Big Book of 5SOS imagines

Ashton imagine *tumblr*

He was always alone.

It struck you odd how he always chose to sit in the back, chair leaned back against the wall, tapping a beat on his table with the end of his pencil; oftentimes deafeningly loud during the silent work periods.

It shouldn’t have been odd, not really - everyone always sat in the back to doze off, to check their phones, to watch this video or to simply stare out the window, trying to kill time until the final bell rang.

But perhaps the odd thing was how he intently scribbled down the notes from the board, nost just inches from the paper; listening to the lectures with a rapt expression on his face, absorbing every word.

It was no secret that Ashton Irwin was smart to say the least - of course, you had heard some less than friendly terms for the peculiar boy in the back of the classroom, but you ignored them and apparently, so did he.

He was always the first one to finish the tests; while others were still scratching their heads he would be handing it in, casually strolling back to his seat with a faint half-smirk on his lips.

He was the one who teachers clapped on the back with another successful project turned in, shaking their head in astonishment as they said you’re something special, kid. 

He was the one that answered the questions that nobody else in the class could, his low voice ringing from the back of the classroom.

It’s three thousand and sixty-one, sir. 

And you’d all be left wondering how he could say the answer with such confidence in his voice, how he could find the answer in mere seconds while the rest of you were still crossing off formulas and theories on the corners of your sheets.

Very good, Ashton!

And he’d have that little half-smirk as he leaned back on his chair, his messy hair occasionally falling past his thick black-framed glasses.

But he’d always go back to his silent corner in the back of the room, and you realized in all three years of having random classes with Ashton, you’ve never seen him anyplace else. 

He never came into the classroom with friends, nor did you see him talking with any other peers in the hallways in between classes. Come to think of it, you don’t even recall seeing Ashton in the cafeteria before - you’ve only seen him in the back of classrooms, like some ghost who knew all the answers.

You start to find yourself wondering about the curious boy; why he lurked the corners of the classroom, how he knew all the answers, what lay behind that faint smile that you couldn’t quite decode.

You realize you might’ve known Ashton for three years, but you never did get to really know the boy with the wide glasses and floppy curls.

Well, that was about to change.

-

It was your senior year, and you figured this would be your last chance to talk to Ashton before the two of your graduated from high school; before he disappeared off into some ivy league university with a full scholarship that you definitely would not be accepted into.

You figured it wouldn’t hurt to get to know the boy a little better - it was your last year and besides, it wouldn’t hurt to get to know your fellow classmates a little better before you moved on with your lives.

So you mustered up your courage one day to make your way over to the back corner of the room where Ashton sat during one of your work periods in English class. 

It was just talking - it wasn’t as if you were asking him out, but you found yourself shaking all the same.

There was always something so mysterious in his smirk and intimidating in his ability that scared you and amazed you at the same time - he wasn’t just some nerd in the back of the class, at least not to you.