Songs to listen to later on in this chapter:
1.Creep- Radiohead
2.Hold Your Breath- Chase Atlantic
3.You Were Good To Me- Jeremy Zucker
4.Green- Cavetown
5.Can We Kiss Forever- Kina
6.Big Jet Plane- Angus and Julia Stone
*Asher's pov*
When I got to school, it was still pretty early. I took the note out of my pocket and unfolded it to read it again.
Dearest Asher,
I was really thinking about what you said yesterday and I think I came up with a good idea. Remember Caleb? Well remember how he tried to go out with Sheyla but they just tragically hated each other? Well that's kinda good for me because I think he might like me a little. Who knows? Anyways, I was thinking: I don't want to let what happened with my mom and dad get in the way of any relationships I might have. And Caleb is nice so I'll give it a go. Thanks for the advice! I never could've done this without you!
Love,
Hazel
I grunted in frustration and set off to begin my quest at stopping this horrible act.
How could someone so smart be so stupid??
I was about to walk into the school building when I was stopped by someone tackling me to the ground.
"Where's the weed?! I could smell it on you from a mile away! You're going to juvie, buddy!" He said as he hovered over me and held my arms behind my back.
"Now's not the time Connor! God, get off of me! You're annoying!" I yelled, craning my neck to see all of my friends standing by, letting this happen. I lost all trust for them.
Once I was finally able to push Connor off of me and get up, I wiped off the snow from my hoodie and shook it off of my hair. Surprisingly, the snow hadn't been too crazy here this winter. The snow was maybe three or four inches, but I was sure that'd change.
I was about to run off when Eli grabbed my hood and yanked me back. "Where are you going, dude?"
I said the exact same thing I said to my mom. "Sorrymomcan'ttalknowigottasavehazelfromdoingsomethingstupidandmyadrenalineistoohighforfoodrightnowbuti'msurethosepancakestastegreat!"
Before I left for good, I heard my friends confused mutters.
"Did he call me Mom?"
"What pancakes?"
"How can you decline free food like that?"
I was roaming through the halls when I suddenly spotted Hazel turn around a corner. I ran to follow after her but I guess I was running too fast because I bumped into someone.
"Ah, I'm so sorry!" I said as I bent down to help them pick up their binder. The papers were all scattered across the floor and I raced to get them all back in.
"It's really no problem, but thank you!" The girl said. I recognized that voice. I looked up and saw that it was Anikah, Hazel's friend.
"Oh! Hey, Anikah."
She looked up from picking up the papers and her mouth made an 'o' shape. "Oh, hi Asher. Haven't seen you in a hot minute. How are you doing with Hazel?"
"Um, I'm actually looking for her right now. I need to talk to her." I said, looking over her shoulder.
She jabbed her thumb behind her. "I was just with her. She said she needed to go to the library for something important but wouldn't tell me what it was." She shrugged.
I looked at the hallway behind her longingly.
She paused in the midst of picking everything up and chuckled. "Go ahead and go get her, Asher. I can handle this hard task of picking my assignments up by myself."
I gave her a look that asked 'Are you sure?' and she shoo'ed me away.
I yelled out a thanks and ran off down the corner Hazel went through. I peered inside classrooms and saw too many teachers doing unholy things. Bleugh!! But we didn't talk about that.
I was about to catch up with her when an arm wrapped around my torso and spun me around. I felt a soft thud from my back hitting a locker.
It was Sheyla.
She traced her hands up and down my chest in what I guessed was an attempt to be seductive. I cocked my eyebrow and looked at her.
"Heyyyyy, Asher... I haven't seen you around lately. What's up with that?" She asked in a honeyed voice.
I grabbed her hands and slid them off of my chest, but she didn't let go of me. "Yeah, that happens when you ditch your boyfriend for some other guy."
She pursed her lips. "Well it didn't really work out, so what's the damage, right?"
I rolled my eyes and shook her hands off of mine. I pushed myself off of the locker and continued my search for Hazel.
From behind me, Sheyla yelled,"Text me!"
I picked up my pace to find Hazel, but I couldn't see her. I went in the general direction I knew she went in and eventually found her bouncing to the library. I ran after her.
A few kids in front of me were walking very slow and they took up the entire hallway so I couldn't go around them. I had to think of a different way to get to the library where Hazel was heading.
~~~~~~~
So it turned out, air vents didn't have much room for six-foot two, seventeen year old boys looking desperately for a girl. Who would've thought?
But I had to make it work either way.
I slithered thought the narrow vents and looked through all the rooms from above to find the library where Hazel was heading.
I finally found it and lucky enough for me, I saw Hazel making her way through the bookshelves right underneath me. I pulled my emergency screwdriver out of my backpack, unscrewed the vent's cover, and opened it.
I was thinking whether it'd be better to go feet first or not when what I guessed was either a raccoon, rat, or squirrel bumped into me and the weight of my backpack pulled me headfirst through the vent.
As I fell to the ground, I yelled out," You damn, Raquirrat!" and landed on my backpack.
"Asher? What are you doing??"
