"Jayda," I say, greeting her back. Everyone's eyes look up; I forgot Ryder was behind me. Guess this is where I introduce him.

"This is Ryder, my... my parent's friend's son," I tell them.

Everyone stares at me strangely. Katherine continues staring at Ryder, looking him up and down.

"Well, that's a very descriptive way to introduce someone." Alexander jokes.

"So, what did you think about the play?" The dark skin boy who played Raoul asks.

"It was long," Ryder answers before me.

"Long?" Katherine narrows her eyes at him.

"Don't mind him; he's a jock. They have short attention spans." I say. Everyone laughs at my comment. Ryder presses his lips together in anger, I wait for him to say something back, but he doesn't.

"Did you like it?" Alexander asks me.

"I--"

"Oh, she loved it." Ryder cuts me off. "She loved it so much that she couldn't take--"

Without thinking, I elbow Ryder in the gut. He hunches over. Everyone looks at me. "It was great," I say,

"Where are you guys staying?" Alexander asks.

"The Roosevelt hotel."

"Nice," Katherine says. "I have an event there tomorrow night. Maybe I'll run into you guys," she says, not looking at me but up at Ryder. He's not looking at her through; his eyes are still on me.

Alexander notices it, too; he looks at her and then at me. "Well, we have to run. It was really nice meeting you, Ryder, and Jayda. It was nice to see you again," he says. "Maybe I'll see you again before you go."

"Maybe," I say softly. He and his friends walk past us and out of the room.

Evelyn and my mother are walking over to us from across the room. They are walking closer to us. "Was that the Violinist?" My mother asks me.

"Yeah."

"Wasn't he the boy on the plane?" She connects the dots.

"Mhm," I say.

"Alexander Jacob Harris," Evelyn says. "He's a musical prodigy."

My mother gasps. "Really?!"

"Yup, he's been playing the violin since he was six. Over the years, he has expanded his musical abilities with different instruments. He can now play up to twenty-four instruments, and he's only nineteen, well twenty he turned twenty, two weeks ago. He really is a nice young man, someone you should definitely be friends with." she says, looking at me.

I blush

Ryder smacks his teeth at his mother's words; he turns around and walks out of the room. Evelyn looks like she wants to go after him, but she doesn't. There is now an awkward silence between us. "So, are you guys ready?" I ask, trying to start the conversation back up.

"Well, it's already eleven. Your father and Josiah have seemed to turn a small dinner into a huge one. I don't think you would enjoy it. We can arrange for the limo to drop you and Ryder back off at the hotel." Evelyn says to me.

"Uhhh, sure," I say.

" I can come back with you." My mother offers.

"No, no, it's fine. I'm just going to go to sleep when I get in."

"Ok, well, go say goodbye to your father." My mother instructs.

"Alright." I turn away from them and then walk over to my father, who is standing around with a group of men. "Dad?" I tap him on the shoulder.

He looks at me and then back to the people he was talking to. "Give me one-second, guys." We walk about five inches away from the group.

"I just wanted to tell you, bye."

"Where are you going?" He asks.

"Back to the hotel."

"You're not coming out to dinner with us?" He asks.

"No, I'm tired, plus I'm not in the mood for your bougie friends."

"Well, ok, then. You gonna be ok by yourself?"

"I'm not going to be alone; Ryder is coming back too." His face turns dull. Just the mention of Ryder's names changes my dad's mood. "Dad, he's just going to be in the limo with me, and when we get to the hotel, we will go our separate ways," I assure him.

"Alright, just make sure you don't spend any more time than necessary with him." He says.

"Why don't you like him?" I bluntly come out and ask.

He looks at me with something in his eyes, shame almost. But why? "I know guys like him, and those guys destroyed and hurt everyone that they came in contact with. I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't."

...

"Don't you think you had enough?" I say to Ryder as he grabs his second beer out of the limo's cooler.

"I have a high tolerance." He says. I roll my eyes at his comment.

I look back out the window; how can there still be all this traffic? It's eleven-thirty. It seems like there is more traffic now than there was earlier. I guess it really is the city that never sleeps. My phone rings; I take it out of my purse. It's Caleb again.

"Does he know you're in New York?" Ryder askes me. I hang up the phone.

"Does who?" I ask, confused. He narrows his eyes at me, knowing I know who he is talking about. "No, he doesn't."

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"I don't have to tell him."

"Why? He's your boyfriend, isn't he?" He says as he takes a sip of his beer.

"He isn't my boyfriend."

"So, he broke up with you already?" he laughs.

I sign angrily. "Not that it's any of your business, but we were never together."

"So, you didn't have feelings for him?"

I look back out the window, ignoring his question.

...

"Thank you," I tell the limo driver as I slide out of the car. As I slide out of the car, dizziness comes over me. I stumble before I fall. Ryder's arms wrap around me, catching me. He holds me until I balance myself.

"Are you sure you didn't have anything to drink?" He says, laughing. I push him off of me and walk past him, and through the hotel doors, I turn the corner and press the elevator button. I lean against the wall; I still feel light-headed. I haven't eaten since lunch. Maybe I should've gone to dinner with them; there's nothing in our room to eat. The elevator door dings, and we walk in.

