Chapter thirty-one

Beep, beep, beep, beep!

The alarm clock went off as Ryder hit the button to shut the sound off. He let out a groaned and lazily sat up. He looked at the time and it was seven thirty. He still got an hour to get himself ready for school.

He took his phone from the bedside table and dialled Katie's number. After three rings, she finally answered. "Hello!" She chirped. Ryder never knew how the girl was always enthusiastic especially in the morning when she should be cranky like the rest of the population.

"I need you to do me a favour." He said as he entered his walk-in closet and find something to wear for the day.

"What is it?" She asked as he heard some shuffling over the phone.

"Steal the nerd for me, will ya? Bring her to the lot at exactly ten o'clock. Text me when you're coming."

"Of course, anything for you, lovebirds." She squealed and clapped her hands. There was a pause for a moment and Katie was contemplating whether he was going to talk or not. "Anything else?" She finally asked.

"Do you like Andrea? I mean, for me? Do you really think we would make a cute couple?" He asked and he mentally slapped himself for sounding like a freaking girl. He knew he was turning into a softie and it was all because of her.

"Of course I like her for you. You two are the most adorable couple ever. Even though I'm not really sure whether you're a couple or not."

"Yeah, I'm still working on it. Anyway, thanks, remember ten o'clock." He reminded.

"Got it, sir!" Katie said as they both hang up the phone. He let out a sigh and looked over at his already messy closet. Well, guess it was time to make it even messier because he had no idea what to wear to impress Andrea. Wow, talk about world one issues.

~ * ~ * ~

"Good morning, Steven." Andrea greeted as he opened the passenger door for her and she slid in gracefully.

"Good morning." She greeted back with a grin on his face. He made his way to the other side and put the key through the hole.

"Thanks again for giving me a ride." She said gratefully.

"Don't mention it. What are friends for, right?" He smiled then pulled out of the driveway. They drove to school talking about random subjects. It started with breakfast and ended up to why banana had such a weird name. They were both laughing when they got to school and pulled over the parking lot.

"I mean, why do they have to repeat the 'na' part?" He asked pulling the keys out of the keyhole.

"Because it would sound weirder if they only named it bana?" Andrea said as they looked at each other for five seconds, and next thing you know, fits of laughter exploded in the car.

"Yeah, maybe it does sound weirder that way." He chuckled as they got out of the car. He locked the door with his key and walked with Andrea to her locker.

When they got all their belongings from their lockers, they made their way to class and they both uttered 'See you soon,' as they departed to their classes.

The bell rang at exactly nine o'clock and Andrea was already sitting in the front of the class and reading her book. The teacher entered the class and they had the whole period discussing about lights and how they refract and reflect.

Andrea was almost falling asleep, she knew all the lessons already. It irritated her that her classmates wouldn't get how to determine whether it was refracting or reflecting. Gosh, how much she wanted to slam her head on the desk over and over again.

She stared at the clock and it was only 9:50. Great, thirty more minutes of this torture. Suddenly, a paper landed on her desk. She looked around only to find no one in particular acting suspicious and all. Her eyebrows quickly furrowed and she regarded the crumbled paper.

She began to open it and there was a note. It says,

Meet me at the foyer at exactly 9:55! Don't be late! This is really important!

- Katie

The note seemed strange but Andrea thought why not? At least she would get out of her boring class. She patiently waited for another three minutes. She already came up with the plan and she hope it will work.

She raised et hand and the teacher noticed her. "Yes, Ms. Carson?"

"Ms, Gomorra, I think I have the stomach flu. Do you mind if I go to the nurse's office?" She asked as she rubbed her stomach and scrunched up her face. Yup, acting was totally not her thing, but it seemed to have work because Ms. Gomorra was starting to write her a note.

"Alright, here. If you're not feeling well, you can call in sick and go home." She said as Andrea nodded and took the note acting all innocent.

"Thank you." She muttered as she gathered her stuff and exit the class. She let out a sigh of relief when she was out in the lull hallway. She quickly made her way to foyer, hoping that no teacher would catch her.

When she arrived at the foyer, Katie was standing near the door and she was texting. Katie noticed that there was another presence around and she found Andrea panting.

