Ashley ✓

Six | West High

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SOTC: Team by Lorde

"Damn girl, you look fine as hell!" Sienna cheered.

I looked in the full-length mirror when I came back into our room from the bathroom. On my body was a THRASHER t-shirt and white shorties. Sienna lent them to me since the stuff in my sports bag I came with needed to be washed badly.

"Soooo, how do you feel in it?" she asked afterward.

"Good," I answered.

Truthfully?

I should've gone to my first day of Junior year wearing a white polo and a blue plaid skirt etched with the logo of the school I went to for two years.

I was supposed to walk in as Ashley Walker— the queen, sociopath, sadist— walking through the glass halls eating salads and flipping off nuns with the popular crowd.

Not an empty void of a homeless kid without a sense of self.

Another thing going through my head?

That guy.

I hadn't asked Sienna about that boy that fell out the window. There was so little yet a mountain to panic about a hot guy with no name that I learned from his aggressive informational speeches would be going to my new school. What if he's literally in one of my classes?

Oh god...

But there were at least two thousand new kids in this new school, right?

Sienna clapped her hands, checking herself out in the mirror next to me. She wore a the same thing except the t-shirt was a faded beige one labeled FAST RACING.

"Aight, let's go," she finally said.

We descended the stairs and into the kitchen to find Belle.

"Hey mom," Sienna said.

"Sienna," Belle greeted her then turned to me. "Ashley."

"Hi," I said.

Just then, Fedor barreled down the stairs as he said it in a breath. He embraced Belle in a hug, turning to Sienna. "You two finally ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," Sienna replied.

Belle smiled. "Then have a great day at school."

"Thank you," Fedor said and Sienna afterward, and they began to go.

"Um, Ashley."

I turned to Belle as she whispered it.

"Just.. be cautious. It's the best thing to do in these parts. And Fedor and Sienna already know where you're from, but don't tell anyone else," Belle then told me. "People won't react... well to that."

I nodded.

A smile spread across her face as she handed me my bag. "Have a good day at school, Ashley."

The Sun blared into my irises as I opened the door and caught up to Sienna and Fedor. We all began to walk on the cracking sidewalk under the vibrant, turquoise-like sky, backpacks on our shoulders.

"Yo, who are they?" Sienna pointed to a group of kids biking on the street across from us.

"Freshman," Fedor said with a shrug.

Sienna raised an eyebrow, curling her lip. "How do you know?"

"Because they jump you if you still ridin' a bike at fourteen on The Block now. These freshmen think you gotta steal your grandma's whip," Fedor explained, placing hands in his pockets. "And stop giving me that stank eye when you doubt me."