I saw my phone light up on the table and when I tried to get up to reach it, Ashton pulled me back to him and refused to let me go.
"Don't leave" he begged and I laughed softly before turning to look at him, "whoever that is can wait."
"Ash I need to check it, maybe it's Amber who needs me." I said and he pouted but I just let out another soft laugh before getting out of his grip to reach my phone. It had been pouring rain all afternoon and I came over here as soon as I was done at school to watch movies all evening but I was soaked and freezing from the rain. So he gave me sweatpants and a shirt while my clothes were in the dryer. His clothes were so big on me and I loved that they still smelled like him.
I looked at the text on my screen and closed my eyes for a second when I read it. "Fuck" I mumbled before sending a quick text back.
"What's going on?" He asked when I sat back down next to him, he put his arm over my shoulder and I waited for another text to come in, hoping to get better news but it wasn't any good.
"I'm gonna have 15 pissed off kids tomorrow and I have to go home to prepare a class after all." I said with a sigh before looking at him, "We were supposed to have music day tomorrow, we always do that the last day before a holiday and with the winter holiday starting the day after tomorrow, it was supposed to be now. But the volunteer cancelled just now and all others have plans already. So now I have to come up with games to fill all day."
"I can do it"
"What?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"If you tell me what the teacher was supposed to do, I could do it. I play guitar, piano and drums and sing and I'm kinda famous for it, I think I could do it." He said softly and I laughed at his offer before realising he was serious. "Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."
"Would you really want to do that?" I asked him and he nodded, I got a smile on my face before getting up and going over to my bag to take out my laptop. "Okay so this is a list of everything we were going to do tomorrow, I could help you out with the dance hour in the afternoon because I know you aren't the best in that." I said and he laughed softly while going through the songs and activities.
"I'd need the chords of most of these songs but I'm a fast learner." He said before opening google to search up the songs. He handed me the laptop back before getting up and disappearing. A bit later he came back with his guitar and sat down with me. "These are fairly easy, I'm sure I could even teach you one of them on the piano."
"We have all night" I said with a small grin and he looked at me with a smile before nodding
"By the morning you will be able to play one of them, even if it takes us all night." He said before kissing me softly.
—
"Class, be quiet please." I said a little after the bell rang and I counted everyone.
"Yes miss Elle!" One of the Down Syndrome girls said excited, they were all happy, smiles filling their faces and excitement and sparkles in their eyes.
"As promised, today is music day to celebrate the first semester being over." I said and I saw kids looking at each other with so much excitement. "We all know that I can't sing," I said and giggles filled the room, "so that's why I invited a very special friend of mine. This is Ashton and he will be making music with you today." I said and while some waved, others avoided all possible eyecontact. This was a very diverse class which meant the students were somewhere inbetween severe autism, Down Syndrome or behavioral/mental issues. Not everyone liked a new face. "Let's all welcome Ashton and thank him for taking his time to come here today."
"Welcome Ashton." Half the class said in unision and I looked at Ashton who had the biggest smile on his face.
"I am very happy to be here." He said before looking at me.
"I asked all of you to write down your favourite songs at the start of this week so Ashton prepared some of them to play for us. Is everyone ready for that?" I asked and they all screamed a yes and some clapped their hands.
"Okay so who wanted me to play Happy? The song that goes 'clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth'?" He asked and when he sang that little part, 5 out of 15 hands went up so rapidly. "And who wants to sing it with me or learn it today?" He asked and even more hands went up and he looked around with a smile. He sat down at the front of the class with his guitar while I went over to the kids and sat down with them. The most closed off kid of the class moved to come sit with me and once she sat down on my lap, I focused on Ashton and the way he interacted with the kids, the way he let them come forward to sing with him if they wanted to and the laughs escaping when he won over their hearts.
The other teacher, Marie, occasionally looked over at me with a smile on her face. Another autism kid had found his way to her lap and was clapping along softly.
But even the girl on my lap was starting to let go of all the tension and fear after a while. She wasn't going to stand infront of the class like the others but she was very quietly singing along. They went on with the song until everyone could sing it along and they were ready to do it all together.
"You have to sing too, miss Elle" the girl on my lap said and I looked at her with a smile before nodding.
"I will" I said and she smiled at me before looking at Ashton again. I took out my phone and decided to film it when they sang the whole song. They were all smiling, some dancing along and Ashton had the biggest smile on his face while singing the song. Ashton, Marie and I gave the class a big applause.
By lunch time they had learned 4 songs and I had never seen them this happy before. Smiles on their faces while they left the classroom to go to lunch. I don't have to do the lunch break today which I was very happy about.
"You did amazing." I said to Ashton while I walked over to him.
"It's not hard with a class like this. They're all so excited and amazing." He replied all happy before looking at Marie. "So what do we do for lunch?"
"You get to eat together with all the other teachers. They're all very excited to meet you." Marie replied before looking at me. "No worries, there won't be any crazy teenagers there."
"I figured" Ashton said with a soft chuckle, he placed his guitar on the table before taking his bag to take out his lunch. Marie and I took out our lunch too before we started making our way to the teachers room. I took Ashton's hand in mine and he smiled at the gesture while keeping his eyes on me. I just looked back at him shortly before looking at Marie.
"Did you prepare the dance for after lunch?" I asked her and she nodded, it was Marie's first year as a teacher here so I was guiding her through it a bit. She was great with the kids and that's all that mattered.
"Yeah it's rather easy. Is this the one you did last year too? It felt familiar."
