Back to Kiara's POV
"The old Joy World park?" I turn to Ashton. "I didn't know the place still runs."
I remember I used to come here as a child. It's on the outskirts of the town and almost every child of our time used to go there. But it's kind of far away from the town. So when new amusement parks started to open around the town and most people stopped coming here as.
"No, it doesn't," Ashton nods. "I used to know the guy who ran the place, Jacob, when I was doing my volunteering hours. We were pretty close. Unfortunately, he had closed this place because people hardly came here anymore. And most of the rides are either old or needed to be fixed. But he was already running out of business. So he closed the park and moved to California to live with his son."
Wow, how come I don't know about any of it?
"But I didn't want him to close it," he continues, "This is the first place that made me feel myself and I didn't care that this place is out of business or that he won't be able to pay me, I just wanted to come here. So before leaving the town, Jacob gave me the keys of the park and the rides so I can come here whenever I want."
Ashton continues, "Since then whenever I'm sick of the world out there and need space, I come here," he says. "No one else knows about it, let alone came here," he pauses to glance at me. "You're the first."
"No one knows about this place?" I ask him in astonishment. He shakes his head. "What about your fuckbuddies?"
Ashton makes a face and shakes his head. "They're one of the many reasons why I come to hide here."
I nod. "What about Owen or Nyako?"
"They don't know about this place either," he confirms. A blush creeps on my face and I try my best to hide it.
"O-okay," I clear my throat. I don't know how to reply to that. I mean what's a girl supposed to say if a guy brings her to his secret hideout where he never brought anyone else before?
Ashton doesn't say anything more. But from the corner of my eyes, I see him shaking.
'How about a simple thank you?' My brain offers.
I shake my head. That'll be too lame.
That bastard is freaking laughing at me!
So I make up my mind and ask him, "Why did you need to do volunteering hours anyway?"
"Juvenile delinquency," he replies plainly. When I don't laugh or comment on that one, he continues, "I punched a guy in my school back in New York. He was already unfit, so when I punched him, he lost his consciousness. The school had to take him to the hospital and I was expelled from that school. So my family decided to move to Georgia," he pauses. "However, the boy's family filed a case on me. As I was under 18, the sheriff told me they will remove the case on me if I do a two hundred hours volunteering job."
"Really?" I ask him. "You got expelled for beating a classmate?"
"Underclassman," he corrects me.
I ignore it and ask, "Not because of displaying your nude in front of your art class?"
The car halts with a jerk. If it wasn't for the seatbelt, this would've earned me a potato on my forehead.
"Hey, what was that for?"
Ashton ignores the question and turns to me fully. "What did you say?"
At first, I hesitated. Shall I tell him? I mean there's no harm, right?
And so, I inform him of the rumors of his transfer. His eyes grow wide with every passing moment.
"Really?" He asks, barely a whisper, when I'm done telling him the story.
I nod.
The look on Ashton's face is worth taking a photo.
Too bad I'm too occupied with staring at it.
Finally, he says, "I don't even wanna know what else they say about me behind my back."And without saying much, he starts the car again.
I wink. "You'll love them."
My gesture seems to startle him. For what he stares at my face for a moment before his own face breaks into a grin and he starts cackling wholeheartedly. I join in too.
"But seriously," Ashton says between his cackles. "Why would anyone think I had Art in my schedule? I mean have you ever seen my drawing skill? I can't even draw a stickman properly."
I shrug. "One thing for sure," I say. "I'm never going to believe another school rumor ever again."
Ashton turns to me and wink. "Welcome to the club." This does a weird thing to my stomach. I ignore it. It's probably looking for food.
I don't ask Ashton why he beat that boy. If someone told me this story even two months ago, I would've jumped to write it for next week's column.
But it's different now. Things have changed.
My perspective of Ashton has changed.
If Ashton had beaten someone to unconsciousness, that means he did something to deserve it.
The car stops in the old parking lot. It looks like it hasn't been used in ages.
"Let's go, you'll love this place," Ashton tells me and gets out of the car.
I can't exactly share his enthusiasm. Still, I pick Grisbee from the back seat and follow after him.
Grisbee lets out a nervous 'meow'.
I agree with you girl. I'm so gonna regret this.
Ashton inserts a key inside the lock. Suddenly a question comes in my head. "Ashton?"
"Yeah?" Ashton turns to look at me.
"You said this place was closed for old and broken rides," I say. "So what're we going to do there?"
A smile forms in the corner of his lips. "Cause my dearest Snow," he whispers. "I told you this place was closed because most of the rides were old or needed to be fixed, not all of them."
He twists the lock as the gate opens. "Are you ready for having the best time of your life?"
I only cross my fingers and murmur a prayer for the safety of my life as Ashton leads us inside the old abandoned park.
* * * *
"I can't believe you just win against me in every single game," I try to muffle my laughter to look mad. I can't remember when I had this much fun the last time. I almost forgot why this place was deserted in the first place.
Yes, many of the rides don't work anymore, but there are some cool rides that still work. And then the arcade and video games. It felt like I was back in my childhood. And it all happened just because of this one boy.
Pretending to be offended, Ashton clutches a hand over his heart and gasps dramatically. "I can't believe you thought you could even beat me in any single one."
I try to continue to be mad. But as the hopeless case, I am here, I burst into laughter. I try to smother it and say, "Only because you practice them with the park's ghosts every weekend."
Ashton wink and whispers, "Be quiet or they might hear you. I heard they have a thing for pretty girls."
I blush and say, "So I'm a pretty girl now?"
Ashton grins and pulls back. He doesn't say anything as he continues staring at my face. I find myself doing the same.
