Rejected At First Sight

Chapter Twenty Seven

Walking into school on Monday morning, there was almost a foreboding feeling to the air. As if some type of unseen tension was in the air. I ignored the looks given to me almost as soon as I walked through the doors. Instead, I just walked straight to my class.

My steps falter when I reach the classroom and see that Ashton is already seated at our table. However, his head doesn't shoot up when I enter the classroom like it usually does. I take a quick deep breath, square my shoulders and continue to walk to my seat.

There still isn't a reaction from him as I sit down. I open my backpack and take out my notebook for this class and a pencil. Glancing at the clock, I see that there is still about four minutes until class starts. I peek at Ashton through the corner of my eye and see that he's still writing in his notebook. An awkward silence blankets us.

I start doodling on the front of my notebook. The crinkling of paper cuts though the silence and I see a frustrated Ashton ball up the paper he was writing on. He starts writing on a new piece of paper.

Ignoring him, I go into my own world of doodling and daydreaming. Remembering a snide bit of a TV show I watched last night about Australia, I start imagining what it would be like to actually go there.

My thoughts are cut when the bell rings. Time went faster than I thought. Glancing at Ashton, I see that his balled up piece of paper has been joined by two other balled up pieces of paper.

"Alright class, please get out your notebooks. We need to start immediately, I have a lot of information to give to you..." I stop listening to Mr. Holland as I open my notebook to a new page. Sighing, I realize my hand is going to be extremely cramped by the end of this class.

I was right. By the time Mr. Holland is done talking, my hand had cramped up at least five times. Each time I took a break form writing, I would miss a slide of the notes, making me groan inwardly. Stretching my hand out, I revel in the satisfaction of not having to write anymore. I look at the clock and see that the bell was going to ring in about half a minute. I close my notebook, which has three new pages of notes front and back, and put it in my backpack.

Standing up, I hoist my backpack over my shoulders and walk towards the door where other students are also waiting to leave. Feeling an urge to turn around, I do and my eyes land on Ashton. His blue eyes stare into my green ones. The intense gaze is full of sorrow and regret, and possibly, just a little bit of hope.

I turn back to face the doorway. Glancing at the clock, I watch the red second hand tick towards it's goal. The bell rings and I head to math class.

I walk straight to math class, blocking my thoughts from everything except math. Despite my wanting to stay school related, my thoughts scatter around Ashton. A quick, sharp jolt of longing shoots through me and I stumble.

Glancing around, I notice that a couple of students noticed my stumble. They, two girls and a guy, watch me strangely, probably because I stumbled over nothing. I give them a small smile and continue on my way to math.

Entering math I'm surprised to see that I beat Josh here. I walk to my seat and set my backpack down. Taking out my math things, I continue to glance at the door waiting for Josh to come rushing in. He doesn't and the bell rings.

"Alright, let's get started-" Mrs. Flemington starts but is interrupted.

"Sorry. I got caught up talking to a teacher." Josh comes rushing into the classroom.

"Josh. How nice of you to show up." Mrs. Flemington says sarcastically.

He gives her a sheepish smile as he walks to his seat. I give him a smile as he sits down, but he doesn't look at me. I look at him curiously, a little offended that he didn't look at me. My suspicions are proved wrong when Josh looks at me and winks.