I looked up to find myself at Hazel's feet. I quickly stood up and brushed all the vent dust off of me. I almost did a double take when I noticed all of her injuries from last night were gone. I figured she must've covered it with makeup, so I pushed that thought away.
"Heyyyyy, Hazel. You know, casual morning vent hopping." I smiled as brightly as I could until my eyes landed on who was next to her. "Caleb."
"Hey, dude." He waved a hand and I nodded my head back. However, I made no effort to hide the annoyance in my face.
Hazel probably saw the awkwardness between us so she decided to fill it with talking.
"Ummm, we were just talking and I'm taking your advice, Asher."
Caleb cocked an eyebrow and pointed at me. "You gave her advice to do this? Wow."
I already knew what they were talking about, but I just needed clarification. "What exactly are you guys discussing?" I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.
Hazel smiled and punched my arm. "Thanks to you, I've decided to go for it." She turned to Caleb. "Caleb, you already know what I'm going to ask but uh, will you go out with me? Or be my boyfriend? I mean both. Cause they're the same thing. I'm not really good at this. I've never-"
"I think he gets it." I gave her a fake small smile. I couldn't make my eyes look less sad and droopy, though. "So what'll it be then, Caleb? Hm?" I asked him with malice lacing my voice.
He put his hands in his pockets and smiled. "Yeah, of course."
They smiled at each other sweetly and I could feel the tension in all of my bones.
"Well uh, I should probably get going. Gotta go meet up with my friends. Later." I gave a weak wave without looking and sped out of the library before they could say anything.
Once I was out of the library, I raced to the back of the school and went outside. I could feel the still, cold air piercing my skin and the snow made my legs burn. I knew my cheeks and nose were a striking red.
I tried to keep my breathing at a steady pace, but my heart was beating too fast for my own good and my lungs tried to match that rhythm. My mind started going in circles and my eyes began blurring out of focus. I quickly realized it was because my eyes were glistening with threatening tears. I shouldn't have been getting all teary-eyed over this, but for some reason I still was.
The girl I was in love with was with somebody else.
Holy fuck. I was in love with her.
But she didn't reciprocate those feelings.
Everything started clashing together and next thing I knew, my fist was clashing with the brick wall in front of me. I instantly regretted it as the pain shot up through my arm.
I knew I didn't break anything, but it still hurt like a bitch. Blood and ice stuck to my hand and the brick wall.
I put my back against the wall and slid down to the ground. I could feel the ice wetting my clothes. I felt absolutely pathetic. I was just an angsty teenage boy going through heartbreak and punching walls like a dumbass over it.
After about ten minutes, I stood up, and hopped the fence to leave school.
~~~~~~~
When I walked into my house and dropped my backpack on the floor, I knew nobody was home because of how quiet it was. I trudged up to the bathroom and took out the first aid kit. I sat on the toilet to work on myself when I remembered something.
That time when I babysat Hazel's brothers and she drew all over my face with markers, so I sat on the toilet as she washed it off for me.
I pushed the thought away and washed my bruised and bloody hand. Once I finished bandaging it, I went to my room.
I remembered something someone had told me earlier that day. Sheyla said to text her, so I did.
Hey Sheyla. Thought about what you said earlier, and yeah I'd be willing to try again. I left school, you wanna meet me at Sally's in half an hour?
I shut off my phone after sending it and flopped backwards on my bed. My eyes were closed for all of five seconds before I got a reply.
See you there in fifteen. ;) <3
Alright, then. I guess I was going earlier than I thought.
~~~~~~~
I walked into Sally's and found Sheyla already there. She waved her hand to call me over to the booth she was in.
"Heyyyy, Asher." She said as I slid next to her.
"Hey, Sheyla. How's it going?" I tapped on the table and stared at the starter chips and salsa.
"I was stressing because I'm supposed to be taking a math test right now and-"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Is this a bad time?" I winced a bit.
"Nah, now I get to push it to another day. Anyways, I got really excited when you called me here! I knew you'd end up wanting me back. It was a matter of time." She said, adjusting her posture.
"Heh, yeah. So, how about it? You wanna go out? Be my girlfriend? You know." I shut my eyes and mentally facepalmed.
"Obviously. Otherwise I wouldn't have come. Or maybe I would have. I really didn't wanna take that Spanish test."
"I thought it was math." I said in confusion.
"Yeah, that one, too." She reached her hand over and put it on top of my bandaged one. I don't think she noticed it was bandaged. "This is gonna be great."
I laughed without a real trace of joy. "Yeah, I'm sure it will be."
A/N: Heyyyyy guys! What's up? I know this chapter took extra long to write but it's pretty long so hopefully that makes up for it. I swear these chapters are always emotional rollercoasters! One second Asher is climbing through a vent and then he hurts his hand and now Ashzel/Hasher are with other people?? How badly do you think this one's gonna turn out? Or do you like what's happening right now? I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Make sure to follow for notifications and announcements! Please keep reading and vote! Thank you!! By my lovelies!!!❤❤❤
---Your Smøl Bean, Gen