His magnificent blue eyes peer into mines as his Adam's apple bobbing.
Did I ever mention before how beautiful his eyes are?
The afternoon light reflects behind him, creating a silhouette. He looks like those statues of the Greek gods in the museum. No wonder half of our female popularity has fallen for him.
My thoughts get cut short when Ashton takes a step close.
My breath hitches. This is going to happen. Ashton is going to make a move. He is going to kiss me. My brain screams in excitement as I close my eyes and wait for him to come closer. But that moment never comes.
The 'opening' ringtone of an iPhone breaks into the silence of the abandoned park.
My eyes open instantly. Ashton curses something under his breath as he takes him out of his pocket. He looks at the screen and then excuses himself.
"Yo papa..." his voice starts to fade as he starts to walk away.
My heart starts beating faster as reality dawns upon me.
What was I thinking? Moreover, what was Ashton thinking?
I wonder what would've happened if it wasn't for that phone call. Was he really going to kiss-
I shake my head and dismiss the idea. He thinks of me as his friend only.
I sigh and recall the day. It's been a while since I felt this much joy. And this all happened because of one particular boy. Ashton has reminded me of what it is like to live once again. He made me smile, he made me laugh today. But mostly, he made me forget about the morning.
I almost forgot about it till now. Derek. The boy I thought was going to be my future.
The boy who means nothing to me now.
'He doesn't deserve you,' Ashton's words ring inside my head.
He was right. And I knew he was right.
I mean I know I was overwhelmed in the morning. But it wasn't due to heartbreak.
My heart felt nothing when he said those words. It was all my emotions. The emotions my brain has trashed by now.
If Derek thought I was trying to stand between him and his dreams, then, as Ashton said, he does not deserve me. I deserve better than a guy who's so full of himself.
Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking all these years. I can't deny the joy I felt when I was with Derek when I was really with Derek.
But now I think every relationship is more than an adrenaline rush. It's about trust, it's about feeling yourself.
With Derek, I always had to think twice before speaking. Anything less than by book would disappoint him.
I think that's why he liked the survival theory so much. He didn't like it because I was trying something. He liked it because it made me do things by the book. How stupid I was not to see it till now.
And all the time I was defending Derek to my friends, come thinking of it again, I wasn't exactly defending him, I was just defending my own sanity. And the rules of survival theory.
The high school survival theory. I almost forgot about it. Since the beginning of the senior year, I've been breaking so many rules that the stickers weren't enough. So I stopped checking on it.
A part of me wonders if I'm doing the right thing by neglecting it. Especially when the deadlines of early applications are on this week and I haven't fully prepared any of my applications.
Maybe I'll just stick to the regular ones. Not like it's going to make any difference.
Ashton's voice breaks in my thoughts.
"No papa, you don't understand-"
Since when Ashton calls his dad 'papa'? I wonder.
I mean I haven't seen him much with his family before, but the times we meet, like his first day at this school, I remember him calling his father dad.
His voice lowers again as he continues bickering with his father on the phone.
I try not to bother myself much with it. He can call his dad whatever he wants.
Even I call mom 'mommy' when I need something.
Ashton comes back a few minutes later. "Sorry about that," he says, pocketing his phone.
"No, it's alright," I say with a smile. "Is everything okay?"
Ashton shakes his head. "It's just pa-" Ashton stops himself. When I turn to look at him he clears his throat and continues, "It's dad, he wants me to pick Riley from her dance class. They-I mean he's busy this afternoon."
I let his slips go. What is with him when it comes to his family?
But instead of inquiring about it, I ask, "When does her class end?"
"It ends at five," Ashton says looking at his wristwatch. "Exactly in five minutes from now."
I gasp. "Then what're we still doing here?! Come on let's go."
I try to push him but Ashton doesn't move. Instead, he glances at me like he's seeing an alien.
"What?"
"You want to go with me to pick up my sister?" He asks.
I furrow my brows. "What kind of question is that?" I ask. "You weren't thinking of leaving Grisbee and I here, were you?"
"No," Ashton shakes his head. "It's just-"
"It's what?"
He sighs and turns to me fully.
"I thought you would be mad."
I furrow my brows. "What would I be mad for?"
"You know-" He scratches his head and tries to look anywhere but at me. "Most of my dates don't like it when our plan gets interrupted because of my family."
I burst into laughter. "Seriously Ashton?" I smirk. "First I'm pretty, now we're on a date?"
His cheeks turn a bright shade of red. "Wha-no-" he pauses. A glint of mischief falls upon his eyes. "If only you let me buy us food."
I smirk. "Like a real date?"
Ashton rolls his eyes. "We didn't eat lunch, I'm hungry," he states. It's true. We were having so much fun that food almost slipped my mind. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Riley would want me to buy her food on the way home."
I think for a while. Then- "Sure."
Who says no to free food anyway?
Ashton grins. "Then let's get going," he says and picks up Grisbee as we head off to his car.
"I was thinking..." I start once we enter the car.
"Lucky me," he mimics me from earlier.
I ignore him and continue, "I know this place is your secret hideout-" Ashton scoffs, "-But I was thinking maybe we should invite our friends to come here sometime," I say and turn to face him. "What'd you think?"
Ashton starts the car and glances at me. "Did you have fun today?"
I nod. "Very much."
Ashton then smiles and turns ahead, "Sure, we'll invite them here," he says and reverses the car out of the parking lot. "Sometimes."
I smile and glance out of the window. As the sun sinks above the horizon, Ashton drives us down the highway, back to the town.
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Who wants pda?