Chapter 3: The struggles of being prince charming

Mr. and Mrs. Quin arrived early in the morning before Ryder left for school. With their arrival the house was once again filled with loud voices, the peace and quiet Ryder loved so much shattering.

"Michelle, I'm telling you, she dead-ass tried to kill me." Henry Quin was at it again. Convinced his mother-in-law hated his guts and wanted him dead.

"She was sick, how could she kill you when she couldn't even leave her bed?" Michelle glared at her husband while Ryder sipped her coffee enjoying the show. Mom had a point, but dad is right. Grandma really hates his guts.

"She tripped me with her crane!!!"

"You're just too clumsy."

"I'm not clumsy!!!"

Michelle raised an eyebrow, the look in her eye full of indications. Henry was taken aback by that look, his lips twitching as his face flushed bright red.

"Just once Michelle. Just once. I fell on you just once. Get over it already." Henry threw his arms in the air frustrated and embarrassed. Ryder chuckled.

"I had to go to the hospital because of two broken ribs." Michelle placed her hands on both of her sides, glaring at her husband, whose face turned even redder and guilt filled his eyes. After seeing that she couldn't go on with guilt-tripping him anymore and patted his shoulder. "I will talk to mom, okay? Who cares if she hates you? Isn't my love enough?"

Seeing that things were getting a bit too sweet, Ryder placed her mug on the counter and left. "Too much sugar. You're giving me diabetes." She mocked her parents who ignored her and went on with their dipped-in-honey conversation.

Last night, the stranger left soon after he smoothly refused to tell her anything else about his identity. Unlike the first time, Ryder wasn't scared out of her wits. However, she still went inside, locking all the doors and windows, just to be on the safe side. Even though by the end of this second meeting she was mostly convinced that this young man didn't harbor any bad intentions, he still was a stranger and a man and Ryder wouldn't be able to defend herself if he decided to get handsy even if by the looks of it the chances of such things to happen were low. If he wanted to harm her, he would have done so by now.

"Ryde!" Jasmine called her name when Ryder had just opened her locker. Lazily she turned her head to greet Jasmine, but her eyes widened the moment she noticed her crazy friend.

This mental thug had thrown an arm over the shoulders of the unfortunate guy from yesterday, her hand grabbing the cloth on his shoulder like the claw of a tiger not letting go of its pray, as she walked very cheerfully to Ryder, dragging the poor guy along, who tried with all his might to free himself and run away but failed miserably. He was visibly taller than Jasmine and that position was clearly very painful to his pride and back. Is she trying to help him with his bullies or bully him herself, Ryder couldn't tell.

"This is Remy. Isn't he cute?"

Remy blushed like the ass of a baboon. His black hair fell over his face, hiding his dark eyes. He was quite handsome, straight narrow nose, a somewhat sharp jawline, and smooth white skin... only Jasmine would call such a face cute. Ryder felt bad for the guy.

"Jaz, let go of him."

Jasmine frowned and instead of letting go of the poor guy, she wrapped both of her arms around Remy's neck, rubbing her cheek against his. "But then he will run away and I won't be able to find him again."

Mama-bear is a bit unreasonable and not well aware of the fact that she's actually bullying her cute "son". Ryder knew Jasmine had no bad intentions, she truly wanted to take care of the guy, but Remy might not be aware of this and by the looks of it, he didn't want anything to do with Jasmine. He also looked scared, which is understandable since the girl rubbing her cheek against his face was the Boxer Girl with iron fists.

Taking pity in the miserable state Remy was, Ryder rolled her eyes and pried Jasmine's claws off him. "She doesn't mean harm." She said to Remy who sighed in relief when he was finally free. On the other hand, Jasmine was literally pouting like a sad puppy.

"I don't care. Keep her away from me." Remy roared in annoyance before leaving.

"Damn it, he got angry again." Jasmine frowned. She just couldn't understand why Remy would be so annoyed. All she did was throw her arm over his shoulders and introduced him to Ryder. She even praised him for his cute and adorable face.

"Have you considered that maybe Remy doesn't want to be your "son"?" Only after she finished that sentence, did Ryder notice how stupid and crazy it sounded. A few people passing by gave her weird looks, but when they noticed Jasmine's frowning face they paled and left in a hurry.

"But I like him..." Jasmine pouted and rested her forehead on Ryder's shoulder. Ryder smiled at her childish behavior and patted her back.

"Give him some time at least. Don't just jump on him like a tiger. You're scaring him away like this."

