Paparazzi//Grayson Hawthorne

Chapter Twenty-Two

Alisa decided that since my face has healed for the most part, plus the fact that I can wear makeup, to let me go to school.

The uniform is Maroon, Alisa tried to get me to wear the skirt like Avery does, but I opted against it, saying that I would prefer pants.

I quickly make it to the car, being told that Avery is, in fact, taking a different car there. Something about Alisa having to talk to her.

I still am struggling to talk. It's just hard.

I get to the car. Both Xander and Jameson are inside, so I make a move toward Xander's side.

He sees me out of the window, quickly opening the door for me as he moves over, sliding closer to Jameson, so he is in the middle.

I nod toward him, meaning a thank you.

He smiles at me brightly before I slide into the seat next to him, doing my seatbelt quickly.

"You feeling better today?" Xander asks, his voice is soft and quiet. I nod, not able to really form words still.

I feel comfortable with Xander, and I'm able to talk with Xander, but I assume since Jameson is there, I just can't.

"What's wrong with her?" Jameson asks Xander, not in a menacing tone but more of just a curious one.

"She's being non-verbal at the moment" Xander's voice is once again soft as he is very brief with his older brother.

"Oh," Jameson mutters before turning once more, finding his bag on the floor, and rummaging through it for a few seconds.

"Here, you can use this if you need it" Jameson reaches across Xander and hands me a small pad of paper and a pen, a small smile on his lips.

I can't help to be slightly shocked when he does so, as just the other day, he was expressing that I definitely was not his most favorite person in the world.

I nod a thank you, a small, grateful smile spreading across my lips.

We pull into the school, and I see students all over the front grounds, it looks more like a university or a museum more than a high school, but that is a rich person's high school, I guess.

Xander sticks right by my side as I get out of the car. I can feel eyes on me, causing me to shrink into myself slightly.

"You've got this, Ash. I'll be right by your side the whole time," Xander whispers as he starts to lead me toward the building in front of us.

A girl with long black hair starts to approach us. Xander notices, turning toward her quickly, "Not right now, Thea," He quickly says, causing the girl to frown before Xander and I walk off again.

We arrive at the principal, Dr. McGowan's office. Xander follows me in, standing right behind me as Dr. McGowan invites me in.

He sits next to me in the seat across from hers. She raises an eyebrow at that but dismisses it quickly.

"Ashlyn, it's nice to meet you finally," She quickly says. I try to form words, to say anything, but I can't. I frown slightly, quickly looking at Xander.

"It's actually Ash, not Ashlyn, but Ash also is having some trouble with being verbal at the moment, which is understandable due to everything that has happened these past few days," Xander quickly says, Dr. McGowan smiling a small smile. Thanking him.

"Well, welcome to Heights Country Day. You can call me Dr. Mac," Dr. Mac quickly explains.I was sent off to my classes after a while. Xander tagged along with me, saying he wanted to make sure I knew my way around.

Everything is slightly hectic, I don't know anyone and it seems that even though people are very obviously staring, as soon as I look back at them, they look away.

I see Avery at lunch. Xander is showing me the archive, which is just rich talk for the school library.

She sees us from down the hall, quickly speed-walking toward us.

"Hey, I see you have a tour guide," She quickly says, laughing at her own joke.

I try to say hi back, I really try, but it just comes out as stutters. I sigh, close my eyes, and take a breath quickly.

I smile up at her as I open my eyes again. She's seen me like this once before. When our mom died, it was pretty bad. I couldn't talk for days, even if it didn't affect me as much as it did her.

"What happened? Are you okay?" She quickly asks, pulling both Xander and me into another hallway, one away from any people walking by.

"I think it was caused by the paparazzi at the mall we went to yesterday, everyone seems to think she and Gray are dating now, and on top of that, everything else that has happened this week, it's no doubt been very stressful for the both of you, but everyone handles it differently, and this is probably their brains' way of coping" Xander quickly says, basically explaining everything he could within a few seconds.

I don't think Avery noticed that he referred to me as their. He does that a lot. Sometimes, he'll use she/her, while other times, he'll use they/them. I like it. I like when he uses those when referring to me, it makes my chest go warm and fuzzy, and it makes me feel good.

"Are you okay? Has anything else happened?" Avery quickly asks. She usually doesn't care this much. Mind you, though. I don't get like this much. She usually just doesn't notice.

I nod, signaling that I am, in fact, okay. I mean, sure, I'm not okay, but I am physically okay, and that is what she means.

[Very rare Avery and Ash moments]