Shattered (Continuation of: The Chase) ▹ Ashton Irwin

Chapter Seven

"Ashton." I heard my grandmother's voice above me, and my eyes shot open. She was shaking me with her hand on my shoulder, and I was surprised to see I had been alseep on the couch, in everything I wore yesterday, with my geometry book resting on my chest. I guess I must've fallen asleep finishing up my homework, or something.

"Crap," I mumbled, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. "Is it late?"

"No you're good," My grandmother laughed. "You've got about fourty minutes until school starts."

I nodded, and thanked her for waking me up. I tossed my geometry book onto the coffee table for now, and hurried into my room, throwing on a new tshirt and pair of skinny jeans. I paced the floor, feeling like I've forgotten something and that I had less time to get to school than I actually did. I went into the bathroom to quickly rinse my face off, and I cursed at the slight stinging in my eyes.

"Shit," I muttered, realizing I slept with my contacts in last night. I sighed to myself, and decided on just wearing my glasses today. I fixed my hair up as much as I could, and I yanked my phone from its charger. As I walked out of my room to grab all my text books, I looked down at my phone and confusion instantly came over me. I had about 5 text messages from Brooke, all sent at around 3 in the morning.

"djfhsdkjfhs"

"hfeeeeeegege"

"i lvoe yo so mcuh"

"the voice is gone ahahehehahah"

"you;re sos ppefect"

I stopped dead in my tracks halfway out of my bedroom door, looking at my phone, full of a number of emotions like confusion and shock and a million other things. I didn't really say anything ot think anything to myself, so I just slowly flipped the device open, and shakily sent her a text message back.

"Are you okay?" I asked. I waited where I was for a couple moments, staring at my phone and waiting for a reply.

"Yes?" she replied. Before I could say anything back, my phone vibrated again with another message from her.

"What the fuck is that" she said, obviously referring to the texts she had sent me earlier. I slowly kept walking, and I grabbed my back pack and headed out the door with my eyes still glued to my phone, trying to think of something to say back. I felt the heat of the approaching day instantly start to dry my skin as I walked down the hallway towards the stairs, with my mind still blank. I didn't reply, I just looked around the dirty alleyway that led from the enterane of my complex and out to the streets. I ended up leaning against my car, still confused as to what was going on.

"Are you coming to school today?" I asked.

"Yeah of course I am," was her reply, which made me relax just a little. "Are you?"

I told her I was, and I pushed out any thought I was having to focus on the drove as I pulled out of my usual parking spot to get to school.

...

I walked through the usual enterance, taking in who was here, if anyone was staring at me, and most imporantly, if Brooke was here. My eyes scanned the area, and I saw no sign of her. My heart forced itself to start pounding, but I only sighed to myself and shook my head.

You're always here before her, I thought to myself as I walked alone. Calm the fuck down.

I felt a little relief come over me when my eyes caught hold of Luke sitting alone on the usual bench. He sat like I always do; his right leg crossed over his left and his arms folded over his chest.