It was after school and I had successfully managed to stay away from Ryder and any of his friends.

At lunch Isla made me tell her what was going on. I'm not really sure if it went well or not.

Flashback

"So. What was going on when you came to my house yesterday? And don't even try to deny that nothing was wrong," Isla warned.

"I wasn't going to," I mumbled and picked at my salad with my fork.

"Alright, good. So explain."

I sighed and pushed my salad away before leaning my crossed arms on the table.

"Would you say that Ryder and I are pretty close?" I asked her.

She looked shocked and confused at the question but answered never less. "I would say so. I mean, I've never seen him like this before. He had this look of admiration whenever he sees you or hears someone talk about you. And when someone does, he gets all protective. So yeah, I'd say you both are very close. I'm surprised you're not official yet."

"What can you tell me about Ashlin and him?"

"Don't know what this has do to with any of this but...from what I heard, they slept together a couple of times but it was never anything more. Apparently Ryder just wanted to get some but Ashlin thought he was completely in love with her."

"So there was nothing going on between them except sex? "

"Yes. Until you came. Then I think he stopped all ties he had with her. Why is this important? "

I groaned and ran my hands down my face.

"I saw Ryder and Ashlin practically making out at the mall. And to top it off, she asked him if they were meeting at her house that night to which he replied with 'sure'. That's when I stormed off and ran into your cousin."

"Wow. Are you sure it was him?"

"Positive."

"I can't imagine him doing that though. Does he know you saw them?"

"I don't think so. But I think I made it pretty clear that I was upset about something. Do you think I'm overreacting? Because we're not even actually dating."

"Honestly, I don't know what to tell you. I've never been in a situation like this. But what I can tell you, is that it's probably best to talk with him. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding."

"I don't know..."

End of flashback

Yeah...

Like I said, I had no idea how it went.

Currently, I was changing in the girl's locker room into some soccer shorts and jersey. I was the only one in here since I was the only girl on the team. I tied my cleats and grabbed my water bottle before heading outside to the field.

Most of the guys were already there and warming up. One of them being Ryder.

I walked up to the group and got a few 'heys' from the guys. Ryder just watched me carefully. I moved away the furthest that I could from him while still staying by the guys.

Coach jogged up to us as the rest of the guys joined us.

"Alright, hey guys! Nice to see you here with us, Kennedy."

I gave him a forced smile.

"So, this is our fourth training. On Monday we will be going to our first game. I know it seems early but it's just a small game against another high school a few towns over. We will be leaving on Monday at 10am here at the school and returning on Wednesday at about 4pm. The game is on Tuesday at their high school. So we still have today and Friday to practise."

We were already going to play? And what city were we playing in? What did a few towns over mean? Two hours on the bus or five?

"What about school?" someone asked.

"The school excused you and you'll get all the work you missed when you return to school on Thursday. Now, let's start! I want everyone to run around the track four times in ten minutes. Go!"

We started running at a good pace. I was jogging closer to the front than the back of the group so most of the guys were behind me. A guy caught up to me and jogged next to me. I didn't know his name but I knew that he was also a junior.

"Hi, I'm Connor," he introduced himself.

"Kennedy. Although I have a feeling you already know that," I joked.

He chuckled. "How could I not? This is barely your first training and you're already a legend," he replied.

"I didn't know I'm that famous," I joked.

"I guess you're just a natural born star," he said.

Was he flirting with me or was I just imagining things?

"Hey, Connor!" I heard a voice call from behind us. "Did you know that by talking less you can save your breath and run longer?"

I already knew who it was without turning around. I rolled my eyes. Didn't I tell him to mind his own business?

Connor however didn't seem affected by what he said. Instead, he replied with a comment of his own.

"You're one to talk! Aren't you the one who can't keep his mouth shut and always needs to talk about someone?" he made his voice high pitched. "Oh my god! Kennedy looked so good today. It makes my day just seeing her!"

"Why you little ...!" Ryder sped up and started chasing after Connor. He noticed and ran off. Leaving the two guys to play a dangerous game of tag. Because no one knows what will happen when he catches Connor.

Did Ryder really talk about me like that?

I felt my heart swell at the thought but quickly reminded myself what happened at the mall. I shook my head, getting rid of the thoughts.

Blake quickly caught up to me and jogged along next to me.

"Do they always act like six year olds?" I asked.

"Pretty much. But...what's going on? Ryder says you're acting different and I'm starting to see it myself. Did something happen?"

"No. Everything's good," I told him and gave him a reassuring smile.

"I hope you know that I don't believe you. But what I do believe, is that when you want to say something, you'll say it."

"Thanks, Blake," I said sincerely.

"We're all here for you. No matter what."

"I know."

____________________

Thursday and Friday morning flew by in a blur.

I had successfully managed to stay clear of Ryder and anything Ryder related. Although it wasn't completely easy.

On Thursday when I was walking down the hall I saw Ryder walking in my direction. And me being me picked a janitor's closet to hide in. Let's just say I'll never be able to forget what I saw that day. Never.

We had finished with soccer practise and were free to head home. I changed as fast as I could and left to drive home.

When I got there, Nathan was already at his friend's house and Dylan was getting ready to leave soon.

"So I won't see you both until like 12 tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yes. I'll probably leave at around 11:30 so that I can pick Nathan up along the way."

"Alright. Sounds like a plan."

"Are you inviting Isla over?" he asked.

"Nah. She had something come up so it's just me tonight."

