Shattered (Continuation of: The Chase) ▹ Ashton Irwin

Chapter Twenty Six

"Brooke," My mother said as I grabbed my bag for the last time this week. It was Friday, finally. "Are you going anywhere tonight?"

"Yeah," I shrugged, checking my hair in the mirror. "Why do you ask?"

Why does she ask? It's the first time she's asked about where I am going to be in a really long ass time. Her voice sounded so sincere, like she was actually wondering about my plans. Right now, I was tired, not in the mood to sit through another 7 hours of school, and especially not in the mood to finally hear my mother say words that indicated that she actually cares about me. I could feel her glaring at me from behind as I gathered all my school stuff, but I didn't take any notice to turn around and look at her for an answer.

"Well I don't know," she said. "I just feel like I haven't seen you in a while."

Her comment confused me a little, so I stopped and turned on my heels to stare back at her. Haven't seen me in a while? What the hell is she talking about? I fucking live here, don't I? "Oh," I said. I shrugged again, and grabbed my phone off the table. "I see you every night, except for the weekends sometimes, right?"

"Yeah..." her voice akwardly trailed off. I looked down at my phone, and I saw that it was already 7:00. If I don't leave now then I'll get there late. "But I just wanted to know if you wanted to stay here tonight. Spend some time with your mother. I don't have to work tomorrow, it could be fun-"

"No that's okay mom," I said as patiently as I could. "I'll have to pass tonight."

"Oh," she stuttered. "Okay. Well then I'll see you soon."

"Okay." I nodded. I said goodbye for now, and headed out the door. As I got into my dad's car to take to school, I thought about what my mom had said. It was quite weird to hear her say she wanted to spend time with me, considering the only emotion she's put towards me is distance. I really thought we settled everything like, 2 days after Ashton and I came home from our little weekend-long runaway, but obviously I stand corrected. She makes no effort whatsoever to talk to me, or even pay attention to me anymore. I don't know if it's because of dad, or what. But, I know that it's not very fair to me, if she's treating me like crap.

I wonder what I'm going to do tonight. I want to do something fun, since it's been a week since I've done that. Even though a week may be be short, it seems so much longer when all I do is mope around, tutor my boyfriend in a simple mathematical subject, and have a crave for adrenaline in the back of my mind. I love that feeling, more than I love a lot of things. And the more I think about my mother, my father, and how much I probably fucked up with that situation along with a lot of other situations, the more I wanted the adrenaline running through me.

I also wonder what Ashton's night was like last night, because mine was actually just fine. I hope he got enough sleep, because for once I slept like a rock. I drove in silence, thinking and wondering until I saw the familiar and condescending building of my school just down the road. I sighed and shut my eyes for a second, telling myself to just get through the day and I will have the weekend to do whatever I want.

I grabbed my bag off the passenger seat once I had found a parking spot, and slung it over my shoulder. I did my usual glance around the student parking lot, and lucky for me, campus wasn't totally packed yet. And by packed, I mean filled with people that look at me like I'm some framed artwork in a museum. A lot of staring, and I don't fucking get it. I shudder to myself at the sight of Nick walking up the steps about 20 feet infront of him, and I let my disgusted eyes travel down from his brown hair to his broad shoulders and down to his feet. All I can think about is how douchey he is, and what a waste my first kiss was. Damn, that was so fucking long ago.

As I entered the courtyard I immediately saw no sign of Leila, but I did see Ashton sitting alone at the bench by the tree on the opposite side from me. I walked over, keeping my gaze on him the whole time. The closer I got, the more details to his features I could see. I noticed the way his back was slumped, his head hung a little, and how his hands clasped together in his lap. I also noticed the way his eyes were barely open, blinking slowly. "Ash," I called out as I approached him. he glanced at me with reddish eyes and droopy eyelids.