him the finger if Evelyn weren't in the room.

Because Ryder wanted to act like a five-year-old and change seats, now Jacob has to sit beside me; I slowly slide my chair over. His presence makes me want to gag.

Josiah turns the corner, "What the hell were you thinking?" He snaps, looking at Ryder.

"I'm lost," he replies.

"Honey, we have a guest," Evelyn says, trying to calm her husband down because I am here.

He ignores it. "Oh, so you just forgot you were in a fight and that you went to jail?!"

"What?" Evelyn gasp.

"And you?" he looks at Jacob, "You bailed him out?!"

"Dad, listen-"

"No, you listen!" This is so awkward. I put my head down, wanting to disappear. "What the hell are you two trying to do? Ruin my campaign,"

Campaign? There's only one campaign going on right now, and that's for Mayor. Is he running? He can't be. And Ryder knew? He knew, yet he still helped me with the AJ thing, knowing this will ruin his father's shot.

He looks back at Ryder. "What the hell were you even fighting for? You and Matt have been best friends since grade school,"

Ryder glances over at me for a quick second; I automatically start to feel bad; he looks back at his father and says, "He pissed me off,"

"So you beat him up so bad he had to go to the hospital?" Josiah takes a seat at the right end of the table, "He's fine, just in case you were wondering,"

"I wasn't," he responds.

"Don't pull anything like this again, especially now with the election a few months away,"

Ryder POV

"Whatever," I say. Him and this fucking election, it's all he talks about. I can't wait until all this shit is over, or at least until I am out of this damn house.

My father looks over at Jayda, "Nice of you to join us," he says. She doesn't respond. She just smiles. My parents both look at one another, giving each other this weird look; they then look at me and smile slightly. I already know what it's about.

The fucking adore her, and they love her even more because they think I like her.

Well, I do, I love her, but they don't know that, I have never once come out and said it; they just assumed because I guess when I was little, I followed her around or whatever, I don't recall, but if they say so.

One of our servers comes out from the kitchen and places our plates on the table serving pancakes and waffles. They hand me a plate of waffles, and they give Jayda a plate of pancakes. She looks at it, and it seems like she is about to throw up.

She's so dramatic. They're literally the same thing.

Jayda rarely speaks up for herself, so I don't expect her to tell the server that she would like waffles instead, so I take it upon myself to switch our plates. I take hers and give her mines.

She looks at me, telling me with her eyes that I didn't have to do that.

I say with my eyes, I know, but I did it anyway.

"Awww, aren't you two the cutest," Jacob says in a girl's voice. "When's the wedding?"

"Shut the hell up!" I growl.

"Language!" my mother scorns.

"So Jayda," My father gets her attention, "College? Where did you apply to?"

"Uh..." she gets nervous, not knowing what to say. Has she applied? Is she going anywhere? "University of Georgia, Cal State Los Angeles, somewhere in Texas," My parents try to keep a straight face as she names non-ivy league schools and no nationally known ones, she notices and then adds. "And MIT," she's lying, I can tell.

"MIT," My mother exclaims. "Ryder didn't tell me you were into tech,"

"Why would I?" I ask out loud, not meaning to.

"Yeah," she nods. "I'm uhm on the Robotics team at school,"

Jacob bits a piece of bacon and laughs, shaking his head. What the hell is so funny? Why is he laughing at her?

"They're supposedly offering two spots to someone on their team, so we will see!"

So she is considering MIT, she can't go to MIT. That's in Massachusetts, which is nowhere near LA. We haven't... wait, there is no we, there just whatever the hell we are. Can I even bring this up? College. It's vital to our pending relationship; wherever she goes determines what will happen to us or the future of us.

I don't do relationships, but I am willing to try one with her. However, I sure as hell won't do long distance. We are either together in the same city, even an hour or two apart, or we aren't together at all.

Jayda POV

The rest of the breakfast is spent with me silently eating. I hate eating in front of people. I should have rethought agreeing to this; I did it to piss Ryder off, not thinking about the anxiety that forms wherever I have to eat in front of people other than my parents.

Ryder glances up at me every other minute to make sure I am okay. I bet he wished he had never moved now. It's nerve reckoning sitting beside Jacob. My eyes keep going to the knife on the table. I'm anticipating him any minute now to pick it up and stab me in the heart or slice my throat; that's more dramatic. Depending on how you look at it, he technically is a murderer, so I wouldn't put it past him.

Buzz Buzz

I flip my phone over to see who is texting me. The messages are rolling in.

*Where are you??? -Jess

*Your parents are up here-Jess

* There meeting with Ms.Moore...Matt's dad is here also- Jess

*Was there some meeting you failed to mention to me???- Jess

I text her back, telling her that I am still at Ryder's house and that I have no idea what is happening; I also mention I haven't talked to my parents since we left.

*Well, get up here...quick!-Jess

Why are my parents at the school? If it is for a meeting about the incident, shouldn't I be there? When I look up from my phone, Ryder is looking directly at me; he knows that something is up without me even saying anything.

"We have to get going," he says, standing up. He walks over to my side of the table and slides my chair back, helping me up as if I can't stand on my own.

I turn to Evelyn, "Thank you for having me; it was a lovely breakfast," though I barely ate anything because of my nerves.

She stands up and hugs me, "We have to do this again sometime, preferably without the boys; maybe then we can have a girls talk," her eyebrow raises.

"Sure, sounds good," What the hell is a, "girls talk"? And why did she just say it like it was so secretive?

Ryder takes my hand in his and pulls me away, "What's wrong?" he asks once we are further away.

I tell him, "We have to go to the school,"

"Why?"

"They're like some meeting going on that my parents didn't tell me about, and... I don't know, but I need to be there," I explain.

