Could you pick me up? I have some issues with transport today. X -Ash
I hit the send button and waited for Erica to reply. Walking over to my dressing table, I felt my phone buzz and quickly unlocked it to see the reply.
Yeah, sure! See you in 10. X - Erica
I sighed with relief; all I had to do now was get out of my house without facing my mom.
Last night, mom came in my room to get something and she freaked out when she saw me. She tried talking to me but I just pretended to be asleep. After waiting for a while, she kissed my forehead and left the room.
I grabbed my handbag and walked down the stairs. Reaching for the handle on the door, I quietly turned it.
"Ashley," I heard my mom say protectively.
I groaned loudly and let go of the door, turning to face my mother. She walked towards me; her heels leaving a loud echo in the silent room every time she took a step.
"Ashley," she said softly, taking my hands in hers. I pulled away and glared at her.
She sighed, closing her eyes. "Sweetie, please just listen to me. I'll explain everything."
I stood there in front of her calmly. "You better hurry up because Erica will be here any minute."
She gave me a sad look but continued.
"Your dad," she began. "was here to come and check on us. Honey, everything you said about him is not true, your dad used to visit us regularly when you were young but we started moving around and he found a woman, got married and started moving on in his life. That's why you never got to see him around, he does care about us, about you. Just because things didn't work out between us doesn't mean he doesn't care about you. You're his little girl."
I gave her a stern look. "If I was his little girl he would have at least told me about his marriage and tried to visit us more often."
She blinked. "H-he did invite us but I didn't want you to attend his marriage and see him with another woman. You were not the only reason; I wouldn't have been able to witness that myself."
I felt my expression soften. Sighing, I said, "I'm sorry mom, it's just that seeing you with dad after so many years was just...weird. Especially after what happened."
"I understand sweetie," she said softly. "And I'm sorry about, um, slapping you. It was just absolutely stupid."
"It's alright mom," I said with a sigh.
I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and instantly knew that Erica was outside, waiting for me.
"Mom, I have to go, I think Erica is here," I told her, adjusting my bag on my shoulder.
"I would have dropped you today, you didn't have to ask Erica to come and get you."
I gave her a guilty smile. "I didn't want to face you this morning."
Nodding, she pulled me in for a hug. I hugged her back.
*
"You what?" Erica practically yelled into my ear.
"Look at the road!" I exclaimed after noticing Erica's eyes on me.
"Fine! Now will you tell me everything?" she asked, emphasizing on the 'everything'
"Calm down! I just spent the day with your brother! It was nothing," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Sure, it was nothing," she replied sarcastically.
I rolled my eyes.
"Give me details. Now," she demanded.
I sighed and began, "I got into a fight with my mom and she slapped me. I started crying and I wanted to talk to you so I walked to your house but then I realized you were going to your aunt's place. Ethan came out, saw me crying, comforted me and then we just spent the day together at the mall. Besides, I really don't know why you are so freaked out. Ethan's a nice guy."
She scoffed and then gave me a side glance; I raised my eyebrows at her in return.
"Okay, fine. For a minute there, I thought you were planning on becoming my sister-in-law," she said.
I narrowed my eyes at her and hit her shoulder hard.
After a minute of silence, we started laughing loudly.
"Seriously? Since when did you get that dumb?" I retorted between chuckles.
"Hey, don't blame me! I've spent way too much time with you," she said with a smirk.
I scoffed at her and continued laughing. Erica reversed her car and parked it smoothly. We both started walking towards our lockers.
"Hola senoritas!" I heard Abby say behind me.
I chuckled while Erica gave her a hug.
"I love that dress!" Abby exclaimed pointing at me.
I looked down at myself and smiled. I loved this dress too, it was a shade of turquoise with small red floral print flowers on it and I added a thick brown belt just on top of my belly to make it look cute. I looked back up at Abby with a grin on my face.
"Yeah, I love it too," I said with a grin.
"I'm so sleepy," Erica said after a small yawn which made her eyes a little watery.
"You're sleepy all the time," Abby replied.
"I'm not!" Erica defended.
"You are," Abby responded.
"I'm not!" Erica repeated.
"You are!" Abby and I chorused together.
Pouting, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the locker.
Ethan's POV
I saw her standing across the hall, laughing with my sister and another girl, Abby, I suppose. She looked quite cute actually with a blue dress and boots which suited her a lot.
"Is it me or does she look hotter day by day?" Jared asked.
"Is it me or do you drool over every hot girl you see?" I asked.
"So you do think she's hot huh?" Jared asked with a smug look.
I smirked at him. "I don't think I can deny."
"True," Jared replied with a grin
I focused my gaze back at her and sighed. The side of her head was resting against her locker and one of her hands was holding her handbag. She was saying something to Erica and my ears strained to listen to every word she said. Whoa! Where did that come from?
Yes, I have had many girlfriends.
Yes, I think Ash it hot.
No, I am not a lovesick puppy.
Jared waved his hand in front of my face and I blinked, averting my gaze.
"And you say I'm the one who's drooling," he stated with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes. "C'mon. Let's go"
"Yo guys! Wait up!" I heard Michael yell behind us.
He jogged towards, "So this Friday, we have a holiday because, um, I don't know but we do so I was thinking we could go for camping; it was really fun last time."
"It wasn't fun last time, you forgot to get the tents," I said.
"He won't forget the tents this time, so chill. I could ask Ashley, the new girl, to join us," Jared responded, shrugging his shoulders.
