Chapter One
Aliyah P.O.V.
"You worthless piece of shit!" Eli yells at me, the palm of his hand coming in contact with my face. A tear slips down my face as I bring my own hand up to cuff my cheek. This has happened far too often, I can't remember a time we're together when it doesn’t happen. His aggressiveness overpowering his loving attitude I had first known.
Eli's knee connects with my stomach and I wince in pain, dropping to the floor. "That's what you get for being worthless!" He spits at me, exiting my house, where he so often abuses me. He beats me, in my own house, and that's the worst part about the whole thing.
I wake up shaking, the memories coming back to my head. I stand up and change out of my sweat drenched clothes. Lately, these dreams, or rather nightmares, have been coming more often. Every night this week, I've had the nightmares of him hitting me again, even though I haven't seen him in months. Somehow all these dreams seem so real, just like when it actually happened to me.
I looked at the clock, barely past six o'clock. I shake my head and sit on my bed, running a hand through my hair. Eli has been out of my life for so long, but somehow there is still a little bit of him there, always haunting me, and scaring me half to death.
I turn on the shower and wait for the water to get warm. I brush through my hair and set a towel outside of the shower. I step into the shower as the mirror begins fogging up. I'm not very fond of taking a hot shower, I prefer to have cool, warm showers.
My phone buzzes, sitting on the bathroom counter. When it begins buzzing rapidly, I turn off the water and wrap my towel around myself, answering the call.
"Hey, Aliyah, I need a ride to school, David is mad at me and I really don't want to take the bus." Kayla groans into the phone and I put the phone on speaker and begin getting dressed. Her and her boyfriend, David, get into fights often, but they always get back together within a week, and they've been doing this since freshmen year.
"Kayla, why don't you just leave him already? He's been doing the same thing to you for almost four years, he tells you he loves you, then you believe him, then he goes and sleeps with another girl, then comes back to you." I sigh and pick up my phone, walking back into my room. Kayla has been my best friend since eighth grade, and she'll forgive you for anything, she's the most forgiving person I know, but I think it's about time she stops forgiving David, he's done too much damage.
"Ali, you know I love him, he was my first for so many things, and I have to keep trying with him. Anyway, will you give me a ride?" I tell her to be ready in thirty minutes and go back into the bathroom to put on my make-up and dry my hair. School, is one of my favorite places to be, it's where my friends are. Classes, I make average grades, I'm not a straight A student, but I'm not a failing one either.
I slip on my boots, the black color clashing with my white jeans and light blue hoodie. I'm not a fashionista, but I do care about how I look. I grab my car keys, and sling my backpack over my shoulder. It was rather empty, it only has one binder and a 'James Patterson' book I am currently reading. On the drive to Kayla's house, while stopped at a red light, a group of three teenage boys pull up in a convertible, similar to my own. They are blasting music and each of them has on a pair of black sunglasses.
The guy driving, who has black, slicked back hair, pushes his sunglasses to the top of his head and looks over at me. "Take a picture baby, it'll last longer." He and all his friends found it rather hilarious, but it was stupid, every guy would say it, could he not think of something better to say?
"Maybe of that tree behind you, because its way more interesting." I pull my sunglasses over my eyes and continue my drive to Kayla's, she doesn't live far from our school, she could walk there in five minutes, but she's lazy.
As I pull up in her driveway, I honk twice. I plug my phone into the car and scrolled through my playlist. I play 'Hollaback Girl' by Gwen Steffani, as Kayla walks out, putting her back pack in the back seat.
I pull out of her driveway and start the short drive to the school. When we pull up, I notice the three boys I had seen at the stop light, they’re all gathering around their car, except there’s a fourth person to their group. He’s a brown curly haired boy.
The tan, black haired guy looks my way, and then his friends look towards me. I pull the top up on my car and stuff my phone into my back pocket. Today is going to be a long day, considering all the things going on with Kayla and her boyfriend. I will most likely get pulled into it.
I walk to my locker and type in the combination, 9-24-7. I grab my U.S. history book and begin my walk to class. Berknar High isn't a very exciting place, it never has been, probably never will be. The only thing our school is known for, is the violence that happens here on a daily basis.
