The Chase ▹ Ashton Irwin

CHAPTER FOUR

I hurried along, trying not to pump into anyone or draw attention to myself with another falling episode. No one seemed to really notice or anything, which I was thankful for. I speed-walked over to a classroom with a colorful sign in the window that said "MISS HULLEN'S ART ROOM". I decided it was a good idea to go in there and introdce myself to my art teacher. I opened the door to find a young woman sitting at a desk in the corner of the room. She looked up, and smiled.

"Are you..." her voice trailed off as she looked through her papers. "...Brooke?"

I nodded, and walked up to her desk. "Nice to meet you." I said nicely. We shook hands and she complimented me on my dress. She went over what this class was all about; the rules, the requirements, the units we will be focusing on. It all sounded pretty familiar, so I let out a few sighs of relief here and there.

Just then, another bell rang and a class of kids came flooding in through the door and into their seats. The seats were all set up at tables of four. Miss Hullen pointed to my assigned seat and I made my way over there. "Alright, alright class, settle down," Miss Hullen said aloud. "Oh, and this is Brooke. She will be joining us for the rest of the year."

I smiled shyly at no one in particular and took my seat. I sat near the back of the room, at a table with two kids that looked like they were on the more quiet and reserved side. I looked around the room to see everyone taking out sketch books so I did the same. Miss Hullen went over the next unit they are going to be starting, which is portraits. I was glad I would be joining the class at the start of a new unit, so there wouldn't be as much to catch up on.

Suddenly, the door to the room was shoved open. The whole class turned to see what the comotion was. A boy dressed in all black and a head of moppy light brown hair staggered through the class, and sunk down into the seat across from me. "Ashton," Miss Hullen said. "You're late. Again."

"I slept in too late." The boy said quietly as he looked down at his hands.

"What?" Miss Hullen asked.

The boy (Ashton, his name was.) slowly raised his head and looked at Miss Hullen with a look of pure annoyance. "I said, I slept in too late." He growled.

"Well, you can talk to me after class to get your 5th detention in the last 3 weeks." Miss Hullen stated. She instantly moved on to a different topic. I looked over at Ashton to see him pull his hood over his head and mouth the words "Shut the fuck up." to no one in particular. I'm guessing it was to Miss Hullen, and I was disgusted. Who does this guy think he is, being late for class and treating a teacher with so little respect. I decided not to look at that boy Ashton for the rest of the class. I could tell by the way he dressed and slight stench of smoke and beer emenating off him that he was one of those kids of people that I will never associate with.

The rest of my first class at Palo Verde was more of a listening procedure than a doing procedure. Miss Hullen went over the basics of realistic portraits: eyes, mouth, nose, shading. This stuff isn't my strenght (I'm more of a cartoon kind of person), but I am diffidently up for the challenge. The bell rang after an hour, and I got up to go to world history. I collected my items back into my bag and followed the rest of the class out the door. I felt a strong force push me from the back. "You're going too slow damnit." I turned to see Ashton walking away. Once again, I'm disgusted.


...

AP world history is just as easy as I remember leaving it. My teahcer is really nice and a couple nice welcoming people sat around me. The rest of the classes as I had seemed easy enough for me. I don't think it will be extremely difficult to catch up in. Then it was lunch. I Jessie and followed her out into the courtyard to meet up with Amanda, Annie, and Abby. We spent the lunch period sitting on a little patch of grass talking about my first day of school.

"Soo... any cute boys?" Amanda asks. I though about that a minute. I shook my head no. I decided not to tell them about that boy... Ashton or whatever... because I could tell they probably didn't want to hear about just another obnoxious boy in the world on obnoxious boys. The lunch bell soon rang again, and I headed off to my final 3 periods of my first day.