I shook my head at him. "No! No way! Ash can't come with us because if she does, she'll come with my sister. And there is no way I'm spending three days with my sister in some forest."
"Ash? Since when did you start calling her Ash?" Jared asked.
"Since I was 8? I think," I replied, earning a shocked look from Jared and Michael.
"You knew each other when you were 8?" Michael asked, clearly interested.
"Yes, Erica and Ash were like best friends for many years. That's why they are so friendly," I told them.
"And you didn't mention this to me before because?" Jared asked.
"Because I didn't think it was important," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.
"Are we going or not?" Michael interrupted.
"Yeah, I'm in," Jared replied.
"Without Ash," I stated.
"Come on, your sister is not that bad," Michael whined.
"You're not her twin and you don't have to be with her all time," I said.
"You guys don't look alike," Michael replied.
"That's good," I replied.
"Did we seriously change the topic from camping to whether Ethan and Erica look alike?" Jared interrupted.
"Right, back to camping, we're going to go right?" Michael asked.
"Yes, I'm going to ask Ashley during break," Jared declared.
Sighing, I started walking. Jared wasn't going to give up.
Ashley's POV
"Did you hear we have a holiday this Friday?" Abby asked cheerfully.
"Really? I haven't heard about it yet," I replied.
"We do. All of us should meet up and enjoy," Erica joined in enthusiastically.
"Yeah, we could-" I got interrupted by the loud ringing bell.
Abby sighed and we started walking together in sync.
Abby nudged my shoulder and exclaimed, "That's Michael! Look! He's walking next to Ethan!"
I followed the tip of her finger and saw a boy with brunette hair. Instantly, I knew Michael and Abby would look cute together; he was probably a few inches taller than her.
I looked at Abby's dreamy look and smiled.
"How long have you known him for?" I asked.
"Two years? I think," Abby responded while furrowing her brows.
"Yeah, I think so too," Erica said.
"Oh, so was it like love at first sight?" I asked, smiling.
"Not exactly," Abby replied.
"I'll drop you to the Math room since you don't know where it is," Erica said, changing the topic.
I gave her a brief nod. Abby waved and walked towards her class. Erica dropped me and I walked inside the classroom sitting at one of the seats at the back. Yeah, I know, I always sit at the back. But hey! Being one of those kids who sit at the back, I'm pretty good in studies.
I just don't like sitting right in front of the class with the teacher so close to you that you can observe how much he/she is sweating. Sweat is one thing I have always hated, it's just gross. You feel sticky and oily, like you were dipped inside a bucket full of oil.
Wait, how on earth did I start thinking about sweat? Oh, right!
Well, all I'm saying is that you don't have to sit right in the front to be absolutely brilliant in studies.
"Looks like we're going to be sitting next to each other in Math," I heard someone say beside me.
My neck turned towards the person next to me and I mentally groaned when I saw Jared sitting next to me. I offered him a fake smile with a nod and he grinned back at me.
"So, where are you from?" Jared asked me, his dark brown eyes piercing into me.
"I'm from New York but I've barely lived there for a year, I move a lot with my mom," I replied with a small smile.
He isn't that bad, I guess. In fact, he was just trying to be nice.
"New York, that's an amazing place," he replied, nodding his head.
"Yeah! Have you been there before?" I asked, excitement suddenly taking over me.
"Yup, I went there for a few weeks, it was a hell lot of fun!" he replied, with an adorable grin.
"Ok class, today we will continue with the Algebraic Expressions. Yes, I know all of you have done it in Year 8 but there's something about Math, it always becomes more complicated. So, open your books to page 82 and have a look at it till I pass out these formula sheets," The professor stated.
"What's his name?" I asked Jared, motioning towards the professor.
"Mr Martin," he replied.
I gave him a closed mouth smile and turned to my book, reading a bit.
"Um, so this Friday we have a holiday, I'm pretty sure you already know that," Jared said, interrupting me while I was reading.
Oh great, I thought; now he's probably going to ask me out again.
"Yeah I do," I replied slowly, nodding my head.
"So, a few of my friends were planning a camping trip. Actually, it's just me, Ethan and this other guy, Michael. You could get your friends along. We could get to know each other," he said shrugging.
Actually, that was a great idea. This trip might help Abby and Michael to 'bond' more. I smiled to myself and turned towards Jared.
"That sounds like fun! I'll ask Abby and Erica and then let you know, that's if you don't mind them joining us," I replied.
"No problem, it'll be fun with more people," he said with a smile, his deep blue eyes twinkling.
He took a book out of his back, wrote something on the back of the book, tore the paper and handed it to me. I took it and raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.
"My number," he said, clarifying my doubt.
"Oh," I said softly. "I'll text you when I talk to them."
"I'll wait," he said and started taking down some notes from the board.
"You know, I didn't know that angels could fly so low," Jared exclaimed while writing down some notes in his book.
He looked up at me when I didn't respond. His blue eyes met mine and I looked away awkwardly.
Are all guys in this school such big flirts?
One calls me angel and the other one uses extremely dramatic yet effective pick-up lines.
I could feel Jared's gaze on me and I looked at him and smiled, a small blush spreading across my face.
A/N: Guyss! 800 reads?! This is *sigh* .. I don't even have words to describe how happy I am! Thank you so much for your support! It really means a lot
Dedicated @ALLY1000 for making the amazing cover on the side! :D
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