The Square Root

I walked into Physics, still half asleep and forgot that Ryan was in my class. I sat down on my seat and started to fall asleep, when I felt somebody sit next to me, and I immediately stiffened - realizing whom it was. I felt something being placed next to me, and I looked up to look at whatever it was. I saw the familiar charm bracelet - that I took off weeks ago when we got in that fight about that fake date I had - next to a red carnation. I looked up at Ryan, and he just gave me a soft smile before turning his attention to the teacher.

I took the bracelet, and saw that there was a small note attached to the Daisy. It read ‘I’m sorry :( I miss you :[’. I sighed and put the bracelet back on, and saw the corners of Ryan’s lips quirk up in a smile when I did.

“Okay, use the rest of class to discuss your project. Remember, it’s due next week,” our teacher said and gave off a dismissive wave.

“So….,” Ryan started.

“So…,” I said dumbly.

“How have you been?” he asked.

“Are you fucking serious?” I looked at him. He just shrugged. I raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “That was lame,” I told him and he laughed. “So, project. I finished it,” I told him. His eyes widened.

“Like even research?”

“Yeah, and the paper that’s due. I have it on my laptop. I sent it to your email too,” I shrugged.

“I feel bad,” he frowned. “I didn’t do anything,” he pouted. I just shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter, at least its out of the way,”

“Let me pay you back,” he pouted. “I really feel bad.”

“Let me think about it,” I tapped my chin in thought. “Nope,” I concluded and took out my notes.

“Pay you back by dinner tonight,” he offered.

“What’s that? An excuse to get me on a date?” I scoffed.

“Maybe,” he winked.

“Well then, no,” I said and started taking random notes of who knows what.

“What?! You turn me down like that?” he grunted when the bell rang and we both stood up from our seats.

“Yup,” I said popping the P, and walked out of the classroom with Ryan on my tail.

“Way to hurt me ego,” he mumbled.

“That was the plan,” I shrugged.

“You know, you should take up this offer, its not like you have anyone else to take anyways,” he glared at me.

“Really? Because if I recall, I had a date just recently,” I shrugged monotonously.

He just shrugged at me. “That was a one time thing,” he said, still going through his phone.

“Well then, I’ll just go ask somebody and get a lunch date,” I shrugged.

“You can't do that,” he said challengingly.

“Watch me,” I glared. “Hey Kyle!” I called out in the hall. He turned around, looking for whoever was calling for his attention. “Would you-” Ryan put a hand over my mouth.

“Would you please tell everyone Hazelyn would be a little bit late?!” Ryan called out. Kyle raised his eyebrow at us and waved, walking towards the café. “You can't do that!” Ryan glared.

“Why not?” I pouted.

“Because!” he crossed his arms.

“Because what?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Because that doesn’t count! You used to date him.”

“You didn’t say there were any rules,” I crossed my arms.

“Whatever,” he mumbled. His phone rang, which he quickly grabbed, looking at it for a moment then looked back up at me. “Well I gotta go, Samantha wants to meet up,” he said. “I’ll see you later,” he said giving me a quick hug and was about to kiss my cheek, but I stepped back- avoiding him. His eyebrows furrowed before jogging out of the building. I sighed and started walking to the cafeteria where everyone was sitting at the usual spot.

I sat down next to Stephanie, and saw all three guys eyeing me. “Sorry about last night guys,” I mumbled and slumped on my chair.

“Aren't you eating?” Heath asked me.

“No,” I mumbled. “Don’t feel like it.”

“Are you okay?” Daniel asked.

“Yeah, fine.”

“You sure?” Kyle asked.

“Leave me alone,” I grumbled and buried my face in my hands.

“Where’s Ryan?” Stephanie asked.

“I don’t know, I’m not his stalker.”

“Okay, explain why you ran off last night,” Heath said.

“Busy,” I said.

“At 10 P.M? Don’t think so,” Daniel interjected.

“Do I really have to explain all this?!” I asked them

Both guys nodded, since they didn’t know what was going on. “Well, I like Stephanie’s brother,” I shrugged.

“You like who?” I heard a voice behind me.

I froze, and snapped towards the voice. “I like Uhh… Jason,” I told him. His face looked astonished, then composed himself. “He and uhm I had dinner that one time and yeah.”