Even though Jasmine wasn't quite convinced that her way of showing affection was scaring Remy away, she decided to take Ryder's advice. She will give him some time... you know what... she will ignore him and let him miss her and when he comes back begging her to accept him as her son, Jasmine would laugh on his face... then adopt him. With such an absurd plan forming in her head Jasmine was once again back in her cheerful self.

"Are your parents back?"

"Mhm." Ryder hesitated a bit. After chewing on her lip for a while she finally spoke. "He came again last night."

Jasmine wasn't paying attention as she was thinking about the details of how she would avoid Remy. "Who?"

Ryder could feel the upcoming storm as she clarified. "That guy..."

"..."

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? Did he do something to you? Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Ryder sighed, ignoring Jasmine's burst out. "He knows me... he said that we have met before."

Jasmine blinked in surprise. "You don't know many males."

"I know..."

They walked in silence for a while. She had met that young man a few times, or so he said. His voice did sound familiar... but who could it be? Even if Ryder herself didn't know many boys, she might have met this guy very randomly. Maybe he worked in a supermarket as a cashier or maybe in the bookstore she usually buys books... but even if it was so then this stranger wouldn't know her name. So she might as well cross these possibilities off the list.

Then that guy must be from her school or the neighborhood. Other than these two places, there was no other place she might have met him for Ryder didn't like going out that much.

"He sounded smart," Ryder commented casually.

"Smart people still kill other people."

"I know." She breathed out a sigh. "I was just curious who he might be. Anyway... in the end, it doesn't matter that much. He won't show up again."

Jasmine furrowed her eyebrows. "Why did he come last night?"

"To apologize..." Now that she said it out loud, Ryder realized how much of a stupid excuse that was. She felt embarrassed on that guy's behalf.

"What an idiot." Jasmine puffed.

The first period was chemistry. The lab had only a couple of people inside, the others had yet to arrive. The teacher was sitting at her desk writing down in a notebook, ignoring the others since the first period hadn't started yet.

With wary eyes Ryder inspected every single guy entering the classroom, focusing on their voices but once again it was useless. The more voices she heard the more annoyed and restless she became. Where the hell had she heard the voice of that God damn man?!! It felt much like when watching an animated movie and the voice of one of the characters is familiar but she just couldn't remember where she had heard that voice actor before, making her unable to focus on the movie.

Furthermore, those words the stranger said... Sometimes tears can ease the pain in one's heart... Ryder knew for certain that she had read them somewhere, but where?

As she struggled more and more to figure it out, feeling as if the answer was just within her reach, like a dream that she just couldn't remember besides the vague feeling it had left behind, that answer slipped through her fingers before she could get hold of it. The frustration grew more and in the end, Ryder could only do one thing.

Bang her head against the table.

And so she did... hard...

Bang

The classroom "..."

Bang

The teacher "..."

Bang

Jasmine whispered, pinching her leg under the deck. "Ryde, what the fuck are you doing?"

Coming to her senses, Ryder realized that class had started. To be more specific it was about ending. All eyes were on her, looking at her with weird gazes, even the teacher looked concerned, wondering if her student had gone crazy or not. Maybe she should send her to the infirmary. There must be something wrong with her brain.

Blushing furiously, Ryder lowered her head. Her hair fell over her face to hide her from the weird looks. "I'm sorry... I was... trying to get something out of my mind."

Jasmine had to fight the urge to face-palm herself while trying to survive the secondhand embarrassment she was going through because of her imbecile friend. Couldn't she come up with a better excuse? Or even better... keep her mouth shut?

On the other hand, after hearing that excuse, the teacher was ninety percent sure her student had a few screws loose, but since the period was about to end she didn't have the nerves to deal with her.

When the time to eat lunch came, Ryder who was heading to the cafeteria to accompany Jasmine as always was suddenly dragged in the opposite direction. At loss, Ryder looked at Jasmine, unable to tell what was going on in that head of hers. As if noticing the look Ryder was giving her, Jasmine grinned at her little adorable daughter.

"I want to find Remy." Obviously, her plan of ignoring Remy didn't mean that she couldn't follow the guy around without being noticed. What if he got bullied again? Or if he didn't have money to buy lunch?

"Wouldn't he be in the cafeteria?"

"He eats on the stairs at the side of the running track." Her lips turned downwards. "My poor baby has no friends."

"Maybe he likes it that way." Ryder inwardly sighed, I used to like it that way. Now I have a thug with a tendency of adopting other people and an extroverted prince charming that happens to be my crush announcing their friendship to me. Thinking how energetic the two of them were, Ryder couldn't help but feel tired. "Jaz, let's leave the guy alone. How about we do something fun tonight?"

