When Luke sat down with Emily wrapped around his arm, he saw Scarlett's eyes go wide for a moment before she got up and left with Ashton leaving not long after. A couple minutes go by and they have yet to come back.
"Is this Ashton's new thing? Following her around like a lost puppy?" Luke blurted
"Why do you even care?" Michael asked, shooting Luke a confused glance.
"I don't," Luke mumbled gritting his teeth, glancing over at Emily who was deeply involved in her phone.
Michael shrugged, and continued to type on his phone.
"He probably went to fuck her," Luke muttered, earning a glare from Calum.
"He's not like that," Calum hissed, "Ashton wants to make sure she's okay, he cares."
"So your saying I don't care about people?" Luke asked angrily, staring into Calum's gaze.
Emily looked up from her phone and scowled at the two, "Would you knock it off?"
Luke scoffed at Emily and removed his arm from the back of her chair. He doesn't even know why he was seeing her, she was a major bore. He didn't date girls, he never did. Luke ignored her and continued to glare at Calum.
"You implied it," Luke mumbled, clenching his fist at his side.
"Whatever, I'm getting cheese fries." Calum pushed back his chair, stalking off to the lunch line with Michael following.
Luke ran his fingers through his knotted hair, his open palm slamming on the table.
Emily pushed her chair back and rolled her eyes, "Seriously, Luke, you need to control yourself."
He dismissed her and she sulked out of the cafeteria, her thins arms crossed at her chest.
This girl hasn't even been here for more than a few hours, and already she's frustrating Luke.
Someone came up behind him and grasped his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts, "Someone looks angry,"
Luke turned around and groaned when he caught a glimpse of Ryan Tanner, the most annoying asshole in the school, in Luke's opinion.
"What do you want, Tanner?" Luke spat, turning back around.
Ryan pulled out Ashton's chair and sat down, "Just wanted to say hi, did you see the new girl?"
Luke gestured to the seat where she sat, "Scarlett?"
"Yeah that's her name," Ryan grinned, "She's hot as hell, dude."
Luke shrugged, "I can get her."
Ryan could help but laugh, "I don't think her standards are that low."
Luke rolled his eyes at him, annoyed his Tanner's presence. Luke would admit, he imagined beating the shit out of him a few times.
"Plus," Ryan added, "She doesn't look like the hookup type of girl."
"I'll make her one," It wouldn't be the first time.
"Someone is just extra cocky today," Ryan smiled, "Ask her out tomorrow before homeroom, I'll be watching."
Before Luke could say anything else, Tanner got up and walked back to his table with his other asshole friends. Everyone in this goddamn school is an asshole.
-
After the talk with Ashton, the day went by in a blur. All of her notebooks were already filled with scribbles and random things she's heard during class.
Scarlett didn't bother with the bus, figuring that she could deal with the walk. She wanted to walk in the warm weather anyway and enjoy the quiet.
She was almost halfway to her house when someone called out from behind her, "Need a walking buddy?"
Scarlett realized it was Ashton, and she sent him a wide smile. He started to walk a little faster to catch up to her.
"Hey, Ashton," She greeted.
"You don't have to call me Ashton all the time, you know,"
"Yeah? What should I call you?" Scarlett asked, an eyebrow raised in interest.
"I don't care, Ash is cool." Ashton replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Scarlett thought about it before giggling hysterically, "Ashly? Ashlyn?"
Ashton threw his head back and groaned, "Oh, God,"
"That's you're new name," She laughed, reaching up and pinching his cheek.
Ashton swatted her hands away, earning another giggle from the girl, "Where do you live anyway?"
Scarlett pointed forward, "About one block from here, so we're close."
Ashton nodded, "We should be over around 7:30 if that's okay."
Scarlett nodded, "That should be perfect, let me give you my number."
The two swapped phones and handed them back to one another. Scarlett looked at his contact name and said, "I'm changing the name, Ashlyn."
Ashton rolled his eyes and hit her arm playfully. A comfortable silence blanketed over the two and Scarlett didn't mind. It was nice just to have someone walk with her.
Scarlett put her hands in her jacket pockets, "So is Luke a natural asshole?"
"Okay, I know today made it seem like it, but that's not who he is. He's a really cool guy once you get to know him," Ashton explained.
To Scarlett, Luke made it look like being an asshole was a profession. He treated her like shit when the group was together, but he wasn't as bad when they walked together in the hallway. She bit her tongue before she said something she'll regret.
She just nodded and pointed out her house, "This is mine."
As she walked up the steps to her house, he waved her goodbye and continued walking down the street.
Scarlett opened the door and tossed her bag by the door frame and closed the door. She made a mental note to rush her book bag upstairs before her mom flipped out.
"Mum?" She called out, started to wonder around into the kitchen.
"In here," Her mum, Amelia, called out from the living room.
Scarlett leaned against the door frame of the living room, watching her mum wrapping the cord up from the vacuum.
"Hey, mum," Scarlett greeted, taking a bite out of the apple she snagged from the kitchen, "What you up to?"
Amelia shoved the vacuum into the closet and wiped her hands in her jeans, "Oh, you know, cleaning."
Scarlett tossed the apple to her mum, who caught it with grace before taking a bite out of it, "How was school?"
"Usual." Scarlett mumbled, shrugging.
