The Boy Across The Street

Chapter 1: Life...

I stood on the dark stage the only light coming from flashing phones and cameras, I stood there frozen in complete and utter panic my palms were sweaty my stomach was in my throat, the announcers called my name but all I heard was mumbling my thoughts only replaying harsh phrases and words from my past, the lights came on and I heard boos instead of cheers I felt like I was being choked, I started to cry and panic...

I woke up crying, hot and sweaty I broke down on my bed thinking about my past, and the harsh words said to me my last year in public school, I thought about my grandma and how much I missed her, I sat there trying to calm myself down, "breathe Ash just breathe", I told myself, after a few minutes, I got myself together and looked for my phone to check the time 9:30am, I sighed and dragged myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom to wash off the now dried tears on my face.

I know, I know your probably super confused on everything that just happened, so I'll start from the beginning. Hi my name is Ash and no not short for Ashley as most people assume, its just Ash, and I'm not your typical rebellious teenager who hates there family and has family problems...okay I'm only slightly rebellious when I want to be, but I do have an amazing family, who I'm quite grateful for, I'm an only child now being that my older sister Sage left for college last summer, I do miss her and we Skype every Saturday and talk, but it is nice to have all the attention, and have my space, as for my parents they're great and chill but at the same time pushers there always on my tail about school and how I need to get good grades and stuff and they say stuff like "yes we support your hopes and dreams, but school is important if you want to fulfill them", and all I can think, is that you don't have to know math or science to sing or dance which is all I EVER want to do. Then there is my grandma my sweet grandma, who has been there through everything that's going wrong, she always tells me to work at the things I want most in life and never lose hope, she always gave me a good pep talk when I was sad, but she passed when I was in middle school due to cancer, and I was devastated I still am devastated, my whole world shattered in front of me she was one of the most important things to me in the world. But she was gone, and I was heart broken.

        A while after my grandma passed the people I thought were my friends started to bully me and call me names and say everything that went against what my grandma told me, they would laugh when I said I wanted to sing and dance, they would say things like "you don't even have that great of a voice so why try, save yourself the disappointment". They would text me nonstop and say I was a loser who would never amount to anything, and it hurt, but it all stopped when my sister found my phone and saw the texts, she always knew when I was hurt, she could read my mind, but once she saw the texts she knew I had lied about being "fine" or "okay", she informed my parents and they took me out of school, so I'm now homeschooled which I love, they put me in dance lessons and I've made new friends who are great and treat me good cause we all have the same passions and desires, but unfortunately my past would still haunt me, I had recurring nightmares and minor anxiety, it wasn't horrible but its never easy to lose someone who was your rock and have people you thought cared for you leave you in the dirt. Ever since I left school I have never let anyone know I can sing or dance, but my family and dance friends and I haven't come out of my shell in a while for fear that history will repeat itself, but as I always tell my self "if they don't except you for who you are then they're not real friends", but I'm still scared, I mean if only my grandma was here she would know exactly what to say, but she's not here so I'm stuck.

I left the bathroom feeling refreshed after washing my face, so I headed to the kitchen to get some breakfast, my mom was at work and my dad left for a business trip yesterday and won't be back for a week, so I had the house myself "yes!" I half yell and immediately run to grab my Bluetooth speaker and blast one of my many Spotify playlists, the song Hair by Little Mix turns on I set my speaker down on the counter dancing my way to the fridge to find a note left from my mom, "left for work won't be home till nine or ten tonight, love you, p.s. please do your chores and take Penelope on her walk, love mom", I smile and roll my eyes as I open the fridge to make myself some cereal. I dance while eating my cereal, "I freaking love cereal," I said with my mouth full of cereal, after I finished it, I quickly put my dishes in the sink and dance my way to the cleaning supplies, I grab the duster and dusted off our large blinds and windows, I opened each window afterwards to let the morning air in, it was a beautiful sunny day and it wasn't too hot or too cold, it was just right, "wow Ash you sound like Goldy locks, its a good thing people can't read my thoughts, gosh I'm such a weirdo", after I zoned out of my twisted thoughts I noticed people moving in across the street, it was family, I saw the parents and then two girls, one looking around my age so sixteen she had dark brown hair and glasses, and the other looking ten with dirty blonde hair I couldn't see there facial features that well, so as I scooped the area to see if there was anyone else I saw a boy walking out of the moving truck holding a box, I couldn't see his face that well, but he was tall, with lushes brown hair, probably seventeen I didn't think much of it being I could barley see cause the angle of the sun, so I turned back to my music, the next song came up which was, Let You Down by NF and quickly recalled my contemporary routine I learned last week and started the music over and turning the volume up, and hurried to our open wood floors and began to do the routine it was one of my favorite dances because I loved the moves but I also loved the song and how emotional it was and how I could just put everything into it and be fully immersed into the dance. After it ended I laid on the floor out of breathe and a little sweaty, I cooled down I decided to finish my chores quickly, then decided to get showered so I could go to the cafe just around the corner.