Relentless [Ashton Irwin]

Chapter 1

I’d never been in love before, but he taught me the look on a boy’s face when he’s in love with me. His eyes met mine and attempted to get lost in them, playing wanderer. He wanted to get lost and never find his way out.

A gentle smile flickered across his lips as he began to memorise my habits from where he was on the other side of field. I didn’t know many of my habits, but I was sure that he’d soon quickly pick up on my one of how I clicked my fingers when I was trying to remember something, or how I held my tongue prisoner between my teeth when I was in deep concentration.

I watched from a distance as he pulled at his shirt that was already untucked and straightened his loose tie. The regular maroon school blazer was worn, but he had the sleeves rolled and it was unbuttoned. He reminded me of the cliché school boy who was a total bad boy. I figured he was aiming for that look, although I doubted he had that attitude.

“There’s a boy watching you” I heard Arna, one of my two closest friends that I sat with at lunch every day say loudly, but not so the guy could hear. “Pretty sure he’s a senior as in he’s off to Uni next year”

“I know” I said simply. I pulled my phone from the pocket on my pleated skirt and brought it out in front of me, hiding it by using my school bag. We weren’t supposed to have our phones out during break, but we did it anyway.

My two brunette and red headed friends gave me the you’re joking right? look. They clearly didn’t expect me to act so casual about it. I guess they had forgotten I already had a boyfriend, and I didn’t plan to get a new one. I was happy with the one I’d scored.

I looked up from my phone that I had been tapping my thumbs busily on. “He’s probably just got a school boy crush, okay? Nothing serious, so there’s no use in going after him. Plus, I’ve got Michael”

Arna rolled her eyes and shared a knowing glance with my other friend, Jenna.

Okay, so maybe my boyfriend was a bit of a goofball who completely dodged their expectations in a guy. He didn’t play sports (though he had tried out basketball once), was always ditching school so therefore was a bad influence on me, and his hobbies were playing video games and eating pizza. I wasn’t really concerned with how he lived his life, but then again, I wasn’t concerned with our relationship one bit. Hell, I barely felt anything between us.

“He pretty much lives in his bedroom” Jenna pointed out, distaste vividly in her tone.

“Basically” Arna added.

“You guys sound jealous” I shrugged them off. I’d always known how much they disliked him and was used to their talks of how he wasn’t good enough for me. Problem was, I never found anyone I liked. My mum had brought me up telling me that boys will break your heart and it had always stuck with me. It was no guessing game to figure out it ruined my love life.

A snort slipped from Arna. She obviously didn’t believe me. In all honesty, I felt the same way. I knew they weren’t jealous of me, just looking out for me in their own way.

“The only thing I’m jealous of is how you manage to keep up a relationship you don’t even believe in” Jenna spoke up.

“Fake it till you make it mate” Was all I had to say.

When the bell rang that signalled that lunch was over, I bid goodbye to my two fellow friends and began to head in the direction of the next class I had which was maths. Sadly enough, it was on the top story of the school building, so I placed my feet that were in what looked like men’s shoes to the ground quicker than I normally would.

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I stopped and turned to face the culprit. It was the guy that Arna thought was in his last year of this horrid place. He was standing there with a sunny day blue folder under his arm

His eyes hit me first. They were the colour the earth has when the rain has washed it clean and I could tell with just one glance that he’d give it to me in a heartbeat. His lips were what I noticed second. So sweet and sharp, almost smug. They weren’t in need of chapping and I took a random guess of the taste they held: chocolate. His hair was lush and full of golden curls. I could only imagine that it was a colour that God himself had designed especially for this boy.

“Hi!” The word slipped from his mouth and reminded me of sugar.

“Hi” I mirrored his greeting, unsure of why he was talking to me. I knew he wasn’t in my year, so the fact that he even uttered a word to someone younger than him was a weird surprise.

“You’re cute; wanna go on a date sometime?” He asked. He now had a confident buzz about him unlike before when he had a dorky essence.

“I don’t even know your name” With that, I spun around and continued on my journey to my math class. Surely by now from chatting to him I was going to be late, and unfortunately I had a teacher who hated if you were even a minute late to class.

Lucky for me, he too scurried in the same direction. He walked side by side with me, I finding it sorta creepy that he was doing so.

“I’m Ashton” He held a hand out to me to shake as we moved in sync with the other. If I were to write a list of things I’d noticed about him so far, forward would be at the very top.

I refused to shake his hand so I ignored it pretending I hadn’t noticed. He had been to say weird within our conversation so far. Boys never acted this way to me, making my mind go crazy. What should I do? Tell him I have a boyfriend? Hit him up with a fake phone number?

“Nice” I decided to say instead of introducing myself like any other normal person would.

“This is the part where you tell me your name” The boy with golden curls and eyes the colour of the earth pointed out.

“Listen, Ashton” I stopped not only so I could look him in the eyes when I spoke to him, but I had also reached my math class. Sometimes life just worked in the favour of me. “I have a boyfriend who I want to have in my life for quite a while longer. Hopefully that answers all of your questions”

He looked slightly taken aback for a moment before regaining his cheerful manner. I swear I had never seen anyone go from one mood to the next so quickly in my life. But what could I say? I went to school five days a week for six hours and this was the first time I’d noticed this guy.

“That’s fine” He shrugged it off. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other around anyway”