chapter nine
IF I GOT A DOLLAR EVERY TIME MY stomach erupted into a fit of butterflies around May Parker, I'd be a millionaire. It felt so good and nice to feel that way. I haven't felt something like that happen to me in ages.
I lightly shook my thoughts away as I listened to May talk.
"-and then Mrs Farnsworth started screaming at me and I didn't know what to do, so I started mowing her lawn the next week and then she screamed even more..."
We were both currently on our fifth cup of lemonade slash vodka and I was starting to feel it. May, however, became absolutely wild after her third cup.
"...anyway, so I just got so mad at that old lady that I baked forty eight cookies in one day." She giggled and took another sip of her drink.
"You baked cookies because you were mad?" I asked.
"Yeah." She laughed loudly, "doesn't everyone do that?" She giggled. "What do you do when you're mad, then?"
"I- uh..." I started laughing because my voice felt tired. "When I'm mad... I go for a walk."
"Where do you go?" She slurred. She fell back onto the blanket and started laughing. I laughed as well and copied her movement - falling back and laying down beside her. We were both staring at each other and I'm pretty sure I wasn't doing a very good job at hiding my blush.
"I go to the park." I answered in a whisper.
"The park." She repeated before exposing a huge, goofy grin. Her dimple was bigger than ever and all I wanted to do was touch it.
Stupidly, I reached forward and placed my finger on top of her dimple and just stared at it. Her smile faded away and I couldn't feel it anymore.
"Smile." I said. "Please, I like your dimple!"
She smirked this time and I could feel it just faintly. It was like a tiny little hole underneath the tip of my finger. The butterflies in my stomach went crazy again and I wanted them to stop, but at the same time, it felt nice and I wanted them to keep flying around inside of me.
No. It can't feel nice. I made a vow.
I took my finger away suddenly and also happened to take her smile away with it. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips were pursed. My heart could've burst right there.
"Ashley James..." She whispered. "I don't know how to read you."
"Read me?" I questioned. "What do you mean?"
"Like a book." Her voice was low and soft. "You're hard to read..." She trailed off and took a deep breath as she studied my face. "If you were a book," she began, "you'd be a big one. With tiny font. And a complicated plot."
"I'd be a hard book?" I asked as I smiled.
"Level-wise, yes." She nodded her head and closed her eyes. "And you wouldn't be paperback. You're worth more, I think." My heart pounded. "And the front cover would be extraordinary... It'd have a picture of what you'd expect the story to be about... But when you read it, it would deny your expectations." She hummed.
I raised my eyebrows and giggled.
"When it denied the expectations..." I searched my brain for words as the butterflies flew around in my stomach. "Was it good... Or bad?"
"Very good." She opened her eyes and smiled. "But I've only finished reading chapter one."
My breath hitched.
"I want to finish the book, but I don't know if I have that advanced of a reading level."
I smiled and opened my mouth to say something, but my phone began to ring in my back pocket.
"Hello?" I slurred and sang at the same time.
"God dammit, Ash." It was Mason. "Are you drunk? Sick? Why weren't you at your locker at the end of the day?"
"So many questions..." I murmured as I sat up from my position on the floor and picked up my red solo cup.
"Ash, I'm sorry about the other day. When you didn't call me back or talk to me at school, I knew I messed up. I'm really sorry. I wanted to apologize in person but you weren't here." He sighed. I took a sip of my drink and licked my lips.
"Wait..." I closed my eyes and tried to think real hard. "What are you talking about?"
"Are you drunk?" He asked again. I could hear the eagerness in his voice and it made my head hurt.
"I don't know." I giggled. I hiccuped and then continued to giggle.
"Shit, you're hammered aren't you?"
"I wouldn't call it hammered." I slurred as I took another sip and glanced back at May. She was still laying down and was smiling up at me. "I've only had five... Well, maybe six... Yeah." I finished off my drink. "Six now."
"Babe, where are you? Let me pick you up." I could hear the clanking of keys on the other end of the line. I fell back onto the blanket and looked up at the sky. I must've fell a little too close to May, because I could feel her right next to me, but I didn't bother to move. It felt nice.
"No, I don't want you to come." I pouted. May looked over at me and I knew she was wondering who I was talking to.
"Why not?" He asked. I heard a car door shut and the engine start. He was definitely coming to pick me up.
"Are you in your car?" I hiccuped. "Don't come! I don't want you to come!" I felt tears prickle my eyes and I didn't know why. "I'm with my friend, I'm okay."
"Where are you?" He asked with a sense of suddenness in his voice.
"I'm on a roof but you're not invited." I pouted. May furrowed her eyebrows together and stared at me. "Please stop thinking I'm your responsibility."
"Who is that?" May mouthed. I shook my head at her.
"You are my responsibility. We've been over this." He practically growled. He sounded evil and I didn't like it one bit. "If anything happens to you, it's my fault."
"If anything happens to me," I clenched my teeth together, "it's my own damn fault."
I hung up and turned my phone off so I didn't have to pick up any more calls from him.
"Jeez, who was that?" May asked. I could tell she was worried and I wouldn't blame her.
"Mason." I said through clenched teeth. I took a deep breath and tried to relax myself.
She didn't bother asking who Mason was and I was grateful for that. I don't think I'd be able to explain who he was with all this anger that I'm feeling right now.
