Change My Mind // m.g.c

Chapter two

CAITLIN

Ashton and I walk into the lunch area at school and sit down at our usual spot in the corner by the door. I take a bite of my apple and he starts guzzling down his sandwich, messily I might add.

"Seriously?"

"What?" he asked but it was muffled because of his sandwich-filled mouth.

"Could you be any more disgusting?!" I exclaim, raising my voice a little.

"I'm hungry!" he defends himself.

"Well you could be more polite about it," I tell him. We continue eating in silence. I take this moment to stare at Ashton. If he wasn't my best friend I would be all over him; he's quite attractive. His dirty blonde hair falls over his face in the most perfect way and his hazel eyes are this bright and always full of excitement. His dimples are so deep they could go all the way through his cheeks. I love how he's always smiling, he's always positive like there's nothing wrong with the world.

Ashton Irwin and I have been best friends since Grade 2 when I moved here to stay with my new foster family. I was moving around a lot between foster families since I was 4 years old and all my past families have been shitty. They didn't treat me right, just like my real family. The one I'm currently with is amazing. I moved to their place when I was 8. It's like I was born into it, like I've been with them my whole life. I call the parents my mum and dad and their two kids are my siblings, one of them my age and the other a few years older. I change my last name a lot and at the moment it's Hood. Caitlin Hood.

I snap out of my stare and look ahead of me. I hiccup on my apple when I see the devil's spawn and her minions walk towards our table; Elena, Bonnie and Caroline. They run this school. They are on the town's netball team. It doesn't sound like much but we don't have cheerleaders in Australia. They are the type of girls that hang out with the popular guys and are super popular. Ashton finishes his sandwich and catches my gaze.

"Time to go," he says quickly. He grips my arm and stands up, pulling me away so fast I drop my half-finished apple. Oh well, I wasn't very hungry anyway. We make it out the door to the lunch area when I hear a familiar, high-pitched voice.

"Leaving so soon? Seventh period doesn't start for another 20 minutes." Caroline says. Ashton and I turn around and I hide behind Ashton. The thing is, I can stand up for myself but when it comes to these girls, it's like my voice box switches off and I can say anything.

"Actually we were leaving because something smelled a little off," Ashton says in reply, "and then we realised it was the whore-bag and the plastic bags." He pauses. "Oh yeah that's you, if you didn't catch on." I giggle a little bit because that was the worst insult I've ever heard. Elena and Bonnie look at each other and start laughing. Caroline looks confused and she's still trying to figure out what he meant.

"Well Ashley," Elena says, "I just wanted you to give Caitlin here a little message, since she's basically a mute I can't tell whether anything gets through to her," she baby talks,, making me super uncomfortable. She's so evil.

"Ok well, what's your 'little message'?" Ashton air quotes, rolling his eyes.

"Tell Caitlin... to go die, and to make sure she hits a main artery while she's at it. The best deaths have lots of blood," she says in the husky voice of hers. I can't believe she would say that. I want to run at her, punch her nose so it bleeds. I want to ruin the pretty face of hers. I want to break something, but I can't. It's like my feet are glued to the floor. The three of them start to walk away.

"Hey, Elena!" Ashton calls out to them.

"Yes beef breath!" she calls out, turning around.

"Go to hell! Oh and it's Ashton by the way," Elena rolls her eyes and walks back to her table with the football guys and other netball players.