What was the situation like for Ryan at school now? Was he still receiving those awkward stares, hurtful remarks, and so on?
Yes, he was still receiving them from time to time, but they weren’t as strong as they used to be before.
You know, it got to a point where on some days, the hurtful remarks, awkward stares, mocking, and so on would be so brutal. And on some days, they wouldn’t be that brutal.
Well, that wasn’t the case anymore, they weren’t brutal at all anymore. But those things were still being done to him, they wouldn’t stop that easily when they’re coming from teenagers.
If at all they were to stop completely, it would take a long time. Now, does Ryan still find himself getting hurt by those things? Not anymore, only in some situations.
What kind of situations? When some people persist to keep doing those things to him for a whole day. For example, a group of girls making sure to be staring at him awkwardly the moment he arrives at school.
That same group of girls staring at him weirdly when he’s heading toward the cafeteria. That same group of girls staring at him when he’s heading home during closing hour.
It’s just like dedicating a whole day at school to doing some unpleasant things to a particular person…
Yes, that was the one that do get to Ryan, they annoy him to the very brim and even hurt him a little.
The teachers that were supposed to enter their classroom to teach them before closing hour did so. All of them had entered, taught them, and left…and right now, it had gotten to closing hour.
Students were already standing up from their seats and leaving the classroom. And this was the same thing taking place in other classrooms.
Dylan didn’t waste time standing up from his seat, wearing his bag, and walking toward Ryan before saying to him,
“So let’s head straight to my house”.
..There was a little smile on his face making that statement, he was elated that Ryan would be visiting his home today.
“I’m sorry Dylan, but I wouldn’t be able to visit your home anymore today”. Ryan stated glancing directly into Dylan’s eyes.
A disappointed expression appeared on Dylan’s face immediately the moment Ryan made that statement, then his voice resounded,
“Why?”.
His voice wasn’t even audible due to the disappointment.
“I just remembered that there’s something I need to engage in once I reach home. And I need to reach home on time so I’d be able to finish handling the thing on time”. Ryan responded.
“But you told me some hours ago that you’re completely free today, and you’d love to make use of this chance to visit my home. Why the sudden change of talk?”. Dylan’s voice resounded again with that disappointed expression still plastered on his face.
“I’m sorry, I forgot. Just remembered during the time I was sitting in my seat and teachers were trooping in and out of our classroom”.
With that disappointed expression still plastered on his face, Dylan bent his head a little while shaking it. Now, during the time he was shaking it, a smile was already appearing on Ryan’s face until it finished appearing on it.
The moment Dylan raised his head and wanted to say something to Ryan, he noticed the smile on his face, and he was like,
“Why are you smiling?”.
“I told you that I wouldn’t be able to visit your home today, well, I was kidding. I’m completely free today just as I said, I have nothing to engage in once I reach home”. Ryan responded with a little smile still plastered on his face.
“Are you serious?”. Dylan uttered with a bit of widened eyes.
“I’m very serious, I was only pulling your legs”.
Dylan had to laugh for some seconds before focusing his gaze back on Ryan and saying to him,
“You caught me there, I completely believed you”.
Ryan laughed for some seconds as well before saying, “I just wanted to pull your legs a little, sorry for the disappointment”.
“It’s nothing”. Dylan stated, then his voice resounded again, “Let’s begin heading toward my home then”.
And with that, the both of them walked out of the classroom. They’d already arrived at the school compound by now as they were walking out of it along with other students.
They’d finished walking out of the school compound by now and were walking on the road. During the time they were walking on the road, Ryan uttered to Dylan,
“So, what should I be expecting once I reach your home? Would I be welcomed by your parents and siblings?”.
Dylan chuckled a little before saying, “You’d be welcomed by them definitely. There’s no way they wouldn’t welcome you and treat you well knowing you’re my friend,
But there’s something I need to clear you on. My parents are very busy people, so we’d most likely not meet them at home. Especially my dad, there’s no way we’d meet him at home,
But there’s a possibility of meeting my mum at home, a very slight one ’cause she’s a busy woman as well. The only reason why we’d meet her at home by this time is maybe because she came to eat or something, not because she was done with her business for the day”.
Ryan nodded his head in understanding, then his voice resounded again,
“There’s something I want to know about you which I should have known a long time ago”.
“What is that?”. Dylan uttered with a bit of inquisitive facial expression.
“How many siblings do you have?”. Ryan inquired.
“I have only one sibling, and that’s my younger sister”. Dylan responded.
Him saying that made Ryan remember his younger sister, which was, Lucy…
“That means it’s only two kids your parents gave birth to”.
“Yes, my younger sister and I”.
Ryan nodded his head a little the moment Dylan said that, then Dylan’s voice resounded again,
“So that is the only thing you wanted to know about me, right?”.
“Yes, it is”. Ryan answered.
There was silence for some seconds after Ryan’s response, then Ryan’s voice resounded again,
“What is your sister like? Troublesome, or gentle? Would she welcome me once we arrive at your home?”.
“Of course, she would. My sister is a gentle soul, trust me”. Dylan responded.
Ryan only nodded his head a little to Dylan’s response, then his voice resounded again,
“Would we meet her at home?”.
“Most likely, she does arrive home from school before me most of the time”.
Ryan didn’t say anything else, he and Dylan just kept walking in silence. They’d reached the intersection Dylan corner whenever the both of them were heading home together.
Now, it wasn’t a situation of Dylan cornering the intersection alone, he cornered it along with Ryan. For the first time, Ryan got to corner this intersection with Dylan.
It had always been a situation of him just taking a look at the intersection and walking past, but he got to corner it today…something new.
Ryan and Dylan kept journeying toward Dylan’s home as they were walking past people and people were walking past them as well…
“We are getting close”. Dylan said to Ryan after minutes of journeying.
Now, there was a certain time when Ryan noticed something, he noticed people staring at him. These were people who recognized him as Ryan Howell, one of Warren’s sons.
Ryan noticed them but tried not to be glancing at them, he just kept on walking alongside Dylan heading toward his home.
These kinds of stares do make him feel insecure sometimes, who knows? Someone among those people staring at him or a group of people might be planning something vile against him.
They might choose to kidnap him since he was from a wealthy family and collect a huge amount of money from his parents for his release. Or who knows? They might even kill him after collecting the ransom payment.
These thoughts were always running through Ryan’s mind sometimes whenever people were staring at him.
Well, as said, he didn’t mind the people staring at him, he just kept on walking alongside Dylan. Even Dylan didn’t notice that people began staring at Ryan at some point.
They kept on journeying until they finally arrived at Dylan’s home. A kind of amused expression appeared on Ryan’s face the moment he set eyes on Dylan’s house. He liked the way the building looked.
It wasn’t that big, but it was looking so okay. The painting of the building was so nice, it helped in beautifying the house though it wasn’t that big. Apart from that, the mini-sized compound was looking so okay.
There were some flowers here and there around the compound which helped in beautifying it and beautifying the house as a whole. Ryan couldn’t help but glance at Dylan and say to him,
“Damn! This is a nice house”.
A little smile appeared on Dylan’s face at that moment before saying to Ryan,
“Thanks”.