Julie's pov:
Coming to school the next day was definitely not the... brightest idea I ever came up with.
I actually wanted to skip school.
But I knew that I would never actually do that potentially risking a chance for my grades to drop even the slightest bit.
Why didn't I want to come?
Well.. after Ashton left to go 'blow off some steam' last night, I decided that I should visit the world of social media.
What was the worst that could happen?
Biggest... mistake... ever...
When I searched up the school on twitter, all I could see were tweets from students.
And there were a lot of tweets.
Seniors in our grade to even some sixth graders!!!
And what did they have in common?
Luke
Luke
Luke
Luke
Luke
There was even one tweet that said Zander and Luke had a full out fist fight in the boys lockers room.
I don't know who came up with that but by the look of all the likes it got, people bought it.
For the first part of the school day, it wasn't actually that bad.
I mean, there were people talking about it, but I expected that to happen.
When I was heading to my third class of the day, I passed Zander and Jake in the hallway to see that they were laughing about something.
When they saw me they nodded their heads at me and I just smiled at them.
I don't know why they were so happy, but if they are happy, then I'm happy.
But it was kinda strange in a way.
Yesterday it looked like they were going to stab someone any minute, but now they look like they just visited unicorn land with glitters and rainbows.
Okay maybe I am a little over exaggerating.
But you get my point.
Now, fast forward two hours and here I am just two more classes away until lunch.
Our schedules are kinda weird though, we have a couple of our classes, a break where everyone can sign up to go to a class or room and do homework or hang with friends, then one more class and finally lunch.
I decided that I would just go to the library because I actually haven't had the chance to go there yet and check it out.
It actually wasn't that hard to find because it was in the direct center of the school, and I always passed it so I didn't have to ask for directions or anything.
When I got there, I quickly made my way to the bookshelves and started looking around.
I was surprised how many books there actually were.
I was so into looking around that I completely didn't notice somebody's presence was behind me until I heard a throat clear.
I turned around so fast that I started tilting side ways, but luckily I felt an arm shoot out and grab my wrist steadying me so now I was facing forward.
When I opened my eyes, which I must have closed them in reflect, I saw Damien standing infront of me with a cheeky grin.
"Hey." He says smiling.
"Hi." I said back. He let's go of my wrist and shoves his hands in his pocket.
"How are you?" I ask him.
"I'm okay I guess, I just saw you and thought I should say hi." He says shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
It looked like something was bothering him but I couldn't put a finger on it.
I looked behind him seeing that no one else was with him.
Huh, I thought that he always traveled with the 'pack' I am surprised they aren't here.
"Well, I'm glad you said hi," I say smiling back, "I am just checking out the books here."
"Cool, the boys are suppose to be here but I think they might be a little late because Jake had to run an errand for a teacher or something." Damien says shrugging his shoulders.
"They seem they are handling the situation.. pretty good." I say recalling them laughing in the hallway.
But Damien didn't smile or anything, instead a frown took up his face.
"That's exactly what I am afraid of." He says focusing his attention on the book shelves.
"What do you mean?"
"They have done this before."
"Done what?"
"Pretend like everything is okay. It's like when they reach such a certain point, they don't explode, they act.. not themselves. I always see them trying to convince themselves that it doesn't matter, but it always gets worse."
That explains it.
That explains Ashton's fooling around at the window last night. How he looked so upset one second then was laughing the next.
How he was at first acting so serious, and then he was acting like his cocky self.
Maybe they feel like if they ignore the problem then it will eventually go away.
"Wait.. what do you mean it gets worse?"
"Well, it's like it comes in stages. When they get so angry they become like this. 'Not caring' you could say, but then at some point, they just let out all of there emotions at once. Trust me, I have seen this before with..." but he quickly stopped when we heard familiar voices coming into to the room.
I wanted to ask with who but I found it not the right time when I saw Ashton, Zander, and Jake.
I watch as they spot us standing at the bookshelves and all three of them walk over.
"Hey dude, and dudette." Jake exclaims first with a smirk on his face.
"Hey." Damien and I say in sync watching as we somehow form a small circle.
"So Julie, how have you been?" Zander asks.
"Pretty good, today hasn't been that bad." I say adjusting my glasses and fixing the strap on my book bag.
"Good, you better enjoy it though, today is the last day until the circus comes back to town." Zander says trying to keep a straight face, but he quickly fails by laughing at his own joke.
"Circus?" I ask, looking at Ashton who only rolls his eyes.
"Zander please.... don't offend the clowns like that." Jake adds on before bursting out into laughter.
"I'm so confused, what are they talking about?" I whisper to Damien.
"They are talking about all the popular cheerleaders and football players who got suspended... they are all coming back tomorrow." He fills me in as I just nod my head in understanding.
Well...
Things were good as they lasted I guess.
"Your jokes are lame, where did your sense of humor go?" Annoyed, Ashton shoves Jake off him, who was leaning on him for support from laughing at his... joke?
Damien was right...
Something is definitely wrong with them.
Even their humor is broken.
But this causes me to think back to our previous conversation before the rest of the boys showed up.
What was he going to say...?
I have seen this before
Personally, I want to know so badly, but then again... is it really my place to know?
