It's finally the weekend.
Meaning it's the time when students are allowed to go out of the academy… but they all have to be back by seven in the evening, unless their family came to pick them up, then they can be back by Sunday.
Ashton waved goodbye at Julian, who's going back home to spend his time with his family for his little sister's eighth birthday. After the boy had got into his parents car and disappeared from sight, Ashton sighed to himself and slid his hands into his jeans pockets before walking away all by himself.
He noticed Delancey and a blonde girl walking out of the girls' dorm a few feet from him towards the gates and he looked at them for a while as he leaned against a nearby tree.
Delancey looked different and more carefree out of her uniform and in a black hoodie and blue jeans, with her hair free from the usual ponytail and instead cascaded down to her waist like a black waterfall.
Both the girls didn't notice him as they walked away and also disappeared from sight.
"Don't tell me you're staring at that witch."
He jumped a little and turned around to find Roxy in her all-black attire with black eyeliner around her eyes.
Why was this girl always scaring him like that?!
"Did Delancey ever done anything to you? Why do you hate her so much?" he asked.
"Just because. You know, she thinks like she's the best in this school and acts like she's older than us and all that… calling us "miss" and "mister" like she's one of the teachers. I mean, can she not? She has got to stop being all stuck-up and showing she's the boss and starts acting like the rest of us." she ranted, huffing and crossing her arms over her chest.
Ashton frowned.
Of course Delancey could be pretty way too strict, but isn't she the Head Prefect?
"Maybe it's just her duty to be like that," he said.
"Can you stop backing her up?! You don't even know her!" Roxy glared.
"And that's why I refuse to judge her just yet," he replied.
She rolled her eyes then. "Fine, make her your goddess and worship her, I don't care," she paused for a while. "Anyway, I'm going out to meet up with some friends… wanna join?"
Ashton thought for a while, he did have nothing to do so why not.
"Sure, I guess."
Her face lighted up at this. "Then let's go!"
Without warning, she grabbed his hand and pulled him with her out of the building and they waited for a bus at the bus stop outside of the school under the watchful eyes of the security guards.
Roxy didn't seemed to have the intention to let go of his hand as she scrolled through her phone and this made Ashton frowned.
Why was she acting like this?
Not that Ashton minded, he had somewhat considered Roxy as a friend but it felt weird when she acted like this.
"Wait, where are we going?" Ashton asked as Roxy brought him to a pretty abandoned and silent park.
If she murder him here, nobody would know.
"This is our usual hang out spot." Roxy said, walking beside him.
That's when he heard voices of people laughing and talking and soon he found a group of people around his age gathering around the playground, passing around bottles of beers and cigarettes.
Oh.
He should've known a girl like Roxy of course would be hanging out with a bunch of people like this.
Not that he was judgemental towards them. Heck, he was one of them once a long time ago but these were the people that had betrayed him a lot and he used to carry their blame all the time.
One of the reasons why he had wanted to change.
"Roxy, I think I gotta go…" he trailed, not liking the uneasy feeling inside him.
"But—"
"No, Roxy, these are your friends, not mine. And if I want to go, I'll go," he insisted firmly.
Roxy sighed then and she fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Fine, you can go back yourself?"
"Yeah, see ya at school, Rox." he replied and then walked away before the group could see him.
Now Ashton was all alone in his room as he stared out of the window while getting a call from his mother.
"How's everything?" his mother asked and he shrugged to himself.
"Fine, I guess… things aren't so bad."
"Did you do anything?"
"Have you heard of anything?" he retorted with a smirk and he knew his mother was fuming at the other line.
"Listen here, young man. One more time and I'm sending you to somewhere more worse. I'm glad you haven't done anything but your attitude still needs a change… I'll be off to work now. We'll see you soon." and without waiting for a reply, his mother ended the call to which Ashton just shrugged again while looking down at his phone.
He turned off his phone and looked out of the window again just when he saw something disturbing.
His view from the mirror showed the girls' dorm and he knew that today was surprisingly lacking of people… even most of the prefects took their leave today.
But he wasn't expecting to see two legs dangling out of one of the windows of the girls' dorm before disappearing inside.
Even though it was quite far from where he was, he was sure those legs don't belong to a girl.
Standing up quickly, he rushed out of his room and out of the dorm before running towards the open window.
He knew it wasn't his business and he probably should've called one of the prefects or securities but no one was around and it would be too late by then.
Just as he reached the window, he heard a girl's scream followed by a muffled sound and someone shushing.
Without waiting, he climbed up into the window to see a brown haired boy with his hand covering a girl's mouth, who Ashton was sure the one who had screamed, with only a towel wrapping her body and wet strawberry blonde hair plastered to her face.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Ashton exclaimed as the boy immediately let go of the girl and she ran out of the room quickly while the boy was about to head out of the window but Ashton grabbed him by his shirt.
His intention was to stop the boy but since the boy was way bigger and taller than him, the boy shoved him to which his grip loosen by the impact and he fell to the ground and crashed on top of some structure made out of sticks and a bunch of other things which was possibly a school project, giving the boy a chance to escape out of the window, leaving him.