"Yeah I have 5 dance routines that I use again every year." I said with a chuckle and she laughed softly. "I'm not good enough in dancing anymore to come up with something new every year."
"I took a lot of dance classes as a kid, if you want I could try and come up with a new one for easter?" She proposed and I looked at her with a smile.
"That would be lovely, I'm always open to new suggestions, you know that." I said to her and she smiled proudly. As of last year, I am the main teacher in our class but due to having 15-20 kids with mental or physical disabilities, we need another set of hands to help. And so far, Marie has been a great help. "Have you got any plans for the holidays?"
"I'm going back home to my family for a bit to celebrate christmas. Haven't decided yet where I'm gonna celebrate New Year's." She replied with a nod, "What about you guys?"
"My family is coming over the next two weeks so I'm going to celebrate with them." Ashton said with a smile, he had been so excited for them to come again.
"I'm probably going to San Fransisco for Christmas and stay in LA for New Year's, we still haven't figured it out." I replied before looking at Ashton. "We can put 5 more chairs around the table easily, just let me know when you've decided what to do."
"I will." He said with the kindest smile and his eyes showed so much happiness. Marie pushed open the door to the teacher's room and I let go of Ashton's hand when walking in behind her.
"I'm gonna introduce you to everyone at the table, but don't worry if you can't remember their names." I whispered to him before I followed Marie to the group we usually sit with.
"And finally we get to meet the legend." One of the older teachers said when Ashton stood beside me. "We've had to hear many stories about you already, so it's nice to finally put a face to the name." He said before getting up and shaking Ashton's hand.
"It's great to meet all of you too, Elle told me a lot about you guys." He said, which was true. I talk about work quiet a lot. I quickly introduced him to everyone.
"Do you want anything to drink? We have pretty good coffee." I said and he chuckled softly.
"A coffee please" he said and I nodded before looking at Marie.
"I brought my own drinks" she replied with a smile, I went over to the coffee machine and started it to make two coffees. I could hear him talking with my coworkers and not much later his laugh filled the room. The sound I would never get enough of. I looked back and he was talking to everyone with a smile on his face and the others laughed when he made a joke. I couldn't help but smile when I took the two mugs and walked back.
"So how did the legend do with the kids? Did the shy kids dare to say something?" One of the teachers asked me when I sat back down.
"He did great. Every kid ended up singing along and participating in the class." I replied and Ashton smiled so proudly and the teachers seemed impressed.
"Do you have any experience with kids with mental disabilities?" One asked and Ashton nodded lightly.
"I often spend time with Elle's sister Amber too and my daughter has autism. Stage 1 or 2, she's still too young to say which stage for sure." He said so easily. Everyone around him knew about Olivia but I had never heard him say it to someone before. I looked at him with a smile and he smiled softly too, "It's nothing compared to these kids as my daughter is very good with me but Elle explained me a lot about autism so I guess that's where I learned some things."
"How old is your daughter?" One asked a bit softer now, they didn't expect this and except for Marie, I didn't tell anyone either.
"She's 16,5 months old now. She was diagnosed at 14 months after Elle had noticed the signs." Ashton said before looking back at me shortly, "She took her time to teach my close friends, that see my daughter often, how to deal with her and everything. So it's going well now. Maybe in a few years she'll be in one of your classes."
"It's good to hear that it's going well now. It can be quiet difficult to adjust to it at first." Another said with a friendly smile and Ashton nodded before taking a sip of his coffee.
He was so open about Olivia and it honestly surprised me. I knew he had accepted it and learned how to deal with it but it's a big step to admit it to a group that are strangers to him.
But he knew this was a safe space, a space where nobody would ever be judged by having a disability. Half of these teachers have someone with autism or down syndrome in their family.
Maybe it's good for him that he came with me today. That he could see more kids with autism but more grown up and doing well. They need some adjustments but they're just as capable of reaching great things as any other kid.
— twitter —
Alexa5SOS: remember how I said Elle is my sister's teacher a few months back?
Alexa5SOS: well I've spoken with her several times now when I pick up my sister after school. She has given me advice and everything.
Alexa5SOS: my mom was working so I picked her up today. And guess what? Fucking ashton irwin was there. I met Ashton fucking Irwin.
Alexa5SOS: apparently he helped with music day today which is a thing they do the last day before every holiday.
Alexa5SOS: I met Ashton Irwin and talked with him for a little while my sister was telling something to Elle and telling her goodbye. She struggles with change so its difficult for her to go from school to holiday and back.
Alexa5SOS: but I repeat, Ashton fucking Irwin was there. My sister sang and danced with him and they even had a 1 minute conversation.
Alexa5SOS: HE SAID THAT MY SISTER IS A GREAT GIRL AND THAT HE LOVED TEACHING HER SOME SONGS
UpdatesofAshtonIrwin: Ashton helped out today at the school Elle works at to teach a music class. Elle works at a school for mentally and physically disabled kids.
Ashton5SOS: I got to teach a bunch of 8 year olds songs today and it was a great experience, loved every single one of them. They're the new generation and I know they're capable of making this country great again. [video]
— instagram —
AshtonIrwin: I look forward to spending my evenings on stage again. 5SOS 5 will be a special one.
407.185 likes
AshtonGlobal: WHAT
5SOSGlobal: WTF ASHTON. IS THERE SOMETHING YOU WANT TO TELL US???
AshtonGlobal: are we getting new music
LukeHemmings: soon 🥺
Annmairwin: can't wait x
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