Lost Without Them (Ashton Irwin Story)

This boy has problems

Storms POV

I wake up earlier than usual the next morning, going through my whole morning routine and changing as quickly as I can. I grab my bag and creep downstairs.

"Maybe if I leave earlier than usual I can leave without them -" I think to myself, finishing my thought as my foot hits the bottom step and I look up, immediately coming to an abrupt halt. "– or not" There stood at the door waiting are the boys, all dressed and standing around casually with smirks on their faces. You have got to be kidding me.

"I was just about to come and get you," Michael smirks while swinging the car keys around his finger.

"Well, I'm here," I mumble through gritted teeth.

Ashton throws a cereal bar at me, which I barely catch, before snatching the car keys from Michael. "These are mine," He directs to Michael before turning to me, "And you, missy, eat." He says as he points a finger at me before walking out of the door. Calum, Luke and Micheal follow him out of the door while imitating him behind his back while I just stand there for a few seconds and go over what has just happened. I quickly shake it off and follow the boys out of the house.

This day is bound to be interesting.

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Ashton pulls the car into the school parking lot around ten minutes later. I take a deep breath before exiting the car, knowing that by now people are already noticing the boys but I just keep my head down as I walk towards the school building.

"We'll have to catch up with you in your first lesson. We have to go and get schedules so we know where we are going to be going. We should have the same classes you since it's a one-off occasion and we don't want to annoy you by keep asking so we asked them to print one off for each of us. Okay?" Michael rambles out as we get within touching distance of the front doors. I just nod before slipping into the building through the door that Luke holds open for me – the boys diverting left as I go to the right.

There are people everywhere, as usual, as I wind my way through the corridor towards my locker. When I reach my locker, I rip the note off that somebody has taped to the front, skimming it over as I open the locker with the other hand.

"If you're reading this then your ugly ass if still walking the corridors. Yeah, why is that again?

You may have gotten away yesterday but I will get you, there is no doubt about that. Or, you could just go kill yourself, you attention seeking freak."

I sigh as I roll my eyes. Mikayla really should think of new insults, I mean, I have heard those ones every day for well over a year. You would have thought that she would have at least thought of better insults by now. I crumple it up and throw it to the back of the locker before shutting it again once I am finished. As I turn around, I am pushed back into the lockers harshly.

"Did you get my note, bitch?" Mikayla smiles, sickly sweet as always.

"Yeah, great English by the way. That's got to be a top grade that one." I spit.

Mikayla glares before her hand makes contact with my face. "Who are you to insult me? You're just an attention seeking little whore who's brother can't even stand to be around. That's why he went away, am I right?" She smirks, holding my jaw in a tight grip with her nails – claws in my opinion – digging into my face. "How is that brother of yours anyway?" She smiles evilly, obviously thinking that she has struck a nerve

I look over her shoulder before smirking as best as I can, it's not easy given the circumstances. "I don't know, why don't you ask him yourself?" She digs her claws harder into my jaw, hard enough to draw blood in my mind but I don't it in reality.

"Take you talons off of my sister or I swear to all things holy that you will regret ever touching her," Michael says so calmly that it scares even me, the other three boys are glaring at Mikayla and her minions. I can see the principal just behind Michael's shoulder. Oh, God.

I feel Mikayla tense, quickly letting go and whipping around to face the newcomers and slapping me in the face with her extensions – on purpose of course – as she plants another one of her sickly sweet smiles onto her faces. Just as she goes to speak, Ashton cuts her off.

"One word out of you Barbie and I will lose my shit," This makes her smiles falter slightly.

"Mikayla, Shannon and Lacey, please make your way to my office this instance." The principal steps in causing the girls to roll their eyes but follow him as he proceeds to walk away. I let out a breath as they turn the corner and finally leave my line of sight. The boys rush forward to see to me.

"I knew one of us should have come with you," Michael mumbles as he pulls me against his chest. Luke and Calum makes noises of agreement as they join our hug. Ashton hangs back, obviously taking a second to calm down still.

When the boys let me go again, I speak up. "It's okay, guys. You didn't know that this would happen. Anyway, nothing too bad happened." I take a deep breath before directing my next part at Michael. "I have never seen you so angry, like, where did that even come from?" I joke.

"You're my little sister, Storm; it's my job to protect you." He replies, looking proud of himself.

I look around at Ashton, "You good?" I ask hesitantly.

"It's bad enough that I had to see something like that happen to someone I care about, but when she had the audacity to still intentionally whip you in the face with her hair and then try and chat us up – I swear, I was two seconds away from wringing Barbies neck." He grumbles out before taking a deep breath and pulling me into a hug of his own. "As long as you're alright." He mumbles eventually.

The guys and I let him have his moment to calm down, him still holding me close the entire time.

"This wasn't the first time, was it?" Calum asks, already looking like he knows the answer to his own question.

"Well, no, not exactly," I mumble as Michael and Ashton visibly tense. I rub Ashton's back in an unconscious move to calm him down a little as I continue. "I didn't think she would do something like this, not with you guys here at least. She's hit me before, that's nothing new, but it's mostly just notes and comments here and there." I summarise quickly.

The other three nod solemnly before we start making our way to my first class. Ashton is still close by and Michael has taken to walking directly in front of me. The boys are being protective now, great.

Calum, always the jokester, decides to act like a "ratchet" girl – his words, not mine – and starts to be silly. "That hoe gon' get her weave ripped out if she be hatin' on ma girl again." He announces, pulling a duckface and waving his hand around overdramatically, gesturing randomly while standing in a diva pose. This boy has problems.

This makes us laugh as we finally arrive at my class just as the bell goes, barely able to calm down enough to look like normal students as we make our way inside.

I'm not sure if this is better or worse than I imagines it would turn out so far, but I say bring it on. Just the rest of today with the boys following me around like duckling. I can do this.