Blue Sky and Other Things That Are Good For You

A door closed and I just assumed it was my parents either coming or going. “what the hell is Blue Sky doing here?!?!” that voice defiantly didn’t belong to my mom. Ryan jumped up, practically tossing me onto the ground. My head hit the edge of the table. He stood there looking at his now pissed girlfriend.

“Ow.” I say, holding my head.

Ryan notices me then and looks down. “oh shit, I’m sorry I’ll-“ Amanda interrupts him.

“Look at me Ryan,” he looks back up at Amanda, “that doesn’t matter right now. What was that doing here though?”

“OW!” I say louder. It was like a fight to get his attention, but unlike hers, mine was actually an emergency. He looked back down at me with worried eyes and then up at his girlfriend. Stuck between two people. Problem is that he shouldn’t be. She should be there helping me too.

“right. Um, we’ll talk about this later Amanda.” He says and then turns to me, “don’t move, I’m going to go get some ice. When I say don’t move, I mean really don’t move.” I nod a little. He left the room and I was scared that Amanda would do something to me then. She just walks over so that she is in view.

“don’t you ever touch my boyfriend again. He just feels sorry for you, that’s the only reason he’s doing any of this.”

“I-“ I start but my head started banging when I tried to talk.

“speechless? You should’ve known you’d get in trouble for this Blue.” She snaps and then leaves the house. Purposefully slamming the door behind her, I flinch at the sound. My eyes slowly start to close right before I was being shaken. “Don’t you dare close those eyes Sky.” I blink them open. He gives me a weak smile and holds ice to my head. “okay, I’m going to pick you up and move you onto the sofa. It may hurt for a second, just, don’t close your eyes.” I slowly nod and he swiftly picks me up. I never really noticed how strong he was until now. Ryan carefully lied me down on the sofa. He rearranges the pillows so that the ice stayed on my head itself.

“let’s just start with simple things. When’s your birthday?”

November 7th I think, “November 7th.” I say out loud.

“how old will you be?”

“sixteen.”

“last name?”

“Reynolds.”

“school?”

“Ridgefield.”

“well, you seem fairly fine. Are you dizzy?”

“kind of. Not seeing stars anymore.”

“that’s a good sign. Does anything other than your head hurt?”

I nod, “my left arm, I think I twisted my wrist when I landed on it. And it slightly hurts to talk.”

“the talking will be fine in a few hours. The wrist though, I’ll wrap it.” I then realize there was a box of medical supplies on the floor next to us. He takes out some of that white wrapping stuff and starts wrapping my left wrist. “I really am sorry Sky.”

I shrug it off, “it doesn’t matter.”

“is that like your motto? It does matter. You twisted your wrist and got a concussion. How does that not matter?”

“I’m not in the hospital or dead. So it doesn’t matter.” I explain.

Ryan sighs, “plus Amanda hates you now.”

“Amanda hated me long before this Ryan.” I start to laugh but then find out that it hurts too much. “no offense, but why do you date her?”

“she always acts her worst around other people, especially female. When it’s just the two of us she’s really sweet.”

“of course she is. I need to get Suzy back.”

He grabs the keys that were sticking out a little from my front pocket and dangles them from his finger, “I’ll drive then. You’re in no condition to be driving.”

“but-“ he puts his finger to my lips to shut me up.

“nope. I’m driving or you’re stuck here.”

I roll my eyes and use my good arm to move his fingers off of me. “how will you get home then?”

“I have to stop by Amanda’s house anyways, to make sure she won’t break up with me.”

I laid there for a second, thinking about the words he just said. That’s not how it’s supposed to work, but I don’t feel like fighting about it at the moment.

“fine. Go get Suzy.” He leaves the room and I sit up, a rush of pain going over my body. I slowly stand up and lose my balance. Great, just great.

I grab the arm of the couch to steady myself as I pulled myself up to stand up. I heard the front door open and then Ryan appeared in the doorway again. “ready?” he asks. I nod and slowly make my way to the car. After getting into the passenger seat I remember that I would have to walk up the stairs to get to my apartment. That won’t be so fun.

We drop Suzy off and Alisa seemed to really like Ryan. She had heard of him, the whole town has heard about him, so I guess meeting him was great.

