Till the end || Ashtray

006.

It was the 1st of February, the day before my birthday. My eyes fluttered open as I heard muffled voices outside my bedroom door. I looked over and Maddy was no longer beside me, and her phone was gone too. I took this as a chance to focus on the voices and try to figure out who they belonged to.

"Bitch let me carry it, you'll drop it." I recognized Maddy's voice. "I would never. Plus she's my sister!" Cassie responded in a mad tone. "Well I basically payed for it, you just picked the color." Maddy stood her ground. Then the doorknob started jiggling, and I fell back into the pillows to act asleep. "Wake up sleepy head." Cassie said, poking my shoulder in an odd way. I smacked her hand away and protested the idea of waking up. "Come on bae, you're gonna love this!" Maddy sang the last bit in a high pitched voice.

I finally rolled over and sat up to look at them. "K well you woke me up, where's your reasoning?!" I yawned while looking at them with an annoyed expression. Maddy grinned as she pulled a black bag from behind her back. "We agreed that you'd love this." She said, shoving the bag into my lap. I looked at them with a little smile, Cassie nodded for me to open it. I pulled out a sage green blanket with my name engraved into it, underneath my name sat my Hogwarts house; Slytherin.

I was grinning ear to ear by now. I opened my arms for both of them, they both climbed into the hug. "Thank you so much. It's amazing, I love it!" I said with a smile. Maddy sat back then. "You better love it. I spent $60 on that shit!" She exaggerated, not being able to keep a straight face. I looked at Cassie who shook her head and mouthed 'it was only $50'. We all laughed, which was strange for Cassie seeing as she has seemed out of it lately. Every time the name Nate Jacobs was mentioned she starts acting super weird.

I folded the blanket neatly and set at the end of my bed as a throw blanket. I brushed my teeth and put my hair into a messy bun before going into Lexi and Cassie's room. I saw who I was looking for, and plopped onto her bed. "Morning Lex." I sighed laying on her lap. She started braiding my hair as she read the book she bought the other day. "Good morning Hay-Bae." She used her nickname that only she called me, which I had grown to absolutely love over the years.

"I got you a little something. But your real gift you don't get until tomorrow." She said, closing her book and setting it next to my head. I sighed, suddenly feeling like I didn't deserve any of it. "You didn't have to Lex-" she cut me off by pushing a piece of chocolate into my mouth, along with handing me a tiny box. Inside it were two packs of strawberry rolling papers. I laughed a little while I pulled her in for a hug. "I noticed how much you like those. You wouldn't shut up about them yesterday." She chuckled. I grabbed her hand. "Love you Lex." I whispered.

"I'm gonna go get dressed. How bout we go get some coffee after, yeah?" I asked politely, to which she nodded. She picked her book back up as I closed the door. I decided on some flared black jeans and a tiny black crop, paired with a green flannel. I tied Ashtray's hoodie around my waist, then put my shoes on. I knocked on Lexi's door as I walked past to go downstairs. I went to grab some gum from the kitchen drawer and saw my mom. "Happy early birthday sweetie, I love you so much." She gestured for a hug.

~

Lexi and I had decided on Dunkin, only because they were the closest to where we were headed. We were now eating our donuts and Lexi was telling me about how excited she was for her play. "Do you mind having a character based on you?" She asked me, worry etched over her face. "I don't give a shit Lex. I just want you to have fun and be successful." I gave her a reassuring smile. "You're my savior Hayden! Here's our stop." She looked at the shop's old sign that didn't work anymore.

I gave Fezco a small hug before making my way to the back. I found Ashtray selling some drugs to a girl. She looked to be our age. She suddenly grabbed his hand as I sat down next to him. "Aren't you gonna let me have this for free?" She offered an innocent smile. Ash yanked his hand away in disgust. "No." He said bluntly. "$250" He finished.

I was trying so hard not to laugh, and Ashtray looked back at me with a glare. "Well maybe I can convince you for next time?" She tryed to wink but failed terribly. "Nah. I'm taken actually." He said out of nowhere. He glanced at me and I stupidly didn't take the hint. My heart dropped and my mind was racing on who it could be. "By who?" The girl asked, wrecking my train of thoughts. This next part felt like it happened in slow-motion. "Her." I felt his arm drape over my shoulder. I was shocked, all I could manage to do was awkwardly wave at the girl.

It was as if this was the first time she noticed me, and she gave me the dirtiest look ever. She slammed down her money and stormed out of the door, flipping off Fez and Lexi for no reason. The moment I saw her do that to Lexi, I stood up and walked out before Ashtray could stop me. I grabbed a chunk of the bitches hair and yanked her to the ground. My fist connected to her face within seconds. She was trying to throw punches at me but was not succeeding, all the while Ash was trying to drag me off of her. Once he managed to grab me and pull me back, my feet were dragging on the ground. "Junkie ass bitch! Suck a dick!" I screamed at her.

Lexi, Fez, and Ash had finally got me to shut up, and that's when I noticed the blonde girl with massive lips sitting on top of the other cooler. "That was cool." She said slowly, though it seemed like her normal voice. "Thank you, I'm Hayden." I introduced myself. "Faye." She smiled, taking a drag and blowing her smoke to the side.