Ryder's POV

For most of my high school years, I'd spent at least fours days out of each week in detention. Teachers were idiots who didn't appreciate my sense of humor, it really wasn't my fault. I'd seen everything from Toby drooling a pool of saliva, to Mr. Jenkins running out the room, screaming that we were incorrigible delinquents who needed a good ass kicking. But never did I see coming what happened my third day of detention for telling everyone in the cafeteria to go fuck themselves.

I was calmly throwing spitballs at Toby's head, bored out of my mind when the door swung open. I hadn't paid any attention to it until Mr. Jenkins spoke up.

"Miss. Stratford, are you lost?" My eyes traveled to a scared-looking Casey and my brows lowered in confusion. The fuck was she doing here?

"Um, no, Mr. Jenkins," she mumbled, her eyes darting around the room. When they landed on me, she glared before turning back to Mr. Jenkins. Okay, someone is in a mood. Must be PMsing.

"Oh, are you here to volunteer?" I snorted. No surprise there.

"No." Hmm?

"Um, okay, are you here to get one of the delinquents? or all of them?" Mr. Jenkins asked, his eyes begging with her to say yes. I shook my head with a smirk. The poor bastard.

"No, Mr. Jenkins. I'm here for detention." I chocked on my own spit, making both Mr. Jenkins and Casey turn to me. I dismissed their 'concern' with a flick of my wrist.

"Did you say detention?" Mr. Jenkins clarified. When Casey nodded, he threw his head back and roared with laughter. I smirked as Casey looked around in confusion. Noticing that Casey wasn't laughing along with him, Mr. Jenkins' smile fell and his laughter died. "Oh god, you're serious."

Casey shifted on her feet, her eyes darting around the room, never meeting Mr. Jenkins surprised stare. Clearing his throat, Mr. Jenkins motioned for her to take a seat. She headed to the first chair in Toby's row and I sighed. Amateur.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I told her and her eyes lifted to give me a questioning look. "Toby had burritos for lunch."

Her eyes widened slightly before she nodded. "Enough said." She turned to sit next to Sarah, throwing me a dubious look. I shook my head no and she sighed. Turning to the row next to her, she pointed to the chair behind Leo James and I widened my eyes with warning, shaking my head no vigorously. She sighed with frustration. "Just tell me where to sit," she gave up and I chuckled.

I pointed to the chair in front of mine and winked. She rolled her eyes and dragged her feet towards it, slumping down into it when she reached it. "Smart choice, sweetheart," I smirked and she glanced around to throw me a glare. "What are you doing here?" I asked, curiously.

"I took your advice and stood up to Stacey," she gritted out, keeping her head straight. Her back was stiff as a board and her shoulders squared, she looked ready to attack.

"Well, happy to hear you finally wised up and listened to good ol' Ryder," I mused and she snapped around to give me menacing glare.

"I ended up in detention, asshole! Detention! I've never even gotten so much as a warning from a teacher. I've never even been scolded by a teacher!" she spat through gritted teeth, her small hands coiled into tight fist.

"Well, then, let me be the first to welcome you into the fold," I smiled cheekily and swept an arm around the room. "Why don't you share with us how you ended up in here?"

Her cheeks brightened red and my eyes widened curiously. "None of your business," she mumbled and turned around to face the front.

"Oh come on, what did you do?" I asked again, poking her in her ribs. She slapped my hand away with a huff and I chuckled.

"I told you, it's none of your business, nosy!" she mumbled and I grinned.

"Well then make it my business!" I chuckled when she growled. "Tell me. Tell me—"

"She told Stacey to fuck off or she would tell the entire school that she once witnessed Stacey's dog dry hump her in a public parking lot. Stacey called her a slut, so Casey said, and I quote, 'That's rich coming from the whore who sucked her own dog and let her brother in through the back door," Toby mumbled sleepily from his hunched over position on his desk, with a snort and I turned in shock to stare at the back of Casey's head, willing her to turn around.

"You didn't," I said with a laugh. "Casey, Casey, such a filthy mouth!"

She snapped around and hissed, her teeth clamped together.

"I really was expecting better from you, sweetheart." I shook my head with mock disappointment and she gasped indignantly.

"You were the one who told me to stand up to her!" she shrieked, her face showing her disbelief.

"What?! I did no such thing!" I retorted, bringing a hand up to my chest to add to my dramatization.

"You did too!" she hissed with wide eyes.

"So what happened next?" I asked her and she squinted her eyes into slits.

"The teacher sent me to the principal's office, who then sent me here," she shrugged and I nodded. She turned back around and I leaned towards her.

"Badass," I whispered with a smile and she glanced around to give me a small smile.

"So do we just sit around for two hours doing nothing?" she suddenly asked, directing her question to no one in particular, but I answered anyways.

