I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing the next morning. Still half asleep, I shifted my body towards my bedside table and grabbed my phone. I rubbed my eyes and read the screen: Claire was calling me. I slid the bar on the bottom of the screen and answered the call.
"Claire, what are you doing waking me up at this ungodly hour?" I groaned.
"Dude, it's ten thirty. Get your lazy ass up and out of bed." she laughed and I groaned again, pushing the blankets off my body and sitting up.
"Why? It's Friday, my lazy day." I remembered. Yesterday I had a scrimmage game and tomorrow I have practice followed by an interview and press conference. I swear, playing soccer for a national team requires a lot more than just being able to play.
"You can be lazy later. We're all meeting up at Starbucks. All meaning you too."
"Fine, when and which spot?" I got up out of my bed and walked over to my closet to find something to wear. I began to rummage through shirts as Claire answered my question.
"About half an hour at the one on Mission Street. See ya then Bo." she said.
"Bye Claire, and you'd better pay for my coffee." I heard her laugh as I ended the call, setting the phone down on a shelf while still looking for something to wear. Finally I found a burgundy "Dope" diamond crew that I figured was casual enough, but still nice looking. Plus, it covered up my fresh scars. I admit, I have been cut a few more times since the first about two weeks ago. I just can't help it, I'm confused and I don't know what to do. Even after an entire night of thinking about it, I still have no answer. Do I forgive him?
I slid on my hoodie and a pair of jeans. I walked into my bathroom and brushed my hair, not bothered to do anything with it. After doing my makeup, I grabbed my burgundy toms, purse, and phone before heading out to my car.
I pulled into the Starbucks parking lot about ten minutes later and spotted all my friends inside. I locked the car and skipping inside where I was greeted by five smiling faces.
"Hey Sleepyhead, already ordered your caramel frap." Claire smirked and everyone laughed.
"Thanks buzz kill." I said, causing everyone to laugh again. I loved getting to hang out with my friends. It always put me in a better mood. Soon our drinks were ready and Claire and Matt went up to get them. They came back a few minutes later, three drinks per person. I gasped and than slapped Matt as he pretended to almost drop my drink, but then caught it and handed it to me.
"So, Bo, how's soccer going?" Tori asked.
"It's alright. Everyone's nice and all, but I'm literally getting my ass handed to me. I've never played so awful in my life." I took a sip of my drink.
"Hey, there's always room back on Power if they kick you off." Hailey smiled and Claire slapped her, making everyone laugh.
"What about you Claire, are you ready for school to start?" Kaitlyn smiled over at Claire.
"Ummm... probably not. I'm so worried I'm just going to fail everything and have an awful time." she shrugged and everyone giggled.
"Same old Claire, always worrying about school work." Matt smiled, leaning back in his chair.
"Well you would too if you didn't have a freaking baseball scholarship to any school you wanted!" she yelled and Matt and he simply put his arms in the air.
"True, true. I am awesome." he smiled and Claire gave him an invisible finger.
"Going to school is honestly going to be awful without you, Bo." Claire looked over at me as I took another sip of my drink.
"Haha yeah, well I'll be back in a year, if I still want to go to Santa Cruz. Maybe by then I'll find a better school."
"No! You have to go to UCSC, we've been dreaming about it forever! You can't go to another school, I won't allow it." Claire crossed her arms and I raised my eyebrows up at her.
"Really Claire? What if I wanted to go to, lets say, Stanford?" I smiled, knowing how much she hated that school.
"Okay, I gave Matt the invisible finger, but I'm about ready to give you the real thing. Now shut up and finish you're drink." we all laughed. I admit that I am feeling a little left out since I'm not starting school, but I'll be back in a year. Frankly, I still have no idea what I want to major in. Probably something science related.
"So, when is your first game, Bo?" Tori asked.
"Ummmm.... I think it's going to be next Saturday. You guys are all welcome to come, we play in San Francisco. I could probably get you discounts on the tickets."
"Sounds fun! We should all spend the weekend there, like a road trip!" Kaitlyn squealed.
"Yeah, that's a great idea Kate!" Matt stood up and reached across the table to give Kaitlyn a high five. Those two have always been really close, I'm surprised they haven't gone out yet.
"Okay then it's settled. The last weekend before school starts we will all spend together." Claire said and everyone nodded.
"A toast! To all of us freaks finally getting somewhere in life!" I laughed, lifting my almost empty plastic cup into the air. Everyone followed and we bumped each other's cups before taking one last sip.
"Okay, so I'll text everyone the details soon, but I got to go to work now, see you guys later!" Claire began to get up from the table. I got up and gave her a hug before she ran off to her car. Now it was just Matt, Tori, Kaitlyn, Hailey, and I.
