The New Me

I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed how much more different I looked without my glasses. I put in my contacts and blinked then sighed. Matt walked out of the bathroom and looked at me.

"You look better without your glasses, you could literally be a model with your looks. Your brown hair, your sapphire blue eyes, I mean I feel like your glasses were holding you back." Matt said and crossed his arms.

"I guess." I smiled a bit then stood up straight and fixed my hair then walked out of my dorm with Matt to go meet up with Jaiden.

As we walked together to the campus, I noticed people looking at us, specifically me. I twirled some of my hair around my finger and chuckled at some of Matt's jokes.

"Is...that Ryder..?" A woman asked.

"Nah, there's no way that's him." A male said.

We met up with Jaiden and dabbed him up. Jaiden looked at me and rose an eyebrow.

"Well well, welcome to the pretty boy gang." Jaiden laughed softly.

"Whatever." I laughed a bit.

Matt grabbed my shoulder then noticed Tony walking towards us. I looked at Tony and he looked at us. He stopped in front of me then scoffed and walked away. We watched him walk away. Matt smirked.

"He knows that I'll beat his ass again. It ain't a game around these parts." Matt said.

"You're exerting high amounts of overprotectiveness. Tony knows he's not touching Ry without you beating his ass." Jaiden chuckled.

"Yeah yeah." Matt chuckled and walked ahead. "Come on, let's go get breakfast then head to gym class."

Jaiden and I followed him. We got some breakfast and the usual happened when either Matt or Jaiden enters the area...the women swarm around them, pretending I don't exist, but Matt and Jaiden always ignored them. They didn't want me to feel like I was unimportant and I appreciated it.

The bell rang signalling the start of our first period. We all went to our gym class and we did what we always have done. We watched Matt playing basketball while me and Jaiden sat on the floor, talking amongst the three of us. I looked ahead and noticed Allie across from us. I didn't even notice she always had the same first period as me. She looked at me and waved. I smiled and waved back. Jaiden looked at Allie then at me.

"I see you've grown a bit buddy buddy with Allie. This marks the first step of a flourishing-"

"Must you always be poetic?" I rolled my eyes and smiled at Jaiden.

"It's a habit." Jaiden chuckled and sat back.

I caught a loose basketball then tossed it back to one of the other men who were playing a half court game, obviously practicing for the upcoming basketball season. I looked at my phone and noticed I got a text from Allie.

Allie: Come with me outside.

I noticed Allie getting up then walked outside the gym. I told Jaiden I was going to step outside and he nodded, telling Matt what I was going to do. I got up and walked outside the gym and met up with Allie.

She smiled at me when she saw me then leaned her shoulder against the wall. "So...I hear you are the talk of the school. They have began to say that Tony did a favor for you."

"Ha. They are very funny. All he did was break my glasses and made me change my appearance. I'm still the same. He did no favors for me." I said and leaned my shoulder against the wall as well.

"Well I gotta say, you are pretty hot without your glasses." Allie smiled and held my arm.

I rolled my eyes and smiled at her. "Is this the reason you wanted to talk to me outside the gym? So you can crush over me while I don't have my glasses?"

"It's not even like that. I actually wanted to tell you that Tony wanted me to tell you to meet him outside at lunch. I am here to tell you to not do it." Allie said.

I sighed in the middle of Allie's sentence and closed my eyes. "What vendetta does he have against me? I save his ass and this is the thanks I get."

"He's ungrateful and he's probably planning to embarrass you in front of the entire campus. You shouldn't go." Allie said then held my cheek. "I can't bare the sight of you getting hurt again. Don't meet up with him."

I looked at her and she gave me a worried expression. "Alright I won't go."

"Good." She smiled and took her hand off my cheek.

The bell rang marking the end of the first class and the start of the next class. We all went to our next class and I walked to my Geography class with Allie then sat beside her. I noticed Tony enter the class and look at me. He sat in his seat and the professor entered the class.