I give him directions to my apartment building and he parks in my usual spot. Before I could even unbuckle, Ryan got out and came over to open my door. “do you need help up the stairs?” he asks.

“I’ll be fine.” not believing me he follows me. Stan was sitting on the sidewalk

“well morning Stan, you’re out here late.” I comment and stop to talk to him.

Stan folds his paper. “wasn’t the same without you coming out to say ‘morning. Had to wait for that.” I smile and continue my way into the apartment with Ryan close behind.

I take the first step and pain shoots through my body. Pausing, I grab the banister and take the next step. I lived on the top floor, 6 levels up.

“it’s going to be midnight by the time you get up there. Will you let me help you?”

I glance back at Ryan who was standing there with his arms crossed.

“and what do you mean by help?”

Ryan thinks about it, “well carrying would be the quickest.” I look up all the flights of stairs and then to my overly-tight grip on the faded brown banister. Finally, my eyes meet Ryans again.

“fine.” He picks me up and walks up the stairs fast. Well, he takes big strides with his long legs. I on the other hand couldn’t walk that fast even if I wasn’t hurt. We were turning the last corner when my head hit the round thing at the top.

Ryan freezes and my hand instantly goes to my head. “What the hell Ryan?!” ow, screaming hurts it more.

“sorry. Really, really sorry.” He continues the last flight of stairs and gets to my door. Setting me down I lean against the door and unlock it. The door opens and a fresh sent of vanilla comes out of it. “it smells like you.” Ryan comments. Okay, that’s a weird thing to say.

“actually I smell like it, but whatever.”

“either way you smell good.” I roll my eyes at his comment and walk in, Ryan coming in after. Great, just what I need. I knew my parents weren’t home because the t.v. wasn’t on. Ryan scans the rooms and looks slightly surprised. “this apartment looks so cool!”

I laugh, “I guess.”

“seriously. It’s like a mix of vintage and modern, and looks awesome.” I don’t say anything and grab some advil from the cupboard. “you always make it seem like you don’t have much money.”

Last thing I wanted to talk to Ryan Richards about was money. “I don’t. that’s why I work full time Ryan. I probably spent $500 dollars on decorating this whole place.”

“really? That’s quite a talent.”

I shrug, and swallow the pills with some water, “craigslist and garage sales. Nothing amazing. You just have to know how to negotiate.”

Ryan nods. “I’ve got to go.”

“right. Getting your girlfriend back.”

“something like that. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“please don’t.”

I hear Ryan sigh, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“you too.”

I closed the door behind him and then leaned against the counter. What exactly happened last night? All I remember is closing my eyes and then waking up by being tossed off of someone. Whose fault was it exactly? I mean, we were both tired, I didn’t know if he was asleep when I fell asleep. He did, though, bring out the blanket, but again I was the one that moved closer. Ugh, I just hope Amanda doesn’t spread any rumors tomorrow, although I doubt she wouldn’t.

My parents come home mid afternoon and go straight to their room. I didn’t need to know what was going on in there. I just needed to finish this stupid essay. At eleven I finally finish it, print out a copy, and go to bed. Dreading the day to follow.

I walk into the school and felt a couple pairs of eyes on me as I walked down the hall. I went to my locker to grab my books and it was covered with post-it notes. Each having a different word on them. Slut. Bitch. Whore. And many more. I stick them all together before opening up my locker and grabbing my books.

It was going to be a long day, I knew that.

I walk to Religions class with whispers going on all around me. This never happened before. People didn’t notice me before. My music was blaring when I showed up in class and I went to my usual seat in the back, Ryan already sitting in his. I slam the stack of sticky-notes down in front of him and then sit down. He glances at the top one and then back up at me. He doesn’t talk to me, which I’m more than happy about and when the bell rings I get up before he can get the chance to catch up to me.

Rumors about Ryan and I had been going around school all day and just got worse by the minute. At lunch a girl I didn’t know walked up to me and asked if it was true I hooked up with Ryan. I just told her no and walked away, but I know she didn’t believe me.

Theater came around and I really didn’t want to go. I had already tried convincing Mrs. Bergs to let me be someone else but she wouldn’t have it.

“Ryan Richards and Sky Reynolds, will you two please go out into the hall and practice your lines for scene 27.” She says. “and the rest of the Bennett’s, go backstage and practice the second scene.

