Fragile Bones

Chapter Nine

"You think you can just fucking walk away from me?" I looked down at the ground, absolutely petrified. "Fucking look at me," he demanded, and yanked my chin up to meet his eyes. He stared at me for a couple seconds before scoffing, probably at how pathetic I was. "You'll always be the fat piece of shit I have to deal with everyday, you know that?" He let me go and began to walk off to his next class while I was left pretty much crying. I slid down to the ground against the lockers and wondered what I had done to deserve this.

I instantly regretted eating both of those things this morning. Spencer had called me a "fat piece of shit." I felt like I was lugging around an extra 100 pounds because of this morning. I shouldn't have eaten both, I should have just taken one of the other. I can deal with being dizzy. What I can't deal with is the hurtful remarks.

I held my head in my hands and just let the tears stream down my face quietly when I heard footsteps on the floor. I hoped that they would just keep walking and leave me alone.

"Madeline?" God, I recognized that voice. Of all the people in the world why did it have to be him? I didn't respond because how could I when I was sitting on the ground in the middle of school crying my eyes out like the weakling that I was?

I heard some shuffling from Asher in front of me and felt him slowly grab my wrists and pry them away from my face. I looked to the side, not willing to look him in the eyes. "What...what happened to you? Did someone do this?" He said quietly, and I think this was the first time I had ever seen him truly be nice. I simply shook my head. There was absolutely no way I could tell him it was Spencer's fault. He probably wouldn't believe and then he would hate me too.

And I have a stupid project to work on with him. I couldn't afford him hating me. I wanted to punch Mr. Henderson for getting me involved with this boy. I was truly better off being alone and I wanted by everyone at this school.

"Hey, look at me," he continued softly, and slowly tilted my face to look at him, the gesture completely opposite of what Spencer had done. I stared into those green eyes, past the blurring of my vision and thought about what his mother had said yesterday. How intelligent he actually was. I think I knew what she meant, you could see it reflected in his eyes sometimes, like at this moment. Now that I could see him up close, I noticed he had faint freckles across the bridge o this nose. He really was attractive, and I think everyone at the school knew it, especially the girls.

He just sat looking at me for a few seconds. Neither of us said anything. He grabbed my hands and lifted me up from my sitting position with ease. I hastily brushed some tears from my face with my shirt sleeve, and I could see everything clearer without the blurring of tears in my vision. "Come on," He said, with a flat expression. "We're going out."

I gasped causing him to look at me strangely. "I can't skip school," I whispered to him, glancing around nervously at nothing in particular.

He laughed, and I could tell in an instant he was back to his old self. "Seriously? You haven't even been to first period yet, just call in sick. And I think you could use a day off. It won't kill you to not be such a goody-goody y'know." He grabbed my hand and yanked me down the hallway, out the door and towards his car (thank god it wasn't his motorcycle). He all but pretty much pushed me into the passenger seat and slammed the door behind me.

He climbed in the other side and started the car, and tore out of the school driveway before I even had a chance to buckle my seatbelt. An awkward silence filled the car, neither of us knowing what to say to each other. I knew what I would do if he tried to talk to me about it. I would lie. Spencer and  Asher seemed like pretty good friends last I saw, and I didn't want to disturb that, even thought Spencer was a horrible person.

Luckily, Asher started fiddling with the radio stations to break the silence. Either he knew I didn't want to talk or he really didn't care, the most likely one being the latter. Some rock song that I didn't know came on and filled the emptiness in the air.

I stared out the window as the trees and houses flew by in a flurry of colors, being replaced by large buildings as he drove further into the center of town. "Where are we going?" I questioned him quietly.

He briefly glanced at me and shrugged. "I don't know."

I paused for a second, and looked at him. "You mean you dragged me into your car without any plan of where we were headed?"

"Yep," he replied, turning towards me with a cheeky smile. "You've gotta learn to trust me sweetheart." He turned onto a street I wasn't familiar with, and for the first time I realized he was still technically new to town. He couldn't possibly have an inkling of where he was headed.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Trust you? And why should I trust you? You sure haven't done one good thing that I've seen since you came to the school."

He clenched his jaw a little bit, and gripped the wheel tighter. "Well, after that episode back there I thought you'd be a little more gracious," he said flatly. "And while we're on that topic, what the fuck happened anyway?"

I was startled at his sudden change of attitude, and decided it better to stay quiet than start an argument. For all I know, he could still be a murderer. "Just drop it please," I answered blankly.

He shook his head, looking a little annoyed. "Alright. Fine. But sooner or later, I'm going to figure it out. And you know I will." He turned into a small parking lot, and messily breezed into a handicapped parking space.

"You can't park here. It's a handicapped space," I said to him, thinking maybe he just didn't notice. He rolled his eyes and slid on some sunglasses.

"I don't care. It's closer. Get out." He stopped the car and shoved open the door and stepped out, and stretched a little bit, his shirt pulling up a little to reveal some of his stomach. I couldn't help but look and wonder how on earth he could possibly have abs when he seemed this lazy. I guess he caught me looking at him through this peripheral vision because he smirked at me. "Like what you see?"

I'm sure my cheeks turned bright red because I felt them heating up and hastily shook my head, and almost tripped over myself trying to get out of the car. I heard him chuckle lowly behind me and I looked to where he has taken us.

"Asher, why are we here?"

•••
A/N

I got a comment on my last chapter asking me to update. I tried. It sucks. I just don't have the same writing creativity or motivation that I used to have.

Let me know if any of you want me to keep updating because I have a feeling that a lot of you won't after reading this terrible chapter.

And I know I left it on a cliff hanger, and I'm sorry if that never gets followed through.

Sorry.

Emma x