Chapter Three
Ashley’s P.O.V
"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
‘Hey Ash!!’ called Charlie’s voice, I snapped Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare shut and put it down on the table , looking up I saw Charlie a kid with black hair swept across his face and the dark haired boy that showed us the way to the substitute English class earlier. He smiled warmly, I didn’t smile back though. I was still a little irritated from his ignorance earlier. He looked confused at why I was being so frosty with him but sat down beside me all the same , Charlie sat on my other side chatting animatedly to the black haired boy she had walked in with. “So ...I’m Nick” he cleared his throat nervously.
“Nick who?”
“Hunter”
“Nick Hunter?
“Yeah, that’s me. Look I’m sorry that I was … like that this morning it was just one of those days you know?”
“Sure, I know the feeling” I said, a little less coldly this time.
“I was talking to your sister before, Charlie” he changed the topic quickly and my earlier unspoken assumption of the introduction not being the reason he came to talk to me was confirmed.
“Okay, so…did you need to talk to me about something in particular” I said, trying to keep my tone light and conversational.
“Just to get to know you a bit I suppose” he smiled. His smile was quite unusual, you couldn’t clearly tell if it was a frown or a smile “And to apologize for earlier, just standing staring at your car like an idiot”, He added as an afterthought.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it”
“Okay…” he said sounding doubtful “So you like Shakespeare?” he asked glancing down and the book I had put on the table when Charlie had arrived.
“Not particularly to be honest, it’s just a pastime”
“Oh me neither, the language and all that” he tailed off n looking over his shoulder at the group of people he had been with this morning and his expression soured slightly.
“What?” I asked him as I followed his stare and as I did, a tall blonde haired boy got to his feet and made his way towards us. Nick turned around and gave me a swift, calculating look before saying “Look, I have to go but we have” he paused for a fraction of a second then continued “English after lunch I’ll tell you there okay?”
“English... Yeah okay I’ll see you there” I said, my mind spinning. He got up and turned away as the boy came up behind him. “Wait, Nick. Where are you going?” he grimaced and shook his head.
“English” he promised, the blonde boy hissed something in Nick’s ear but too low for me to hear. His face blanched momentarily but then forced a smile for my benefit. The kid yanked on his arm impatiently and very hard aswell judging by the sharp intake of breath from Nick. Austin appeared at Nick’s elbow frowning slightly. “You know we’ve got business to take care of , now shift.” He said it loud enough for me to hear this time and so, apparently, did Charlie because she looked at the boy suspiciously. His voice had a gritty, nasal quality and it sent shivers up my spine. I didn’t trust him in the slightest. The three of them walked off towards the side doors, the blonde boy pushing the other two in the small of the back.” Who was that?!” I jumped, not realising Charlie has slid into the now vacant seat beside me.
“No idea, but he looks a right old bundle of joy” I answered her grimly.
