Hotline Bling

Chapter 3

*Ashton's POV*

It was lunch time and I showed Abby where the cafeteria was. Lunch was probably my favorite thing about school, but more like when I can actually leave. I walked into the cafeteria with Abby and I saw my friends sitting down at our normal table. Most of us packed our lunches, but Michael was the only one that didn't. I never understood why. Maybe because his mom never had the time to do it or Michael was too lazy to bring his own lunch. I waved at them as they saw me. I looked at their expressions. They probably thought I just picked up a girl, but Abby was quite shy herself so she was hiding behind me. I was tall I suppose.

I sat down at the chair that was left and I went to grab a seat for Abby. I came back and I told Abby to sit next to me. She thanked me for the chair and sat down. She looked over at my friends and I could tell that she was shy to talk to them.

"Ashton, who's your new friend?" Michael said, with his face full of pizza.

"More like girlfriend," Calum said, laughing.

"She's not my girlfriend," I say, not amused.

"Just ignore our friends," Luke said, quietly, but none of us could hear.

"Sorry about this... uh..." I trailed off for a second to clear my throat and thoughts. How can I manage for Abby to meet my friends... more like idiots. "Abby, this is Luke. He's like a giraffe. He's tall," I say, trying hard not to laugh.

"Wow, what a great way to describe me," Luke sighed. "But I'm sitting so I'm not as tall."

"You're still freakishly tall man," I say, looking at him. "Um, Michael is wearing the snapback and Calum who looks like he flirts with the whole school, is there," I say. Wow I should be ashamed at times on how I describe my friends, but then again, they describe me as "daddy af" and I couldn't complain.

"I haven't gotten with anyone at this school yet," Calum said, and Michael put down his pizza to whisper into his ear. I couldn't tell what he was saying, but whatever Michael said made Calum laugh.

"It's nice to meet you guys," Abby says, taking our her lunch. I felt bad for her a little. Why did I have to have friends that would embarrass her? Unless she's already used to having friends like this.

"Guys, this is Abby. We met in English class," I told them and they looked at me.

"That quick? Oh, buddy, as soon as you share a cookie with her, you guys would be pretty much engaged," Michael laughed. I didn't understand how that made any sense so I just ignored it.

"Michael knock it off," Luke looked at him and Michael stopped.

"Well, anyway, Abby is from Montana and now she's here. So make her feel welcome guys or I'll hear about it," I told them, kinda coming off as a threat.

"Are you sure you guys aren't dating?" Michael asked me and I threw a grape at him. Abby started to laugh. At least she was having fun with us.

"Guys, remember when we met Harry, Niall, and those girls at the beach?" Calum asked, as he changed the subject. He showed us where they were and they were over at a table. They were sitting around a bunch of people. I guess maybe they were the popular people. But, somehow they saw us and they came over. "They're coming, act normal."

"Hey guys. Do you mind if we come stay for a while?" Harry asked, looking at us. And somehow I started to feel uncomfortable.

"No, of course not," Calum says.

"We should have met up to say hi, but I couldn't find you," Harry goes on. "But we found you now. How was the rest of your summer?"

"It was pretty good, thanks. Yours?" Calum asked.

"Good too, thanks. Are you guys having a good day so far?" Harry asked.

"It's okay I guess," Calum said, looking at us.

"The first day is always the hardest," Niall says.

"Yeah, well, let's just hope the next day is better," Calum said. None of us except for Calum managed to even talk to them.

"Well, Courtney and Laura wants to talk to me about something, but Niall are you coming?" Harry told us, heading back to his table.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a moment," Niall says, as we watched Harry walk back with the girls.

"Are you guys like well-known around here or something because you guys had like the whole school over there?" Michael asked, finishing his pizza.

"Kinda I guess, but I don't care about popularity. One day I brought my guitar to school, I played it, and then some girls were kissing my feet," Niall says, and I laughed, and everyone looked at me. They didn't think it was funny.

"So they were just kissing up to you or something?" Luke asked Niall.

"Yeah. But that wasn't the end of it. I sang for the talent show with Harry and I had fans. Girls weren't stop even when I told them no," Niall said, sighing.

"You sound like a pretty cool dude though," Michael says. "I have another slice of pizza if you want it."

"Sure, I'll take it," Niall says and takes the pizza from Michael.

"But what about Harry? What's his deal? Is he like the popular guy?" I asked, not knowing why I asked that.

"Harry, well, every girl loves him. It took me a while to have girls fall for me. It was so easy for Harry to get girls, but it was always hard for me. But somehow girls fell for me and now I'm like popular and I don't want to be."

"I'm sorry, man, but Harry sounds like an interesting guy though," I say.

"Yeah he is. People call him names like he's a player and stuff, but actually he's just a goofball and is a banana," Niall told us.

"Why is he a banana?" I asked, laughing.

"Because he eats them like everyday," Niall laughs.

"He's eating one now," Michael laughed along with us and we turn around. Michael was correct, he unpeeled the banana and started to eat it. The girls around him was giggling. At the corner of my eye, he saw me and waved and I waved back.

"Yeah, girls seem to be turned on whenever he's eating one. He doesn't even have to try," Niall told us and he sighed.

"I'm sure people are turned on by your guitar playing," I told him, patting his back.

"I guess." Niall was going to say more, but Harry walked back over to us. He stood by Niall.

"Niall, there's someone that wants to talk to you," Harry whispered to Niall, but I heard him.

"Oh, who is it?" Niall whispered back.

"You'll see," Harry said, and he looks at me, and Niall walks over to the table. Harry, however, stayed with us. "This is between you and me, but a girl wants to talk to him. The girl that he has been crushing on for a while."

"What's her name?" Luke asked.

"You'll find out later on," Harry said and after that he was gone.

"Is it just me or is that guy kinda suspicious?" Calum asked us and we agreed with him.

"It's like he's hiding something," I say.

"Oh goodness, Courtney is staring at me. No girl I don't want anything!" Michael screamed.

"What the hell, Michael. Are you serious?" Calum looked at him, surprised, and he saw that Courtney was.

"Why is she looking at you?" Abby asked. Abby has been quiet for a long time. I was wondering what she was thinking about.

"I don't know. That girl is interesting too. It's like she could stare right into you and know all of your secrets," Michael told us, as he stands up and he throws out his lunch. He comes back and sits back down.

"Maybe he's just playing. Niall told us a lot about him," Calum said.

"I still don't trust him, but I want to get to know him better," Michael said as he stood up. He was walking over to Harry and we kept on saying no. But he wouldn't listen.