"That's cute. No. We play a little game called, 'How many spitballs can I get in Mr. Jenkins' hair before he notices?'" I told her, thrusting a straw in her direction. She grabbed it and gave it a look before raising her eyebrows at me.

"What are you? Five?" She shook her head and I rolled my eyes.

"No, four, actually," I smirked and she sighed with exasperation. I shrugged and grabbed a piece of paper. "Watch and learn, my little grasshopper, watch and learn." Aiming my straw at Mr. Jenkins' head, I blew into the straw and watched the small, white ball of paper land perfectly in Mr. Jenkins' hair without his notice.

***

"Ryder, Drake, coach wants to see you guys," one of the guys on the team announced, walking into the boy's locker room. Nodding my head in acknowledgement, I stuffed my stuff into my locker, slammed it shut and headed out with Drake following closely behind.

"'Sup, coach?" I asked, falling into one of the chairs in his office. He threw me a dark look and nodded for Drake to close the office door.

"What the fuck is wrong with you two?" he snapped once the door was close. People outside halted in their tracks to turn to his office window with shock on their face. I had no clue why he would lock the door if he was just going to yell for everyone to hear. Noticing the attention, he turned his glare onto the them, before shutting the blinds. "I have had it with you two. This is a team for fuck's sake. There's no I in team."

"Well, actually if you make the 'a' an uppercase letter, there is an I—"

"Don't even finish that sentence, Ryder! This is not a game!" he interrupted, pointing an accusing finger in my direction and I shrugged with a smirk. "You two have been at each other's throat for almost a week now and it's starting to get old."

"It's not my fault he's such a dick!" Drake replied with a shrug and I smirked.

"Coming from you, that's a compliment," I retorted, earning myself a glare from the coach.

"Stop it! I don't give a fuck about what's going on between you two. You got a problem, you solve it off the rink!"

"Hey, I'm a hundred percent with you on that, it's this fuckface you need to make it clear to," I answered, throwing a disgusted look in Drake's direction.

"Go fuck yourself, Cavanaugh!" Drake seethed.

"Don't need to, your girlfriend is perfectly capable of doing that," I smirked. I knew it was an asshole thing to say, not because of Drake—I could give a fuck about the turd—but because of Casey.

"Well it's just like you to go after the things I no longer want," he smirked and I clenched my fists. I'd hated Drake since the minute I first laid eyes on him and vice versa. The guy was an asshole who thought the world of himself and I really couldn't fathom what the fuck Casey saw in him.

"It's not my fault everything you want, wants an upgrade," I replied in a snarky tone.

"Okay! We get it, you fucking hate each other, go outside, beat the shit out of each other, I don't fucking care! But if I see the two of you doing anything other than playing hockey as a team on that rink, you're both benched for the season!" our coach snapped, his patience long gone. "Get out of my office!"

We stood up and walked out, both heading separate ways once outside.

"Ryder!" I heard someone scream behind me so I slowed down, giving them chance to catch up. I wasn't about to stop and wait, I was seething and if it was important, they would catch up.

"Thanks for waiting, asshole." I glanced at the short blonde next to me and marveled at her bravery. Everyone knew to stay the hell away from me when I was pissed; it was common sense. I was known for punching things when I was in a pissy mood.

"What do you want, Evans?" I asked her, easily making my way down the hallway as people parted to make way for me.

"Who shoved a pole up your ass?" she asked with a roll of the eyes.

"Your fucking mom. Now what the fuck do you want?" I snapped. When she flinched, taking a step back, I sighed. "Look, I'm not in a great mood right now."

"Clearly," she mumbled to herself.

"What is it that you want again?" I pushed, pulling my locker door open and grabbing some of my textbooks.

"Um, oh yeah, you know how the other day you mentioned you'd never slept with Judy Scott, yet she was on the list?" I nodded and she continued, "Well, the only reason she would be on the list would be because she went around saying that she had slept with you. Which would make her a liar and I'm going to expose her."

"Where exactly do I come into this?" I asked confused.

"I need to ask you if I can quote you." She raised her eyebrows.

"Ah, yeah, whatever," I replied nonchalantly. I didn't really care what Nissa did.

She smiled and I gave her an awkward nod. "You know, people are wrong about you." What was she still doing here?

I turned to her and decided to humor her even though I knew I would regret it. There was one thing I was good at, and that was reading people, and if my assumptions were correct, Nissa was a babbler. "How so?"

"You're not as big of an asshole as everyone thinks you are," she replied with a small smile.

"Uh, thanks?" I lowered my eyebrows. Shaking my head, I closed my locker door and headed down the hallway.

"You're welcome," she answered, startling me. I hadn't expected her to follow me. "People who direct more than two words to you that have nothing to do with s*x really make you feel awkward, don't they?"

"What?" I turned to her, stopping in my tracks. Was this girl for real?

She gave me a knowing look, saluted and walked away. What on earth just happened?