Ryder rarely took the initiative to hang out unless she was dragged by Jasmine and so when Jasmine heard her offer, her steps came to a halt and she beamed. "Really?!"

The beaming smile on Jasmine's face was too dazzling, her dark brown eyes shining as if they had stars in them. The fading bruises on Jasmine's face couldn't dull her beauty. Ryder chuckled at her friend's happiness. "Yeah, why not?"

"Then can we go boxing?"

The smile that had just crawled up her lips, disappeared without a sign. "I said let's do something fun, not let's fight each other until I faint with my face bruised black and blue."

Jasmine frowned, clearly unsatisfied and even annoyed at the other's shameless mention of the past. "It's not my fault you didn't dodge that time. You have to learn to protect yourself. What if someone kidnaps you on your way home? A girl gotta know how to keep herself safe."

Not her fault? Ryder shot a glare at Jasmine. This brat deadass threw punches at her face without warning one after another. How could Ryder keep up with Boxer Girl who has been trained by her father and two big brothers since she could start walking, with a diaper full of shit still hanging on her ass? However, before Ryder had the chance to say anything a voice called her.

As if it was the natural reaction upon hearing that voice, Ryder's cheeks flushed a light pink color while the desire to hide behind Jasmine was too overwhelming. With much difficulty, she remained still as Aiden and his two friends approached her.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you going to the cafeteria?" As always, a smile brightened that handsome face of his. The stupid heart felt a bit strange when facing that smile.

"I don't eat lunch," Ryder answered, her response taking Aiden by surprise. Then what was she doing in the cafeteria yesterday?

To Aiden's understanding, who was about to ask Ryder to eat with him today, those words sounded like the girl was turning him down. Facing rejection without even asking first, Aiden felt as if being punched in the face. The taste of defeat was too bitter for him to take and so he decided to counterattack. On the other hand, Ryder did not have the slightest idea of what was going on in Aiden's head who had gone all "THIS IS SPARTA" mode.

"Are you free tonight..."

The dense Ryder frowned and didn't let the poor guy finish his question. "Oh, no. I'm hanging out with Jasmine tonight."

Once again, Aiden was rejected without even asking. It took all his strength to keep the smile on his face unwavering even though in the end it faded and the look in his eyes was that of sadness. However, in his heart, he was already flipping tables. ┻━┻ ︵ヽ('Д')ﾉ︵ ┻━┻ Didn't his friend say Ryder had a crush on him? Why was he getting rejected so ruthlessly?

"Oh... I was wondering if you wanted to go to the cinema together... but since you already have plans..."

Ryder blushed bright red and gave a quick look to Jasmine as if asking her "Can he do that?" He looked so much like a sad puppy.

Jasmine shrugged. All this time she had been studying every single movement of this guy, the way he talked and looked at Ryder. This bitch better be nice to my daughter or he will get sliced to salami.

She knew very well what this guy's intentions were. He wanted his sweet dense baby to go on a date with him. How could she, Jasmine, her adoptive mother, allow such a thing without making sure the guy deserved Ryder's attention?

And so, as if her purpose was to throw another blow to Aiden's already ruthlessly injured pride, Jasmine, who had been ignored all this time, finally spoke. "He can tag along." If the words weren't pride-hurting enough, her tone was even more murderous, clearly making it sound as if she was doing charity here. "I wanted to go to the cinema anyway."

Aiden felt like dying of anger right there.

But the chicken head Ryder for once felt excited and looking forward to hanging out, completely failing into reading the room. "Is it okay with you?" She shyly asked the young man in front of her that was inwardly chewing himself to death.

What could Aiden say besides yes? Even though he had said he wanted to be friends with Ryder, he actually aimed for a bit more, their settled friendship being just an excuse to get closer to her and to know her better. However, in Ryder's eyes, he was just her crush who wanted to be friends with her. To go from not even sharing her a glance to being friends, to Ryder this was quite the achievement and satisfying enough to leave things as they were not even being greedy for more.

If he wanted a more romantic relationship with Ryder, Aiden had to work to pierce through that thick skull of hers and make her understand what his intentions were. But Aiden, was willing to be patient. Ryder seemed like a nice girl and fun...

After school, the three of them met in the parking lot. Aiden offered to drive them all to the cinema and there were no objections. After all, Ryder didn't have a car nor did she know how to drive it, and Jasmine always had one of her brothers picking her up from school or walked her way home like Ryder.

