beside you • c.h

three

As I walked around campus, the atmosphere seemed to heat up. I was still upset about the words said to me and the taunts towards Ashton.

I made my way to the futbol field and stared at both sets of bleachers. I couldn't find him on the side I was on. I looked across the field and found him, sitting there.

I quickly walked across the field, in the heat. I took off my blazer as I walked up the stairs. Ash was sitting there, eyes closed, headphones on. He was drowning out the world as he tapped on the notebook in his lap.

"Hey Ash. You alright?" I asked, gently placing my hand on his shoulder trying not to startle him.

"I don't know. I'm about to leave." He said, setting his headphones on his lap.

"Ash, please don't. I know it's rough. Just a few more months and then we'll all be out of here. I promise!" I responded. Ashton wasn't one to quit, but this was an everyday thing.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes before Ashton had finally piped up.

"So I wrote the final drum part for a song we wrote the other day. Want to hear?" He asked, pulling out his practice pad and two drumsticks. The ends were beaten and splintered to hell, but he didn't care.

I nodded and waited for him to get situated before starting.

____

When Ashton had finished, I had the biggest grin on my face. It was really good.

"Wow, Ash! That's really good! Any titles yet?" I asked, clapping in my spot.

"Yeah! It's called 'Try Hard'. It's about a girl, obviously." He said slightly giggling.

"To be honest, I'm really nervous." Ashton said looking at his hands before putting his things away.

"It's okay to be nervous. But I know that you'll do great." I said, grabbing his hands in mine.

Ashton was one of my best friends. And he worked really hard on everything he did.

"I hope you're right. This is our chance. To really make it. And if this falls through, I have nothing." He said looking across the field.

I looked and there were the futbol players. Which means, Kyle would be here any minute. And he'd tell me how I should stay away from Ashton or some bullshit excuse to yell at me.

"I've gotta go. But I will come to your gig rehearsal. Just let me drop my stuff off at home and I'll swing by with Mikey." I said, gently placing a kiss on his cheek before standing up and leaving.

"Thank you." He said. I stopped and turned to him.

"You're welcome." I replied, giving him a smile.

___

I walked towards the futbol players and found my boyfriend. He threw his arms up and smiled. I jumped into his arms because this was the only time I could before he would be drenched in sweat from practice.

"Hello my princess." He said kissing me deeply.

"Well hello handsome." I said smiling. He put me back on my feet and we moved to the side to stay clear of the other players coming onto the field.

"So, I heard about what happened in maths." He spoke, looking me in the eyes.

"It's not that big of a deal." I said with a sigh.

"You punched a girl in the face." He replied, giving me a stern look. I rolled my eyes and stepped back.

"Like you haven't punched people in the face to defend your friends." I retorted. "Or when they make comments about your parents."

"We'll deal with this later. I've gotta practice. Love you babes." He said kissing my cheek. He ran onto the field to get in position before the practice match started.

I walked away. I could feel my cheeks burning up by the anger building up.

___

A few hours had passed and I was in my final class; English. I loved this class. And I was passing.

We were learning about Shakespeare since they made it a year 12 course rather than a year 9 course to keep newly bred teenagers hormones steady.

Forty-five minutes had passed and the final bell rang. I grabbed my things and ran out of the building to find Michael and the guys. I looked towards the parking lot and I spotted them.

I started walking faster towards them, when someone grabbed my hair, pulling me to the ground.

"Aw, you fell. Do you think you could get away with this?" Lacey said.

I stood up and walked away before things would get even uglier than they had in maths. I walked up to the guys and smiled.

"I saw that. What happened?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Your mum's maths class..that's what happened." I piped up. I could feel myself burning up again.

"God, stop picking fights with people." Michael said jokingly as he pulled pieces of grass out of my hair.

I shot him a look that screamed "shut it or you're next." He threw his hands up in a fake surrender. I looked around for Ashton and saw him walking towards us.

When I turned my attention back towards Luke and Michael, there was someone else in our small outfit of people. A boy.

"Oh, Taylor. This is Calum. He's our bassist." Luke said, looking at me.

I looked down at my feet and back up to meet the gaze of this new kid.

"Hi. I'm Calum. You can call me that or Cal. Up to you." He said shaking my hand. "Wait, Luke is this the girl you are wanting to come to our practice today? And our gig on Thursday?"

Luke nodded. He looked at Calum and then at me. He raised his eyebrow at me to signal the incoming noise caused by my boyfriend.

"Hello beautiful!" He said hugging me from behind, placing a kiss on my cheek.

"Hi babe!" I exclaimed. I turned around kissed him.

He spun us around and my gaze met Calum's. The next thing I knew, Calum and Michael were walking towards the car.

"Come on slowpoke! We've gotta hurry so we can get to practice and you can attempt to kick my ass at FIFA!" Michael shouted in my direction.

I looked at Kyle and he gave me a nod before kissing my forehead.

"You're on, Clifford!" I shouted back at him.
I ran to the car and jumped into the backseat.