He doesn't question; further, he just says, "Okay, let me get my keys,"

...

We arrive at the school a little later than planned; I wanted to go home and change my clothes first. My parents would have a heart attack if they saw me wearing Ryder clothes, though they already think I'm a whore, so I could've just kept his stuff on.

We walk through the doors and head to the office. Jess is standing outside of it like she texted and said she would be, "They're in there," she says.

Ryder, Jessica, and I walk into the office and open the principal's suite door without knocking; everyone looks shocked to see us. My mother and father are sitting on the grey couch, Matt is sitting in the chair, his father is standing up leaning against the wall, and Ms.Moore is at the seat behind her desk. This must be so awkward for my mother, with the affair and all.

When Matt looks at me, my chest instantly begins to tighten, and memories of the other day flash through my head.

"Shouldn't you all be in class?" The principal asks.

"No," I reply. I look at my parents, "What's going on?"

Before they can speak, the sheriff chimes in, "What is going on here is that we are trying to fix this clearly corrupted school? And their unfollowed rules,"

What is he talking about? I look at Ms.Moore, wanting her to explain. She looks me up and down and says, "The dress code,"

A non-humorous laugh comes from Jessica, "I'm sorry, did you just say dress code? Are you serious?"

Ms. Moore says, "You girls are not in dress code, you two are never in dress code, along with some of the other girls here,"

I look down at my crop top and ripped jeans, I knew there was a dress code, but I didn't think we were actually supposed to follow it. The whole thing is sexist. Everyone knows this.

"So this meeting is not because she almost got raped?" Ryder questions.

The sheriff steps forward, "Son, this has nothing to do with you,"

"Yes the fuck it does, my..." he stops himself. "My friend... almost got raped, she was sexually assaulted, and you guys aren't talking about it; you're discussing a dress code!"

Just like the AJ thing, they ignored all the signs, all his pleas for help. This school likes to pretend like bad things aren't happening around here when it is.

"Did you see it?" My father asks him.

Ryder turns his way, "What?"

"Did you see it?" he repeats. "Did you see him almost -"

"No, I didn't see it, but..."

"But nothing!" Ths sheriff says. "She's clearly lying, all of them,"

"I was there; I saw it!" Jessica says.

"Okay, everyone, let's just calm down," Ms.Moore puts her hands in the air like a referer, "Let's just get this dress code situation under control, and then maybe something like this won't happen again,"

"So you are blaming the way she dresses for what happened to her?" Ryder scoffs.

"No...I am-"

"You're saying that what happened to her happened because of something she wore, that's dumb as fuck!" he shouts.

"Ryder!" I call his name; he shouldn't curse at her.

"No," he looks at me, saying he won't back down from expressing his feelings. "That makes no sense," he looks at everyone in the room.

"It doesn't?" The sheriff counters, "Everyone knows that when girls choose to dress themselves showing skin, it a distraction to the males.. the school environment, that's why the dress code was put into place,"

I think out of all school rules, that has to be the most simple-minded one. It's the one rule that seems to not be going anywhere; of course, such a sexist rule would last for generations.

Ryder says, "I'm not seeing how that is her fault or any other girl's fault. If anything, punish us for looking at them, they shouldn't have to conform to some discriminating, sexist, anti-feminist rule because some guys don't respect them and can't control themselves,"

I probably shouldn't be smiling at this time, but I am, he is so adamant about something that has nothing to do with him. I've never heard a boy speak up about sexism. It makes me feel so much better because he isn't just doing it for me; he's also standing up for other girls. Jessica senses it too. She playfully taps the side of my hand with hers, and out of the corner of my eye, I see her trying to harness a smile.

"So what she has on isn't distracting?" The sheriff turns the attention on me, bringing up my ripped jeans and crop top. "Overly ripped jeans, short shirt?"

This time my father intervenes, "Okay, how about we-"

"No!" Ryder answers the sheriff disregarding my father trying to cut in. "She looks hot! Okay... but it's not distracting, I'm not sitting and fantasizing about her, I'm not going to rape her or sexual assault her because I can't control myself,"

The sheriff grunts angrily; Ryder adds, "I wear ripped jeans; other guys in this school do also but yet shit never gets said about that,"

It's true; I have been criticized before because of my ripped jeans having too many rips and showing too much skin. God forbid I come to school with my skirt being too short (above my fingertips). It's a double standard. It's unfair we girls are targeted continuously for our bodies; show too much, you're a hoe, show too little, you're insecure. It's a constant back and forth; a lot of us girls feel like we are stuck in the middle.

Ms.Moore takes a deep breath, "This conversation is getting very conversational, and we aren't here to discuss a rule that was put into place to make a less distraction school environment," I guess she does agree with it. "We could sit here and talk about the ethics of the rule all day, but we are not," she looks at my parents, "Mr. and Mrs. King, the camera in the basement is down; it has been for years," she states. So they were here for me? To see if what I was saying was the truth. "There's no way to see what happened down there, and the way the door is positioned, we can't see who entered or exited,"

She looks at me. "Jayda, there is no proof of what you are accusing Matt of. Therefore I am so sorry but there nothing we can do,"

~~~

(The fact that this happens all the time, it so frustrating, and omg plus don't get me started on the dress code, that whole rule is sexist like how can you not see that!!!

Anyways I'm sure we are all even more madly in love with Ryder now, like ugh I always wanted him to be like this because I knew the type of person I wanted him to be and the type of character I wanted to write, writing the first book honestly killed me because I had to destroy his character first, make him seem like this horrible guy and then build him up, but I'm finally happy I can write him how I wanted him to be, he's been killing it these last few chapters... he can do no wrong in my eyes lmao.)