Unstoppable (2 page)

Ryder and I were around each other
A LOT
growing up.  Our moms were as close as sisters and our dads were both members of Rail Rider’s Motorcycle Club.  From the ripe age of eight I remember Ryder telling me he was going to be just like his dad, Cade.  The McAllister’s were amazing people, but they never did have another kid after Ryder.  I’m guessing it was because he was such a handful.  I often joked with Ryder about it too, “Nope they knew perfection so they stopped.  You don’t have room to talk, you’re an only child too.  So what does that say about you?” He would tell me.  I would simply roll my eyes and walk away.  Arguing with Ryder was pointless…most of the time.

Ryder McAllister was my best childhood friend growing up, once we both hit the pre-teen stage though we didn’t get along.  “Hormones.” Is what my mom told me.  I wasn’t sure if she was referring to me or him, he annoyed me and he knew it.  I swear he thrived off of pissing me off. 

When we started junior high school is when Ryder started to change.  He, to me, was just the bratty boy that pestered me.  To the girls in our school though, he was “So dreamy…so sexy.”  And Ryder loved knowing that the girls were always talking about him and staring at him.  I wasn’t like all the other girls though, my main focus was school.  Some called me a nerd and some told me I was too obsessed with getting good grades.  I never took interest in cheerleading, no matter how much my mom and Sydney would try to get me involved.  It just wasn’t something I wanted to do.  Instead I set my goals on doing well in school.  I wanted to go to college to become a Special Education Teacher.  All because of one girl in our school, Star Frasier.  She was the only one in our school with Down syndrome.

Star was hands down the sweetest, happiest, most caring girl in our school.  Over the years she attached herself to me as her “BFF”, a title that I embraced happily.  With her vibrant red hair and her face dotted with freckles she reminded me of Little Debbie from the snack cake box. 

Our sixth grade year, our class was outside for P.E.  The boys were playing flag football and the girls were practicing their cheerleading routine and cheers.  More like some of them were blushing and pointing at Ryder and some of the other boys while the others practiced. 

“I wish I could be a cheerleader.”  Star said with a dreamy look in her eyes. 

“You can do whatever you want to do Star.” I looked up from my book and smiled at her. 

“No, they tell me I can’t.  So I just get to watch.  It’s okay though.” She shrugged.

“Who tells you that?” I asked.  Before she could answer me, one of the boys yelled for us to watch out.  Of course we both covered our heads and screamed waiting for the impact of either another kid or the football.  With a slight bump the football bounced off of my shin. 

“Sorry ‘bout that.” Ryder said with a chuckle. 

Star’s face turned bright red, “H...Hi Ryder.” She bent down and tried to hand him the football.

“Hi Star,” he smiled and winked at her causing her to blush even more, “Throw it to me when I yell for it okay?”

She nodded her head and smiled so big her eyes turned into little slits.  Ryder took off running but before Star even had a chance to throw the football to him, Tori one of our classmates, said the unthinkable.

“THROW THE BALL RETARD!” the other girls laughed and pointed at Star.  Ryder stopped running and started walking toward them.  I didn’t even give him a chance to say anything to her.

“What did you just say?” I pushed her. 

She rolled her eyes, “Well gah, is it that hard to throw the ball? I know she’s quote un quote
slow
, but jeez.”

Tori and I ended up in the principal’s office.  Her bottom lip was cut and bleeding while my knuckles throbbed. My parents showed up shortly after the principal called.  Her parents on the other hand, seemed to take forever.  When they finally did show up they looked down at me like I was the most evil child on the planet, then demanded that I be suspended for one week. 

“Well, aren’t you going to tell my daughter you’re sorry?” her mother seethed when the principal said I wasn’t going to get suspended.

“When she tells Star she’s sorry for calling her the R word I’ll apologize.”

Her mom gasped, “She would
never
say that!  You’re a liar
and
a bully!” She stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind her.

My parents decided to take me home for the rest of the day and Tori’s parents were going to take her to the doctor…for a split lip. Mom and Dad both told me that although Tori was in the wrong for saying that about Star, I really should have just asked her to apologize instead. 

After that day Tori hated me and her little group of friends looked down their noses at me.  Star and I remained friends and actually had a group of other peers we would hang out with.  Word spread around pretty quick that I wouldn’t let anybody say something so hurtful to Star, and for the most part everybody treated her like she was just like the rest of the students. 

By the time we were in high school everybody got along great, except for Tori and me.  She was too interested in Ryder.  At this point in time is when I actually didn’t care about what he was doing or who he was doing it with.  I’m not going to lie and say Ryder wasn’t cute because in all honesty, Ryder was the sexiest guy in our school.  His skin was tan year round; his dark hair always had the unruly bed head look to it.  Ryder’s eyes were almost hypnotizing, the color was such a light shade of blue they almost looked silver.  His lips were perfect, as the girls in our class would say, “Totally kissable.”
Insert
eye roll from me
. But when Ryder actually started dating Tori is when I really started to dislike him.  It didn’t bother him though, and that pissed me off even more. 

Our freshman and sophomore year Ryder and Tori dated.  Every single day when we would be changing for P.E. class I had to listen to her tell the other girls all about Ryder and her “Experimenting.”  When I heard her say she couldn’t wait to marry him I actually laughed at her. 

“Something funny?  No wait…you’re jealous aren’t you Harley.” She said with snicker.

“Nope not at all.” I replied then I walked out of the locker room.  Nothing about Tori made me jealous. 

