They sat at the absolute back of the bus.

Jane mused on how odd a group they must seem, Ryder with his good looks and near-stardom level of popularity, Victoria's attention-grabbing appearance, and Jane, who must have been invisible between the two. She almost wished she really were invisible.

Ryder's warm leg rested alongside her own, the color of their jeans a pleasing gradient of blues. Despite being completely exhausted, she couldn't help but feel giddy at the contact.

She cursed herself. This was not the time for that, and certainly not with the right person.

To her right, she could see that Victoria's color had returned, and with it, the rest of her personality. Her uninjured foot tapped in time to a pop song someone was playing further along the bus. Its frantic beat pulsed through the seats, reaching all the way to their spot in the back.

It was Ryder who spoke first. "So... anyone gonna tell me what that was about?"

Victoria's foot halted its tapping. She looked at Jane, with much the same question in her eyes.

Jane took a moment to organize her thoughts. Her mind, still buzzing with the aftershock of adrenaline, was refusing to work.

"Are you gonna tell me why you're here?" Jane blurted out, surprising herself. She'd been thinking it, but had never intended to voice that particular line of thought.

Ryder seemed surprised as well. For a moment, his mouth hung slightly open. Jane caught herself analyzing the lines of his upper lip. They looked so soft.

"Look, I just- I was going to-" He exhaled, apparently at a loss for words to the sudden question.

Victoria, throwing him a lifeline, reached across Jane and bumped Ryder's arm playfully.

"What she means, superman, is thank you," she said. Jane, who had known Victoria for months, could hear the forced mirth in her voice.

Ryder paused, looking between the two girls. He appeared to come to a decision. "No, she's right. I never come out this way, to be honest."

For perhaps the first time since Jane had met him, he sounded sincere.

The pop music changed to a more aggressive beat. Jane could smell someone eating their breakfast a few rows away. It nauseated her.

"The truth is," Ryder continued, focusing on Jane, "I came to see you."

Jane blinked. Her mind returned to its usual washing-machine spin of questions.

Why her? Did Beatrice really send him after all? But then why interfere when the menacing man showed up? Nothing today made sense.

Ryder, ever perceptive, seemed to sense her anxieties. Jane didn't like that. She was already having trouble discerning his intentions.

"I wanted to talk to you again," he said.

"What? Wait- why?"

Victoria watched with interest from the side, a small smile on her lips.

The bus drove over a hump, bumping Ryder's shoulder against Jane's. She could feel the butterflies resurfacing. More giddiness. Get it together, girl.

Ryder, apparently, wasn't quite sure of his own motivations. "Well..."

He looked away. "You ran off into the rain yesterday, I was just checking on you."

"Hold on, I thought you were sick?" Victoria's questioning stare returned, fixed once more on Jane. "How were you running? And in the rain?"

"I was- I mean, I'll tell you later," Jane replied.

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"Because," Jane stopped. She had nothing else to say. Not around Ryder, at least.

"Because?" Victoria asked. Sometimes, Jane wished her friend wasn't so forceful.

Because, Vicky, Ryder here might kill me. If he is what I think he is. If I'm not completely crazy.

At least, that was what she wanted to say. Instead, she bit her lip. She could practically feel Ryder's curiosity to her left.

Thankfully, the bus pulled into the school parking lot. The music abruptly cut off as its owner placed the mini-speaker in his pocket. The sounds of students rushing to disembark filled the bus.

Ryder stood first, offering Victoria his hand. She rolled her eyes, standing on her own.

"Yeah, yeah. Nurse. I know." Victoria sighed. She joined the slowly dwindling queue of teenagers filtering out of the vehicle.

Ryder smoothed his hair as he gazed at her back, a small sliver of skin visible between Victoria's crop-top and her jeans. "She's tough, huh?"

Jane felt a familiar tightness in her chest. It made her uneasy.

"Come on," was all she said, joining Victoria.

If the rest of Alexander Highschool's atmosphere was sterile, the nurse's office was positively spotless. The door opened to a cramped reception area, lined with padded seats. At the far end of the reception, an entryway held a pair of plastic curtains, obscuring the inside from view.

Ryder and Jane sat in silence together on the padded seats. Unlike the cheap plastic of the auditorium chairs, these were far more comfortable, and far closer together.

