"Mom are you sure I can't come with you?" I asked for the hundredth time.
She looked at me with her deep green eyes, frowning. "Ashley.We've talked about this."
My mother was taking a few months off from work to go and visit her mother who had gotten ill.
Lucky that she was dad's business partner, otherwise I doubt that any employer would have given her this much time off from work and at such short notice too.
I sighed. I had really wanted to see my grandmother. The last time I'd seen her was when I was little kid so I barely remembered what she was like.
I'd hoped that she'd take me with her to see my grandmother but she wouldn't hear of it.
The only good thing about this whole situation was that I was going to live with my best friend Kayla until she came back; because while she was leaving that day, my father had already left a few days ago for a business trip. He would probably be back sooner than Mom though.
"Ashley, you have school," she said again, checking the time on her phone.
"And you have work," I muttered quietly but she heard it anyway.
She gave me a stern look. "This is the end of this discussion. Now go and get your stuff so that I can drop you off to Kayla's on my way to the airport," she said with a firm voice.
Shaking my head, I went back to my room. It was worth a last try.
I'd already packed my stuff yesterday because knowing mom, I had already been sure that she wouldn't take me with her.
I made my way into the bathroom and quickly threw in any other things I would need that I hadn't packed yet.
"Clothes-check, underwear-check, makeup-check, toiletries-check, hair brush-check. What else do I need?" I muttered to myself as I went through everything I'd put in the bag.
Guess I was good to go.
I zipped the suitcase up and threw my phone into my bag before pulling it onto my shoulder.
I was struggling to get the suitcase outside my room when a pair of hands took it from me."Here, let me do it."
I looked up and saw Joe, a family friend who was going to drop mom off.
"Thanks Joe," I smiled at him.
"Anytime. Do you have everything?" he asked as he took the suitcase from me.
"Yeah. Oh! I forgot some of my books!" I exclaimed, slapping my forehead with my palm.
"You're a saviour Joe."
He chuckled, ruffling my hair.
I fixed my hair quickly as I went back to get my books while he wheeled the suitcase away.
My books were kept on a table in one corner of my room. Quickly grabbing everything I could find, I shoved it all into a duffel bag and hurried downstairs.
When I went downstairs, the entire house was locked up, leaving only the main door open which would also be closed once we were outside.
I wouldn't have minded living alone at my house to be honest, with Jilly-a woman in her thirties-and her daughter Tessa who helped us around the house. They were just like family to me.
But here I was, ready to leave my house.
Five minutes later, I was in the car, listening to music as we drove away, with the house all locked up.
Jilly and Tessa would stay in the small hut behind our house where they lived.
The car came to a stop and before I knew it, Joe was helping me with my stuff and I was waving goodbye to my mother.
He would drop her off at the airport. I'd begged to at least let me see her off but my mother being, well, my mother, made me get off first.
Thankfully, Kayla had already given me the keys at school on Friday, so I didn't have to ring the bell and wait for my lazy best friend to open the door for me.
"Ashley!" Kayla exclaimed as I walked in."I was just about to call you," she said, but her face said otherwise.
She'd obviously forgotten I was coming.
"Sure you were," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes as I looked at the television screen where The Vampire Diaries was playing.
The girl was obsessed with the show I swear.
"Sorry, I got carried away," she admitted sheepishly.
I laughed. "Don't worry about it."
"Well, let's get your stuff upstairs and then we can heat up some pasta and watch The Vampire Diaries," she suggested.
"Sounds good."
We put my suitcase into Kayla's older brother's room. Since he was at college, and his room was hardly ever in use, her mother was glad to let me use it.
We went downstairs, deciding to unpack later.
Five hours later, we were still sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the television screen and stomachs filled with all sorts of junk.
"My eyes hurt," I complained when we finally turned the tv off.
"Same," Kayla groaned, stretching her arms.
We were just about to head upstairs to unpack my stuff when her phone started ringing.
"Hello?" she answered without looking who it was. "Hi babe," she said, her face lighting up with a smile and I figured it was Trent, my other best friend who also happened to be her boyfriend.
"Okay cool. Yeah, we'll be there. Bye." She hung up before turning to me with a grin.
"I guess that unpacking can wait. We're going to a party."
***
"Hey girls," Cole, one of our friends greeted us, walking towards us with Trent as we walked inside the huge house where the party was.
"Hey." I gave him a quick hug.
"Whose party is this again?" I asked Cole.
"Oh, just a friend of mine."
I nodded not asking further. Cole was a very social person.
"Kayla, you wanna-" I turned to Kayla but she was too busy kissing Trent.
"You guys," I groaned.
They both pulled away quickly, giving me sheepish smiles.
"Let's get drinks," Cole suggested as he led the way. We somehow managed to make our way through the teenagers drinking and dancing away like they didn't have a single thing to worry about.
And there were a lot of them, let me tell you.
The house was beautifully made, even from what I could make out in the dim lights.
