bluebells : lashton

1~ You Have A Beautiful Singing Voice

**ASHTON**

"Ashton, wake up." My mothers voice softly cooed as she gently shook my shoulder.

I whined and buried my head underneath my pillow.

"Now." My mother warned.

I waved my hand at her dismissively, "Mhhmmm."

I heard her sigh and leave my bedroom.

I realised what was happening that day.

I immediately jolted upright and flung the duvet off my naked torso. I had to wear black today, preferably a suit, I had one somewhere.

I was surprised to see that it was already laid out on the wooden chair in the corner of my room, I quickly got dressed and walked downstairs.

My mum was sat in the kitchen with Joy, both had teacups in their hands, they turned to look at me.

My mother gasped, "Oh you look so grown up!"

I rolled my eyes, she still treated me like a child. It was so annoying, but it did have some perks.

Joy chuckled, "Stop embarrassing the boy!"

Joy was a good friend of my mother, they would always have tea together and talk about floral curtains and potted plants.

My mum sipped her tea, "Apparently the Hemmings boy is coming to the funeral, that is going to be disastrous."

Joy laughed, "Oh my! How would Liz not be ashamed to bring him? She must know what everyone thinks of him."

My mother hummed in agreement.

'The Hemmings boy' was an outcast, he was... different.

Joy turned to me, "Ashton love, could you please tell Calum to go home and put his suit on?"

I nodded eagerly, Calum was my best friend ever since I was little.

"Where is he?" I asked Joy as I slipped on my black dress shoes.

She pursed her lips, "At the field at the back of the stables, the one with the stream running through it."

As I opened the front door to leave my mum yelled, "Could you please pick some flowers for the funeral? Some nice ones!"

I shouted an 'alright' in response and left.

My town was extremely small, it was more like a village. There wasn't much to see either, apart from the church.

Nobody was really out, I whistled softly as I walked past the stables and onto the pebbled path into the field.

I spotted Calum with one of the horses, he was feeding it something out of a bucket. He smiled when he spotted me, I didn't get too close to the horse, as I didn't want to dirty my suit.

"Hi Ashton," He greeted, and began to usher the horse back into the stable.

I half smiled, "Hey, uh- Your mum sent me to tell you to go home and put your suit on."

Calum's smile faded as he shut the door to the stable, "Ugh, I hate suits."

I chuckled and shuffled my feet side to side, "Me too."

Cal cleared his throat, "Well, I'm off. See you in a bit, Ash."

I mumbled a 'bye' and Calum began running down the road.

I sighed and continued walking up the pebbled path toward the stream, where all the flowers were.

I saw what appeared to be somebody sat with their feet in the stream, playing with the flowers.

As I came closer I heard them singing softly, their voice was so gentle and sweet. It was a boy, I could tell by his short, blonde hair.

He wasn't aware of my presence, he continued singing and weaving daisies into a chain while paddling his bare feet in the stream.

That was cute, I'd never seen a boy making a daisy chain before, that was a girly thing to do.

I decided to speak to this mystery boy, I couldn't see his face though, as he had his back turned to me.

"You have a beautiful singing voice," I spoke from behind him, it was cheesy, but true.

He flinched in fright and whipped his head in my direction.

I gasped when I saw his face, it was none other than Luke Hemmings.

Also known as 'The Hemmings boy'.

He seemed surprised that I had spoke to him, people usually ignored him as much as possible.

He stared at me in disbelief, and I gave him a half smile.

"Th- Thanks.." He murmured and continued with his daisy chain in silence.

I watched him curiously, "What's that for?"

He glanced between me and the daisy chain in his hand, as if wondering if he should tell me or not.

"I- I don't know..." He mumbled, blushing furiously.

I slowly walked behind him and reached down to pick a daffodil from the ground.

There were a lot of flowers around, as it was spring time.

Luke flicked his fringe from his eyes and stared up at me from his seat on the grass, "What's that for?"

I twirled the stem of the flower between my thumb and forefinger, "The funeral, are you coming to it?"

I tried not to sound too eager to be talking to him.

Luke stared blankly at his feet in the stream and sighed, "I want to go, but I don't think my mum wants me to."

I frowned as I remembered how my mother and Joy were saying that Luke was an embarassment.

I smiled encouragingly at him, "So? You can go if you want to go."

He shrugged, "I guess so."

I reached down and picked another daffodil, Luke watched me and pulled his feet out of the stream.

"I know a place where there are plenty more flowers, all different kinds too." Luke said, looking up at me with hope in his sky blue eyes.

"Really?" I asked, I hadn't really travelled much past this stream. It was already so far away from the town square.

"Yeah," Luke got to his feet, "Would you like me to take you there?"

I nodded eagerly, I had never spoke to Luke before, but he had always fascinated me. He never went to church, nor did he ever pray. I was certain he was the only non- Christian in our town.

As we walked side by side I admired him, I found myself staring at him for a while. I could tell Luke noticed because he was awkwardly playing with his fingers and blushing.

At that moment I wondered why every body in town hated him, he seemed so likeable, so pure.

"Y'know, you're nothing like what people say about you." I said, staring into his eyes.

Luke smiled widely and blushed deeper, before his grin was replaced by a confused frown.

"Why? What do people say about me?" He asked, sounding hurt.

Oh my. What was I supposed to say?!

I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly, "Uh- just that you aren't a very nice person, but I think you're lovely."

That wasn't entirely true, everybody treated Luke like a disease. They would refer to him as 'the Hemmings boy' and in school the other children used to bully him. Adults would say that he worshipped satan, and that he was demonic. It was all horrible stuff.

Luke nodded slowly, but I could see a hint of a smile.