leave him // a.i {au}

02

flashback

Ashton couldn't believe it when she sat down next to him in biology class. He could feel his body tensing up with nervousness and his throat felt as though it was going to close up.

The teacher walked in, announcing that they were to find partners and discuss the reading from the night before.

The girl next to Ashton, Stevie Pierce, that he had admired from afar for so long turned to look at him. "Partners?" she asked, flashing her perfect smile. Her brown hair had some waves to it and was cascading down her back.

"Y-yeah," he said, nodding.

"Did you do the reading?" She leaned forward on her desk, her cleavage on display.

"Mhm," Ashton gulped.

"Are you alright-" she began to ask, but realized she didn't know her partner's name.

"Ashton. And yeah, I'm good," He answered, trying to hide his nerves.

"Ok, well I think we're supposed to discuss the topic of genetics." Stevie kept talking, using sophisticated language of the topic, but Ashton couldn't focus. He could only listen to her beautiful voice and notice how gorgeous she looked. "So what do you think?"

"Uh, what?" he said, shaking himself from zoning out on her.

She laughed and the boy instantly fell in love with the sound. "You weren't paying attention, were you?"

"Sorry," he said, guilty.

"It's alright. The reading wasn't terribly interesting."

"I did do it, it's just..." Ashton trailed off, not sure what to tell her. He definitely couldn't say that he was focusing on how she talked or how beautiful she looked.

"It's fine," she giggled.

"Class, now I would like you to start discussing your pedigree project. Talk to your partner about your plans and what gene you plan to trace," the teacher announced, interrupting everyone's conversations.

Stevie turned back to me. "So what are you doing?"

"Actually, I haven't thought about it." Ashton didn't really want to do the stupid project. You were supposed to pick a trait and trace it back in your family. He didn't want to do a project about his family because his dad left them soon after Harry was born. From a young age, he'd been helping his mom around the house and taking care of his younger siblings.

"Why not?" she asked, not in a way that seemed like she was prying but more like she was genuinely interested.

"I don't have the best family..." he trailed off, not wanting to get into it. Ashton leaned back in his chair and crossed my arms over my chest. He was getting more comfortable talking to her, but still couldn't get over the fact he was actually talking with her. His friend Luke had always told him that he needed to "just grow some balls and do it," but Ashton was always too scared.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I could help you sometime. If you don't want to do it alone," she suggested.

"Really?" he asked, surprised.

She laughed, "of course. I actually love biology and I've pretty much finished my project."

"It's not due for like another week."

"Like I said, I love biology." She tore out a piece of paper from her notebook and scrawled something down with her pen. "Here," she slid it onto his desk. "Text me when you wanna work on it. I just have gymnastics right after school everyday but I get done around five."

"Sweet," he nodded.

"Ok, class. Let's bring everyone back together. Are there any questions regarding your projects?"

Class continued, the minutes ticking by slowly. Ashton could only focus on Stevie sitting next to him and was unable to recall a single word that the teacher said.

***

"Mate, you can't be serious! Stevie Pierce offered to help you with your biology project?" Luke and Ashton were sitting by themselves, like they normally did, at lunch. Their regular table was in the corner of the lunch room, away from everyone.

"I'm being completely serious. She sat down next to me voluntarily and everything." Ashton took a big bite out of his pepperoni pizza as Luke stared at him in disbelief.

"She totally likes you."

"Nah, I think she feels bad for me."

Stevie Pierce was the star of the gymnastics team even though she was the youngest, she had tons of friends, and her parents were rich. There was no way that she would ever like Ashton.

please vote and comment xx zoe