Speech |a.f.i au|

0.7

"Your stutter has gotten better," Mia says. I turn my head, surprised by her statement, knitting my eyebrows together. "Don't look at me so surprised. By the way, number seven is the absolute value of twenty-four."

I quickly scribble the answer onto my paper and smile to myself. A few of my teachers have noticed that my stutter was getting better as well. Between speech and regular therapy, along with the medications and the team, I've been able to speak slower and easier.

"You excited for this Saturday?" She asks, hinting at her birthday party. I nod my head and give her a fake smile. "Are you bringing Michael or anyone?"

"Um... I don't really know." I tell her.

"If you want, you can bring your entire team, like the Speech and Debate team. I know you're on there and you guys hang out a lot, we have extra food and space."

"Yeah sure, I can ask," I tell her, pulling my phone out of my front pocket. I open up to the group chat and text everyone. 

Me: Hey guys, Mia Lang, was wondering if we all wanted to go to her birthday party on Saturday

Abbey: Yeah, I'll be there.

Luke: i heard party, hi hello

Michael: I can't, I have a date :(

My eyes widen when I see Michael's text and I am thankful that Mia is not looking over my shoulder. I know she has liked Michael for so long but Michael has never said a word about her. 

The vibrating in my hand draws me back to my phone and I look at the group chat.

Madi: that means people...

Calum: u r going madeline

Madi: shut up calum

Shianne: who's the lucky girl, mikey?

Luke: I will be going

Calum: you're going, or else im ruining our snapchat streak

Madi: FINE I WILL GO

I turn my phone on silent and put it into my backpack, focusing back onto the whiteboard in front of me.

I jot down the notes and before I know it, the bell rings.  Quickly putting my notes into my backpack, I zip it closed and loop my arms through the straps.

When I walk out of class, I see a whole bunch of people gathered further down the hallways, profanities, chanting, and screaming could be heard. I assume it was a fight and shake my head.

"Public schooling, everyone!" Ashton shouts, putting one of his arms around my shoulders. I chuckle at him and wrap one of my arms around his waist.

"You look cute today," he states, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. I feel the blood rush to my cheeks and shift my eyes towards the ground.

"Thank you, Ashton," I say and continue walking along side him.

I guess it's typical for Ashton to wait for my in class and walk me to my next, and I'd consider it normal for us to act like a couple if only we were a couple.

On several occasions, I have been told, mainly by Madi and Abbey, that Ashton does like me. And I feel like he does but part of me wonders why me when he could anyone he wanted. And if he did like me, why hasn't he asked me out.

All these questions run through my head and I notice that we were stopped outside of my English classroom.

"Would you be my date to Mia's birthday party?" Ashton asks and I have to hold myself back from squealing.

"Yeah, I would love to." he smiles and tells me that he'd give me a ride home since we didn't have Speech and Debate practice today.

I walk into English and I see my entire table staring at me with huge smiles on their faces. I start to smile again and put my face into my hands, letting out a giggle.

When I sit down, I notice a substitute who had written on the board that it was a free class period. She put on a movie, which none of us were paying attention to. Minutes into the movie, Abbey sneezes.

"Oh my gosh, shut the fuck up, Abbey," Luke says.

"Shut up, Luke," Madi tells him before redirecting her eyes back to her phone.

"What is your issue with me?" Abbey yells in whisper form, venom laced in her voice.

"Your existence," Luke speaks regularly and Abbey shakes her head before putting it down on her desk.

I decide that Luke wasn't going to treat Abbey like so, so I lift my hand and swat him on the back of his head.

"Stop being a dick," I say through my gritted teeth, attempting to act angry. Luke nods his head and turns his focus onto the movie.

The rest of class, aside from the tables around us, no one said a word to each other. Madi, Abbey and I texted each other from the Speech and Debate team group chat for girls.

Apparently, Moon, who was close to Ashton, found out that Ashton asked me to Mia's birthday party and she told everyone in the girls' group chat.

I met Ashton outside of my class and we walked together to his car. It was a borrowed car, a 1995 Oldsmobile to be exact, according to Calum.

"I'm starved, you want Mexican?" Ashton asks as he starts turning up the radio. I shrug and nod my head as Def Leppard plays through the speakers. Looking out the window, I see that the sun is shining a bit, though it was still frigid outside, it felt like forever since I last saw the sun. 

When we arrived at the restaurant, the waitress was noticeably exhausted; the bags in her eyes and her chapped lips could distinguish that assumption, but she was fantastic which persuaded Ashton to leave her a good tip while we split the check.

...

Ashton and I lay on the floor of my bedroom, screaming out the lyrics to Faithfully by Journey. About two minutes into the song, Ashton sits up. I stay on the ground and watch him as he looks back at me.

He shifts closer to me, his hazel eyes directly above my brown ones. His eyes shifting to my lips and back up every few seconds.

My eyes shut when I notice him leaning in. His hand cups one of my freckled cheeks and his lips ghost over mine before fully pressing down. His thumb circles around my cheeks as our lips move together.

After he pulls away and lays his head on my stomach, I realize that Ashton Irwin just kissed me.