"Usual can mean a lot of things to you," Amelia laughed sitting next to her daughter.
Scarlett shifted so her mum had room had the couch, "Okay, fine, it was interesting."
Amelia sighed in defeat but accepted her daughters answer anyway, "That's good, did you make any friends?"
Scarlett nodded, taking the apple out of her mum's hands and biting into it.
"Any guy friends?"
Scarlett groaned and dragged herself off the couch, she was not in the mood for this conversation, "Oh, Jesus, mum."
"Fine, fine." Amelia threw her hands up in defeat, deciding not to push further.
Scarlett sighed, starting to walk away and up the stairs. She's never talked 'boy talk' with her mum, and she didn't plan on starting that now.
"Any chance you can leave the house of a couple hours at 7:30? I'm having people over," Scarlett asked, the stairs creaking beneath her feet.
"Yeah, I have to run errands anyway," was her mums response.
"Thank you!" She shouted towards her mum, and all she heard in reply was "Yeah, yeah."
The relationship between her and her mum was rather shaky, to say the least. Her mum has taken two jobs, so during the very limited time she was home, she spent it sleeping to have energy for her other job. Scarlett never understood the need for a second job, they always seemed financially stable, so she just assumed that her mum just wanted away. Away from the family, and away from the broken home.
Scarlett sat down on her bed, and pulled a copy of 'The Maze Runner' off her nightstand and opened it up. Continuing from the part where Theresa was throwing things from the tall outpost. She checked out of reality and got lost in the words of James Dashner.
It was only an hour later that her thoughts were interrupted by the front door slamming, signaling that her little sister was home. Scarlett threw her poor excuse of a bookmark in the book and placed it on her bed sheets and swung open her door.
"Nicole, come here please!" She called out.
Scarlett heard her groan but she stomped up the stairs and into her room anyway. Nicole stood in the doorway, her bag slinged over her shoulder and forced a grin on her face, "Can I help you?"
"I'm having friends over, so either stay in your room or just don't bother us."
Nicole shrugged her off, "I'm going to Ema's, so you don't have to worry about me!" Then she retreated to her room.
Scarlett sighed and let her head hit the pillow. Glancing at her alarm clock, she remembered what Ashton had told her about how they like to eat a lot of food, so now she was going to get some.
Before she knew it, she was running down the stairs, grabbing the keys to the car, shouting to her mum that she was getting food.
➵
The convenience store was only a short ride from her house, and she picked out different varieties of candy, cookies, and pints of ice cream. Her little basket was filled and heavy, so she managed to lug it over to the counter.
The cashiers eyes were wide with all the different type of food, "Having a party?" he joked.
Scarlett didn't bother laughing, she just watched the cashier unload, scan, then put into bags.
"Can I get a box of Camels?" Scarlett asked, putting her fake I.D on the counter.
The man didn't bother to check it, he just reached under the counter and slid the box over to her. He told her the total, which she paid for then walking out.
➵
In the car, Scarlett sat there, tapping the box against the steering wheel. She's been meaning to quit for a while now, but she couldn't. The feeling of the smoke enter her lungs was too much to give up.
The radio clock read '5:15', and she took breath before deciding to visit the graveyard. It's been over a month since she last went, and decided it was time to bum a smoke with her dead father.
The grave site is a more lengthy ride, but she didn't mind.
➵
The parking lot was dim and eerie. The sun was setting behind the thick clouds, and she knew she didn't have a lot of time before the sun went down completely. Scarlett grabbed the box, a lighter from the center console and exited the car. The grass was wet and she almost slipped, twice. As she neared close to the grave, her breathing started to get labored. She blinked back tears as her father's headstone came in sight.
Scarlett clutched the box in her small hands and she stood over the grave, a pained smile on her face.
"Hi, daddy," Scarlett said, her voice low. As she sat down on the wet grass, she couldn't help but cringe at the gravestones reading.
David Johnson
1971-2012
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
Husband, father, brother
"I started public school today," Scarlett said, playing with the wet grass with her fingers, "It's going okay, it's better than being home-schooled. There's a lot of people, and I even made some friends. You'd like them, I think."
She wiped under eyes and retrieved two cigarettes from the carton, she put one on the headstone and she kept the other to herself. Scarlett lit both and fell back onto the grass, putting it to her lips.
"I know you don't smoke," Scarlett exhaled, watching the smoke float into the air, "It's just the thought."
After a couple of minutes, Scarlett stood up and kissed the gravestone. She put out the two cigarettes and walked over to her resting brother, who was only two graves down.
Andrew 'Andy' Johnson
Loving and caring brother
1995-2013
"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night."
Scarlett didn't bother to sit on the grass, instead she sat down on the headstone. She can hear his voice, scolding her for never respecting his stuff, "I wish you were here, Andy."
She drew in a shaky breath and held in her tears, "I've been thinking about it a lot, why you died exactly one year after dad. Was it on purpose? Did you purposely throw yourself in front of the car? Or is it what the police say, a hit and run?"
She didn't know why, but she waited for his answer.
"It doesn't matter, really," She grumbled, looking down at her lap, "Whoever did it is going to have hell to pay."
Scarlett could feel him rolling his eyes.
She stood back up and kissed his gravestone as well, "I'll be back soon."
Once she shut the car door and started the engine, she let all the tears she's been trying to hold in, fall.
---
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