Fighting to go on

Chapter 6

          After school, Ryan walked with me to my locker. I noticed the looks everyone was giving us, but I chose to ignore them. But I did smile when the crowd practically parted when Ryan walked down the hallways. It helped get us to my locker in record time.

            I opened the locker and grabbed the stuff I would need for the weekends homework and shoved it into my bag, which I had placed on the floor. After double-checking to make sure I had everything, I shut the door and reached down for my bag, but it wasn’t there. I frowned and searched the floor briefly, because bags have legs you know, before looking up at Ryan.

            He had a little smirk on his face and he had my bag over his shoulder. “What? You didn’t think I knew how to be a gentleman?”

            “Well, you just don’t seem like the type of guy who does things like that,” I said.

            He feigned hurt. “Ouch, that cuts deeply. I can be a gentleman if I want to be,” he said. After a pause, he continued, “I just choose not to most of the time.”

            I chuckled. “I could have told you that. With how scared everyone is of you, I could kind of tell that you don’t act like a gentleman around them.”
            He shrugged as we started walking out of the school. “Most people annoy me.”

            “So I should be flattered that I’m not one of those people?”

            He turned to smirk at me. “Definitely.”

            I decided not to answer him, and just walked along with him silently. We got to his car and he opened the passenger door for me. “Okay, now you’re just trying too hard,” I told him.

            He grinned. “No way, I need to make my point now. I have to prove to you that I can be a gentleman when needed.”

            I rolled my eyes as he shut the door and hurried around to his side. I waited until he had climbed in before I responded to his last statement. “Okay, I think you’ve proved it now. You are the most gentlemanly person I’ve ever met.”

            “Don’t think I can’t hear your sarcasm, Sam. You still doubt my skills at being charming.”

            We continued our playful banter as we drove to his house. When we got there, my jaw dropped at the sight.

            The house was huge! Almost twice the size of mine. It was two stories, with beautiful maple trees scattered on the front lawn. I turned to Ryan. “Nice place,” was all I managed to say.

            “We like it. My mom is a doctor and my dad was a lawyer before he passed away, so we’re pretty well off. Sometimes I think it’s too big for just the two of us, but it’s nice because then I get my privacy even when my mom is home.”

            We got out of the car and headed to the front door. Ryan unlocked it and ushered me inside. He led me straight to the kitchen. “Do you want a snack or anything?” he asked.

            “Maybe just a drink,” I replied. I looked around the spacious kitchen. It was modern, but there were still a lot of nice homey touches.

            Ryan poured us both a glass of juice and then he showed me to the living room. He excused himself to grab his laptop from his room, and he returned a moment later with it.

            We had just started looking through plays when the doorbell rang. Ryan went to get it, and I heard Sarah’s voice a moment later. They came into the living room and joined me on the couch, one on each side of me.