I dragged myself out the door and into the hall. Not only did this force me to be alone with him, but it also forced us to talk. And I knew the subject wouldn’t be about the play.

I lean against the wall and stare at my converse. Silence filled the halls for a good ten minutes.

“I’m sorry Sky.”

“whatever.” I mumble.

“I didn’t think this would happen.” He says.

“oh really? It’s Amanda! What did you think was going to happen?!”

There was a pause, and he didn’t say anything more.

“what happened to you not caring?” I ask quietly.

“I’ve always cared.” He answered.

“Well you didn’t show it before. And that was easier.”

“maybe for you.”

“yes, it was easier for me! You don’t get it Ryan! You don’t get how hard the past week has been for me!” I yell at him.

“and it’s been easy for me!? You keep brushing me off when I try to be your friend!” Ryan yells at me. I think it was the first time I ever heard him raise his voice.

“Maybe because I don’t need any friends!”

A the door to the staff lounge across the hall opened and Cathy Shaw walked out. “both of you, my office. Now.”

We silently follow her down the halls to her office.

“Ryan, please wait out here.” Cathy says and then motions for me to come in. great.

I sit down in the chair and wait for her to start.

“what’s going on Sky?”

“nothing.” I mutter.

“oh really?” I nod, “then why were you and Ryan yelling at each other in the halls?”

I chew on my bottom lip, “and why are there rumors around the school about you?” I stay silent. “Sky, what happened?”

“I don’t know.”

“for some reason I don’t believe that.” She replies.

“It started last week after you told me I was getting bumped up to junior year. Ryan, he’s the one person who doesn’t really ask how I’m doing. Hasn’t since we met back in elementary school. But usually like five times a year the question will pop up, and it’s my worst day. But that day, it wasn’t bad, I was actually really happy and I just told him. That started it all.”

“what did it start?”

“I don’t know.” I reply, being honest.

“well, obviously something happened after that.”

“he showed up at work with his niece and nephew and wanted me to take a break.”

“which you don’t do.”

“Ted heard the word break and basically forced me out there. His niece and nephew are really cute kids.”

“do they have anything to do with this?”

“in some ways I guess. Anyways, I don’t do that. I don’t take breaks, I don’t hang out with people. But I didn’t think doing it one time was going to be a problem.”

“and was it?”

I shrug. “he gave me a twenty dollar tip which we had a slight fight about the next day and then the whole thing in drama happened and after that the week was fine. Went back to normal.”

“until Saturday I take it.”

I nod, “I took Suzy with me and she played with his niece while we watched the movies and, I guess that’s where the real problems happened.” I sigh, “it was getting late and cold and he only had one blanket so we had to share.”

“do I finally get to hear boy problems from you?” she sounded a bit too excited.

“don’t hold your breath on that one.” I say, “we weren’t even touching, just sharing the blanket. It wasn’t that big of a deal. The version we put in was boring. Or maybe it was boring because we’d seen the same plot so many times that day. Anyways, at some point I closed my eyes and they didn’t open back up.”

“so you fell asleep?”

“yeah. Next thing I know I’m getting tossed to the ground.” She looks at me confused. “Amanda walked in the next morning and I guess found Ryan and I on the sofa together, although I’m not quite sure because I was asleep. Ryan sat up so fast that I fell off and hit my head on the coffee table. Amanda was yelling and I was screaming in pain and Ryan looked lost.”

“cause he was stuck between to girls?”

“I guess. He chose me though. And when he went to get ice Amanda told me never to touch her boyfriend again. Not that I was planning on it the first time, but whatever. That was all over and I got home and then this morning there’s rumors about me and sticky-notes on my locker with some names on them.”

“So you’re blaming this on Ryan.”

“well yeah. If he didn’t care then none of this would have happened. This is exactly why I don’t have friends. You don’t survive when everybody knows your secrets. I went from somebody no one noticed, to the slut of a school in a weekend because of one stupid mistake.”

“did you have fun though?”

“getting knocked out, no, not particularly.”

“on Saturday.”

“I guess. It wasn’t bad.”

“so how was this a mistake?”

“how was it not? If I didn’t go over none of this would happen. I would still be the invisible smart girl that nobody knows.”