"Good morning, Miss Santiagos." Mrs. Calvin, my history teacher, greets me as I walk into the door. I wouldn't call myself a teacher’s pet, but a lot of my teachers take a liking in me. I mumble a greeting back to her before sitting down at my desk, I sit in the back corner, farthest away from the door, at a two seated desk, with no one sitting beside me. It gets lonely back here, but I'm not complaining, I enjoy being alone most of the time.
The bell rings and several students shove through the door to get into the classroom, the only empty seat in the room is next to me, I'm not sure how that happened, but it's the only one. "Alright class, settle down." Mrs. Calvin smiles at us all and waves her hands, trying to calm us, but it's more like she's directing a circus because no one is quieting down. "Everyone be quiet!" She yells and the hollers and laughter die down. "Today we have a new student, and I hope you all treat him with kindness and like any other one of your classmates. Ashton, introduce yourself." The curly headed boy I had seen walks into the room with his head hanging down, his long curly hair covering his ears.
"Um, my names Ashton Irwin, I'm eighteen years old and enjoy reading." Several kids, yes kids, only kids are that immature, laugh at him and I shake my head, of course they would find a way to pick on the new kid. I guess I have something in common with the new kid, we both enjoy reading.
"Now everyone hush! Have some respect for the great literature in the world like Ashton does." Mrs. Calvin frowns at her disrespectful students and begins handing Ashton his textbooks for this class. "You can sit next to Aliyah in the back." My head snaps up and I shake my head, no way, I've sat in this seat from the beginning of the year, all alone, and no one is sitting there. "Go on." I'm forced to push my things to one side of the desk and let him set his things on the other side.
I scoot my chair up against the wall, as far away from Ashton as I could get. I don't like new people, especially when they're intruding my personal space. He laughs slightly at me being uncomfortable and looks towards the front of the room.
In history, we do the same thing every day, take notes for about four days, have two days to study our notes, take a test. It's actually quite easy, if you read over the notes and put effort into it. I look over at Ashton, who is focused on the board, copying down the notes that are scribbled on the board. His handwriting is pretty, he dots his 'I's with small circles and writes his periods as small circles also.
Ashton P.O.V.
I have to admit, Aliyah's uncomfortableness in my presence is funny, she fidgets every once in a while and tries to move farther away from me at all costs. I catch her looking at me and smile over at her, she blushes and looks down at her paper, writing the notes in a pretty cursive writing. Maybe she would be my friend eventually, the only friends I have at this school are Calum, Luke, and Ashton. We all live in the same gated community, The Plaza, it's a nice place but most kids that live they’re conceited.
The bell rings and Aliyah puts her notes in the sixth section of her binder, looping the paper into the binder rings, I close my own binder, not minding t even put the papers in a pocket. She stands in the back of the room, and I just watch her for a few seconds, she's something different, this morning, Calum said that he had seen her at a stop light and she was rude, but I couldn't imagine this shy girl being rude.
"Mr. Irwin, may I see you after class." I nod and put the textbook in my backpack. Aliyah walks to the front of the room and begins to talk but stops when I arrive in the front of the room. She mumbles a goodbye to the teacher before walking out of the room.
"Ashton, looking over your past records from your old school, your history and math grades have always been low, but you've excelled in all of your other classes, is there a reason?" I shake my head and shrug my shoulders, I've had the same history teacher since 6th grade and she hated me, and I've just never been well with numbers, but I wasn't going to tell my new teacher this.
"I guess I was just more focused on the other subjects than those two." I mumble and she nods, telling me I can leave to my next class. I see Aliyah in the hallway and smile at her, but she ducks her head down and walks quickly past me. I frown and try and find my next class, creative writing. The bell rings and everyone fills classrooms, but I'm still confused on where to go.
I wander down the hallway and realize I'm in the wrong building. I walk out and try to find the English building, it takes about five minutes. I walk in and begin scanning the names on the walls, searching for Mrs. Robinsons room. My eyes are diverted when a door slams and a girl comes out of a room, her head hung low and a few tears flowing down her cheeks.
It's not until she lifts her head that I see who it is, Aliyah. She walks into the bathroom before I can figure out what's wrong, I finally find Mrs. Robinsons room and walk in, everyone staring at me because I'm late. I must have walked in at the wrong time because the teacher is yelling and pounding her fists on the desk.
"I am so disappointed! That girl has done nothing to any of you! She sits in the back of the classroom and minds her own business! You all need to learn to respect each other! You could all learn a lot from that young lady!" The teacher notices my presence and her facial expression softens, this would be an interesting class.
