Try Hard // Mashton [5SOS]

1

"He's/She's dropping out of school cause he/she don't need the grade. The colors in his/her hair, don't seem to fade."

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Ashton's p.o.v.

Back at school, they all think I'm an outcast. They just don't get me and don't even care to try. I'm not important to them and honestly? I don't really care.

Sure, I would like to have some friends at school. Sure, it would be nice to have someone to trust completely and talk to. And sure, it would be awesome to be, maybe, in love with someone. But that last one is a bit... It's not something I expect to happen anytime soon.

At first I always hoped that some prince on a white horse would sweep me off my feet and take me to the beach to watch the sunset or whatever. But as I grew up, I realised things like that only happen in movies or books. This isn't a movie and this isn't a book either. This is real life. This is my life.

That sounded so dramatic, didn't it?

Anyhow. The point of this... beginning? Yeah, let's call it that. The point of this beginning, was showing you I wasn't special. I was just that one guy that went to the same school as some people. I was just another guy.

But then there was Michael Clifford. He was the same, I guess. He didn't really have any friends, except for hair dye maybe. I mean, every two weeks he changed his hair color. And not once did it seem to fade. At least, not to me.

Last week he had come to school, his hair blue. Like, blue-blue. Does that even make sense?

But the funny thing was, it was still as blue as the first day he had come to school with his newly dyed hair. And maybe that was just me. Or maybe the dye was really good.

The thing about Michael that I adored though, was that he was himself. He didn't care about the other people staring at him, talking shit about him or anything mean, he just walked through those hallways like he was the only person on the world. His head slightly down, with his earbuds in and music probably on the loudest volume. I always wondered what he listened to.

So yeah. That was Michael Clifford. The guy who apparently decided to drop out of school not all too long before this school year would end. I didn't even know you could drop out of school while being 17, but I guess you can. And maybe he just didn't need the grade?

"Ashton?" I looked up, raising my eyebrows at Calum, who was standing across from me, in a way as if to ask what he had said. "Were you drifting off in your thoughts again? Like, seriously, it's like you live in a world of thoughts."

"Yeah. I guess." I mumbled, trying to focus on the drum set in front of me again. Somehow, my thoughts just stuck with the blue haired boy, who had managed to make me feel a bit... funny. I wasn't sure if it was a 'crush', or something, but I did know I was half afraid and half happy. Super weird combination if you ask me.

"Are you alright?" Luke asked, cocking his head to the side as he looked me over, making me feel slightly self-conscious.

"Yeah, just thinking..." My mumbling didn't satisfy them, as they kept sending me worried glances. It was weird, because I was the oldest. I was 18, where as Calum was 17 and Luke was 16.

"Maybe you should take a break or something? I mean, you keep drifting off and all." Calum suggested, carefully removing the strap of his bass from his body to place the bass in its standard, moving to stand in front of me again.

"I'm fine, really." I told him, waving my hands. That wasn't all too smart as I didn't have a good grip on my drumsticks, so the waving caused them to fly out of my hands and right at Luke. Almost hitting him in the face. "Jeez, sorry!"

Luke gave me a look of shock and confusion, before bending down to pick up the sticks and hand them back to me, Calum giving me a look as if to say 'I told you so'.

"Fine. I'll take a break." I gave in grumbling, getting up and running a hand through my unruly hair. "I'll go and take a walk. You guys want coffee or something?"

"Nah, I'm good." Luke waved me off, giving me a reassuring smile as he got rid of his guitar and went to sit down on the old brown couch. I turned to Calum, who seemed to be thinking, his eyes focused on some random spot on the wall as he seemed to be chewing on the inside of his bottom lip.

"Bring me whatever sounds good." He eventually told me. "Do you need any money?"

"I'm fine." I gave him a small smile, checking my pockets to see if I had everything before saying 'see you soon' to the boys and leaving the house.

It was my house, since I had a drum set and it was hard to carry that around, so ever since I had joined the band, we had practiced at my place. I didn't mind and neither did my mom, so all was good. The boys sometimes 'payed me back' by buying me some food or whatever, but I didn't necessarily need that. I was already happy we had a place to do what we wanted.

We weren't really big or 'real' yet. We simply covered some songs and played together a bit, not really finding the inspiration to write about something, so no original songs yet. But maybe that would come eventually.

I was a bit lost in my thoughts once again, but this time it wasn't about that certain blue haired boy. I was simply thinking about how lucky I was to meet these two boys and start playing some stuff with them, doing something I liked.

I have played the drums for a while and being able to put that to use with some people I could call friends, was just amazing. I was just itching for a little more adventure with it. Like, try and write our own songs. Or maybe just a small gig. That would just make it more real and I would absolutely love that. Maybe I should suggest it sometime...

I noticed my thoughts were not where they were earlier, so I was kind of happy. Now I just needed to get some coffee and then I could go back. Then we can play again and maybe I can suggest the stuff I just thought off.

But you know what's hard? Trying to keep up the 'not thinking about that certain someone', when that certain someone is at the same place as you. Or in. Whatever.

As I walked into the coffee shop, I was pleasantly surprised to see that one boy -the one I had tried to get off my mind- was behind the counter. Him taking my order is not going to help me. Not at all...