Breathing Brown

Five

I'm feeling so successful with this book. I really have to give my friends credit for pushing me forward.

Listen to: You and Me - Lifehouse
                   While reading this chapter

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I'm beginning to wonder how on earth I'm not overweight taking into account how much food I actually consume. I scarf down my last piece of orange chicken and decide to savor my orange juice since there's still twenty minutes of lunch left. I'm still mad at Ella for basically ditching me into the hands of the idiot.

"You can't stay mad at me forever," Ella says in between bites of her salad. "Or anyone for that matter, it's just not in your genes." I roll my eyes partially because I'm really annoyed by this whole situation, and partially because she's actually right. Ella starts choking on her salad and I look at her weird before I feel hear a chair being scooted next to me and someone sitting in it.

"How's the lunch ladies?" Ashton's deep voice resounds. His three other friends also pull up a chair and take a seat at our table. What jerks. I decide to ignore Ashton and I look for something to eat on my plate to keep my busy but I already ate it all.

Way to go.

I grab my orange juice and take a long sip, letting it trickle down my burning throat.

"I'm thirsty," Ashton states, and I look up at him. He switches his gaze from me to my orange juice and picks it up and takes a big drink from it. I try to swallow down the disgust as he literally stuffs the bottle back into my hands.

"Are you..." I pause in complete disbelief and anger. "Are you kidding me?" He smirks before replying with a very stern "Nope."
I hand him the juice.

"Keep it. It's probably infected with some sort of sexually transmitted disease now." I shutter in disgust. He takes one last sip at it before setting it down on the table with complete accomplishment written on his face. Everyone else at the table is staring at us in complete silence and I just look back at them. Sooner than later they all go back into conversing about whatever the hell they were previously. I bite my bottom lip as I try to think of something that could get me away from Ashton. Or even, get me out of him driving me home. But after several minutes of brainstorming, I've got nothing.

Why is Ashton so stuck on trying talk to me anyway?

I look up at Ashton, expecting him to be conversing about something but instead he's staring down at me. His head is rested in his hand and the other one is wrapped around the orange juice bottle on the table. I first see his lips, which are—like usual, pulled into a smirk. Then I get taken away by his deep brown eyes. I try to play it off as if it was accidental that I looked at him by rolling my eyes and looking forward at Ella. She watched the whole thing roll out and she was gushing from across the table. Ugh.

•••

The end of the school day rolls by and I'm unloading some stuff into my locker. I have been dreading this moment ever since lunch. I exhale and shut my locker. The smell of mint bubblegum and cologne fill my nostrils.

"Ready to go?" Ashton says with a smile sprawled on his stupid face. I don't reply to him, I just sling my backpack onto my shoulders and walk past him.

"Wrong way pretty." He chuckles. I literally convince myself that steam is about to burst through my ears and nostrils as I turn around and pass him again, avoiding his gaze.

We make it to his black lamborghini and he opens my door for me. As much as I hated this guy, it was sweet of him to do such a chivalrous act. I get into the passengers seat and angrily watch him walk across the front of the car and get into the drivers seat. His eyes meet mine but I soon look forward.