He sat there on the floor for a while, feeling pain in his back as he felt a stabbing pain from something sharp and his head was pounding because he must have somehow hit his head on the wall as well.
He was too late to even try to comprehend what was happening when footsteps neared him and he looked up to see Delancey with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him up before starting to drag him out of the room and out of the dorm with girls peeking out of their rooms and gasping and talking in hushed tones, the towel girl from earlier being nowhere in sight.
"Wait, before you punish me, I was not peeking on girls! I was just saving that strawberry blonde girl because that guy was about to do something nasty to her, I think, and that's horrible, I didn't mean to barge into the girls' dor—"
"I know that, you idiot, but would you just be quiet?!" she whispered-shouted at him as she kept a firm grip on his arm and kept on dragging him out of the dorm.
"He's walked in our dorm!" he heard one of the girls whispered to another.
"Yeah, I'll be giving him a punishment," Delancey chimed in, apparently hearing what the girl whispered too.
"Wait, come on, I'm not lying," Ashton pleaded.
She didn't reply but kept on the firm hold on his arm until they were out of the dorm and that's when she released him.
"You're good to go now," she said suddenly. "I know the whole story, Emily told me everything. The boy will later on be punished."
He looked at her in bewilderment. "So you're not sending me to the principal?"
"Do you want me to?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I... yeah, no."
"Good. Be on your way now, Mr. Sawyer."
"Thanks for helping." he said and was about to turn around but she stopped him.
"But do know you're not off the hook."
"What do you mean?" he asked, turning back around.
"Meet me at the library after school tomorrow… for detention. I know you saved her, but at the same time you also crossed the line of entering the girls' dorm without permission."
"Why though? It would be too late if I didn't enter!" he exclaimed.
"Because a) the girls probably thought I sent you to the principal and b) I don't need people thinking I'm taking your side and ruining my reputation so be at the library right after school. Sharp." she demanded sternly.
"Well... Okay, then."
Not that he could protest.
"Thank you for saving Emily. Be on your way now, I don't need more attention from others seeing you here."
Ashton nodded, agreeing with her and then turned around to walk again but again, she stopped him.
"Wait!"
He turned back around again as she approached closer to him but her face was set in concern this time, making Ashton confused.
"Turn around," she ordered.
Though Ashton was more confused now, he turned around nevertheless to which Delancey gasped but not too loud.
"Your back is bleeding," she told him.
Ashton cursed to himself. This must've been from that something sharp that had stabbed him.
"Never mind, I'll see what I can do with that." he told her before starting to walk away.
"Of course. Follow me." she said and then grabbed his arm again but more gently this time since he was injured and then led him toward the school building where she headed straight towards the nurse's office.
Inside, Nurse Mikayla was there as she smiled up at them before noticing the dark red spot spreading through Ashton's back.
"Oh, dear! What happened to you?" she asked, taking his hand gently and leading him away from Delancey to sit on a leather chair, careful not to let him lean against it.
"He fell on something sharp. Can you help him?" Delancey asked.
"Of course, Delancey. That is my job!" she chuckled and then turned to Ashton. "Come here, sweety. Let's see your injury."
Then she led him to a bed and then closed the curtain around them while Delancey sat on the waiting sofa.
It was about fifteen minutes when Nurse Mikayla opened the curtains again, revealing Ashton without a shirt and a bandage wrapped around him.
"I will wash your shirt for now, Ashton, and I'll ask someone to send your shirt tomorrow… are you going to walk out like this, my dear?" she asked.
"Uh, I mean, I didn't really bring a spare shirt so—"
"It's okay, I'll cover for him." Delancey said as she pulled out the oversized hoodie she was wearing, revealing a white shirt underneath before handing it to him.
Ashton took the hoodie silently and put it on, which, luckily, fit him perfectly.
"Thanks," he said and Delancey shrugged.
"Thank you, Mikayla." she turned to the nurse with a smile.
"No problem! Now, Ashton, go to your room and rest… tomorrow, come back here and we'll check on that wound again."
"Okay, thank you." he said, standing up.
Together, both the girl and the boy walked out of the room and out the school building.
"Uh… do you need to wait for a while and let me change into my shirt?" Ashton asked the Head Prefect beside him who only shook her head as they stood in front of the boys' dorm.
"Give it back to me this Monday after school at the library. Now go and have a good rest, Mr. Saw—"
"Please, can you just call me Ashton?" he interrupted her softly, not wanting to face her wrath.
Her eyes widened for a while at him as she seemed to be taken aback by the request before she suddenly slowly nodded to Ashton's relief.
In that moment, he had saw something in her eyes that he couldn't quite read while she had looked up at him.
"Alright… Ashton."
The sound of his name coming from her made he smiled. "Thank you. And thank you for helping me."
"You're welcome," she paused. "Good day." and then she walked away, back towards the girls' dorm, leaving him with his thoughts.
Roxy was wrong about her… Delancey Hardy didn't think she was the best.
Behind her strict façade lies the real Delancey Hardy that not everyone knew.
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