"Okay. Try not to be bored too much," he teased and ruffled my hair while walking past me.

"Trust me, I won't. I'll enjoy the peace and quiet that I rarely get to have."

"It's a little after six so you can maybe order pizza or something. I'm sure you know how to work the phone and turn on the TV. Bye, sis!"

"Bye!" I called and watched Dylan go out the door and drive away.

Even though it's barely 6 I was quiet hungry because I just got back from training and hadn't eaten anything since lunch.

I took my phone out of my backpack and jumped when I heard a clap of thunder outside. I walked to the window and drew back the curtain. The sky was a dark gray and rain starting hitting the windows.

Did it really have to storm now?

I called the pizza place and ordered one. After I hung up I settled down onto the couch and tried to focus on the TV and not the water drops that were raining harshly on the windows and the roof.

About 8 minutes later the doorbell rang.

That was fast. The pizza delivery is usually never this early. Maybe they just wanted to get back quickly before to storm got even worse.

I could hear the wind picking up and the thunder getting louder.

I went to grab some money and walked up to the door. When I opened it I never expected to see what I was looking at.

Ryder was standing in front of my door, dripping wet. He was shivering from the cold and had a tired look on his face.

I immediately pulled him inside and shut the door.

"What happened?!" I asked.

He took off his soaked hoodie and his shoes. When I went to grab it from him I felt his icy fingers brush mine.

"You're freezing!" I stated and pulled him up the stairs. I walked into my room and pushed him into my bathroom. "Go take a shower to warm up. I'm gonna get some of my brother's clothes for you to wear and put them in front of the door."

He only nodded and walked into the bathroom. I stood there for a second and then heard the shower turn on.

I let out a deep breath and ran my fingers through my hair.

What was happening?

I walked out of my room and picked out some sweatpants and a shirt from Dylan's closet with some clean boxers. I placed the clothes in front of the bathroom door and sat down on my bed. I slumped down and rubbed my eyes.

My head was filling with questions every second that I didn't get an answer.

Why was he here? How did he get here? And why was he outside in the rain?

I get pulled away from my thoughts when I heard the bathroom door open. I looked up and saw a very good looking Ryder. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and water droplets were running down his chest.

I would be lying if I said he didn't look good.

He bent down to pick up the clothes and disappeared into the bathroom again before coming outside, fully dressed.

I stood up and walked over to him. I was about to ask him what was going on but now that we were in good lighting I saw that he had a cut by his cheekbone and a slightly bruised cheek.

I gasped and lightly touched the side of his face with my finger tips.

He flinched at the touch but relaxed against my hand.

"We need to properly clean this," I told him, not leaving any room for discussion. I pulled him into the bathroom and searched in the cabinets for some antiseptic and some cotton swabs.

He hopped onto the counter and I stood in front of him while opening the bottle. I put some of the antiseptic on the cotton swab and stepped closer to clean his cheek.

He hissed slightly when the swab touches his cheek and grabbed my waist with his hands. I let him because I know how much it hurts to put that stuff on a cut. It fucking stings!

I finished cleaning the cut and close the bottle and put it aside. I turned to Ryder place my hands on either side of him.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"No problem," I told him. "Are you gonna tell me what happened?"

He sighed deeply and pulled me closer between his legs. He leaned his head against my shoulder and placed a soft kiss against my collarbone.

I pulled away and pushed his chin up to make him look at me.

"You need to tell me what happened," I said in a serious tone.

He gave me a pained expression but nodded. "My parents again," he started to explain and focused on a spot behind me. "They were having another fight when I walked through the door. They then started shouting at me how I shouldn't be here because I just give them more problems. I tried to calm them down but my dad hit me with his beer bottle. That's how I got the cut. Then I left and it started to storm. You were the first person that I could think of to go to."

A silent tear rolled dow his cheek and I brushed it away carefully with my thumb. He gave me a sad smile and I felt my heart breaking for him. He didn't have a real family. All he had was his friends.

"You look tired," I said.

He chuckled humourlessly. "I've had quiet a day."

"You should sleep."

He shook his head and hopped off the counter. "I wanna keep you some company. It would be rude if I just barge in like this and then left you alone."

"No, it wouldn't. You obviously need to rest."

"It's fine. I'll be able to stay awake," he said and started to walk out of the bathroom.

I pulled him back and sighed. "What if I lay down next to you. Will you sleep then?"

"Now that already sounds better," he said and smirked.

Only he could still act cocky during all of this.

I rolled my eyes and walked out of the bathroom.

"Go and lay down," I said and nodded towards me bed. "I just need to turn off the TV downstairs."

Ryder climbed into my bed and got under the covers. He closed his eyes. He looked like he was glad to finally be able to get to lay down and rest.

I quickly walked downstairs and turned off the TV and all the lights. I made my way up the stairs again and turned off the light in my room. I stood in the doorway of my room and watched Ryder's sleeping figure.

I would ask him about the whole Ashlin stuff tomorrow. When he was more awake and rested. But for now I had to let him sleep. Sure, I was still a little mad but I could slowly feel the anger fading away.

I climbed into bed and got under the covers. Ryder's stable breathing reached my ears so I'm guessing he was already asleep.

I lay on my side so that my back was facing him and was about to fall asleep when I felt an arm wrap around me and pull me closer. Ryder's warmth warmed my body and I turned onto my other side so that I was facing him and snuggle closer to him.

I felt him kiss my forehead.

"Goodnight,darling," I heard him say before falling asleep.