"Good morning class. I hope you're all ready for more Geography facts because I sure am." Ms. Sadow said sarcastically then took off her glasses. She looked at everyone and set down some papers in her desk. "Before we get to that though, I'm gonna tell you that you all did surprisingly well on the test...especially Tony. Wouldn't be surprised if he cheated off Ryder's test...oh wait you did. Ryder I know you purposely answered wrong on this test because you and Tony got a 70."

Tony looked back and noticed my smug smile.

I shrugged and rose an eyebrow. "We all have bad days."

"I will allow you, Ryder, to retake your test this Friday morning. I'll be expecting a 100 like you always have been getting." Ms. Sadow smiled.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you..." Tony said to me.

I ignored him and Allie looked at me then at Tony. I took out my notebook and began to focus on Ms. Sadow.

The class went by very slowly since Geography was really boring to me. It even bored Ms. Sadow, but she tried her hardest to make it as interesting as possible for us and for the class. She would slip in a dark joke or two here and there, mainly because that's how she is.

The bell rang marking the end of the second period and the beginning of the lunch period. I packed my stuff and left the classroom to go meet up with Matt and Jaiden. They waited for me at the courtyard and walked to me once they saw me.

"Aye, my man. I hear you and Allie are getting closer. Good shit man." Matt chuckled and placed his arm around my shoulder.

"I mean we are just friends. There isn't really much going on between us." I said and smiled.

We made our way to the cafeteria until Tony stopped us with his crew. Matt took his arm from around me then looked at Tony and glared. Jaiden placed his hands in his pockets and looked at Tony. I looked at Tony and twirled a strand of my hair around my finger while placing my other hand in my pocket.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you are still lesser than everyone on campus. No talent having ass, and I know you're trying to sabotage me. There was no way you knew I was cheating and decided to bomb your test." Tony said.

"What you bombed a test on purpose?" Matt asked.

"Yeah I did because I'm tired of being walked all over now. I got an epiphany and I'm just done being viewed as someone's puppet to just use and push around. I will keep bombing my tests and drag you down with me, Tony." I said.

"You wanna see who gets dragged right now, bitch?" Tony took a step forward.

I looked at Tony and stopped Matt from walking forward. "It isn't worth getting suspended over. Let's just go."

I walked ahead then one of Tony's goons stopped me and pushed me back. I sighed and looked at them. I noticed a crowd forming around us. "Tony what's your issue with me? I've been nothing but helpful to you. You treat me like I don't exist, you act like I'm not the entire reason you're still here. Fucking ungrateful people like you is what's wrong with this college now. And you know what's funny, you all started noticing me when I stopped wearing my glasses like hello, I am still the same Ryder! All of you fuckers are fake as shit!"

Tony smirked and crossed his arms. He took another step forward then got in my face. "You think you did something to help me? It was all me. It was never you, I made it up. It was all my hard work."

"Why are you in my face? Back up man." I said, trying to stay as calm as possible.

"Or what..?" Tony said. "Do something about it."

"Back away from me." I said and kept stopping Matt from swinging at Tony.

"Or what.." Tony said then pushed me.

I had finally lost my patience and swung at Tony and connected a punched at his face, releasing all of my pent-up anger and frustration. The crowd let out an "oohh" when they heard my fist connect to my face. Tony stumbled back then fell on one knee and held his nose. He grunted and uncovered his nose, exposing that it was all bloodied and potentially broken.

"Damn bro...I think you broke his nose." Matt said.

I calmed down almost immediately, preventing myself from letting my emotions get the best of me. "I told you to back off and you didn't listen. I'm tired of you walking all over me. I'm done. All this petty shit has gotten on my nerves. I'm done with this." I said then walked away.

Tony's friends went to make sure that he was okay. They took him to the nurse to get him checked out.

I sat at a table in the courtyard and sighed. Matt and Jaiden sat beside me then Matt pat my back.

