Chapter Four.

Ayla.

"Ayla Rose, 9." Mr, Cooper reads out and I internally squeal, it was always great to get a top grade in one of my classes.

As sir continues to read out grades I quickly text Bri telling her what grade I got, I couldn't help it I was happy and proud of myself.

"Ryder Costello, 9." I glance at Ryder and smile softly, it had been a few days since I went to his house. Nothing's changed and I don't know why I expected it to.

"Miss Rose and Mr Costello you both have achieved the highest grades for the first exam. Well done, keep it up!" I smiled at sir and received one back. I looked at Ryder who seemed to be unfazed and ready to leave.

A couple minutes later the bell rings and we leave for lunch. I meet up with Bri and we choose to sit in the hallways as the rain was too heavy for us to go outside. Thank god I wore a thick jumper and trousers, I was warm and cozy.

Looking to my right I see Chloe, this time Bri referred to her as Cambridge Academy's very own Regina George. She took advantage of the fact that we had no uniform prancing around in mini skirts and tiny tops. I don't blame her, she's got a pretty figure so why not flaunt it? However her heels surprisingly within the limit of 4 inches were bright pink and evil to the human eye. God those things were vibrant.

She gave me a dirt making me look back to my book.

She appears in front of me and I cringe knowing she was about to insult me. "You're outfit is god awful, did you not look in the mirror before you left?" She remarks and I immediately regret even sitting here. "This is why I don't get along with girls here, you all dress horribly!" She speaks again.

"Aww at least she doesn't feed off male validation, and no the reason why you don't get along with girls here is because you're either projecting your insecurities onto them or hooking up with their man. Now go be a pick me somewhere else" Bri comes to my rescue and I almost burst out laughing, she had a way with words. Chloe's mouth dropped and everyone had begun laughing. I felt a little bad but hey if you're gonna be mean be prepared for the consequences.

"Don't waste your time on bullshit, come, Chris is looking for you." I hear Ryder say to Chloe as he approaches the hallway. I fight the urge to roll my eyes and then notice he had Ellie glued to his side. It was no surprise girls were all over Ryder, he's a handsome guy.

Its a shame his personality is shit.

"Ayla the rains cleared lets go." She links our arms and we walk outside. We went to our usual spot, the willow tree on the south side of the school. Luckily the bench wasn't too wet and I used a couple tissues to clear off any water. Once sat I took out my snacks and began conversating wit Bri about our shopping trip on Saturday.

"Thank you Bri, for backing me." I said as she ate her sour gummies.

"No one speaks to my Ayla like that. But I do wish you would speak up to her then again you're to nice and shy to do that." I nodded, she was right I needed to stick up for myself but the truth is Ryder had lowered my confidence so much that I cant even speak to a person without thinking that they'd hate me like Ryder does.

"I know Bri but I'm too scared." I said and leaned into her, she kisses my forehead and hugged me tight. "Babe why did you let that bastard lower your self esteem." She asked, she obviously knew that he ruined my confidence.

"I don't know." I said quietly and before she could reply the bell rang. "I've got business so I'll have to go to block one." I say and dust off any crumbs. "I have Sociology in block one too so I'll drop you off." She says and we make our way to lesson.

Once I'm in class I hurry to the back, fortunately this class didn't have a seating arrangement. Hopefully no one will bother me here.

I doodled on my notebook and watched as more people came in.

Then he came in, I closed my eyes hoping I was hallucinating. He couldn't be in another one of my favourite classes. Opening my eyes to see he was still there heart dropped.

I sighed in relief as I realised his friends weren't here. They weren't that bad but at least I only had to deal with Ryder.

He caught my eyes and smirked devilishly. I inhaled deeply and braced myself, ready for what was about to come. He walked towards me and you know what he did?

He sat next to me.

'Lord give me strength and sanity.' I shuffled about feeling uncomfortable. He chuckled and I smiled, his laugh was beautiful. But it stopped, it was as if he caught me smiling and stopped.

"Don't smile. " I heard him say rather annoyed and angry, I knew he hated my smile. I exhale as his eyes hold me hostage preventing me from looking away.

"Don't look at me like that." His tone was angry and as if was resisting something.

Shaking my head I averted my eyes to the teacher who had started the lesson.

"Hi everyone, welcome to business studies. My name is Miss Morgan and I've been teaching here for quite a while both of your past teachers have told me that you all should be a pleasure to teach. Now I want to do a little bonding. Were all going to say our names and something about ourselves. Lets start with me, as you know my name is Miss Morgan, other than teaching I own a café with my husband. Next." The attention was passed to a boy, his hair is a brown ginger and I was obsessed! I always wanted to dye my hair that kind of colour but I just know I wont be able to maintain it at all.

"Hi my names James and I just moved from Spain." Wow, I loved Spain, mum and dad always went for little getaways but obviously I never joined as it was a romantic getaway from me.

Everyone did their intros, I actually found out things about my peers so this wasn't too bad of an ice breaker. That was until it came to me, I became restless as everyone turned to me. Blushing from the attention I begin talking.

"Hi my names Ayla and um-" I tried to think of something interesting but an impatient person spoke over me. "My names Ryder and I've got no siblings." I looked at him and he scoffed. "Its not that difficult." He said degradingly and leaned back into his seat.

I fought the urge not to cry, he always embarrassed me in front of everyone.

He was the last person so miss started teaching and giving us tasks to do.

As the end of the lesson approached we began packing our things. "Right so usually there is financial exam and presentation but this year I'm pairing you guys up to create a business, an actual business that you have to present to investors. The ideas will be graded and that's pretty much it. Please make sure to give your all and be as creative as possible because this grade is fifty percent of your final grade. Also I'm picking the pairs because you guys need to learn how to work with different people. When you get older you will have to work with all sorts of people not just your friends." The class groaned but I was fine with it, she was right we need to learn how to communicate with other people.

"Okay, Georgia and Harry, Aliyah and Mason, Zara and Brian, Zaynah and Milly, James and Safia." She paused and I looked around at who was left. Oh no, it was just me and Ryder left. No god please, no, I couldn't work with him, I'd rather die.

"Ayla and Ryder."

Oh god.

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