I walk over to Ryder, who is still standing in the corner. "Where have you been? Did you not see my calls?" I ask.

"I turned my phone off," he says blandly.

"Why? Where did you go?"

"You ask a lot of questions. You know that?" he scorns me.

"I really don't care. Where were you? Your mother was worried!"

He lets out a small laugh. "She was, was she?"

I narrow my eyes at him. "Of course, she was."

He pushes his hair back with his hand. "Sure," he says with anger in his voice.

I would ask him again where he was, but I really don't care. I need to ask him about tomorrow, but he's in one of his moods. Maybe I should wait. No, I can't wait; I need to ask him now before my father says something to him about tomorrow.

"Look, I know you're in a mood, and this is probably not the best time." My heart is pounding, and my palms are sweaty. "I know we are not friends, and you don't owe me anything. You're probably going to curse me out for just asking you. But if there any kindness in your heart---"

"Jayda! Just spit it out." He growls.

"Okay. Tomorrow I have this really important thing to go to. I can't tell my parents about it. I had to lie to them to get out of what they wanted me to do." I ramble. "Anyway, I told them that I was going to be with you. Specifically, I told them I lost a bet, and I have to take you out for lunch." I flash him a fake smile.

"That sounds like a Jayda problem,"

I sigh and lose my smile. "Ryder, I need your help. We have to pretend to go out tomorrow."

"I don't have to do anything," he says.

"Oh my God, please," I groan. "It's really important that I go where I'm going tomorrow. If there's any goodness in your heart, you'll help me."

He doesn't immediately say no. He hesitates. I guess this is a good thing.

"Whatever." He says.

"Really?" I squeal.

"Calm down before I change my mind."

I give him a smile, a real one. Hm, maybe Blair was right. Perhaps he really is changing this time. He looks past me at something, and then his face tenses up.

"How is it that you look even more beautiful today than you did yesterday?" A familiar voice asks.

I turn around to see Alexander, wearing a black with a blue tie. "What are you doing here?" I ask him, trying to hide my excitement.

"Well, I was in the neighborhood, and I heard about the opening, so I decided to check it out. I had no idea you were going to be here," he says, lying. I narrow my eyes at him smiling.

"I wish that's what I could say. The truth is, I wanted to see you again. I knew you were going to be here, so I decided to come." He looks me up and down. "I'm glad I did."

"How long have you been here?" I ask him.

"Long enough that I heard beautiful words fall from the lips of a beautiful girl." He says. I give him a warm smile. My cheeks warm, and my body tingles at his words. Ryder comes from behind me and moves beside me.

"Champagne?" The waiter asks us. Alexander takes two off the tray and hands one to me. I take it from him, and then Ryder snatches it out of my hand.

"She's 17," he says with a straight face.

"So, you didn't drink when you were 17?" Alexander questions him.

Ryder ignores him and looks at me. "Can we go?" he asks me.

"Huh?"

"Can...we...go?" he says, breaking down each of his words. "Are you deaf?" He snaps.

"You shouldn't talk to her like that," Alexander says, trying to defend me. It's sweet, but he shouldn't.

Ryder lets out a small laugh, not a real laugh, but like that crazy angry chuckle people make when they're mad. "And you really shouldn't fucking tell me what to do," he says

"Well, I'm not going to let you disrespect her in front of me?" Alexander stands up a little taller; he's about the same height as Ryder, maybe an inch shorter, there built completely different. Ryder is more buff and built; hes built like a football player. Alexander is tall but a little skinny, not really skinny, but he's built like a healthy musician. If that makes sense, he's average. The point is I think it would be a fair fight. Wait, what am I saying? They can't fight. I don't want them to fight. Especially not here.

"I'll talk to her any way I want to talk fucking talk to her. Unless you want to do something about it." I notice Ryder's hands there balled together, making a tight fist, his breathing is rapid, his chest rises and falls.

Surprisingly Alexander doesn't back down, he starts to step up to him, and that's when I leap right between them and push Ryder back. "No, no. Not here. Stop." I say. He tries to press forward, but I hold him back; I know he isn't using all his strength. "Let's just go; Ill come with you." I look up to him, and his eyes are still filled with rage. "Ryder!" I call him again, trying to get his attention. He looks down at me with his green eyes. They start to relax. "We can go," I say again. "Wait for me outside," I tell him. He hesitates and then walks around me, exiting the Gallery.

I watch as he leaves and then look back at Alexander. "I'm sorry about that."

"You shouldn't let him talk to you like that," he says.

"Trust me; he's said worse things." I push my hair back behind my ear.

"And you're still with him?" He asks.

"I'm not with him. I told you he's my parents-"

"Friends, son." He says, finishing my words. "I remember."

"Hes just always around. Wherever I'm at, he's there." I explain, he doesn't say anything. "If you thought he was my boyfriend, why did you tell me I looked beautiful in front of him?"

"Because I didn't care." He shrugs his shoulders. I chuckle at his words. "So, where are you gonna go?" he asks.

"Probably just back to the hotel. I got to find my parents and let them know." I look around the Gallery.

He moves closer to me. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Jayda."

"You to Alexander." I give him a warm smile and hold out my hand; he takes it. I just wanted him to shake it, but instead, he kisses it and pulls me closer to him. I look up into his brown eyes.

