Some Help Is All You Need

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee! If I did I wouldn't be writing this story and Ryley would be endgame, end of discussion! :)

Ryder finally understood what that feeling everyone gets, when they feel like a total failure to everyone they'd ever cared about. A couple of days ago, he had to tell his parents the big news: He was officially diagnosed as Dyslexic.

And what's worse is that he has two tests coming up next week and his parent are making him study All. Weekend. Long. So, he had to cancel his date with Marley, which was already re-scheduled from last week.

He hated seeing her so upset and disappointed, but his grades come first.

He sighed with a deep breath, quickly spotting Marley at her locker, before heading over towards her.

"Hey, Marley." Ryder said casually with a smirk on his face.

"Oh hey Ryder. What's up?" Marley asked with a smile.

"Well I wanna hang out tonight but I can't." Ryder answered with a sigh.

"Why not? I was really looking forward to it." Marley frowned instantly.

"I have to study for a big test... Like all weekend. My parents are making sure I do everything my doctor told me to do, cause of, you know, my Dyslexia." Ryder said lowering his voice at the last word.

Marley nodded her head supportively. "That's completely understandable."

Marley suddenly got an idea in her head, like a light bulb went off all of a sudden. "Wait, why don't I come over and help you study?"

"What like a tutor?" Ryder asked confused.

"No, it could be more like a study date. I'm getting straight As and plus we still get to hang out after all."

A grin suddenly appeared on Ryder's face. "I could be on board for that."

"Great, I'll come by around 6?"

"Six, sounds good. See you then."

"Okay." Marley smiled before biting her lower lip and walking away.

XXXXX

Marley arrived by 5:50, never one to be late, at the address Ryder had manage to write down for her.

She knocked on the door as she got butterflies in her stomach, that she didn't even know she had.

After a few seconds passed, Ryder appeared at the door.

"Hey." Ryder said as he opened the front door.

"Hey." Marley replied stepping inside the cozy looking house.

They wandered up the staircase making their way to Ryder's bedroom. Marley glanced an noticed the family pictures hanging on the walls, she smiled at the thought of Ryder as a little kid.

"Nice room." Marley commented as they stepped inside. She noticed right away that his room was full of posters: some of Batman and other comic book characters, some of Football and/or football players and some of old bands and singers like Michael Jackson, The Beastie Boys and Bon Jovi.

"Okay what do you want to work on first?" Marley asked as they sat in his bedroom.

"I guess Algebra."

"Okay, if the value of X is 7, and the value of Y is 4 what is the sum of that times 20 divided by 100?"

Ryder scratched his head, deep in thought. "Uh... 2?" He took a wild guess.

"No, cause see when you do it on the calculator: 7+4 equals 11 right?"

"Yeah, so?" Ryder shrugged.

"Well when you times that by 20 you get?"

"220." Ryder answered boredly.

"And divide that by 100 and you would get?"

"2."

"There's a decimal point right there: It's 2.2, if it's less than 5 it stays the same but more than 5 it becomes 2.3." Marley explains leaning over to look at his paper.

"Can we just take a small break?" He hoped confusedly.

"Sure, a break sounds nice right about now." Marley quickly agreed.

Suddenly, after a few moments of silence, he turned towards her and completely changed the subject, taking her by surprise. "You don't make yourself throw up anymore right?"

"Nope, I haven't done it since the night of the musical." Marley lied. I mean they should only worry about one problem at a time right?

"Good, you didn't even need to do that in the first place. You're beautiful, Marls."

"No, I'm really not that-"

"You are." Ryder nodded in full assurance.

Marley felt a blush rise to her cheeks as they turned the color of a raspberry.

"Anyway back to Algebra..." Marley stammered out.

"Sure, whatever."

"Okay do you know what the Pythagorean theorem is?"

"Yeah isn't it B2+C2=A2?" Ryder shrugged confused.

"Close... It's A2+B2=C2. You just-"

"This is hopeless I can't do anything right? You should just leave while it's still light out, I wouldn't want you wasting any more of your pervious time helping someone as pathetic as me!" Ryder stated angrily.

"Ryder you're not a helpless cause. You're brain is just different than most peoples." Marley responded in a calm manner.

"Yeah like I haven't heard that one before." Ryder muttered under his breath.

"Dyslexia is very common, lots of people have it. You're not alone in this." Marley said in a soothing voice.

"I'm just stupid. Okay, I get it. I'm dumb."

"You're not stupid or dumb Ryder! You're really smart."

"Yeah right.."

"Just calm down for a bit? Can you do that?"

"I'm just gonna screw up everything as usual, I-" Ryder said before getting cut off as he felt Marley's lips on his own.

Almost immediately kissed her back, grabbing onto her waist and pulling her as close as possible to him.

Ryder let out a sigh of relief. Many seconds later they pulled away, out of breath. He still held her close as he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I'm gonna help you get through this, Ry." Marley whispered quietly as they just stayed content in each other's arms.

"Help sounds nice." If she really believed in him that much, maybe things were going to be just fine.