Much to Aiden's disappointment, Jasmine called shotgun and shot the poor guy a glare so fierce that even Thanos himself wouldn't dare to go against her. It was that glare that finally made Aiden realize that if he wanted to get closer to Ryder, he first had to go through Jasmine. He had truly underestimated Boxer Girl, thinking that she wasn't that scary. After all, Jasmine was an inch shorter than Ryder, had a thinner body and that waist-long hair of hers looked like it got too much in the way for this girl to be able to fight. But only now did Aiden notice that the eyes of this girl were like two fireballs that would burn him to crisps without hesitation and the wild curly hair made her look like a lion that would also chew him to death without hesitation... for the first time in his life, Aiden was truly scared of a girl.

Ryder noticed that Aiden had tensed and looked a bit uneasy, but in her eyes, Jasmine was like a harmless puppy that would turn into mama-bear when encountering "adorable" people. How could he possibly be scared by her? And so she thought there must be something else behind this guy's unease. Her smile faded and worry fell upon her lips that turned downwards into a frown.

"Are you feeling unwell?" She said to Aiden, who chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm fine, don't worry."

Suddenly, Ryder felt that maybe she and Jasmine might have unintentionally dragged him with them. Maybe he didn't want to go... "If you didn't want to come..."

Aiden relaxed his muscles and that dazzling smile, like the sun clearing the sky off dark clouds, reflected in the rear-view mirror, the green eyes looking right at Ryder. "Of course, I wanted to come. How could I miss such chance of hanging out with you?"

Ryder was at a loss for words. Her cheeks heat up as her heart skipped a beat. A strange feeling suddenly awoke in her stomach, but even though it made her feel weird, it was a nice kind of weird.

In the front seat, Jasmine didn't know if she wanted to cringe or be impressed by this guy's smooth talking.

The three of them agreed on watching a horror movie, much to Ryder's horror. She didn't like this genre at all. For some reason, even though she would be scared to death, her eyes wouldn't leave the screen until the movie was over. But the problem with the horror movie was what came after it. She might have enjoyed watching it, even like the movie, but her vivid imagination would turn her into a producer and remake the movie in real life with her as the main character suffering from demons and ghosts. Could it really be called enjoying it if it made her have nightmares afterward? This chicken head had a tenancy of overthinking things. If she found something she thought as illogical in the movie, she would start wondering to find a solution to it, and the solution would make the scene more realistic. The more realistic the more it terrified her... it was just never-ending self-torture.

But she didn't disagree on the horror movie even when Jasmine offered to see something less terrifying, aware that Ryder didn't like it. But Jasmine herself loved this genre and Aiden seemed like he liked it too, so, not to ruin it for the other two, Ryder agreed on it.

She still regretted it after exiting the cinema. Aiden who had thought since this girl was scared of horror movies he would pull a classic move on her and comfort her during the movie, left the cinema in vain for Ryder would always jump into Jasmine's arms who much to Aiden's annoyance, sat between them.

Okay, new plan. I will make moves only when this scary chihuahua isn't around.

"Do you want to eat something?" Aiden asked Ryder, the question directed specifically to her, excluding Jasmine as if he was a mere annoying fly. "We can sit somewhere until you get better." This whole day was a disaster, a big failure. Not only did he fail on taking Ryder out on a date in disguise, but the poor girl had turned so pale she looked like a ghost. Her skin was naturally too fair, for she rarely left the house, but now she looked as if she was going through a near-death experience. Her short hair that was just two inches below the chin had stuck to her face which shined from cold sweat, her cognac eyes that looked almost red, were slightly unfocused. Aiden didn't know what to do. If she knew she was so scared of horror movies, why did she agree on watching it? They could have watched something else...

"I'm fine." She wasn't fine at all. However, Ryder felt rather uncomfortable with the attention she was getting, once more regretting agreeing to socialize. For some reason, it would never end well for her. The last time she got beaten to a pulp by Jasmine, this time she will probably have nightmares for a week.

In the end, everyone was unsatisfied, except Jasmine who caught sight of Remy just as they would get in the car to return home and was in high spirits as she decided to follow the guy, because if he didn't notice her, then it would still be according to her plan.

Aiden drove Ryder home, only making a quick stop for a few minutes so she could buy a damn light bulb.

"I'm sorry for ruining the mood," Ryder muttered, her eyes fixed on the changing scenery behind the window.

"It's alright. It's not a big deal. If you want... we can hang out again." Aiden offered.

"Really?" Sadness dispersed from her eyes as she looked at Aiden, and her lips lifted into a hopeful smile. The pale face gained color, making her look lively. Aiden was stunned.

"...*cough* Yeah."

EXTRA:

Aiden that night at home: *googling* wikiHow: How to box - 4 ways to box.

His brother: what are you doing?

Aiden: .... Learning self-defense...