Ryder seemed to have resigned himself to not speaking, as he rested his eyes on the plastic curtains. It had been far too early for the nurse's office receptionist to clock in, and only the nurse herself had been present when Victoria had entered.

Jane could dimly hear muted conversation from the other room, the nurse speaking in a gentle manner while Victoria responded in her usual animated way.

Jane chanced a glance at Ryder. His jaw formed an almost perfect line, accentuated by the harsh lighting.

How she wished she had never started digging. Had never started snooping into people's lives. Had never become aware of whatever it was that she had discovered.

And how much she wished she could bring herself to stop.

The silence had become too much for Jane. It was unlike the comfortable quiet she loved at night, or the placid one when Victoria falls asleep in her room. With Ryder, silence almost seemed like a physical object. It weighed the air down and suffocated her.

"Were you really trying to check on me?" Jane asked, saying the first thing that came to mind.

He turned, as if he had been roused from his thoughts.

"Yeah," he said. "Why, don't you believe me?"

Jane paused. "I don't," she admitted.

Ryder seemed to take offense at that. "Well, I don't believe that guy following you was just a creeper."

Behind the curtain, they could hear the whooshing sound of the nurse taking Victoria's blood pressure.

Jane, surprising herself once again, found that she could hold Ryder's gaze with ease. The sudden surge of confidence, while unexpected, emboldened her.

She'd spent weeks poring over Ryder's life. Weeks picturing just talking to him. And now that she was in that very moment, she found that she didn't like his tone very much.

"I-..." A moment's hesitation. "No, I don't care if you don't believe me," she said, hoping she sounded as assertive as she felt.

Evidently not. Ryder raised his eyebrows. "I don't care that you don't care if I believe you."

Jane rolled her eyes at how childish he sounded. She couldn't tell if he was being intentionally petty or not.

They held each other's glare. An infinitesimally long second. Another second. Then Ryder's poker-face broke down, as he began laughing. Jane found herself laughing with him.

"God, that dude was scary," Ryder admitted. There was that sincerity again.

"Yeah. And poor Victoria." The memory of what had transpired just a few hours earlier sobered Jane up somewhat. It had all happened so quickly.

Ryder was looking at her again, this time in an appraising way. Jane didn't know if she liked it or not.

"How come we've never really talked until recently?" he asked. "You've been here for, what, six months already, haven't you?"

And there it was, the feeling. Again. It crawled from Jane's stomach, through her chest, and nestled itself against her mind. Something was up. How did he know that if they'd never really spoken before?

"I don't know," she replied, carefully. "I guess we don't have the same... circles."

Ryder nodded and shrugged at that. "Circles, huh? I'm not what you think, I promise."

Jane froze. Did he know?

"You think I'm a douche-bag frat-boy, don't you?" he joked.

Jane released a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Well..." she paused, deciding to be honest. "Yeah, kinda."

He flashed her that perfect smile, the same one she'd seen so many times on her screen. And in her dreams. "Everyone thinks that. Before they get to know me."

"You're kinda hard to get to know."

He nodded again. "Well, I can prove it. That I'm not a douche. At least, I hope so."

The receptionist walked through the door, glancing at them before setting her bag down behind the desk. Jane watched her as she went about her routine.

"How?" she asked.

His smile changed, just a little. Barely enough for Jane to perceive the shift, but a change nonetheless. She decided he was cute. Hot, sure, but cute.

"Are you free tomorrow night?" he asked, surprising her.

Jane's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because I'm asking you out."

"Right," Jane muttered, eyes rolling. She couldn't believe he would make fun of her at a time like this.

She almost jerked away in surprise when he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Come on. I'm serious." He certainly seemed serious enough.

Jane raised her eyebrows at him, lips parting. She wasn't sure what to say. Ryder took this to mean he should double-down.

"Jane Mackenzie. Will you go on a date with me?" Ryder's face was one of utter sobriety, his eyes firmly focused on her. It was as if nothing else existed but the two of them.

Jane's eyes were no longer narrowed. Ryder was serious. Ryder was serious?

"I- uh..." she stuttered out. Her face was growing warm, and quickly. It was making it hard to think.

"Just say yes," Ryder said, his face mere inches from hers.

She couldn't speak. She was afraid that if she tried, it would come out as an embarrassing, mousy squeak.

So instead, she nodded.