His Smile

CHAPTER 18

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage"- Anais Nin.

Ashley's POV

"Congratulations." Cam grins as she playfully wiggles her brows at me.

"Ugh!!... I don't like this." I whine as we walk towards the parking area, "And where is Rosie Wood?" I don't understand why I'm supposed to be Catherine. Why? Just why?

"Not here." Cam mutters, grin unfaltering.

I sigh defeatedly, "Isn't she supposed to be Catherine? Why am I Catherine now?"

"You're her substitute, probably when she arrives you'll give her back her position," Cam says in hopes to cheer me up.

"But what if she never comes to school?"

Negativity, I know. Can't help it.

The grin fades off her face as she stares at me disbelievingly. "Don't say that," she scolds "just hope she would come back to school. Who knows, maybe she has an emergency to deal with and will come back when she's dealt with it. Or maybe she's sick. You know Rosie Wood barely misses school."

"Aargh!!! I feel like crying."

"Is it that bad?" She scoffs.

"Very..."

She raises her brows, "You dislike Grayson that much?".

I sigh "It's not like that, it's just whenever he's around I get pretty nervous. But then, when am I not nervous, right?!"

"Mmm...." she taps her chin in thought.

"Besides Lucas had a not-so-nice conversation with him this morning, I believe? I don't even know what had gotten into him. I mean who does that on their first day of school?"

"What happened?, I'm itching to know." She says, so I tell her everything, everything that happened this morning, not leaving a single detail out.

After hearing everything Cam burst out into laughter. "Aww, poor Grayson. Lucas probably scared the heck out of him." Her laughter dies down a bit. "Do you know what?" She asks and I perk up.

"No. I don't know what. What?"

"Lucas, he actually wanted to switch seats with me so he could sit with you."

I gasp "Oh no! He didn't."

"Oh Yes, he did." She smiles shaking her head in amusement at my predicament.

"So that was what he was whispering into your ears?"

"Yep."

"Overprotective my foot, I'll deal with him for this. Such audacity!"

"And I'm not going to stop you, mon amie."

I sigh for the thousandth time, "The problem at hand is Grayson. How am I supposed to act in his breathing space without feeling like I'm being attacked, you know by nerves? I'm allowed to think Lucas said not-so-nice things to him since he refuses to tell me the conversation that ensued between them. What if it becomes extremely awkward acting with him in the next class?" I facepalm in horror.

"Ash, you need to breathe, Calm down. You're overthinking things."

"But I am not, I promise I'm not overthinking this. It's just, I get pretty nervous whenever he's around, and now with Lucas having a so-called 'man to man' conversation with him, the heck that means, I can't help but feel more anxious."

She winks at me "Someone is definitely in like."

"Really?!! Is that all there is to say?" I scowl at her. "Cam, I AM NOT IN LOVE! Can you be serious for once in your life?"