Page 2 of Loathing Ryan
“I will give it a rest when I never have to see your face again,” I shot back at her, rolling my eyes.
Her lips curved up into a snide smile. “Look, I’m not going to stop you from not going. In fact, I encourage it.” I raised my eyebrows at her, waiting to see where she went with this. These were the most words she’d ever said to me in one sitting before. Generally, I made it a point to avoid dealing with her altogether. “I have a very detailed list of things I want to accomplish this year. And guess who is at the top of my list?”
Juliet rolled off me and glared at the Barbie doll, knowing that bythings, Nahla meant boys. “Please enlighten us.”
Nahla’s perfectly plucked eyebrow raised just a fraction of an inch as she stared at Juliet, who now had most of her attention instead of me. “Well, Ryan Miller, of course.”
Ryan Miller. The one name that students at both schools tossed around like candy at a parade. The bane of my existence. The King of Bennett. The sole reason I was now lying on the ground, despite knowing I was getting my white capris all dusty.
Generally, people would have found themselves lucky to have attention bestowed upon them by a king–but not me. Ryan Miller had a way of taking everything good and turning it into misery.
Juliet gave an amused laugh. “Ryan doesn’t have time for your games, Nahla. He’s not interested.” I mean, to be fair, Jules would know. She’d been going steady with Ryan’s right-hand man for the past two years.
Nahla narrowed her eyes. “I know. Because he’s always too busy playing games with this one over here.” She pointed one perfectly manicured finger at me.
She wasn’t wrong. While Nahla obviously had her own agenda regarding the summer at Wildwood, so did Ryan Miller. He found immense joy in ruining my summers. All because of one little slip-up on my part years ago.
A word to the wise: be careful when walking through an overly crowded cafeteria with a full plate of spaghetti. Someone might accidentally bump into you, causing you to dump your tray all over their pristine new white golf shorts. And that someone might be the King of Bennett College Prep. Also known as the king of holding grudges.
Ryan Miller devoted the last few summers to exacting his revenge on me. Honestly, it was exhausting. I hated him. It was a consolation, though, that after this summer, we would all split ways, and I would never, ever have to see or deal with Ryan Miller again.
I pushed myself out of the dirt and looked right into Nahla’s distrustful eyes. “Trust me, Nahla. I honestly don’t give a rat’s ass about what you do with that egomaniac.”
She smirked. “Well, good. Because I got a whole year’s worth of stuff planned, and I don’t need you getting in my way.”
I shook my head. “Trust me. There won’t be a problem.”
“Good,” I heard her mutter as she spun on her heel and walked back toward the bus.
Sighing, I looked back at Juliet, who stood staring at me with her hands on her hips. “Any more antics, Izzie?”
“No, Jules. You won. Let’s go and get this summer over with.” I stomped away from my friend and climbed the stairs onto the bus.
I went straight to the back and slumped in my seat. Rummaging through my small duffel bag, I found my headphones and popped them in. My favorite music flowed through my ears as I forlornly looked out the window and waited for the bus to load up and head out.
Eventually, one of my other classmates came and sat next to me. I looked at her, and she smiled sadly before patting my knee. Everyone in my class knew how much Ryan bothered me, but there wasn’t much they could do about it. Ryan never did anything that could get him into serious trouble. And to be fair, most of his games were just that—games. But still, I was the one always at the butt of the joke. But, whenever there was any type of heat on him, he played it off as an accident or a joke gone awry.
Besides, he was the King of Bennett, after all. He could do no wrong. I guess that’s what happens when your parents make a large donation to your school at the start of your freshman year. Suddenly, it seems that everyone’s on your side, too afraid to stand up to you for fear of the funds being withdrawn.
Every year, my experience at camp was the same. I had given up hope long ago that anything would be different. It was pointless to wish that, over the last year, Ryan would have matured enough to move past his games. Who knows, maybe we could’ve been friends if we hadn’t gotten off on the wrong foot from the very beginning. Everyone liked him, so there must have been something to him that wasn’t 100% cringeworthy. I certainly didn’t know what it was, though, and I doubted I ever would.
As the bus started moving, I looked out the window and watched my school disappear. The trip took two and a half hours—two and a half hours to prepare myself mentally and put my walls up so I could survive the next few weeks.
I must have drifted off into a nap because, the next thing I knew, I was gently shaken awake. I ripped out my headphones, and the girl next to me smiled, her eyes lighting up. “We’re here.”
Of course, she was excited. Everyone was excited except me. But I was used to that by now. I was just about the only person who didn’t like coming to this camp. No one else had a reason to dread it, as I did. They left camp feeling rejuvenated and ready for a year. In contrast, I left camp feeling like a soldier returning from war.
Groaning, I wrapped my headphones around my phone and stuck them into my bag. As I looked out the window again, I tried to avert my gaze to anywhere but the hunter-green coach bus with the Bennett emblem that was unloading boys from our brother school.
I stood up and followed my classmates as they individually filed out of the bus. When it was my turn to get off, I took a deep breath and readied myself.
You can do this, Izzie. It’s the last year. You got this.
I hopped down from the last step and looked around. Same trees, same cabins, same lake. Everything was the exact same as we had left it last year.
As I looked around, I could feel someone’s eyes on me. Already suspecting exactly who it was, I knew what I would be met with if I turned around. I’m not sure what possessed me to do it anyway.
Without fail, my eyes met the smoldering greens of the King of Bennett. He stared at me for a second too long before tearing his gaze from mine and giving me a thorough once-over. A shiver tore down my spine as the weight of his attention fell on every inch of my body. When he was satisfied with his inspection, his green eyes found mine again.