"Yeah, we better get going too. We have.. um.. stuff to do." Tori nudged Kaitlyn who then nudged Hailey. The three of them all got up and left, giggling as they made their way out of the building. What was going on?
"Soooo, want to go for a walk?" Matt asked me.
"Sure, just let me throw away my cup." I got up and threw my trash in the trash can before walking back over to Matt. When I came back, he was standing up by the door, ready to go. He held the door and I thanked him before stepping outside. He quickly rejoined me, walking on my left side. We walked down the sidewalk, eventually making it to one of the piers. It was pretty foggy out today, so you really couldn't see much of the ocean. Last time I was here, I was fifteen. My dad took me fishing. I know, not very fun for a girl, I thought the same thing. But I actually had a lot of fun. Even thinking about my dad made me sad, I missed him a lot. I tried not to think about him, but sometimes I'd just have memories come back to me, just like this one did, and get all choked up. But I wouldn't ever cry, especially if I was with other people.
"Bo, you okay?" Matt looked over at me, worried. I must've been quiet for a while.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking." I smiled at him and we continued walking until we reached the end of the pier. There we sat down, letting our legs dangle off the edge. Being this close to the water always made me want to jump in, but I never did. I was a little afraid of heights, so jumping twenty something feet into rocky water wasn't going to happen. I looked over at Matt and noticed that he was watching me. He quickly looked away and I giggled, making him blush.
"Ashley, can I ask you something?" he asked me, looking down into his lap.
"Sure, go ahead." I looked over at him, but he still wouldn't look at me. Matt had always been pretty shy, but I had never seen him like this.
"Well, I was just thinking that, maybe you'd, maybe you'd like to go out with me tomorrow night. There's this great restaurant downtown and they have all of your favorites. I think it'd be fun." I was shocked. Matt, wanted to go out, with me?
"You want to go out with me, why?" I asked him, still pretty shocked.
"Well, you're one of my best friends. And you're pretty, funny, nice, and I just really like you. I've been wanting to do this for a while now, actually." he smiled at me, but I stayed quiet.
"So... what do you have to say?" he asked me. I was silent for a moment, but then I finally spoke up.
"Matt, you're a really wonderful guy. But I don't think-" he cut me off.
"You don't think what? That I'm the right guy for you?" his voice got louder, making me flinch.
"Well, it's not that you're a good guy, it's just that-" he cut me off again. I swear this boy has no manners.
"Just that you're still in love with Louis."
"What? I am not!" I yelled at him, getting up from the pier so now I was standing above him.
"Oh come on, you never got over him. Why can't you accept what he did to you?" Matt stood up, now standing only a few inches away.
"I don't know. I just, I'm confused. I don't know what to believe."
"Bo, he cheated on you! He slept with his ex, and you want to forgive him? What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you believe him, he's obviously not going to tell you the truth. Why?" he yelled louder. I felt tears beginning to fall and my heart beating faster.
"I- I-I don't know-w." I stuttered out in between cried. The fact that Matt was still yelling at me, even when I was crying, made me sick. What kind of a friend does that?
"He's just a disgusting celebrity that only wanted you because you were willing to love him. He never cared about you! And that's the difference between he and I. I care about you! He wouldn't care about you even if you were the last person on earth besides himself!"
"Y-you don't kn-know hi-him." more tears began to fall. I ran my hands through my hair and my head began to pound. I felt the blood rushing and began to hypervenalate. I had never freaked out this much before.
"I may not, but I know that all celebrities are the same. And if he's the reason for you not wanted to go out with me, then fine, be that way. But I guarantee he won't be coming back to you, and neither will I." Matt began to walk away from me and more tears began to fall from my eyes. I tried to yell out his name, but I couldn't get the words to come out of my mouth. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and crouched down. It didn't help the pain and I began to cry more. At this point I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move. Something was wrong. All of a sudden I felt my head began to throb again. I saw black splotches appear in my vision. I tried to crawl my way over to a figure walking away of whom I assumed was Matt, but I barely made it two feet before I fell to the ground. I laid there, panicking.
"BO!!!!" I heard a voice yell. Seconds later a figure appeared in front of my and grabbed my face. He said something to me, but I couldn't make it out. More blotches began to form and seconds later everything went black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(A/N: Uh oh! Ashley blacked out! What do you think is going to happen next? Hope you enjoyed the chapter, leave me your feedback! I've been so excited to write this part, and the next few chapters are going to be even more fun, for me at least. You might hate me, but don't worry, it's all part of the story. Love you all, hope you love the story!! Xx -Katie)