Chapter Twenty-One

                                    

                                          
I had been studying on the school grounds for several hours before Ryder approached me. I hadn't spoken to him in a while but I knew it would be a good opportunity to catch up. 
                          
"I need help," he said. 
                          
"With?" I asked him. 
                          
He dropped his bag onto the ground so that he could take a seat beside me. 
                          
"I don't know, life I guess," he said. 
                          
I couldn't help but smirk at that in my amusement. 
                          
"Couldn't we all? What's up Ryder?" I asked him. 
                          
"I mean...I'm confident he said yes. You're the only person who has rejected me before but I mean, you are gay so that makes sense. I like this guy and I'm thinking of asking him out but I'm still trying to work out how to do that," Ryder told me. 
                          
I thought on it momentarily, before I said something. 
                          
"Just do it," I said. 
                          
"This isn't a Nike ad, Phoebe. I don't know how I'm supposed to do that," he told me. 
                          
I released a soft laugh. 
                          
"Well, one of us needs to work it out. I made this deal with Emmy and-" 
                          
"Oh, those are bad. You're never going to get out of that," he told me. 
                          
"I know I'm not, which is exactly why I'm nervous but we can do this, Ryder. We just have to be confident in ourselves," I said. 
                          
That had never been a problem for Ryder. I, on the other hand, couldn't exactly say that I found it easy or a walk in the park. Life was difficult. Asking girls out as even more difficult. I wished that I could take some of Ryder's confidence for a moment, then. 
                          
"Anyway, I have to go and train now, Phoebe but I'm optimistic. You're going to find someone that wants to date you. I know it," he told me. 
                          
"How can you be so optimistic?" I asked him. 
                          
"Well, I wanted to date you, didn't I? You're going to be fine!" he told me with enthusiasm, before he made his way to the gym. 
                          
I exhaled in a slight state of calm. It had been nice for Ryder to have told me all of that, anyway. 
                          
Now was the time for me to make my way to French class. 
                          
When I arrived, I went to take a seat beside Emmy who turned to me with a kind expression. 
                          
It looked as though she had already been working on her study cards and French writing piece that we were going to be assessed on. 
                          
"Am I late?" I whispered. 
                          
Emmy met my gaze and looked around. 
                          
"Read the room," she said. 
                          
I sighed, as I slumped down into the seat next to her and frantically got started on my French work. 
                          
"I can't believe I'm late," I said. 
                          
"Well, you're not exactly known for being early," she reminded me. 
                          
I sighed slightly defeated and decided to resume my French work. 
                          
In the half an hour of class that I had left, I managed to get quite a lot of it done. It could be considered a great success. 
                          
After the lesson reached its inevitable end, Emmy told me that she was going to go to gym class. 
                          
I let her know that I would see her later and made my way towards the cafeteria where I soon found Elijah sat eating some pasta. 
                          
It looked so good that I had to get myself some too, of course. 
                          
Once I was done with that, I walked over to take my seat beside Elijah. 
                          
"Hey Elijah," I greeted him, with a kind smile. 
                          
"Hi Elijah," Elijah replied absent-mindedly. 
                          
I looked towards him with a friendly expression. 
                          
"Did you not sleep very well?" I asked him. 
                          
"Man, I'm sorry Phoebe. I guess I didn't get very much sleep last night. I've been working on my..." he trailed off then. 
                          
"Working on your what?" I asked him. 
                          
Elijah gave me a sheepish smile then.
                          
"Alright, so that may have been a slight lie. I didn't actually work on anything. I was planning new characters for a game I'm designing," he informed me. 
                          
"Really? That's so cool!" I told him, as I smoothed some of my brown hair over my shoulder. 
                          
Elijah grinned back at me, seeming pleased that I thought so. 
                          
"It is pretty cool, right? It does make me feel fairly exhausted though in all honesty," Elijah admitted. 
                          
I felt my expression become more sympathetic at his words. I hadn't been sleeping that well either but it had been due to the Courtney and Emmy situations more than anything else. 
                          
I knew that I shouldn't have worried so much about it but I supposed that my mind was so sensitive to how the world was around me that I couldn't help but think about it. 
                          
As I thought on it, Courtney wandered over to take a seat beside us. 
                          
"Hey," she said in greeting, "I made you two some tips for the art assignment. You don't have to thank me and it doesn't mean we are friends. I can be nice sometimes, though," she said, as her eyes settled on me. 
                          
I felt a little nervous under her stare so I decided to return my attention to the bowl of pasta for a moment. 
                          
"Thank you," I said, after swallowing my bite. 
                          
Courtney's eyebrows creased together slightly. 
                          
"Like I said before, you don't have to thank me, Clarke," she replied. 
                          
I simply nodded understandingly at that. I couldn't say that I didn't feel like thanking her, though. I supposed it was simply something I always did because I tried to be a friendly person towards everyone. For most people, it wasn't exactly a challenge. However, whenever I was around Courtney I found things weren't exactly easy. 
                          
"I don't think that I was fair on you at first, Phoebe. You've been nice to me and I do appreciate that," she told me. 
                          
Could this be progress? 
                          
"You're welcome," I managed to say, before the bell rang out and indicated that it was time for the three of us to make our way to our next class.