Shattered (Continuation of: The Chase) ▹ Ashton Irwin

Chapter Thirty

AN: THIS CHAPTER IS SO LONG IM SORRY but I hope you enjoy it :) sorry it's been a slow update, by the way! I've got finals and stuff this week and next, but on the bright side I'll be on summer vacation by next friday :) and sorry again for the sadness...trust me, I literally yell at myself sometimes for making Brooke actually exist. I don't like her either haha :)

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I walked up to Palo Verde on Friday morning with a different kind of mood than the usual. On every other day of the week, I find myself feeling tired, annoyed, and already bored when the classes haven't even started yet. I think thats how every kid that goes to ths school feels every morning, and I surely don't blame them. Although, everyone gets a little but more excited on Fridays...and I don't blame them for that either.

Friday meant a lot of things. First off, it meant no school tomorrow, or the next day after that. Which is always good, considering I don't have to be around people I hate, people that always look at me, and people like my teachers that make us all do work. Second off...I mean, it's Friday. I'm most likely going to do something extremely fun and adrenaline-pumping tonight. That's been the routine for a long time now, and I have no problem with it at all. I love it.

I hopped up the front steps and walked into the courtyard, and to my surprise the first person I saw was Michael. Well, I really shouldn't say surprise...more like dismay. He stood with who I recognized were a couple of Nick's friends; they all three stood across from Michael, while Michael had his arms crossed over his chest. He wore all black like the usual, and as I got closer to them all I could smell the scent of cigarette smoke emenating off of him.

"You're all really judgemental, you know that?" Michael was saying to them all.

"We asked a simple question!" One of them laughed. "We were just curious about your kind."

"My kind?" Michael narrowed his eyes. "I will literally not stop to punch you so hard in the face, it'll knock all of the money right out of your father's wallets."

"So you're all crazy?" Another asked.

"Fuck off!" Michael stepped forward, tightening both of his hands into fists. The three guys jumped back, with small expressions of fear in their eyes. They seemed to eventually shake off their intimidation, and they all laughed. They left Michael alone and huffing angry breaths by himself.

"What was that about?" I asked, trying to not make the air awkward.

"I don't know," Michael said harshley, glancing over to me. We stood at a pretty decent distance from each other, for I didn't really want to be so close to him. To this day, he is still managing to piss me off. "I guess people like to fuck with my emotions too."

"Fuck with your emotions?" I raised an eyebrow at him. What the hell is he talking about?

"All people have been asking me is if I'm crazy," Michael scoffed. "Literally, this whole week. They're like 'Oh, are you fucked up like you best friend?' which I would calmly reply with a subtle 'No. And he's not either', but now I'm getting annoyed."

His words made my stomach churn and my eyes glance down to the ground. I wasn't entirely sure what he meant by 'crazy', but when I think about the fact that Michael is Ashton's best friend, and that Ashton has been acting weird as fuck this week, it made me worried. I thought back to Monday, when literally everything I know about Ashton involuntarily slipped out of my mouth as I told everyone that I've grown to be friends with things about him. A lot of things...and I don't even know why I said it. I guess the reality is that: one, I trust Leila and her friends a lot and I didn't expect them to all hate Ashton that much..and two, that everything about him is true.