"Now that was a turn of events. I didn't expect you to actually hit him. Kinda glad you did, put that fucker in his place." Matt said.

"Seems he was a bit salty the moment we cut ties with him. He started talking shit about us on Instagram." Jaiden looked at me.

"Ryder!" Allie hurried to our table. "Are you okay? I saw what happened!"

"I'm okay, Allie." I said then looked at her.

She sighed in relief and smiled at me. "I'm glad he didn't hurt you."

I nodded and closed my eyes, completely calming down. I waited for the crowd to die down before getting up to get lunch with my friends. Once the crowd dispersed, we went to get lunch and ate outside.

The rest of the school week was pretty eventful as there was more gossip and more people coming up to me asking me to be their friend. I accepted some who were genuine and rejected those who were dishonest with their feelings.

Saturday hit and I decided I wanted to be out all day and experience my first kiss. I scrolled through the app and looked through the different selection of women. I noticed another woman from my Sex ED class and looked at her. She had silver hair with black highlights, had orange contacts in her eyes, and had four earrings on her right ear. She wore a white button up shirt with the first four buttons unbuttoned, exposing her cleavage. She wore a black skirt, black stockings, and shoes that matched her outfit.

"Jade Dixon...she is hot and way out of my league, but it would be cool to hang out with her." I said then decided to rent her out for the day. I texted her and she texted back a while later.

Jade: Yeah, I guess we can Ryder.

I looked at the message and set my phone down, fixing my hair and putting it in a little ponytail. I put on my black jacket and Jordans then looked myself in the mirror, checking to see if I was good. I was all set and walked out of my dorm to meet up with Jade.

Jade sat outside on a bench in the parking lot, smoking a cigarette. She looked over noticing me and watched me walk to her. I sat beside her and looked at her outfit. She wore a white tank top with short shorts. She wore white Nike shoes and a black jacket with the sleeves hanging off her shoulders. She had on black rings on all of her fingers and multiple bracelets around her wrist. She didn't have on her orange contacts and instead showed her natural grey eyes.

"I'm surprised you even remembered me." I said.

"Of course, you were one of the many people to ask me out three months ago. Afterwards you practically avoided even when I tried to ask you to study with me at my dorm. I could've sworn you hated me." Jade said then smoked her cigarette.

"I don't hate you, I promise." I said and looked at her.

"That's a relief." Jade sighed then looked at her black painted fingernails.

"Come on, I got the best date for us to go on. Something that fits...you." I smiled and took her hand then stood up. She put out her cigarette and stood up then followed me to my car.

We got in and I started it then drove off. When becoming friends with Jade, I figured out that she is a complete metal head. That's all I hear from her headphones in class, and she let me listen to some of the music as well.

"So where are we going?" Jade asked.

"While I was going back to my dorm from work on Friday night, I managed to snag two tickets to the Elements of Insanity concert for today. It starts this afternoon and ends at midnight. It sounds like more of a convention than a concert." I said.

"Wait what?! I've been trying to get my hands on those tickets since they announced they would be coming to Texas! You managed to get TWO?!" Jade looked at me surprised.

"Mhm. It's gonna be a while before it starts so I decided to take you to the mall for a while then head over to the concert and party and get wild." I said and looked at her then back at the road.

"I take back all of the rude shit I said about you three months ago. You are the best!" Jade smiled happily at me and held my arm.

I smiled and kept driving to the mall. Once we made it to the mall, I parked my car then we got out and she held my hand. We walked together to the mall and walked inside;

We went to various stores and I got her a couple of items that she wanted and held the bags in my hand. While we were at the mall, we decided to grab something to eat before we headed out and went over to the concert.

We got done with our date at the mall and headed out to go back to my car. I put all of her bags in the trunk then we got in the car. I started the car and drove off to the concert. We made it to the concert and I parked my car with the other cars then we got out. We noticed the concert was an outdoor concert and people began to gather by the stage after passing security with their tickets. We followed the line and made it through.

