Page 20 of I Don't Need Your Love

“It’s worth it,” she assures me.

Ryder saunters over to us and beams. “Caught you off guard, didn’t I?”

“Did you kidnap a dance instructor in the last few hours and demand she teach you a kickbutt routine?” I demand.

He blinks at me. “What on earth…? Uh, no. I didn’t kidnap anyone. That’s years of dance.”

“You took lessons?”

He shakes his head. “I taught myself in my room.”

I just gape at him. Is he serious? I didn’t know he was into dance. He’s always teased me about it.

Is it possible…he taught himself to dance to, I don’t know, impress me or something? No, that’s crazy. He probably did it to show me up. The guy always feels like he has to be better than me.

“Am I on the team?” he asks.

“You mean thecornyteam?”

He smirks. “It won’t be corny if I’m on it.” When he notices my murderous glare, he holds up his hands. “Geez, Carly, can’t you take a joke? So did I make the cut?”

“Do you think you deserve special treatment or something? You’ll find out when everyone else does.”

“Is Addie on the team?”

“Of course she’s on the team! Didn’t you see her routine? She was on fire.”

He chuckles. “So she can get special treatment?”

“Duh. She’s my best friend.”

“And I’m your brother’s best friend.” He grins widely, showing off perfect white teeth.

“You’re wallpaper,” I say.

He rolls his eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Better to be ridiculous than a cretin. Come, Addie. Let’s go.”

I turn my back on him before he can say anything else and meet the rest of our friends outside the gym. Raven and Caleb congratulate Addie on her awesome routine, and we decide to meet in Sophie and Raven’s room to celebrate with my favorite snack—chocolate bars. But before we leave, I glance at Ryder. He’s back to talking to a group of girls.

As if he feels me watching him, he turns his head and looks at me. He smiles and waves, then winks.

I force my gaze away and follow my friends to our dorm.

Chapter Eight

Ryder

Felix and I enter the recreation room after dinner. It’s mostly empty, since many kids don’t like to hang out here. They’d rather go out. But I think this place is awesome. Blake and I used to go to the arcade back home in Pennsylvania when we were younger. As we grew up, football took up most of our time and we didn’t have the opportunity to play much. But holy heck, an arcade on school campus? That’s got to be one of the coolest things in the world.

Felix isn’t a fan of the rec room, so I pretty much had to beg him to come with me. Playing arcade games by yourself is very depressing. Besides, I challenged him to beat me at every single game we play. Winner gets one buck per win. Being the competitive person that he is, he was down for the challenge. Problem is, he doesn’t know I’m an expert. I can’t wait to see all those dollar bills fall into my palms.

“Where do you want to start?” Felix asks as his eyes scan the many arcade games. Most of them are easy and I know them well. I’ll smoke him in two seconds.

I shrug. “Doesn’t matter to me because I’ll own you in all.”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “Put your money where your mouth is.”