The following day, I was woken up to the sun's light shining through Ryder's bedroom window. I sat up yawning and stretched my arms. Ryder was still fast asleep in his bed so I took the time to make up my bed and tidy up. I took out my tooth brush from my bag and went to the bathroom; only to be stopped caused it was already occupied.

"Ugh, can't you see someone's in here?" Rebecca yelled from inside.

"Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't know... I'll just wait..."

After that whole fiasco, I was able to wash up my face, brush my teeth, and fix my bed hair and still when I came back to his bedroom, Ryder was still asleep. I didn't want to wake him up nor did I want to wait for him before he did so I just went downstairs by myself. I could hear some sizzling noises coming from the kitchen and the smell of bacon wavered in the air. This was enough to entice me to go have breakfast. Mrs. Lynn was there by the stove, cooking and when she turned to me she smiled and greeted me. "Oh, good morning Blaine"

"Good morning Mrs. Lynn" I smiled at her. Mrs. Lynn was quick to serve me a plate of waffles topped off with little chopped up strawberries and maple syrup and some bacon strips at the side. Thanking her, I hastily gobbled up my breakfast which was just so heavenly. If it were possible, I wish I could eat Mrs. Lynn's cooking whenever possible.

"That was really good Mrs. Lynn" I said as I went to dump my plate in the sink.

"Thank you Blaine, you're always such a big fan of my... Oh no dear don't bother, let me" I was about to wash my plate but she insisted she did it herself and reassured me it was okay and I should just make myself feel at home. Well if I was home, I'd probably be washing all the dishes, not just mine.

"Dear could you pass me the mug over there?" Mrs. Lynn cocked her head to side and sure enough, on the counter was a mug, Mr. Lynn's I supposed and handed it over to her. "I tell Robert to always put his mug in the sink whenever he's done but he never does" she shook her head disapprovingly.

A little while later, Ryder came yawning into the kitchen, his chestnut brown hair a tangled mess. He greeted his mom before helping himself to some breakfast. I watched as my best friend stuffed an entire waffle in his face and ate like he was in a food eating contest. It always surprised me how much of a big appetite Ryder had and the fact that he was in pretty good shape while other people have to watch what they eat just so they don't get fatter always boggled me. Some people just have really good genes I thought to myself.

"I'm going out today mom." Ryder said once he was done with breakfast.

"Where are you going dear? You can't leave Blaine here alone."

"I'll just take a few hours at most 3, I'm going to the gym."

"But honey, what about your guest? It's impolite to invite him over and just leave him alone."

"It's okay he can stay up my room and play the PS3 or something, right bud?" Ryder turned to me.

I honestly didn't mind if he went but Mrs. Lynn was not happy with his son's behaviour as he persisted.

"It's okay Mrs. Lynn, I don't mind" I tried to say. She turned to me with a sweet smile and said I shouldn't encourage his son for being rude which I honestly wasn't but it couldn't be helped.

"But mooooom... I really need to go cause I wasn't able to yesterday" Ryder whined.

"No buts young man, you can go another time when you don't have a guest you invited in the house. That's just not right" Mrs. Lynn said and I could see they were getting nowhere with this.

I suddenly remembered that Ryder had did mention before that he went to the gym with Sam so maybe he was going to meet him there. "Why don't I just come along with you then?" I say.

"What?" Ryder looked at me curiously.

"I mean, if that's okay with your mom, I'll just go to the gym with you."

Ryder turned hopefully to his mom who agreed and he bounced excitedly like a little kid once we were granted permission. Once we were done talking to his mother, we went back upstairs to his room where immediately he closed the door which I took was weird.

"Okay so you really don't have to come with me. I know you were just covering for me back there and I appreciate it but you know... you don't have to tag along."

"What? I was serious. I am coming with you." I argued.

"Wait, you're really coming to the gym with me?" Ryder's tone clearly showed he was in doubt whether what I was saying was true, which surprisingly for him it was.

"Is there a problem with that?" I asked. Ryder opened his mouth as if he was gonna say something, but thought better of it. It astonished me how surprised he was about the idea of me going to the gym. Sure I may have hated gym class and I never really went to a gym before doesn't mean I can't start a new habit right.

Ryder told me to get dressed in something more comfortable and he was nice enough to lend me a pair of his old running shoes since I didn't bring any. It was just the one's he wore last year but he grew so much in a year that it didn't fit him anymore and was just about my size.

Ryder wore a grey basketball jersey with a pair of matching shorts while I stuck with the shirt I slept with and just opted for some sweatpants I was suppose to wear for tonight's bedtime.

Honestly I was just hoping I would run into Sam in the gym since Ryder had mentioned before he worked out with him so maybe Ryder had told Sam he was going today so hopefully he(Sam) was to. I would've asked but I don't want Ryder to get any suspicions about my new particular liking towards our ex-gym teacher since I had made it pretty clear before I didn't like him at all.

Speaking of which, as we rode the bus on the way to the gym, I reminded Ryder of our talk last night about coming up with ways to get rid of Coach Cooperman. It wasn't anything personal but I think I can say with full confidence that majority of the class prefers Sam over him. Thankfully Ryder didn't question why I wanted Mr. Cooperman gone since he too was a big fan of Sam.

"But can't we get arrested or something if we get him out of a job?" Ryder asked sceptically.

"No I don't think it works that way. Besides, do you really want that old slop back, I mean all he does is make us learn the history of sports, never giving us the chance to play them."

"But don't you hate sports?"

"That's not the point Ryder."

It was around 2 in the afternoon when we got to the gym, which was conveniently called 'Slim's Gym'. All sorts of promos and membership posters aligned the walls and there was a tiny part of me that didn't believe I was actually going inside a gym.

