#Chapter2
---The headless-chicken mentality of Ryder Quin-02
Jasmine sighed as she noticed the look in Ryder’s eyes and had to do her part as the supportive friend. /"Give it a try. Just ogling like a creep from afar is creepy. Try saying /"hi/". A simple /"hi/" can’t be that hard./"
Ryder shook her head. Some things were better left as they were. Some things were sweeter because they were out of reach or seen from afar. What if she got too close only to see that her prince charming was actually an ugly goblin? Some things were better to be left dipped in sweet ignorance than in bitter verity.
Disappointment isn’t a nice feeling and why not avoid it if given the chance.
/"I still think you should at least try./"
Ryder thought about it. A simple hi wouldn't hurt anyone. Maybe the prince charming wouldn’t be a goblin nor turn into a frog after all. Just a simple hello. But how was she supposed to say /"hello/" to him. Like 'Hi Aiden?' or 'Hi there!' or it's better if she says just 'Hi!'. But if she says just hi, he would start a conversation and she would ramble like a fool and end up saying things she shouldn't say. One of the biggest flaws Ryder possessed was her inability to have small talks. She also wasn’t that good in interacting with new people. Due to certain events of the past, someone with Ryder’s personality, lost interest in socializing. If it weren’t for the persistent Jasmine determined in being friends with her, Ryder, most likely, would have no friends at all.
Humans are hard to deal with, Ryder thought with a sigh.
Her head bumped against the table lightly a couple of times in frustration. After enough time for a slight bump to form in her head from all the bumping passed, the bell rang and the classroom finally came back to life as if just woken up from coma. People groaned, laughed, sighed in relief and started to leave one after another. Ryder got up, picked up her stuff and walked to Aiden. She can do it... right? No, no, no…. she’s one hundred percent sure she can do it. However, maybe because she was predestined to make a fool of herself right in those moments, or most likely because her eyes were focused only on the back of the young man, dear headless chicken Ryder failed to see the bag thrown on the floor carelessly. And that’s when things went downhill. Tripping over it and letting out a scream of surprise and fear as she saw the floor coming closer to her face as if asking for kisses, Ryder was falling.
Great! A broken ugly face is exactly what I needed.
But for some reason the pain of her nose breaking never came. Instead she fell on something warm and kind of soft that let out a low groan. Her eyes opened slightly. The first thing she saw was blackness and for a second there, the moron thought she had gone blind. Just as that thought had crossed her mind, Ryder noticed that her blindness was actually a black shirt and as her eyes traveled up it, she faced Hamlet saying /"No/" to her. As her heart trembled in realization, hesitatingly her eyes went up the body and even though she saw it coming, Ryder still widened her eyes when her gaze met a pair of green eyes like a pair of emerald gemstones looking at her and two pink lips turned downwards in a frown twitched slightly.
Holy mutant cow shit!
The previously paled from fear of getting hurt face turned red immediately and the chicken brain of hers stopped working. It wasn't the right time to leave her, but it just left her. Even the chicken brain didn’t want to deal with this shit.
/"Are you okay?/" Aiden asked her with his soft deep voice and Ryder blushed even more from embarrassment as if that was even possible. And then it hit her… from back then when this youth held her in his arms to the infirmary, this was the first time he talked to her. It had been such a long time since Ryder had heard that deep voice directed at her, and the red cheeks just turned even redder like the scarlet ass of a baboon.
Ryder.exe has encountered sudden social interacting. The system therefore will reboot. Please wait until the system is finished with the rebooting process before proceeding.
Behind her, Jasmine was conflicted. Should she roll her eyes or pale in concern? Help her or use this opportunity to let her grow some balls? After all it would be a good learning experience. In the end she just remained frozen in place and decided to enjoy the show.
As her brain finally had started to work again, it still needed some time to process what was happening. Oh my God he is talking to me! What should I say?
/"Ye... Yes./" Ryder muttered and stood up, then extended a hand to the handsome young man in front of her and helped him up. The handsome young man was hella heavy. With a /"hmph/" Ryder pulled him up, panicking for a second that instead up helping him up, she would let him fall again, and even worse, she would also fall on top of him… again.
Without saying anything, those green gemstones of his glanced at the culprit who had all its content spilled on the floor when Ryder tripped over it. Aiden took his backpack in his hand and looked at Ryder then as if he got reminded of something he broke into a smile. /"Be more careful next time./" And just like that the prince charming left the classroom with his friends following right behind him. One of them grinned as he threw his arm over Aiden’s shoulders and muttered at him.
/"How charming of Aiden Caley./"
Aiden rolled his eyes and elbowed him in the stomach and rubbed his back with a pained face.
/"She was that girl I told you about./"
Aiden /"??? Who?/"
His friend rolled his eyes. /"The one who has a crush on you./"
/"Oh./"
However Ryder couldn’t hear any of these as the boys had already left.
/"That wasn’t that hard, was it?/" Jasmine used Ryder’s shoulder as an armrest, stepping out of the comfortable role of a spectator. Ryder shrugged her arm off and pouted.
/"I almost had a heart attack./"
/"You are hopeless./" Jasmine laughed.
*****
School wasn’t that far from her house, so Ryder would always walk her way home. Even so it was a bit tiresome, given the fact that Ryder wasn’t the type to go out often and her feet were like made only to walk to the fridge. Driving a car was out of question for two reasons. One: it was uneconomical for the distance was too short and the only car her family had was used by her father. Two: Ryder didn’t have driver’s license or better say she didn’t want one, much to the others’ surprise. She didn’t even intend to get one. And so this headless chicken had to walk back home.