Shattered (Continuation of: The Chase) ▹ Ashton Irwin

Chapter Fifty One

"Hey, do you want to hang out later?" Jessie asked me as we walked into english class. There was only 2 more hours until the weekend, finally after this very shitty and weird week, but 2 hours didn't seem close enough. 2 hours seemed like a whole lifetime that I'm going to have to sit here and try my best not to stare at Ashton.

Every single day I have a class with him, no matter what. And its so fucking difficult to get through them each, considering he made it so obvious that he doesn't want anything to with me anymore. Like how he actually requested a seat change in art to get away from me, and how he never looks anywhere else but to the teacher during english. These used to be my favorite classes, all because of him. But now, everytime I step foot in either classroom I get chilled to the bone with my own guilt and anger towards all the problems I have caused. What makes it worse is just looking at him. I'm still so mesmerized by how breath-takingly beautiful he is, but when it's covered up by the dark clothes and smug look on his face, all I can see is who I used to know. When I first met Ashton he was extremely intimidating, and now I catch the vibe from him that he's right back to where he started. I just hope he doesn't go back to his old habbits, like I'm trying to not do either. If he does, it's going to upset me so much. He was coming so far without putting his faith in a bottle of vodka.

"What?" I asked, shaking myself out of the trance of thought I was in. I stumbled over the leg of my desk, for I didn't even realize it was time to sit down. I processed what Jessie had just asked me and slumped down next to her. "Oh. Yeah, sure."

"I mean, only if you want to," Jessie said nicely. "You don't have to. I thought we could do something since its Friday."

I thought about that for a moment, before I smiled and nodded at her. She's right; it's Friday so its okay to do something. And, knowing Jessie, "something" is not going to involve the things I'm trying so hard to stop doing. I'll admit, it's been pretty hard to not steal from my father's 6 packs of beers that sit in the fridge in the garage because I think it'll help me feel better, so I just hope it doesn't turn into a serious problem. I hear stuff about people ranging from my age and older getting pretty relying on the substances of alcohol and everything else, and it's been pretty worrying to think about the fact that I kind of rely on it top. I'm trying to stop it. I swear.

"Okay," I said. "We should hang out."

"Sweet!" she said optimistically. She then opened her mouth to keep talking, but she stopped when Mr. Perkins spoke from the front of the class.

"Afternoon everyone," he greeted. "I hope you are all prepared to learn about -"

"Oh, thank god," my body froze at the sound of Ashton's rather confident voice as he shoved his way into the room. He's been late to class everyday this week.

"You're actually going to teach us something, sir?" he smirked at the teacher and I watched as he slid into his seat.

"Ashton," Mr. Perkins sighed.

"Yes?"

"First of all," he spoke. Ashton just raised his eyebrows back in boredum. "You were late to class again. You know I can give you detention for that."

"Do you really want to, though?" Ashton questioned. His tone suddenly changed to this...this weird tone of innocence. "I mean, you can give me a detention if you want. But do you really want to spend your Frday with me? I have no problem with chatting it up with you in here, but I'm sure you've got plans, right? Friday night How I Met Your Mother marathon with your dog?"

Mr. Perkins always discretely complains about how he's not married or doesn't have any sort of girlfriend and just one dog, and I could see in the teacher's eyes that Ashton was pushing his buttons even more than usual. I remember Ashton used to always mess with him during class and I would always laugh along, but now it gave me a weird feeling in my stomach.