“Oh, okay,” he said uneasily. “Oh uhm, Dan, can I get my stuff from your locker?” he asked. “I forgot.”

“Yeah, go ahead, you know my combination,” Daniel told him. He nodded and walked away. I let out a sigh of relief.

“That was close,” I mumbled.

“Wait, so who do you like?” Heath asked confused.

“Ryan, dumbass!” Stephanie rolled her eyes.

Daniel’s and Heath’s eyes almost bugged out of their eyes, and they looked at each other, before saying “YOU DO?!” at the same time.

“Its quite obvious,” I mumbled.

They looked at each other and gave each other an ‘Oh Shit!’ look. I gave myself one too because I’m sure Ryan would ask Jason, and Jason would be fucking clueless.



I called Jason after lunch and explained quickly what was going on, which added another person to the list of the people about my hopeless crush on Ryan. He told me he’d get his balls cut off by both my brother and his brother, but I told him that I can make sure he was safe with Tristan, but I couldn’t assure him about his own brother.

PA wasn't all that weird. Ryan and I sat on opposite sides of the room. I’d glance at him once in awhile, and he looked perfectly Godly. I wanted to punch myself for saying that. His eyes were green from a distance, his jaw set, I could see his biceps through his fit shirt, flexing and unflexing. The way he sat was just so manly and graceful. His hair was in perfect place, the light just shined enough on him, his skin was flawless. He was perfect.

I was looking at Ryan for so long, the bell rang and I jumped out of my seat, making Cameron - who was sitting a few seats away from me- laugh at my clumsiness. I smacked him playfully and chuckling softly. “Has your mom ever told you its rude to stare at people,” he gave me a knowing look, and went to join his band mates.

Great. Another person to know about my obsession about Dolciani. “Secret’s safe with me,” he called out before leaving the auditorium. I rolled my eyes at him, and left the school too.

“Hey,” Ryan said smiling at me.

“Hey,” I replied and we both walked out to the auditorium.

“How was your day?” he asked me.

“You really need to stop asking pointless questions.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “Maybe you need to make a little more effort in talking to me,” he smirked.

I rolled my eyes at him and got in my car. “You piss me off,” I grumbled to myself and started my engine. He knocked on my window, so I rolled it down.

“What? I don’t get a kiss goodbye?” he smirked.

“Nope,” I said popping the P and driving out of the parking lot.



Wednesday, I was surprised to see that there were no flowers whatsoever. I was kind of hoping for it, hoping that it would give me a clue to who it was - but at the same time, I was relieved. For the past few weeks, there have been different colored roses and I recently found out that the little notes had the meaning of the flower. Flower language.

I drove to school, and the guys were huddled together in front of Ryan’s and my locker. “Morning dorks,” I greeted pushing Ryan out of the way.

“Morning to you too,” he said giving me my hug and kiss on the cheek.

“So adorable!” Daniel cooed in a girly way.

“So sweet!” Heath said in the same way with the girly hand motions. I shook my head at their craziness and opened my locker, and the first thing I saw was the single Gardenia. It had the note still on it.



“Who’s your secret admirer?” Ryan asked raising an eyebrow at me.

“Don’t know,” I mumbled and shoved it back in my locker, then retrieved the things I needed.

“Ooh, Hazelyn has a special guy,” Heath cooed.

“Awww! Little girl is growing up!” Daniel cooed pinching my cheeks.

“Shut up,” I said slapping away his hands. “Plus, I don’t really know who it is,” I shrugged. “It would ruin the purpose of being a secret admirer, wouldn’t it?” I laughed.

They laughed with me. “So, what are you guys doing over spring break?” Heath asked.

“I'm going out of town.” I told them.

“Same,” Ryan added.

“I bet you guys are going together,” Kyle scoffed with a smile. I playfully smacked him behind the head. He just hugged me. “You’re so cute when you’re mad!”

“I’m about to get pretty damn adorable,” I mumbled and everyone laughed. Ryan looked clueless. It was adorable how his head was tilted a little bit to the side and his eyes were dark blue, clearly confused. Kyle nudged me, making me snap out of my daze.

