Cliffhanger (Lashton Au)

2

"And stay away from cliffhanger"

        It keeps repeating itself in my head, over and over. Who's cliffhanger? What's cliffhanger? Why is it called cliffhanger? I think all these things as I write down my notes for math. I never got a chance to ask Calum because the teacher decided to walk in right after he had said that, causing him to turn and face the front and pretend to listen while he played whatever game he had on his phone. Suddenly the teacher spoke up " Calum," she says, and his head snaps up. "Yes Mrs. Crim," he tries to play it off. "What is that in your lap you seem to be so intrigued with?" she asks, with an eyebrow raised. I try to hold back my laughter as Calum's face flushes a bright pink color. Failing miserably I let out a loud giggle causing everyone else to laugh with me. Except one boy in the front of the room. I look over at him his eyes meeting mine for a split second before he looks away with pink cheeks.

Shaggy dirty blonde hair, dull hazel eyes, and very handsome features this boy was gorgeous. He laid his head down on his arms, the hood of the gray jacket he is wearing pulled up over his mop of messy curls hiding them away. I tear my eyes away from the boy when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn my head to be faced by Calum."Hey man who were you looking at?" he asks, me. "What?- oh nobody sorry" I quickly, apologize. "No, no you were looking at cliffhanger weren't you?" "I still don't know who cliffhanger is Calum" I tell, him. "That's cliffhanger," he says, pointing to the boy in the grey jacket that I was in fact looking at. "Why do they call him cliffhanger?" I decide to ask, quickly regretting it when the curly haired boys head snaps up his eyes meeting mine for second time. A look of desperation and regret flashed in his eyes as he took a shaky breath before putting his head back down on his desk.

"He is just plain out insane. He's an obvious cutter like who does that? He tried to kill himself twice. He's a total nut". Calum basically laughs, causing my eyes to widen. "First off what the fuck dude? Maybe he's depressed maybe he doesn't have anyone you ever think of that." I retort, not knowing why I'm defending this guy that I don't even know his real name. "And second," I continue "that still doesn't answer my question. Why is he called cliffhanger?" I ask, again. "Okay so funny story, bro" He starts off. "Okay so the second time he went to kill himself, he went to the cliff, okay? And well he jumped but the jacket he was wearing got stuck. So after everyone found out they call him cliffhanger, cleaver right?" He chuckles, glancing at the boy in the front of the room, who now is looking at me and seemingly waiting for my answer. "Oh" is all I can seem to answer. Just then the bell rings dismissing us from class, and I look up to see the boy already gone.

My next class was Chemistry with Josh, and let me just say he isn't any better than Calum, and right now I honestly want to hit him. But I know that would solve nothing. "Hey, hey cliffhanger how's it goin' hmm? Have anymore creative attempts? Maybe you can try something that will actually work this time." he says, to the boy sitting in front of us making him just stare straight ahead. "I'm talking to you cliffhanger, got anything else?" He presses, on. The boy seems to start trembling, but only slightly. "I'm gonna get ya after this class cliffhanger, and my boy Luke here is gonna help me. You should have said something bro then your punishment wouldn't be as bad" he continues, to insult the boy in front of us until class is over. After the bell rings Josh drags the boy into the locker room yelling at me to follow. "Hurry your ass up Luke! He needs to be taken care of" He yells at me. I don't want to but my legs mindlessly drag me after him, and into the locker room.

When we enter the locker room, the boy is immediately pushed up against the lockers. Josh kneeing him in the stomach. The boy gasps out in pain as I can do nothing but watch at this time, fear taking over my body. Josh continues to hit the boy over and over as he just lies there, giving up. "Josh! Josh stop he's had enough!" I yell, my eyes starting to water. "Oh you gonna cry pretty boy? What are you gay? Oh does little Lukey like little freak over here?" He taunts me. "No Josh I'm not gay I don't like guys it's just this is wrong Josh so wrong. We shouldn't just hit people because they don't talk." I say, trying to calm myself down. "Getting beat up sucks. That's why I moved here because I was beat up all the time, and now I'm not going to be the one conflicting the pain on other people." I shout, causing him to roll his eyes. "Ha, pretty boys' got a little sob story how cute," he snickers, giving the boy one last kick before walking out of the room, leaving it empty aside from me and the boy. I hurry up and pick up the boy walking out slowly, making sure nobody was there before taking him to the nurses office.

When I got him there the nurse gasped, quickly asking me what happened. "I just found him like this in the locker room," I lied looking up at her. "Oh dear, I'm sorry you had to- just thank you for bringing him here honey. What is you name hun?" she asks, rushing her words. "Oh um Luke ma'am" I tell her. Gaining the confidence I ask, " Ma'am do you happen to know his name?" she looks up at me, giving me a knowing look. "Yes, it's all too familiar around here now. It's Ashton hun he is here way too often to be healthy." I just nod my head, as she speaks up again. "Here I'll write you a late pass and you can go back to class, thanks for bringing him here Luke." She smiles gratefully. "Of course Ma'am." I politely reply, taking the late pass and making my way to Literature.

Entering class late is one of the most embarrassing things ever. When I opened the door the entire class looked over to me, my face turning red as I hand the teacher my late slip. Spotting Michael in the back of the room I quickly make my way back to the empty seat next to him. "Where the hell did you go bro? I thought you ditched on your first day" he quietly laughs, honestly I could listen to his laugh all day. Michael is an attractive guy really, he's like a small kitten. Fierce but cute as hell, and that's hard for me to deal with because coming out as gay to my new school on my first day really isn't on my list of things to do today.

Michael's voice suddenly snaps me out of my thoughts. "Luuuuuke, are you okay?" he says, poking my side causing a small giggle to leave my lips. "Ooh someone's ticklish" he smirks, and my face grows hot. "We should hang out after school today," he suddenly says changing the subject, which I happen to be happy about. "Oh, um sure that would be fun." I say back.

___________________

The rest of the day went on. Calum and Josh still being assholes but Josh didn't hit Ashton for the rest of the day because Luke had been keeping a close eye on him. The nurse who's name he now knows as Barbra had informed him that Ashton was going back to class and that he was okay so Luke wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. Then lunch rolled around. Walking into the lunch room, I take a seat next to Michael. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Not bothering to eat any lunch either, I aimlessly scroll through my phone trying to find something remotely interesting to do. "Hemmings!" I hear Josh shout, and I look up wondering what the hell this asshole wanted. "What," I reply completely uninterested with whatever he was going to say. "So that thing with Cliffhanger, what was that all about?" he smirks, the whole table looking over at me, suddenly interested in the new drama. Rolling my eyes I replied "yea, what about it?" Still smirking he stands up raising his voice a little for effect apparently, "why were you making excuses for him earlier? Why were you sticking up for him?" I clench my jaw, "when someone is being and asshole. Such as yourself. To someone else. Like Ashton. They need someone to stick up for them, which is what I did and now if you will excuse me I would like to get back to my game" I grin triumphantly, looking back down at my phone. Everyone at the table is now laughing at Josh, and he looks like he wants to kill me.

Oops.

Hi, well I hope you guys like this, I'm actually enjoying writing this and I like the story line I have planned out. So please don't forget to vote and comment! thanks ILY ALL p.s. I think I'm gonna throw in a little surprise in the next chapter.