Chapter 10

Zach’s POV

This can not be a good look for either of us. 

Pair after pair of eyes turn to us, each one widening with the same mix of surprise and utter confusion as they part way for the both of us to pass.

Ryder’s thick fingers are lodged around my wrist like that's what they were made for, his grip incredibly strong as he paved the way ahead for us. In retrospect this is totally my fault.

I shouldn’t have dared him to drag me out of the cafeteria after he had asked not so nicely.

“Jesus Christ, Ryder. You’ve proven your point already, now let me go!”

Suddenly he’d turned deaf as he continued dragging me across the hallway like a ragdoll. “You know how seriously Saks takes tardiness, I’m not going to fail his class because of you.”

“What does your failing his class have to do with me?” I fume, struggling to keep up with his brisk steps.

“In case you got your memory wiped halfway through laughing at that guy’s dry jokes, we’ve got a team project that’s highly dependent on us attending all his classes this semester.”

He stopped just in front of the door and I paused to breathe.

Finally.

“That doesn’t make us some sort of symbiote. If you want to be early to class you don’t need to literally drag me along.”

He paused. 

“You’re right.”

“The hell I am. Now are you going to tell me what that was about?”

His face showed oblivion but the slight second where his jaw clenched told me he knew exactly what I was talking about. “What do you-”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You intruded on my conversation with a friend, and went ahead to insult him after he asked you to excuse us. What the hell?”

“A friend? You honestly believe Damien is your friend?” he asked incredulously.

I reeled. “You guys know each other?”

That would certainly be a red flag.

But he didn’t answer, instead he averted his gaze. “You were gonna be late for class, and I helped avoid that. Consider it a favor, and say thank you.”

My face immediately went bright red with fury. “Thank-”

“You do understand that standing in front of the door does not constitute being in class right?” The sound of Professor Sak’s voice shut me right up and I turned to find him standing right behind me, lecture note tucked between his armpit.

“Now I'm going to do you both a favour, and let you walk in before I do.”

Without even as much as looking at Ryder, I scuffled into class, his footsteps following right behind me.

The moment we walked in, everyone turned to look at us, giving weird stares and passing silenced hushes among each other.

Convincing myself that it had little to do with me, I made a beeline to my seat and slammed my book on the desk. 

Ryder sank in easily next to me, barely noticing the swarm of eyes following the both of us.

Then again, he was probably used to this level of attention by now.

“What are you doing?” I groaned, struggling to keep my voice low. He turned to me like I'd asked him a ridiculous question.

“Um… learning?” he shrugged. 

“Do you have to do that breathing over my neck?”

He scoffed. “Don’t flatter yourself, Princess. There were no other available seats.”

I was just about to let it go when I turned to see two empty seats right in front of us. I turned to him with a deadpan look.

“Seriously?”

“Didn’t see it.”

“God, you’re a headache.”

“Ahem! Can I have the attention of the couple in the back please?”

It wasn’t meant to be funny, none of Professor Saks' jokes were ever funny, yet for some reason this particular one drew a round of snickers and mutterings that made me just want to crawl into a hole and die.

“Jameson!” Gigi’s voice tore across the hall immediately I stepped out of class and I turned to see her storming towards me. Just then, Ryder appeared behind me like a bodyguard and her face became even redder.

“Is there something going on that you two might want to tell me about?” she barked immediately she got to me.

I blinked, completely oblivious to where this was coming from. 

“No, I don't think so.”

“Oh great, would you mind explaining to me why there’s now a sub group chat dedicated to shipping the both of you?” she yelled, shoving her phone in my face. 

Her words rang in my head like vertigo and I yanked the phone from her grip, feeling Ryder’s breathing on my cheek as he peered in next to me.

Sure enough there was a group with the title ZA-RY and a sickening variation of heart emoji’s. In it were just pictures of the both of us together, at the cafeteria, while he dragged me across the hall, and while we’re still trying to take it all in, a more recent photo popped up.

Once again, it was us, heads locked and peering into Gigi’s phone with the caption: they even watch tiktoks together, so cuuutee!!

 

Both our heads shot up together but there were too many people staring our way that it was pointless figuring out who it was. 

“This is messy, Gigi.”

“I don’t know, it is kinda cute.”

I shot Ryder a glare and he instantly raised his hands in defeat. 

Gigi grabbed her phone back. “If you say nothing’s going on, then I'm going to believe you. But you need to stop spending so much time with him or this is going to turn into a whole thing.”

“Wait wait, why are you making it sound like that’s such a horrible thing?” Ryder asked, feigning hurt.

I turned to him with a plastic smile. “To put it nicely, we don’t like you.”

He placed his hand on his chest. “I find that very hard to believe.”

“Oh get over yourself,” I said, turning back to Gigi. “I’ll take care of this. I promise.”

Just then, Brittany’s voice tore across the hall from behind us.

“Zachary Jameson!”

The three of us turned to find her fuming at the end of the corridor, flanked by her puppets. 

“Oh God, kill me now.”