I held Jade's hand and walked over where the crowd was and heard people chanting the name of the lead singer who was named Zander Ward. Jade put her hair down and prepared herself for when the concert finally started.

The beginning of their first song started and Zander walked onto the stage then grabbed his microphone. "Hello people in Austin Texas! Are y'all ready to get down today?!"

The crowd cheered and Zander walked across the stage and stomped his foot down with the beat of the drummer. The song was an alternative rock song.

"This first song, for those who are new here, is called Breakthrough! If you know the lyrics, sing with me! If you don't that's okay! Vibe with the crowd!" Zander said then began singing.

The people who knew the song sang along with him. Jade was singing as well since this was her favorite. I didn't know this particular song, but I was sure as hell vibing with everyone else. The song began to build up. The cymbols were crashing and the crowd began to get hype. The beat dropped and the crowd cheered loudly as the band began the chorus.

The band went to their next verses then the song began to build up once again then dropped once again when Zander stomped his foot down. He was a really passionate singer and the crowd went absolutely wild. Two female singers began to harmonize in the background of the song when they reached the bridge of their song. Jade cheered loudly and jumped up and down.

Zander pointed his microphone at the crowd and let them sing a bit of the chorus. He walked across the stage then went back to singing the song. He stomped his foot down with the music. The song ended and the crowd cheered and screamed the band's name.

"Are y'all ready for the next song?!" asked Zander, yelling into the microphone.

The crowd cheered loudly and Zander looked back and stomped his foot down, giving the countdown. The lead guitarist started playing first then the rest of the band began to play their next song, Closer to the Edge. This song was more of the metal aspect. The crowd cheered loudly and some even doing the head bang to the song.

Zander began singing his verse and sang. Jade danced to the music and was just straight up vibing. Zander began singing his pre-chorus then began the began the chorus.

The crowd cheered and we all were just having a great time. The second song came to an end and the band decided to play one more song before going on a break. The third song was one of my favorites called My Enemy. It was a slow metal song and Zander delivered one of his best metal screams at the end of the song and held it out for 20 seconds straight. The crowd went absolutely insane and I found myself cheering as well.

"Alright everyone! We're gonna be taking a break! Come back within a few hours and also please enjoy our drinks and food to the right of you!" Zander said then walked to the back of the stage.

Jade took my hand then I followed her out of the crowd to the food and drink stands. We got our food and drinks then went to go eat on the grass.

"I'm really enjoying myself. It's not everyday I'm able to catch a concert of my favorite band. I'm really happy you decided to take me." Jade smiled.

I smiled at her then gently bumped my shoulder against her. "It's nothing, Jade. I'm glad you're having a good time."

Jade smiled and brushed her hair behind her ear. She took out her phone and decided to take a picture with me then posted it on her Instagram. We began to talk to each other for hours about our favorite songs and bands to listen to. We listened to the band play as we talked then the band played their final song, one of their biggest hits called Stages of Insanity. Jade and I vibed together to this epic metal song and loved the guitarist's solo.

The song soon ended then we went back to my car and I drove back to campus. Once we made it back to campus, I parked the car and turned it off. Jade placed her hand on my leg then I looked at her. She looked at me and brought her hand to my cheek.

"Thank you for the wonderful time. I don't think any guy had ever done something this nice for me." Jade smiled.

"You're welcome and I had an amazing time as well." I smiled back at her.

We stared into each other's eyes and leaned forward to each other then kissed each other's lips. Our kissing turned into a three minute make out session then Jade pulled away, blushing. Her phone beeped then she looked at it. We looked at each other and smiled. We got out of the car and I helped Jade bring her stuff back to her dorm then retreated back over to my dorm. I walked inside and noticed Matt asleep. I went to my bed then got on it and went to sleep as well.