All of us got drinks-which were supposed to be non-alcoholic but who knew with parties like these.
Cole and Trent somehow got lost so it was just Kayla and I.
"Ashley, that guy's been looking at you," Kayla said, not so discreetly gesturing towards a guy who had to be at least two years younger than us.
"Really K? What am I supposed to do? Tutor him?" I rolled my eyes.
Kayla was always trying to find someone for me to go out with. She was probably tired of me third-wheeling all the time.
"C'mon, he's just as old as us. You're just being rude."
I gave her a look, taking a small sip of my drink.
It tasted disgusting. I quickly put the plastic cup away.
"At least find someone. This is a huge house with lots of cute guys. I'm sure you'll find someone."
"Quit it," I scowled at her. "I don't want to go around looking for guys just because you're tired of me."
Kayla laughed, shaking her head at me. "Dramatic as always."
"Whatever," I muttered, looking around the house.
People were going absolutely crazy with their dancing. The music was five times louder than when we came in.
"Want to dance?" Kayla yelled over the loud music.
"Let's go find the guys!" I yelled in reply, making my ears hurt even more as if the music hadn't already caused enough damage to my ears.
I lost Kayla as we walked through the dozens of people. I suddenly felt the urge to pee. I didn't know where the bathroom was so I decided to ask someone.
The first person my eyes landed on was a blonde girl talking to a guy.
Thankfully by that time, they had turned the music down a bit so I didn't have to scream as loud as before.
I tapped her shoulder lightly to get her attention.
"Yes?" she spoke loudly.
She was really pretty; with blond hair and bright blue eyes, it was clear why the guy was staring at her even as she turned away from him to talk to me.
"Hi, do you know where the toilet is?"
"Go upstairs. It's the second door on your right.", she said loudly again gesturing towards the stairs.
"Thanks!" I somewhat yelled and rushed upstairs.
As I reached the top of the stairs, I saw three doors.
Wait, what had she told me? Second door on the right?
As I was walking past the first door, someone yanked my arm and I was pulled into a room.
"What the hell?" I exclaimed in anger. My eyes then caught sight of the hottest guy I'd ever seen. I kid you not.
Beautiful hazel eyes looked at me as I took in the person's features.
His chocolate brown hair was a bit messed up but not in a I-just-got-out-of-bed way. Whatever it was that he had tried to do with his hair, he sure looked good. He also had one of those perfect jawlines-the kind that you see on the internet and wonder where such perfect people exist.
I stared at him in awe and when I was able to function again, I realized how close this hot stranger was to me.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I glared while pushing him away from me.
"Be quiet!" he whisper yelled.
"No! You practically pulled me in here forcibly. I don't think you get to tell me what to-"
"I'm sorry," he cut me off.
Before I could register what he was trying to do, a pair of lips was moving softly against mine.
Needless to say, I was astonished. My eyes were wide open and my body was paralyzed with shock.
A few seconds later, he pulled away.
"That was a dare."
That was all he said before leaving me stupefied alone in the room.
I opened my mouth and closed it.
What exactly was that?
After I'd recovered, I furiously stormed out of the room.
How dare that guy kiss me! And I had no clue who he was either. I was going to kill him.
Then I remembered that I had to pee, so I quickly went to the bathroom before going downstairs again with anger.
"Ash?" a familiar voice said and I turned to see Trent looking at me, with a frown.
"Is everything okay?" he asked with concern.
"Yeah," I said a bit too quickly.
He gave me a look but didn't push it.
"How come you're not wearing your necklace anymore? I thought I saw you wearing it when you came, " he asked,his eyes narrowing at where my necklace was.Or should have been.
"What? I-" I put my hand on my neck to feel for my pendant. "Shit." My body froze. "Where the hell am I supposed to look for it?" I asked no one in particular.
"We'll find it, don't worry. Come on."
Now, I wouldn't have given a flying shit about losing a necklace. But this one was my favourite and I often wore it, probably why Trent noticed.
I led him upstairs to the room I'd previously been...pulled into. There was no one in there now.
I was looking around the closets, while Trent looked under and around the bed, although I was positive it couldn't be there.
"Trent, what am I going to do?",I groaned when I still couldn't find it. I pulled my hair into a ponytail.
Trent looked up at me and suddenly his eyebrows furrowed together before his face brightened and he made his way over to me.
"What?" I asked in confusion.
He walked even closer to me so he was right in front of me. "What are you doing Trent?" I asked in confusion.
He suddenly put one of his hands behind my head, pulling my face closer to his.
" Here..." he said, moving a few strands of my hair. I still couldn't understand what he was trying to do.
He held out his palm, "I found it," he grinned.
Just then, the door to the room opened.
" I'm so sorry! I thought it was the bathr-Trent? Ashley?" it was Kayla.
Her face changed from one of surprise to shock then anger.
I suddenly realized that because of the position Trent and I were in, it would like we'd been kissing.
Oh no...