"What happened to you?" She asked in concern.

"I...ran...so the...teachers...wouldn't see me." She answered in between breaths. She was holding onto her knees for support and took deep large breaths.

"You do know that most of the teachers have classes to teach and the rest are in the teachers' lounge, right? It's Monday, they always have some sort of party in the teachers' lounge." Katie stated.

"Well, thanks for informing me!" Andrea sarcastically said, still trying to catch her breath. Katie rolled her eyes and regarded as she panted like a dog. "Why did you want to meet with me anyway?"

"Oh yeah, c'mon!" Katie urged as she looped her arm around Andrea's and dragged her outside.

"Katie, please don't tell me we're ditching. Don't tell me I skip science for this." She whined.

"Oh please, you should thank me I got you out of that class. I mean, Ms. Gomorra is pretty and all, but teaching is just not her thing. She should have stick to modelling instead." Katie said with all honestly. Andrea shot her a look causing Katie to roll her eyes.

"Don't give me that look. I judge people, big deal! It's in my genes." She proudly said as she continued to drag Andrea at the parking lot on the back. She quickly saw his car and literally dragged Andrea and pushed her towards the car.

Andrea was curious at first, she didn't know why she was there but when she regarded the hood of the car, she knew exactly who it belongs to.

"Here we are, right on time." Katie said the obvious as Ryder rolled down his widow. "I believe this belongs to me." She said taking the small piece of paper, that contained Zac Efron's number, out of his grasp. "Have fun on your date." She waved goodbye as Andrea gaped at her.

"Get in, slave!" Ryder ordered playfully. Andrea glared at him for calling her slave and rolled her eyes.

"I'm going back to class." She muttered turning back to the building, but before she could get far, a strong arm wrapped around her waist from behind. She started screaming and squirming but Ryder just covered her mouth with his hand.

He threw her inside the car and fastened her seat belt. She tried getting out when Ryder shut the door to go to the driver's side, but unfortunately, the door was lock. She continued to push open the handle, but ended up defeated.

Ryder got in and inserted his key to ignition. "I hate you." Andrea uttered silently as she placed her arms across her chest an pout.

"Don't pout, or I will not hesitate to kiss you." Ryder warned shooting her a smirk.

Andrea ignored him and continue to pout no matter how childish she was being. But she knew he wouldn't be able to just go ahead and kiss her.

Unfortunately for her, Ryder wasn't thinking the same thing. Her continually pouting gave him the idea that she was okay with him kissing her. So, he quickly pecked her lips, astonishing her.

"Ryder!" She chirped hitting him playfully on the arm.

"Put on your seatbelt and stop pouting." He ordered as he started the car and drove away. Andrea quickly slipped the seatbelt on and glared at him.

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to fasten your seatbelt once I'm a while. Actually it wouldn't kill you at all. In fact, it would keep you safe." She stated.

"Stop talking or I will pull over to kiss you just to shut you up." He threatened giving her sideway glances.

Andrea glared at him an rolled her eyes. She simply ignored him and looked out on the window. "Where are we going?" She asked thoughtfully.

"You'll see." He said as he sped up. They were driving for about ten minutes and they would constantly chat about random topics. When Andrea noticed that the surroundings were becoming more deserted, she grew a little panic.

"Ryder, are you sure we're going the right way?" She asked with concern lacing through her voice. She felt something different. Something that made her frantic and anxious.

"Relax, I'm sure we're going the right way. Just take a nap, maybe that'll help to calm you down. Don't worry, Andrea, I wouldn't do anything that would make you hate me." He assured her giving her thigh a reassuring squeeze.

She forced a smile and laid her head on the headrest. She really had a bad feeling about something but she couldn't really point out what it was. She looked at the side mirror and did a double take. She saw two black cars that were tinted everywhere.

"Ryder..." She said in a breathless force. Ryder quickly glanced at her in concern. She sounded frightened and he was wondering why. "Ryder, those two cars..."

It was the last thing Andrea had said before black spots invaded her vision.

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A/N: I thought it was time for a little action. Please don't kill me but I'm leaving you with this cliffhanger! LOL!

Anyhow, have a nice day! I'm off to write my exam!