For the second time today, I'm woken up rudely.
First Sage with his stupid water and now Ashton and his stupid arm moving. My arm is lifted up and dropped to the table, creating a loud thud. I let it happen two more times before stopping him.
"I'm up." I stifle through a yawn, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. "Were you trying to dislocate my arm?"
"No, I thought you were dead." He protests, trying to pick my arm up again.
I chew my now stale gum and pull my now sore arm from him. "Well, I'm not."
"Thank God, because I thought you were gonna sleep through lunch."
The thought of food brings a glimmer of happiness to my mood. I grab my bag and head to the cafe, Ashton in tow. Once I sit down at my usual table off to the side I expect him to disappear, preferably into oblivion, but instead he takes the seat next to me.
I tolerate his presence until he begins to eat a bag of Doritos. The sound of crunching chips driving me up the wall. I want to rip the bag from his hands but I can't summon the strength to do so with my head still somewhat hurting.
Please, God. Make. It. Stop.
Ella and Stella walk over and I send them a pleading look. "Get rid of him."
They both laugh. "No can do, Scar, the cute boy stays." Stella informs me, winking at Ashton.
He shoots Stella an easy grin and she blushes, actually at a lost for words.
Oh, God. I feel nauseous.
"Then at least get rid of his chips." I point to bag sitting on the table, not able to stand the flirting or constant chomping.
He looks at me in alarm, holding his chips close to his chest. "What did my chips do to you?"
"Nothing, but the person eating them won't stop chomping. Now put the chips up before I throw them away."
I don't mind loud eaters, after all I live with three boys who fight over who can eat the loudest. It's just something about chips crunching that annoy the ever loving crap out of me.
He slowly folds the bag up and puts it away like we're in a hostage situation. "Alright, they're gone."
"What's gone?" Sage asks, taking the seat on my other side. He hands me a cold Coke, "Sterling texted me."
Man, I love my brothers. I got an ice pack and soda for my head without even asking.
"My chips." Ashton offers glumly, "Whats up Sage?"
The two of them do their odd and loud bro thingy over my head. "Nothing much man, how do you know my sister?"
Ashton looks between the two of us, trying to see the resemblance, not that we share much in common besides our complexion and eyebrows. Sage takes after our dad while I'm a carbon copy of our mom, or so everyone says. "You two are related? I thought the blonde kid with glasses was your brother."
I answer my brother first, "He's stalking me." Before turning to Ashton, "His name is Sterling and he is one of my brothers."
"How many of you are there?" He asks in astonishment.
Sage and I share a questioning look, "Five." We answer together.
The reactions people have when we tell them there's five of us always differ. Some think it's crazy or interesting, others think we're lying. It's not even that big of a family.
He lets out a long whistle, "Really?"
"Yup" I reply after a long swig of soda, "Us two, twin brothers that are 12 and a seven year old sister."
I tense waiting for the usual follow questions. How do your parents do it? What do your parents do for a living? Just any question about our home life was bound to pop up at this point in the conversation and then it would get awkward. And really depressing.
But instead he just shrugs, "Ok." Looking at Ella and Stella he adds, "No more surprises, how many siblings do you two have?"
"Just a brother that's 12." Stella says. Her younger brother, Sam, is the twins best friend.
"It's just me." Ella offers up.
She hates being an only child but in all reality she has seven siblings that she doesn't live with. Our three families do pretty much everything together since the Mackenzie's only have one child and the Hollens have no family in the area.
"What about you?" Stella prompts, leaning over the table to get closer to him.
"A little sister who's six" he says fondly. That explains why he was in the elementary school office.
"How did you two meet?" Ella asks the question I was thinking. She points at the two boys to distract from her pulling Stella back into her chair.
I shake my head at the sight of them. Ella's the calm while Stella's the storm. I fit in as the ever shifting wind pattern that constantly changes everything.
"Second period gym." Sage says before belching.
"Red." I whisper, plugging my ears in anticipation.
"Purple." Ella laughs
"Pink!" Stella screams.
"Green!" Sage adds
"Eat it!" We all shout at the newbie.
Ashton stares at us in horror, "Eat what?"
I let out a laugh at the sight of his confusion. An image of his confused face surrounded by swirls of colors popping into my vision. My laughter stops.
"The burp, man." Sage informs him.
"Um... ok." Ashton takes a cautious bite out of the air and we all laugh at his bewildered state.
The burp game originated one day when we were rating burps and Sage yelled out a color instead of a number. We've played it ever since. The last person to call a color must eat the burp in all its glory.
As we eat our lunch, I begin to notice all the different pairs of eyes on our table. An uneasy jitter creeping up on me. I prefer to stay out of the spotlight.
Ella and Stella are popular, they aren't apart of the "it" crowd but they're up there. Sage, on the other hand, is King of the sophomore class and plenty of juniors and seniors admired him as well. I was well known, in my situation, it's hard not to be. The majority of people knew my name and paid attention to what I did on some level but I never gossiped or started problems like the others.
I'm mostly invisible. I sit in the back row of all my classes, doing my best to stay unnoticed. All the eyes make me uncomfortable. They bring unwanted attention. Unwanted attention leads to problems.