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"Where were you, young missy?" My mom scolded me as soon as I walked through the door. It was seven in the afternoon and most of the crazy drunk-ness has worn off by now.
"I was with a friend." I answered and began to walk past her to the living room. She stopped me as soon as I walked in the room and I was surprised to see Mason sitting on the couch. "Mason?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"
He stood up and made his way over to me as he extended his arms and engulfed me into a huge 'Mason hug'.
"I was worried about you." He placed his chin on top of my head and took a deep breath. I felt a little awkward that my mom was standing right behind us so I cleared my throat. He didn't seem to care though. "I came over here to see if your mom knew anything about where you were and she had no idea either."
He let me go eventually and stared into my eyes. I wanted butterflies to erupt in my stomach and I wanted to feel my heart race when he stared at me but I didn't. I didn't feel anything.
And that terrified me.
"Who were you with?" My mom asked as I tore my gaze away from the boy in front of me and turned around to look at my mom.
"Uh..." I didn't want to tell the truth or else my mom wouldn't see May the same way again. "Lulu." I cleared my throat to try and cover up my lie.
"Who's Lulu?" My mom furrowed her eyebrows together and crossed her arms.
"She's this girl I met at May's party." I said.
"You went to a party?" My mom shifted her weight onto one foot and looked at me with wide eyes.
Oh, my God. I forgot that I didn't tell her I went to a party with alcohol involved and everything. How could I be so stupid to bring it up?
"Yeah." I coughed. "It was a birthday party. I made a lot of friends there."
My mom's eyebrows remained forward as she nodded her head. I know she didn't buy it, but she was going along with it anyway.
"Well," my mom uncrossed her arms, "the school called and told me that you were marked absent for fourth, fifth, and sixth period." She raised her eyebrows. "Care to explain?"
"I- uh..." I didn't know what to say. Was I supposed to tell the truth and face the consequences, or lie and feel guilty about it? I mean, lying has not been going well for me so far in the past five minutes, so I may just have to come clean. "I.."
My mom shifted her position and leaned again the wall. She was doing an amazing job at not smiling and it made me nervous.
"I left school." I sighed into the truth and slumped my shoulders down. "Sorry, mom."
"Why'd you leave?" She asked. I could feel Mason's presence behind me and I stiffened. I remembered the way his voice sounded so harsh on the phone and it made my face scrunch up.
"Because..." I sniffed my nose and cleared my throat, "I didn't study for a test." I lied, yet again, and gulped. "I was afraid I'd fail, so I just left school instead and happened to bump into Lulu. So, yeah."
"Mm." My mom hummed. She studied my face for any sign of lying. I'm sure she saw something, but she must've let it go. "Alright." She sighed, "you're grounded. Two weeks."
I didn't bother arguing because I understood the punishment. My mother told me to never ditch school, and here I am, doing exactly what I was taught not to do.
"Sorry, Mason, but she's only going to be allowed to see you at school for now."
I turned around and looked into Mason's eyes. He slowly nodded his head and pouted his lips at me.
"Okay." He said sadly. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?" His lips curved into a smile. I lightly nodded my head and closed my eyes when he leaned down to kiss my forehead. "Love you, Ash." He whispered in my ear before turning to my mom. "See you later, Mrs James." He nodded and headed towards the door. Once he left, I turned to look at my mom.
"He's so stinking cute." My mom sighed. I smiled faintly and shook my head at her before I turned around and walked into my room.
It won't be long before my phone and laptop get taken away, so I got my phone out and tried to take as much advantage of it as I could. I texted the only person that doesn't know about my grounding yet who I want to know.
Ashely James: hey May. I'm grounded so my phone is going to be taken away soon. sorry.
May Parker: aw, poop! was this my fault???? I'm sorry!! can u still come to Olivia's party this weekend?
Ashley James: I'll try. When and where?
May Parker: 143 rosebud drive, Saturday night @ 8:30. I can meet u at ur house??
Ashley James: it's ok. I'll meet u at the party. See you saturday <3
I wrote the address down and deleted the conversation on my phone. I laid down in my bed as I waited for my dad to come in and take my things away from me, but for now, I'm just happy thinking about the amazing day I had. Even though it got me grounded for two weeks.
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Yeah okay so I'm really sick of books on Wattpad that don't really involve parental discipline because like ??¿?¿
Dedication to @dandino for making the lovely cover above <3
You guys... I've been tracking the progress this book has made since August 20th, 2015... and since then it has gained over 5,500 reads.
This is incredible. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you guys enough for reading, commenting, and supporting me while I've been writing this book! Never did I imagine I'd receive this much support for my story (or any story of mine, really).
I just want to let you guys know that it's possible. I used to be the girl on Wattpad that had 100 reads on a story that had over twenty parts. Obviously, that book has been taken down, but I just want you to know that with time lots of support will come your way. I'm telling you this because I always read books from authors that were like "thank you for 2 million reads! Ok bye" and that was it. I always wondered how the heck they got there. Was it luck? Fate? Even though I don't have a million reads (which I am completely okay with), I've learned that with time these things happen. It's okay to be the person that isn't an overnight sensation on Wattpad. This website is about the stories, not the amount of followers you have. Remember that.
Anyway, enough with the lecture. I hope you guys had a fantastical lovely day filled with happiness!
See you on Friday (yes, an early update)!