I run a hand through my hair and walk through the hallways trying to find the cafeteria, only a few kids milled around, most of them being at lunch. I sigh and text Calum, asking him where the cafeteria is. He replies telling me to the west side of the building, where all the kids are sitting outside. I walk down the concrete and towards the lunch room. Most of the tables are filled with people, but I see Aliyah sitting with another girl, the two of them alone.
I knock out of my trance when a hand is placed on my shoulder. I snap my head back and see Luke. "Come on, we have our own table." Luke leads me to a table where Calum and Michael are sitting. I put my backpack on the floor and sit on the uncomfortable stool. "I found Ashton staring at the girl we were talking about this morning." Luke smirks and I glare at him, Michael would obviously make fun of me for it, even though he's one of my best friends, he messes around with me a lot.
"You’re already checking out girls on your first day. That's my man." Calum pats me on the back and I chuckle, he's really a lady's man, he's slept with every girl in this school probably.
"She's scared of me, I'm in her first period class and I had to sit beside her and she acted scared, wouldn't talk, had pushed her chair as far as it would go away from me." I frown and Michael laughs. I would tell them about when I saw her in the hallway crying, but I don't know what it was about so I shouldn't tell anyone about it.
"I bet you can't get her to fall in love with you." I smirk and raise an eyebrow, I'm not much of one to play bets, but I'm sure I could. "But you can't fall in love with her." I shake my head and stick my hand out, sure I could. Michael puts his hand out and we shake on it. "Now go plan your date." I laugh and eat my lunch, consisting of a sandwich, a bag of chips and some grapes.
I'll have to catch Aliyah after lunch to ask her on this 'date'. I search for Aliyah's table, it's even more noticeable now that she's the only one sitting at it. The girl who was sitting with her is now sitting with a group of football players and a few cheerleaders. I wonder why she ditched Aliyah.
I wave to the guys and throw away my lunch, not as hungry as I thought I was. I save my chips for later though. I sit across from her and she looks up at me then looks back down at the book in front of her. I reach over and fold the page of her book over, then slide it towards me, making sure to mark the page she was on.
She gives me an annoyed, but shy look and then twiddles with her thumbs. "I swear I'm not a scary person. You can talk to me." I laugh and she slightly chuckles. "So I was wandering, are you doing anything after school today?" Her mouth hangs slightly agape as she raises an eyebrow at me.
"Why do you ask?" She talks in such a low tone that I almost don't hear her. She pulls her book back towards her and opens it up to the page I marked. "Thanks for marking the page." She unfolds the corner and begins reading again.
"No problem, and because, I'd like to take you somewhere, maybe we could hang out." I smile and she looks up at me, surprised. Her hazel eyes are wide and she looks back down at her book after a second or two. "I promise it'll be fun." I smile and she shakes her head slightly.
"I've never been on a date, and I'd prefer to keep it that way for a while, me and other people don't mix well." She mumbles and turns the page in her book. The fact that she called it a date makes me smirk, I hadn't even mentioned it being a date, she's the one who said that.
"Oh so it's a date." I smirk and she shakes her head.
"No, because I'm not going." She looks down at her book and closes it, folding the page over to mar her spot. "I'll see you in History tomorrow." She starts to walk away but when she walks around the table I pull her down in the chair beside me and she grips her wrist, wincing slightly.
"I'm sorry." I say and let go of her wrist immediately. She shakes her head and takes a pen out of my backpack.
"Here's my number, text me where to meet you after school." I feel slightly accomplished, but I don't know what changed her mind so suddenly. She scribbles the number onto the palm of my hand and then gets up and leave, I'm tempted to follow after her but make my way back to the guys and sit down, studying the number on my hand. She wrote her name above it in curvy letters, looking like it came straight from the printer. The bell rings and I go through the classes, struggling to find them all, and struggling to focused, to focused on where I'll take Aliyah tonight.
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Hi guys :) I know I'm updating on a Tuesday but my normal updates will usually be on a Friday or Sunday, I haven't quiet decided.
Please, comment your opinions, I wouldn't want to continue a book that people don't like, it would be a waste of the storage on wattpad. :)
I know that Ashton is much older than the other guys and wouldn't have been a senior when the other boys were but this is an AU and Ashton's just as young as the other guys. Aliyah is 17.
Always remember,
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~Stay Swaggy~