Chapter 3

After I had gotten home from the gym yesterday, I took a nice long bath and relaxed. My head hurt from arguing with Ryder and I was sick of his attitude. He was so egotistical and vain that I just wanted to punch him in the face. I probably will another day...

I sighed after changing and laid down on my bed. I had to sadly admit, he was attractive. Scratch that, he wasn't attractive, he was very attractive. Those brown eyes and soft hair could lure in a girl from miles away, but not me.

I finally fell asleep, the last thought being of Ryder's stupid face...

•••

"Sorry!"

A girl bumped into me and made me slam my finger into the locker door. Ouch.

Before I could turn around and say that it was alright, she stopped me.

"Pl-please don't hurt me," she begged with her hands across her face.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why would I hurt you?"

She peeked out from underneath her arms and looked at me with wary eyes. "Well, because th-that's what you do. Fight people."

How the hell did she know I fought?

So I asked her. "What do you mean?"

"The video, about you, it's all over YouTube."

I frowned and looked around. Many people had begun to form a circle around me and the girl. What video? I glared at some of the people videotaping and they quickly shoved their phones back into their pockets.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't beat people up."

"Are you sure?"

I scoffed. "Yeah, never been surer. Why?"

"Well, the video is of you beating up a big guy at a gym. And another of you yelling at...Ryder."

I finally remembered the little inconvenient argument last night. There were gasps from the crowd as they hurriedly tapped on their phones to look up the video.

"Here it is!" One guy shouted and a form of people circled around his phone.

I pushed past a few and stood next to the guy. On his phone, there was a shaky video playing. And what I saw made me cringe.

It was me.

Beating up the guy at the gym.

And then it switched...

To me arguing with Ryder.

I can't believe she had the nerve to talk like that to me. Who does she think she is? Shoving me in the chest and telling me what to do.

I decided to ditch school today and go work out instead. The gym was where I could do anything, and felt like I could do anything.

Except Ruby. My mind said.

I ignored my thought and pushed into the doors. I immediately looked around to make sure that Ruby wasn't here. Am I scared of her? No. Not me.

After yesterday, I had thought about what she had said. Yeah, I am a cocky dude, but that's just who I am. But the fact that she called me pathetic...

I couldn't let her get away with this one.

No one, and I mean no one, talks to me that way. If you do, then you're asking for a death wish.

But Ruby...

I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was her closeness, or maybe it was her intimidation. I don't know. But all I can know is that it will never ever happen again.

I pushed past the doors and made my way to the back of the gym. She had used my punching back yesterday. Mine. There was definitely hell to pay.

I was pulling off my shirt when the voice of Feliciano Bozzili popped up next to me.

"Hey bro, haven't seen you in a while," he said.

I slapped his back and pulled him in for a hug. "Hey Feliciano! Where've you been?"

"Back in Italy, fighting off the burglars, you know?"

"That's great man, how's Giana?"

His face suddenly turned sad and he shrugged. "I don't know, man. I proposed to her, but I guess she freaked and ran off."

I patted his back. "It's okay bro, she doesn't deserve a man like you."

We laughed for a while until Feliciano pulled out his phone. "I didn't know you had a girl of your own, Ryder."

I frowned and looked over to what he was doing. "What do you mean?"

He pointed to a video playing out on his screen. "This."

I watched in horrifying embarrassment as the video played out. Ruby had shoved me back and pointed her fist in my chest and was now arguing with me. I could hear every word.

"What the hell?" I turned back to the punching bag and slammed my fist against it. "Who posted that?"

He shrugged. "I dunno man, but she seems scary. But she's hot. Nice job, bro."

No, no, no, nice job was definitely not it. I bet everyone at school had seen it. Now they know that there is someone out there that can talk to me that way. Shit.

I grabbed my things, not bothering to train today, and walked back to the doors.

"Sorry Felix, I'll see you later!" I yelled back at him.

"Where you going?"

I pushed the doors open with a bang.

"I'm going to find Ruby."