"Do you think we'll ever see each other again?" he asks. I don't want to hurt him and by telling him no. I don't want to tell him that I may not even be around that long for us to see each other again later in our lives. But I don't want to give him hope and tell him yes. So I decided to tell him the only thing I'm sure of.

"In another life, I'm sure we will."

...

"What's the name of this place again?" I ask Ryder for the third time.

He signs. "It's on the menu." He says. I look down at the name Carmines.

"Are you seriously not gonna eat anything?" he asks me.

"No, I'm okay," I tell him. "I'm not hungry," 

"Are you? Or are you just not going to eat anything because I'm gonna pay for it?"

"No, I'm really not hungry," I say. Loss of appetite is another side effect of Celexa. He stops looking at me and then back to the menu. I'm really not hungry; I don't feel well. I'm hot, and it feels like I have to throw up. You got this; it'll pass. I tell myself. I flip my phone over; it's 11:00. Hopefully, he'll hurry up and order; the sooner, the better. I need to call Caleb.

"So what's this thing you have to go to tomorrow?" he asks.

I scratch my head. "Uhm...uhh, I have an interview with NYU." he looks up from the menu.

"And why can't you tell your parents?"

"I can, but I don't want to. I want to do this for myself. Just to see if I can do something without them. You know?"

He puts the menu down. "Yeah, I do." he starts to pick at his nails. "Jayda, I have to tell you something."

"Ryder, no."

"You don't even know what I'm going to say," he says.

"I do; you're going to say how you want to be different and how you really want change. I've heard it all before. You've said this all before. It will never be different. You'll go back to school and become the same person." I tell him.

"If I promised you it'd be different this time, would you believe me?"

"A promise is a big thing to make," I look into his green eyes.

"I know, I know, and that's why I'm making it. I--"

I cut him off before he says it. "Don't. You can't promise something like that. First of all, you still go with a girl who plays a big part in things that happen at school. You can't change without her changing. She's your girlfr--."

He slams his hand on the table. I look around us at the people who were startled and looked over here; I give them a smile showing them that everything's okay.

"She's not my fucking girlfriend," he says bitterly.

"Soo is she like not your girlfriend because... you don't do girlfriends you just occasionally sleep with her, or is she, not your girlfriend, because you too broke up? Because just Friday, you guys were together."

He angrily groans. "We weren't fucking together. We just.." He stops and looks at me. He sighs, calming himself down. "Look, there's a lot you don't know about that goes on at that school."

"Well, why don't you enlighten me?"

"I can't tell you, but I can promise you that it'll be different," he says sincerely.

"Mhm, so what, are you trying to make the school a better place? You Ryder Adams? Maybe you should've run for senior president." I laugh. He doesn't. He just looks at me sternly. There's anger in his eyes as always.

"I'm serious, Jayda."

"Right." I raise my eyebrows while taking a sip of my water.

"It'll be different because of you. I want to do better for you."

I don't know why, but a picture of a building crumbling to the ground comes to mind. I don't want to put my glass down. I know If I do, I will have to respond to that; I don't want to.

"Did you hear me?" He says. I still have the cup to my lips. "Could you stop fucking playing so much?" He takes the cup out of my hands and slams it on the table. "I'm trying to be serious and honest with you and your playing. Isn't this what you wanted?"

"No, this isn't what I wanted; I don't need you to do this for me, I don't need you by my side, I don't need you to change the school," I explain. "You don't have to change you for me; I don't want you to change for me; we're not even friends. You can continue living your life the way it is. In 7 months, high school will be over. There's no need to stir the pot." I say using a phrase I've heard my mother use. There goes that nauseous feeling again.

"But I want to do this. For you."

"Ryder, when are you going to get it? You can't change for someone else. You have to want to change for yourself because you want to, not because I want you too," I say, and there goes the heat. "Are you hot?" I ask him, dramatically fanning myself.

"What." He squints his eyes at me. "No."

"I'll be right back." I stand up from the table and walk to the back of the restaurant to the restroom. I open the door and immediately lean against the wall. The room is spinning. I manage to go over to one of the stalls. I fall to the floor, and then it happens, I vomit.

At least I made it in the toilet, and I didn't get any on my dress. I wipe my lips and leave back against the stall door. Ugh, this is so unsanitary, but I'm too dizzy to get up.

She jinxed it. Blair jinxed it. I was fine, headaches here nausea there, it wasn't too much to handle, but now I feel like shit. Look, I'm even using language I don't ever use. Maybe I didn't puke because of medicine. Maybe it was because of Ryder and what he said. 'I want to do better for you.' He really is crazy if he thinks I'm going to believe that.

He said the thing every oy says in the books. In the books, why does every boy want to change and be better for the girl? Why can't they do better just because it's the right fucking thing to do?

Why do the girls fall head over heels when the guy says they want to do better for them? In my opinion, I would rather have them change because they want to be a better person in general, not just for one person. This is one of those moments where I'm actually happy I'm not in a book but in real life. Going through real things.

Maybe he's telling the truth about changing and all. Nah, I doubt it.

And then what was that whole 'There's a lot you don't know about that goes on at the school.' I mean, what could be so serious he couldn't tell me. It doesn't matter; I really don't care. I look around the bathroom; crap, I left my phone on the table. I need to get back to the hotel. It's getting late, and I still need to call Caleb.

(Unpopular Opinion: Team Alexander!

Do you guys believe Ryder this time or no?)