He broke up with her that summer but the very next day was texting and planning to meet up with another girl from our school that was a year older.  It didn’t last long and needless to say those weren’t the only two girl’s hearts he broke through out high school. 

By the time our senior year started he was not only the star quarterback, drove a Harley Davidson and looked like a Calvin Klein model.  Ryder knew the girls wanted him and he turned into a player.  Family barbeques and parties at the clubhouse were never much fun because he would usually show up with a different girl to each one.  I could tell it made his parents mad but no matter what they said he wouldn’t stop. 

Then the unimaginable happened one weekend at a barbeque. 

“So this year is your last year you two, Theresa and I were talking about Prom.  We think it would be a great idea if you two went together.” His mom Sydney said to us. 

“NO!” I blurted out. 

My dad looked at me, “Come on baby girl he’s not that bad.”  I couldn’t understand why dad said that because he had told me to stay away from boys like Ryder.

I shook my head and was about to protest again when Ryder spoke, “Yeah Harley, I’m not that bad.” He winked at me. 

“I don’t want to go to prom with him.  Star and I have gone together every year since we started high school.  He can take somebody else.” I argued.

“I have no problem taking Star too.” Ryder argued back and leaned back in his chair. 

“Whatever.” I leaned back in my chair and stared at him. 

“See it’ll be fun and memorable for all.” My mom hugged me. 

Ryder smiled and winked at me again then started eating.  This was not going to be fun or memorable, I was going to be miserable but I knew Star would be over the top happy. 

“Ryder you can ask Star to the prom so she doesn’t think she’s tagging along.” I broke the silence.

He shrugged a shoulder, “I’ll ask her Monday at school.”

I narrowed my eyes at him this was not the Ryder that I was used to seeing at school or seeing at our regular family functions.  I made my mind up to corner him and ask him why he was being so nice, if he was planning on pranking me and Star I would punch him in the balls in front of everybody. 

When lunch was finally over and everybody was socializing I found Ryder in the garage working on his motorcycle.  “Why are you being so nice?” I hissed when I really wanted to scream it at him.

He didn’t turn and look at me, “Why can’t I be nice instead of us not getting along?” he grunted when the bolt he was working on finally broke loose. 

“Why-are-you-being-nice Ryder?  I swear if this is some kind of mean trick you will hate me and I will hate you for the rest of our lives!”

Ryder wiped his hands on a red shop rag then turned toward me and walked over to me.  I was leaning against the work bench, staring up at him.  He placed his hands on the work bench on each side of me blocking me in.  “Do you really hate me that much to think that I’ve been mean to you?”

I rolled my eyes, “Seriously?” I laughed.

“I fucking hate when you roll your eyes at me…what I hate even more is that we aren’t as close as we use to be.” He lowered his face closer to mine.

“Do not even try to kiss me Ryder I will knee you in the junk.” I gritted my teeth. 

He grinned, “I think you really want me to, don’t you Harley?” he was getting closer. 

“With the places I’ve heard your lips have been—I’ll pass.” I pushed at his chest and walked away from him.  His laugh reverberated off the walls around me.  So I flipped him off over my shoulder.

“Anytime Harley…anytime!”

Monday I glared at Ryder when he walked in to the school and strolled over to his locker.  He winked at me so I rolled my eyes and slammed my locker door. 

When first period was over, I was walking to my locker when I heard Star scream ‘YES!’ I knew that Ryder had just asked her to the Prom and that she would be hunting me down.  I was grabbing my books out of my locker when she come barreling through the students in the hallway yelling my name. 

“We are going to prom with RYDER!  He’s taking me for a ride on his scooter after school today too!” Star was so happy she had tears in her eyes. 

“You have fun, but be careful.” I smiled at her.

“Aren’t you excited—to be going to the prom with him?” Her smile fell. 

“Uhh…sure, we’ll have fun, the three of us.”

She nudged me with her shoulder, “Yes we will I’m going to be going with the prettiest girl and the prettiest boy!” Star always called Ryder a ‘Pretty Boy’.  Only she could get by with saying that about Ryder.

At the end of the day she was patiently waiting on the steps for Ryder.  He sauntered out of the school and held his arm out for Star to take.  She practically skipped as they walked over to his 2010 Harley Davidson Fat Boy.  I ran over to the bike before she could get on, I wanted to make sure her helmet was secure, when it was I turned to face Ryder.  I poked him in the chest, “You better drive like a man and not a lunatic.” I warned him through gritted teeth.  He grabbed my finger brought it up to his lips and kissed it.

“I’d never hurt her.” He smiled, I yanked my hand away and wiped it on my shorts.  He winked at me. 

“I hate when you wink at me…you look like you have some kind of twitch.” I turned to walk away but he grabbed my arm and spun me around. 

“You look like you’re having a fucking seizure when you roll your eyes at me so we’re even…drop it.” He kissed my cheek then walked away.  I stood there frozen in place, mouth hanging open.  Ryder got on his motorcycle then helped Star get on.  He eased out of the parking lot and they drove away.

“I don’t know why he’s being so nice to you.” I turned when Tori said that to me.

“Jealous?” I asked and started to walk away. 

“Hardly, I’ve been there and done that.  He knows what to do with the female body for sure but he’s so hung up on you it’s not even funny.  You’re so wrapped up in school you don’t even see it…what a shame.  You’re totally missing out.  Everybody else knows he’s probably just trying to get you under him and that’s why he’s being nice to you.” She shook her head then walked away.