As much as I want to do the best that I can to help them fix this situation with Luke, I barely know them.
Other than what I learned from these last couple days, I barely know anything about these boys.
Let's be realistic for a second...
What could I...
An awkward, introverted, nerdy geek who has an obsession with romance novels and marvel movies...
Possibly do.
I am horrible at confrontation and I am a nervous wreck when it comes to helping people I barely know.
'Oof' I suddenly let out in a strangled whisper as I feel myself being poked at the side of my rib.
I look over just in time to see Ashton look away quickly pretending like he didn't do anything.
So, I poked him back in the rib..
Hard..
And at this, he flinched and held his rib, when we made eye contact, he let out a heart warming smile, so I smiled back.
Because I am a good person.
Sometimes.
Kinda.
Look I'm trying okay!
"So, how are you really?" I ask quietly, the other boys were so caught up in loud conversation that I think they forgot we were here.
"I'm.. fine.." He says hesitantly.
"Are you sure?" I ask. He stares at me like he was thinking for a second.
"Okay.. maybe I am not 'fine.' Every time I see them in the hall way, I just want to.." but he stopped himself and thought for a second. It was like he wasn't sure where he was getting at.
"What am I saying, Luke was a total scumbag, how he treated you- how he treated them was just.. unacceptable." He says fixing the collar of his shirt.
He held an anger in his voice, but I knew that he was trying to hold it down.
I couldn't help but feel bad for him, every time you saw Luke in the hallway, he had his arm around Samantha like she was the only thing that mattered in the world.
Did I mention that I think I am also on Luke's ignore list because when he saw me, he quickly looked away and went back to his conversation he was having with some boy.
It looked like he was already in a new group of 'friends.'
Except I did notice that when he saw Ashton, Zander, Jake, and Damien in the hallway, he stood behind a group of people and just watched as they made there way through the hallway.
I couldn't even describe the emotion on his face.
I couldn't even find a clue on what he was thinking.
Was he happy? Regretful? Angry? Sad?
"Do you think... you could have done at least something differently?" I ask Ashton.
He freezes for a moment and looks at me, he takes a step forward toward me but I just stand there without moving the slightest bit.
He kept getting closer but I couldn't figure out what he was doing, he only stopped when we were just inches apart from each other.
"No princess, everything happens for a reason." He says breathlessly leaning closer to my face.
What was he doing!!!
Every second that passed, it felt like I was going to faint in his presence. That fact that he was so close made me worry about what he was thinking.
Crap did my breath smell!!
No I brush me teeth mostly two, sometimes three times a day.
Do I have food in my teeth??
No I didn't eat anything today because I was so focused on what was going to happen at school today.
I feel my glasses starting to slide down my face again and I can't help but want to shove my face into a pillow.
If these glasses fall and break I will have no choice but to sue Ashton for being too charming.
Seriously did you have to bless him with such looks?
Geez.
Heading back to the situation, he didn't look angry anymore, he had that playful look.
I stared into his blue eyes as he had his eyes on mine, but then they flicked down to my lips.
Suddenly, his hands caught my waist and it was like I was under his spell.
But right when I thought he was going to go in for the kiss, he swooped his face to my side and he whispered in my ear...
"You can never control any situation princess even if you try." His breath fanned over my cheek as he took a step back and smirked at me.
My cheeks are probably bright red while I just stand there looking at him like he just committed a crime.
Seriously, he is literally making it so hard for me to try and convince myself that I may.. kinda.. okay like him.
It's confusing okay.
I look back over at the boys to see that there backs were facing us now talking about sports.
Typical boys.
I look back at Ashton to see him starting to walk toward their conversation, but he looked at me before he joined in..
"You know... you look cute when you blush princess."
~~~~~~~~~
I look back over at the clock to see I only had three more minutes until lunch started.
Almost time.
Almost time.
Almost time.
Almost time. I repeated over and over in my head.
After the whole.. thing with Ashton, we just joined in Zander, Jake, and Damien's conversation if cheerleading was actually considered a sport.
I tried to not look at Ashton but it didn't help that he would make goofy faces from the other end of the conversation.
I saw in the corner of my eye Zander look at Ashton as he stuck his tongue out at me once again and I did the same back.
Zander smiled at us like he was a kid on Christmas
What was he thinking?
Perhaps, what am I thinking?
My mind kept trying to get in the way of focusing on what ever the teacher was saying and going over everything that happened in the library again and again.
Was Ashton flirting with me?
Is that what flirting is like?
I mean, truth be told I never really had someone flirt with me before.
Unless they did and I just didn't understand what they were doing at the time but I am pretty sure I have never been flirted with before.
I never have tried to impress anyone in my past years, and I still don't now.
I often find myself in leggings and loose shirts.
Well... I actually just wear that so I can eat as much as I want.
What? Food is an important essential part of daily life.
Speaking of food, I hear the bell go off signaling that it is finally time for lunch, but when I walk around the corner, I can't help but stop at what I see...
Oh cliff hanger!!! Sorry I am a bad person for this but it was really tempting.
What did Julie see??
Who did Julie see??
Why did this chapter make me want to eat??
Hey that rhymed!!
#skill
I hope you guys enjoyed!!
~juls