As if on cue, Avery Adams walks over in her perfect Queen B status. Eyes follow her as she stops in front of Ashton. Well, I saw this coming. Her platinum blonde hair shines in long, flowing locks that look too perfect to be natural. Her spray tanned skin on full display in white skinny jeans and a skin tight cropped black tank top. Her red heels are so tall I silently hope she trips on the walk over.
Riverview has an extremely lax dress code, a blessing for those who know how to dress. It also gives Avery the power to dress like a skank without getting in trouble.
"Would you like to sit at my table?" she asks, batting her sapphire eyes at Ashton. She stands so close to him she's practically in his lap.
Avery walking over isn't a surprise. She wants the hot guy for herself, with hotness comes attention. What Ashton says next is unexpected, "No thanks, I'm pretty good right here." He leans back in his chair, propping his arms behind his head to exaggerate his comfort.
New boy say what?
What guy in their pathetic, sex driven mind would turn her down? To them she was a goddess, very few saw the true demonic nature. Especially someone like Ashton who hasn't stopped flirting with girls since the moment he walked into the building.
Ella drops a cookie and Stella goes silent. Sage's eat shit grin is plastered his face as he watches their encounter. I begin to choke on my soda, the caffeinated bubbles going up my nose. Ashton smirks as he goes back to his food. Ignoring her.
The rejection doesn't sit well with Avery. Her red painted lips inch closer to his face as she attempts invade his personal space even more. Not gonna lie, I feel bad for him, or any person that has to talk to Avery for that matter. "Are you sure, I'm offering you a seat at the "it" table."
He moves away from her, getting closer to me in the process, "I'm sure, now leave." He informs her bluntly before turning his attention back to us.
She turns red in fury, her face matching her lip color. She opens her mouth to try again but I cut her off. "Enough, Avery! He said no, now walk your skank ass back to your boyfriend and sit the hell down." Her voice has a very specific whine that's doing no favors for my head.
She narrows her eyes, taking in the close proximity of Ashton and me. Yup, that's gonna help me stay on her good side. "Shut up, Bloody Mary, no one asked to hear from you!"
And with that she stomps her heels all the way back to her table. God, I wish her heels would snap, just once.
"Always a pleasure cousin." Sage calls after her, the eyes of the cafe switching back and forth between us. So glad our lives are a tennis match to them.
"You mean to tell me that is your cousin?" Ashton asks, pointing at Avery who's now being consoled by her boyfriend, James King. He's an adorably sweet guy, who's not too bad on the eyes if you ask Stella. I have no idea why he's stuck dating the she demon that is my cousin.
Whoops. Did I leave that little detail out when talking about my family?
Aunt Karen has two kids, Avery is her oldest child, only daughter and our cousin. Living with her was the highlight of my life.
You truly can't pick your family.
"Sadly." Sage confirms, flicking a fry onto Stella's tray.
"Dudes, what happened to keeping no more secrets?"
"We aren't exactly proud of it." I grumble, turning my attention back to my soda.
And we aren't. The only reason she even goes to this school was because her mother got mad we were going to a better school than her daughter. Avery didn't even test high enough to be admitted, a requirement for all children who enter, my uncle bought her way in.
She can buy her way into anything. Which is exactly what people will be doing to her in a few years.
"So where exactly are you from?" Ella asks, stealing a swig of my drink. I don't even try to stop her.
Ashton fiddles with his straw, the smirk faltering a little. "Atlanta."
Only three hours away, granted he moved to a new state.
"What brings you to Tennessee?" Stella pushes, if it was anyone else I would feel bad. Instead I watch Ashton shift uncomfortably in his seat.
"No important reason, just time for a change."
Hmm, interesting. Stella's earlier comment about expulsion resurfacing in my mind.
The bell rings, the five of us going our separate ways. Well four of us go separate ways, Ashton walks with me through the hall.
"What class are you going to next." He asks, glancing down at his schedule.
"Um, English?" I say, mentally slapping myself when it sounds like a question.
"You had English this morning." He counters, shoving the paper into his pocket.
I feel a slight blush appearing. Do I really want to tell him? I mean, I barely know the guy. He gives me puppy dog eyes and my solidarity wavers under his gray gaze. "I have gifted next." I tell him quietly.
"That's a class?" He sounds interested in the topic. Dammit, I thought he would drop it.
"It's more like a whole program. I'm enrolled in classes that I can't take here."
"What kind of classes?"
I feel the blush spreading, "Like second year college psychology and creative writing"
His jaw drops, "You mean to tell me you're a junior taking those types of classes?"
"Yeah."
Riverview is a school that only offers honors or AP classes. However, for the kids who are even more advanced, the gifted program allows for extended education that's formed to fit our needs. It's one of the few reasons my parents selected this school for us to attend.
My parents knew from a young age that the typical classroom wasn't the right setting for me, or any of my siblings actually. Just another thing that made us different from the average kids.
I typically try to hide the fact I'm a part of the gifted program. It just gives people another reason to pay attention to me. Technically, I didn't even have to take Lang this year but it was the only way I could have a class with Ella and Stella. The things we do for those we love.
I stop walking, reaching my destination. "This is it, hopefully we won't have anymore classes together."
He smirks, winking at me before turning on his heel. "Oh, but we do Sweetheart."
How would he know that? Maybe he really is my stalker.
*****
If you want to know how Sage and Ashton met go check out Life in Search!
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Q: Favorite Disney Movie?
A: Moana. DUH