Standing in front of them were two well built boys, one blonde and the other with dark brown hair tousled casually , wearing t-shirts and jeans .
"The lover's bay boy " .
Ryder's eyes found Catherine and Stephanie and he smiled brightly .Then his gaze shifted to the other two figures and his eyes widened.
"YOU "
They both shouted causing many heads to turn but a glare from the blondie and all turned back .
" Looks like an introduction is not necessary..huhh?? "
" What are you doing here ? " Ryder gritted out
" Umm .. I don't know . I guess people come to college to study . Why , you don't ?" Amelia said faking innocence
All of them burst out into a laughter while Amelia continued to play innocent while Ryder gritted his teeth together .
Rose butted in before anything could escalate .
" Hey ! I'm Rose Wilder." she said extending her hand .
"Hii beautiful! I'm Carlos " the blonde said taking her hand and leaving a feather kiss taking her by surprise.
Catherine swat his hand away and scoffed ." Back off Carl. Sorry Rose . Meet my sorry excuse of a brother.."
That's when their similarity striked . The same forest green eyes , the blonde hair , similar faces just both a beautiful version of themselves.
" Yeah unfortunately we are twins , me being the elder one " Catherine replied to the obvious question swirling in their eyes .
"Just by a minute , which doesn't even count.." Carlos scoffed " .. and what might be the name of this gorgeous girl here . " he motioned towards Amelia .
Rose couldn't believe this person. He didn't even think before flirting with her best friend when he had been doing the same with her a few minutes ago .
Amelia's mouth upturned into a half smile , a genuine one and she played along ," Why I'm flattered to get attention of this handsome man here . Hi there , I'm called Amelia Locksworth" .
Everyone burst out into a laughter while Ryder tried hard not to let that smile slip onto his face but it wasn't possible. As much as he hated himself for it , he was amused by this girl's antics .
Rose turned a questioning look towards Ryder silently asking for his introduction. Ryder lifted an eyebrow but still introduced himself , " I'm Ryder Carter " he said glancing at Rose . This was the first time he was actually looking at her . Even though Rose had the personality and charm to draw in anyone and she screamed attention from all , Amelia in the last meet had distracted all his attention.
He looked into her eyes and sucked in a breath , they were such a beauty , he had never seen any such before and they just seemed to catch him ,not letting him look anywhere else . He broke out of the trance when he saw the hand extended towards him . His neck turned red as he coughed awkwardly and took her hand in a quick handshake .
Nobody seemed to notice though and he was relieved.He then glanced over to Amelia who was laughing at something Carlos had said .She no doubt was a beauty who knew how to make people around her intimated yet comfortable. You could easily approach her to talk to her but knew not to say anything wrong . It just triggered something in her to snap out and take a 180° turn of personality . To him she was an interesting figure , one he didn't want to figure out .It was good the way it was .
" So then Lia and Ro- Ro , we'll meet you at lunch at our table .... Ok? "
"Wait ! She can't be a part of our group , I'm okay with this flower but this .
No. nope . NADA . not happening."
" Ryder !!! That was blatant rude . Apologise NOW !!! And I don't care 'cause I never asked you . I am TELLING you they are sitting with us and that is final" Catherine snapped at him .
Rose butted in, " That's fine Catherine. Don't spoil your friendship for us . We'll still be together back at dorm . It will be fun " and smiled sweetly at her .Then it upturned into a scowl as she glanced over at Ryder " And that mister ,was really rude . You don't have the right o talk to us like that. If she is unwelcomed here then so am I but you could have said that politely . Never offend someone like that no matter the situation, you never know how much it might affect them and what if you never get a chance to apologise? Believe me that regret you get to experience later is the worst feeling in the whole world ... worst "
By this time she was rambling but she never knew it , she was in her own world completely zoned out of her surroundings or the people around , while the rest stared at her dumbfounded. The amount of saddness on her face shouted that something about her past actions or words made her regret her decision till date and somehow she couldn't fix it .
The first warning bell ringing brought everyone out of their trance .Rose realised she had rambled on and muttering a 'sorry' scurried to her class . She was thankful that she didn't share this lecture with either of the girls .
She just entered and sat in silence waiting for the lecturer while her mind drifted off to the memories that propped up in her mind during her ramble . Happy memories which did strange things to her , brought tears in her eyes as well as graced her mouth with a light smile . She had vowed that day that she will never let the happiness from these memories turn into saddness of the past , she vowed to keep it the same ..Happy .She promised to never be sad on remembering them , she promised to always feel the happiness that rested in those moments.
She in her train of thoughts never realised when Ryder came to sit by her in the class.All the girls gasped at the scene . Ryder was rarely seen noticing any new face let alone sitting with any . Girls craved for his attention . He was generally seen around other guys and was spotted talking to just Catherine or Stephanie or a brief conversation with any girl only when necessary. He was the type to believe that playing with other's feeling was not a joke but nevertheless respected other's decisions .
But today he voluntarily went up to sit by a girl and even came to class early . He had decided to come to class as all in the group were scowling at him and Amelia was really downcasted even though she was trying her best to hide it , he just saw it . He was feeling very guilty of what he did but he was not the one to show emotions so he just decided to come to the class .
When he entered he could see many of his classmates especially boys' eyes trailing to the back of the class . So he followed the gaze to find Rose, who was still unaware of her effect around , being the centre of attraction . She had a glazed look in her eyes as she stared at the board in front with a light smile playing on her lips .
She closed her eyes , chuckled lightly , shaking her head a bit and opened her eyes to gasp at Ryder who was gazing at her with a confused look .She turned a light colour of red as she thought he might be thinking how stupid she must be to be chuckling to herself .
So she tried to look away and was even more shocked to see a few hateful while other curious looks at her mostly from girls . She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked up at Ryder who was now glaring at the class .
"Um.. Why are they staring at me like that ? Did I do something wrong ? "
"Nope . Not at all . They are just shocked and maybe even jealous to see me sitting with you ." he shrugged as if it was as obvious as having breakfast in the morning.
" And what is that supposed to mean ? " She asked bewildered.
" I usually don't go around sitting with new faces and especially girls , I guess ? " He said more like asked her .
" And so why are you here ..." She asked remembering their encounter "
... when you never wanted to be with us at the first place ?" Her voice calm , too calm for him to register the complete opposite of what he expected .
" Hey I never said that I didn't want to hang out with you , it was just about that stupid friend of yours ." At this her face turned really red in anger .
Yeah! Yeah! Her skin was quite reactive to her reactions to any situation .
" But .." he interjected sensing the change in environment.." I realised I was too honest about my opinions"
She raised an eyebrow at that and crossed her arms.
" Ohk ! All right ! So blatantly honest that I never realised I put it out in such an offensive way .I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that . and ... and .. before you say anything, yes I'll apologise from her too "
Her eyes lit up suddenly, her scowl turning into a smile as she nodded her head in acknowledgement. To say he was shocked at the sudden change was an understatement but nevertheless he was happy to have fixed this up .
"So.... Are we good ? "
" Yeah Carter !! "
Just then the lecturer entered.
" We'll continue at the lunch table ?" His voice hopeful .
" Yeah definitely but only ... "
" If Amelia is there and for that I need to apologise... Yeah yeah I know ."
"Bullseye" she let a light laugh escape her mouth .