Sense of Reality (Alan Ashby)

Pictures Of Us Side By Side

My alarm went off, signalling the start of yet another week. I rolled over and my fingers scrabbled over my bedside table, trying to find my phone. My fingers connected with the side of a hard object, causing it to fall to the floor. The loud noise suddenly became softer as I realised I had knocked my phone. I sat up, bleary eyed, and searched for it, leaning out of bed. I picked it up and unlocked it, the awful sound finally ceasing. I rubbed my eyes, hoping to clear them and got rid of the sleep-dirt that had gathered. I stumbled out of bed, my brain refusing to accept the fact that it was time to get up and be awake. I had a quick shower, not bothering to shampoo and condition my hair. I was already late. I had set my alarm a tiny bit later because it is my last first day of school, and I deserve a sleep in. I stepped out of the shower and blow-dried my hair. I placed some sort of conditioning lotion on my hair to make up for skipping cleaning it. I looked at the right hand corner of my mirror. I had put a photo there many years ago. It was me on my first day of high school. My friend Jay and I were standing out the front of his house, our arms around each other, wide grins on our faces. We had on matching shoes and jumpers. We were ecstatic over that fact. When we were at school, people thought we were twins due to the similarities between us. We both had dark hair and light eyes. I smiled, memories surfacing before putting on mascara, eyeliner and tinted lip gloss. I stroked the picture before rewrapping my towel around me and running to my room, my dry hair becoming knotty.

'Good morning, sunshine!' My mum yelled at me as I skidded through the kitchen. I live in a single storey house and to get to the bathroom I have to walk to the other side of the house. My mum always tells me to take my clothes with me, but I can never be bothered.

'Morning, mum!' I yelled back. I walked straight over to my wardrobe and started rummaging through it. I pulled out a slightly crumped grey t-shirt and my We Came As Romans crew neck.

'Mum, have you seen my jeans?' I asked, walking out to the kitchen.

'Try the laundry.' She replied, preparing her breakfast. I went to the laundry and pulled my skinny jeans out of the dryer. I hit them on the wall to get out some of the creases and wrinkles before yanking them on. I fished around for my black ankle socks and pulled them on too. I found a pair of worn grey Vans and pulled them on. I went back to the bathroom and brushed my scraggly hair, straightening it afterwards. I pulled it back into a ponytail, leaving my long fringe out. I clipped it back with a few bobby pins and hair-sprayed it into place. I put all my piercings in and grabbed my gloss, chucking it in my purse. I grabbed my bag and walked over to my mum. She had just finished eating and was sipping her tea.

'Bye Mum.' I said, kissing her cheek.

'Just wait, honey.' My mum caught my wrist. 'I need to take you somewhere first.' She drove me down the familiar roads, her tea sitting in the cup holder between us.

'Mum,' I started. I knew where we were going.

'Don't, honey.' She parked the car outside of Jay's house. She grabbed her camera and walked up to the front door. I got out of the car and leaned against the door. My eyes started watering and the door was answered.

'Sharon.' My mum said, embracing Jay's mother.

'Kate. It's been such a long time.' Sharon replied. 'Hello, Diana.' She called to me. I raised a hand in greeting. They walked out, my mum and Sharon discussing something.

'Of course,' Sharon said. 'As long as I get a copy.'

'Go on, you know where to stand.' My mother said. I stood in the exact same place I had every single year with Jay, getting ready for a new school year. There was one difference this year. There was no Jay. He had died just before the holidays started. I didn't know how he died; his parents had never told me. They hadn't told anyone. My mum snapped the photo and Sharon gave me a hug. We exchanged goodbyes and my mum drove me to school.

'Here you go.' She said. 'Have a good day, honey.' I got out the car and swung my bag over my shoulder.

'Bye Mum.' I walked into my school, down the familiar hallways until I reached my homeroom. Homerooms never change, from year seven to year twelve your homeroom is the exact same. I claimed a desk at the back and walked back out to civilisation. Last year Jay and I had gone immediately to the grass and sat down and talked. We had spent the whole summer together, but still hadn't run out of things to talk about. It was mostly about what everyone was wearing and what they may have done over the summer. I walked around, trying to find my own piece of grass and sat down. I placed my arms on my knees and surveyed the scene. There were the "popular" kids, the nerds, the artistic, slightly weird ones and Stella's crew.

They sauntered over, sending everyone death glares. They were the popular of the popular and everyone knew it. Among them were Alan Ashby, renowned guitarist and hockey player, and his girlfriend Hayley Williams, an amazing singer and Stella's best friend. They were known as the ginger duo, inseparable and troublemakers. The big group walked past, Hayley laughing and exclaiming loudly at me.

'Look, it's that loser whose best friend killed himself.' The whole group exploded in laughter and my blood boiled.

'Hayley, nice to see you,' I said, standing up and smiling warmly. She looked taken aback, and I continued on. 'It's great to see that you still have your flaming red hair. Or are you actually on fire this time?' Hayley's eyes widened and if it was a cartoon her hair would have been on fire, with smoke billowing out of her ears.

Stella stepped forward. 'Don't worry about her Hayley. We don't have any time for bitchy, goth failures.' Everybody walked off, Hayley clinging to Alan. My eyes stung. Yeah, they were just a bunch of stupid teenagers who had nothing better to do, but their words still hurt. The bell rang and I walked off to my homeroom.

A/N

New story! Yay! This idea was given to me by a Mibba user. So... It's an Alan Ashby fic. Let's see how it goes, aye? Only a one or two updates per week until I finish A Friday Night Like This

Title cred: Product of a Murderer - Of Mice and Men 

Amelia - Tonight Alive