At first glance of the inside, I was completely overwhelmed by the number of machines that were actually there. A number of mirrors were placed around the gym and posters of the human body and the different muscle groups also hung on the walls. Considering this was my first time inside of one, I never really thought about what people do here exactly, aside for the weight lifting part cause that's a no brainer.

Luckily I didn't need to fear about looking like an idiot inside since there were only two people there aside from me and Ryder. One of them was a middle aged lady who was running on a treadmill; the other was a burly guy by the counter who was distractedly watching the small TV near his station.

"You gotta go pay first since you're not a member" Ryder gestured towards the counter.

"Oh, okay." I took out my wallet and pulled out some money before going over to the counter. The guy didn't seem to take notice of me so I cleared my throat which barely only got me a side glance from the guy manning the station.

"Umm... one gym session please"

He raised an eyebrow at me looking down at the money and back to my face. "What?" he said in a deep husky voice.

"I... uhhh..." Turning to Ryder, I gave him a look that said, 'I don't know what to do'. He immediately went and helped with the situation, calling the guy Derek and asked for a gym pass for me. Derek looked at me weirdly for a second but shrugged and turned back to his show. Great, he was already judging me.

"So what do you wanna work on today?" Ryder asked.

"Uhh... what do you mean?"

"Well, what do you wanna work on today, your arms? Legs maybe? Or your chest?" when he realized I still had that puzzled look on my face, he went on to explain the basics of working out and how each time he goes to the gym he works on different parts of his body depending on the day.

"Why can't you work on all of them at the same time?"

"There's only so much the body can do Blaine and working on all your muscles will just worn you out. So what do you think you wanna work on?"

"I dunno really..." Truthfully speaking, I've never considered going to the gym. I was always happy with the way I looked and it wasn't like I was overweight and needed to work out, I just was content. Now thinking about it, it wouldn't hurt I guess to be more fit. Being muscularly big didn't fancy me but I didn't mind getting my arms a little bit bigger like Ryder's.

"How about you, what are you working on today?" I asked.

"Oh, I was thinking I'd go with my biceps and chest today, maybe even my legs since we're in no hurry."

"Alright, I'll just do what you do."

According to Ryder, it's necessary to warm up first before doing anything else so he got us on the treadmill for that where he, to no surprise, outran me by a kilometre. Shortly, he got on one of the machines he called a 'bench-press' and I watched as he started pushing up the lever of the machine. Ryder mentioned about doing 3 sets of 12 repetitions. Looking at it, it didn't seem so hard enough and I thought to myself that if it's this easy to get buff, then I might just reconsider working out.

Turned out I was wrong.

When it came to my turn, I barely lifted it once before I couldn't push the lever any higher. "Whoa, easy there Blaine... I think... you should drop some of the weights off first." Ryder adjusted the machine and when I tried again, I was able to do 12 without straining myself.

My mind wondered off as we took turns on the different workout machines and I couldn't stop thinking about Sam. I pictured him in this same gym, doing all the stuff Ryder and I were doing and I just wanted to see that with my own eyes. Just something about the thought of it just excited me.

After some time though, I was starting to lose hope about it the longer time went on. I was egging myself to ask Ryder maybe he'd know if Sam was going to be late or something but I just couldn't bring myself to. Eventually, when I was both growing tired and getting impatient, I decided to just ask him.

"Hey Ryder"

"Yep?" he was busy pulling the rope of some machine that lifted steel bars of some sort.

"You said you worked out with Sam before right? Does he work in this same gym?"

"You mean here at Slim's? Yep he does." He grunted. I was watching him curiously, hoping he'd say 'He's gonna come today after just running some errands.' But to my disappointment, he didn't say anything at all. I followed him across the gym as he went to where a water dispenser was and filled his cup. Go ahead Blaine, just go on with it.

"Well... is he... you know... today?" I tried to sound casual but ended up awkward. Ryder didn't notice though and instead just shook his head as he was drinking.

"Ahh... Nope. He doesn't go on Saturdays."

"Oh..."

With all hopes of seeing him here shattered, I felt like the whole trip was pretty pointless. I may have gotten to go on some machines but after some point, I just didn't feel like doing anything else anymore. Ryder just took it as I was tired and I was thankful he didn't push me too much about it.

It was sometime that evening when we got home, and I realized I was more tired than I thought I was, and hungrier. Both Ryder and I had three helpings of his mom's lasagna and I couldn't believe I ate as much as him.

Ryder had allowed me to shower first before him and after I did, I laid at his bed while I waited for him to finish. I felt so exhausted and tired that my eyelids were getting pretty heavy. One moment I was staring at the ceiling of Ryder's bedroom; the next thing I know it was morning already.

Immediately I felt bad when I saw Ryder sleeping on the makeshift sleeping bag bed I was suppose to sleep on the floor and I also felt a part of me just bubble up on how he sweet he was that he didn't wake me up or anything just so he could sleep on his.

The day just went by really fast. I joined Ryder's family as they went to church. We had lunch after that in some nice restaurant and Ryder and I just spent the entire day playing video games and watching movies. Soon, it was already night time and I was saying goodbye to my best friend. The sleepover's I had with Ryder always was fun regardless of how old we get but I can't help but think sometimes that maybe we were getting too old for them.

Marley says it. Ryder's sister, Rebecca says it as well. Maybe they're just jealous cause they've never had sleepovers and the slumber parties they must have had just sucked.

There was a smile on Ryder's face as he waved me goodbye and I reminded him of our plan for the week.

"What plan?" Mrs. Lynn asked him.

"Nothing mom, I'll see you tomorrow in school Blaine." He said. "Bye!"

I waved him goodbye and thought about the week that was to come. Was I really going to cause someone to lose a job because of him? Well, we'll see.