He clicks the 18th floor. "How did you know that the floor I'm staying on?"

He ignores my question. After a few minutes on the elevator, it finally reaches the floor. We step off, and I turn right. He also does. "You don't have to walk me to my door," I tell him.

"I do. Obviously, there's something wrong with you. I'm not going to just send you to your room by yourself."

"Aw, how sweet," I say sarcastically.

"Don't flatter yourself." He snaps. "My mom would kill me if I let something happen to you," he says.

"Sure."

I use the key card and open the door; we both walk in. Why is he still here? The faster he leaves, the quicker I can call Caleb. "Ok, well I'm good now, bye-bye." I turn around to him.

He narrows his eyes at me. "Are you sure you're ok?" he asks again.

"Can you just stop?" I say sternly.

"Stop what?" He asks, confused.

"Whatever this is." I wave my hands through the air.

"Whatever what is?"

I growl angrily. "You being nice to me, just drop the whole act or whatever it is, you don't care about me, you've made that clear several times. So why are you acting like you do?"

"I don't care about you." He says the words, but they sound like a lie.

"Well, then get out, leave me alone!" I shout.

"I do care about you." He spits the words out. I am taken back at his words. I can't even find the words to say; I just look up at him. He moves closer to me. "I just... god, you just make me so fucking angry. I treat you the way I treat you because I get mad when you don't do what I want you to."

"Do you hear yourself right now? You're not my father. I don't have to do anything you say." I snap at him.

"Don't mention him, ok?" He bawls up his fist tightly. It's killing me not knowing why they don't like each other?

"I know it's fucked up how I treat you, and I'm sorry I really am. I regret every hurtful thing I've said to you."

"And why should I believe you? You've said this to me before. Give it a day or two; you'll be back to the way you were."

"I won't." He says sternly. "I haven't even been mean to you since we've been here. I messed with you, but I didn't say anything hurtful." He says, trying to defend himself.

"Ok, but what happens when we get back to school? You'll be around the same people that hate me, and because you're scared to stand up to them, you're gonna treat me how they treat me."

"I'm not scared of shit. I sure as hell am not scared of anybody at that school. I run that school people are afraid of me."

"Stop, stop," I say. " That's your problem right there; why do you want people to be scared of you? Why do you think everyone who isn't a jock or a cheerleader or popular is beneath you?" I ask him.

"First of all, the jocks and cheerleaders are beneath me and everyone else other than them... I don't fucking know. They just are." He slams his fist against the wall. I am startled by the loud noise. I narrow my eyes at him; I walk around him and go into the room. Hopefully, he'll take a hint to leave.

"I didn't ask to be popular." He says, following me. I guess he didn't take the hint. I unzip my suitcase that's still on the bed. "It's the fucking staus quo; I can't change that."

"Anything can be changed," I say to him. "It's never been changed because nobody was ever brave enough to change it." I turn around and look up at him; I stare into his green eyes. "I just don't get it, I don't get you if you're not scared of anybody, and you don't even like people, then why do you do what everyone else does? Why don't you just do your own thing?" I ask. "You say you are not a follower, but you are." I give him a second to say something, but he doesn't. He just stares at me.

"So why now should I believe that you're going to change? What's different now?" I wait for him to say something, anything. But he doesn't. He turns around and walks out the door. He opens the hotel room door, and it slams shut.

...

"Hello," Caleb says.

"Hey, I uh I wasn't ignoring you, I've been busy, well at first I did ignore you then when you called again I was busy and then the third time you called I was busy... again." I ramble.

He laughs. "It's ok."

"It's late. Do you want me to call you tomorrow? Well, it's 2 am, so technically, later today." Ugh, I can't stop rambling.

"Jayda, it's ok." He assures me. "About the other night--"

"It's ok. I just, you just caught me off guard. It's fine, really."

"It wasn't a girl. I mean it was, but it was my sister's best friend; she's like a sister to me, nothing more," he says.

"Oh." Is all I manage to say. I feel really stupid. "Is everything alright?" I ask.

"Yeah, everything's fine. She just wanted to talk about Willow."

"Oh." I don't know what else to say; what do you say to a grieving person? "Are you sure you're ok? It's ok to not be ok."

"I just miss her so much." He says the words softly.

"Caleb?"

"Yeah."

"How did it happen?" I ask him. I know it's rude to ask someone this, but I need to know.

"We were in a car crash."

"Is that how-"

"Yeah, I blew out my knee, and she died. It's just not fair. I would do Anything to switch places with her." he says.

"I'm sure that's not how your sister feels. I'm sure she's happy that it was her and not you. She's looking down on you and smiling because she knows that even though she's dead, you will keep her memory alive." He stays quiet. "So, in a way, she's still here, she is with you, she's a part of you." I hear him sniffle. He is crying. I wish I were there with him to hold him and comfort him.

"Can you stay on the phone with me?" He asks.

"Sure. Only if you tell me about her."

"Deal."

(Awwww Caleb!)