“Well, we’re going to go,” Kyle said pulling the guys with him. “We’ll see you at lunch!” he waved.

“Bye!” Daniel and Heath grinned widely at me.

“Is uhh… the Paris trip still on?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah, but Tristan said we were going to Florence and London first,” I told him.

“Oh… Okay,” he paused. “So, I uhh.. should I walk you to class?”

“Nah. I can deal,” I said and started walking off. He grabbed my arm.

“Wait!” he said. I raised an eyebrow at him. “My hug,” he pouted. I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his waist, while he put his arms around me. “Okay, see you later,” he said and leaned down to kiss my cheek and walked off towards his class.



The week went fairly well, though Ryan was still meeting up with Samantha during lunch and I missed having him around, making us laugh so hard we spit our food out or we spray our drinks. Oh hell, it sometimes make the food come out of our noses!

Friday after school, Trisha came up to me again. And again, it was with her clique. “So, I heard that Ryan has a mystery girl he’s with,” she said crossing her arms.

“Yup,” I said and tried to walk past her. She grabbed my arm.

“What did I tell you about that!?” she shrieked in my ear.

“You mean, what did you shout to me about that?” I glared.

She glared back. “Bitch please, stop with your mind games. Break up with him,” she snapped at me.

“No,” I told her.

“Now.”

“No.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because we’re not even fucking together!” I shouted at her.

“Damn lies,” she slapped me, making me touch the spot on my cheek that stung so badly. “I’m telling him,” she glared at me and walked away.

My cheek was surely going to bruise tomorrow. I sighed and walked towards my car. Damn it. I needed to go get foundation and concealer for this. I drove to the mall, to go to MAC and do something about my face.

That same night, I invited everyone to my house.

We were again in the living room just hanging out, talking and whatnot when the door opened, making us all jump. I saw Ryan and my heart sank. He looked pissed off. I gave him a fake smile, and he raised an eyebrow at me, which made me half smile, since I guessed he must know. He closed the door behind him, and sat next to me. That gave me a bit of hope that maybe his “girl” wasn't here.

“Where’s your girlfriend?” Daniel asked, clearly more interested in the popcorn he was insisting looked like George Washington, than in the answer of the question he just asked.

“In the car, making a phone call,” he said. My heard sank. I looked back at the TV. “Hey, thanks for the invite,” he smiled.

“Not like I can not invite you, you basically live here,” I mumbled.

“What?” Stephanie asked. “Is this where you run off to in the middle of the night?” she laughed.

“What do you guys do here at night, huh?” Kyle joked.

“That stays between Hazelyn and I,” Ryan winked, putting his arms around my shoulders. I started laughing hysterically and so did everyone.

“What stays between Hazelyn and you?” Sam asked walking in.

“What they do here when they’re alone,” Daniel smirked.

Samantha just pouted at Ryan, and sat next to him. “Sam, I didn’t get to properly introduce you to my bestfriend Hazelyn,” he said to her, an arm still around me.

“Hi, Samantha,” she said extending her arm towards me, over Ryan. I shook it and smiled at her. “You have really pretty eyes,” she complimented.

I chuckled. “Thanks,” I grinned. She wasn’t a bitch. I guess I can live with her around.

The night went by, we still watched our movies then Tristan and Jason came, since of course - Stephanie’s boyfriend would not miss things like this. “So, when are you leaving Lyn?” Daniel asked.

I looked at Tristan, who mouthed ‘Monday’

“Monday,” I said.

“Oh, so we can still hangout tomorrow then?” Heath asked. “Everyone up for it?”

“I can't. Samantha and I have somewhere to go,” Ryan mumbled.

“Me neither. I have to spend time with my brothers,” I said eyeing Tristan and Stephanie who were both smiling knowingly.

“What about you Stephanie?” Daniel asked.

“Spending time with,” she said nodding over to Tristan. “And his siblings,” she grinned sheepishly.

Kyle scoffed. I nudged him. “I’m free tomorrow,” he said.

“I guess its all us guys then,” Heath smiled evilly.

“Oh hells yeah,” Daniel cheered.

“We’ll get some of them bitches,” Kyle joked. I smacked the back of his head. “I guess not,” he mumbled.