High School Survival Theory

Chapter 48

Back to Kiara's POV

"The old Joy World park?" I turn to Ashton. "I didn't know the place still runs."

I remember I used to come here as a child. It's on the outskirts of the town and almost every child of our time used to go there. But it's kind of far away from the town. So when new amusement parks started to open around the town and most people stopped coming here as.

"No, it doesn't," Ashton nods. "I used to know the guy who ran the place, Jacob, when I was doing my volunteering hours. We were pretty close. Unfortunately, he had closed this place because people hardly came here anymore. And most of the rides are either old or needed to be fixed. But he was already running out of business. So he closed the park and moved to California to live with his son."

Wow, how come I don't know about any of it?

"But I didn't want him to close it," he continues, "This is the first place that made me feel myself and I didn't care that this place is out of business or that he won't be able to pay me, I just wanted to come here. So before leaving the town, Jacob gave me the keys of the park and the rides so I can come here whenever I want."

Ashton continues, "Since then whenever I'm sick of the world out there and need space, I come here," he says. "No one else knows about it, let alone came here," he pauses to glance at me. "You're the first."

"No one knows about this place?" I ask him in astonishment. He shakes his head. "What about your fuckbuddies?"

Ashton makes a face and shakes his head. "They're one of the many reasons why I come to hide here."

I nod. "What about Owen or Nyako?"

"They don't know about this place either," he confirms. A blush creeps on my face and I try my best to hide it.

"O-okay," I clear my throat. I don't know how to reply to that. I mean what's a girl supposed to say if a guy brings her to his secret hideout where he never brought anyone else before?

Ashton doesn't say anything more. But from the corner of my eyes, I see him shaking.

'How about a simple thank you?' My brain offers.

I shake my head. That'll be too lame.

That bastard is freaking laughing at me!

So I make up my mind and ask him, "Why did you need to do volunteering hours anyway?"

"Juvenile delinquency," he replies plainly. When I don't laugh or comment on that one, he continues, "I punched a guy in my school back in New York. He was already unfit, so when I punched him, he lost his consciousness. The school had to take him to the hospital and I was expelled from that school. So my family decided to move to Georgia," he pauses. "However, the boy's family filed a case on me. As I was under 18, the sheriff told me they will remove the case on me if I do a two hundred hours volunteering job."

"Really?" I ask him. "You got expelled for beating a classmate?"

"Underclassman," he corrects me.

I ignore it and ask, "Not because of displaying your nude in front of your art class?"

The car halts with a jerk. If it wasn't for the seatbelt, this would've earned me a potato on my forehead.

"Hey, what was that for?"

Ashton ignores the question and turns to me fully. "What did you say?"

At first, I hesitated. Shall I tell him? I mean there's no harm, right?