My Own Hero

Chapter 1

 "How could this be?" I asked my mother as I slammed the palm of my hand on the bar table. "After all of these years, he wants to visit? Why?"

My mother sighed and set down her coffee mug. "Ashton is your best friend-

"Was." I corrected her. "But that was a long time ago, when we were ten."

"He just wants to re-connect with his roots." My mother said. "I suggest you make him feel welcomed here, his mother died a few years ago, It must be really hard for him. Just be nice, okay?"

I sighed as my mother got up from the table and walked towards the living room, hinting that this coversation was now finished.

When I was seven and Ashton was eight, he hit me in the face with a plastic toy car, tore off the head of my Barbie doll, and pushed me off of the slide in the jungle gym, yet we were inseperable. His mothr died when I had just turned ten and him and his dad moved away. We kept in touch by sending letters and calling eachother, but as we got older, I guess we just stopped.

You'd think I'd be excited and happy that Ashton was coming back to visit, but I wasn't.

As I thought about when we were younger, I realized how much of a jerk he was, and if he was a jerk when we were kids, than he had to be the biggest jerk as a teen.

I was so not ready to meet this jerk.

"Natalia!" I heard my mother yell from downstairs.

I groaned as I looked at myself through the tall length mirror.

I had to make a great first impression after all these years. I was a dork back than and somewhat nerdy with the big round glasses, missing two front teeth, and the pigtails. I wasn't going to let Ashton have the satisfaction of teasing me anymore.

 As I looked at myself through the tall length mirror, I ran my hand through my messy dark chocolate waves that hung loose over my shoulders, than fluffed it, making it full and thick. I fixed my make-up, making my hazel-brown eyes more noticeable than applied pink frosted lip gloss on my full lips.

I turned my body in every direction as I looked at myself in the mirror.

"No." I said quietly as I ran to my closet and kneeled down on the floor.

 I dug through a pile of clothes, throwing them around my room.

"Natalia!" My mother yelled again.

"I'm coming!" I shouted back as I ran to my bathroom with clothes in my hand.

I settled with light-washed blue-jean shorts and a red plaid t-shirt.

"Okay." I said to myself. "Time to re-connect with this jerk."

"There she is!" My father exclaimed happily as I walked around the corner from the hall. "You kept our guest waiting."

I rolled my eyes and walked towards the living room where I spotted Ashton sitting on the couch next to my mother looking through a photo book.

Ashton looked nothing like the Ashton I once knew.

This Ashton, as much as I hate to admit it, was actually good-looking.

His hair was messy and dark and hung just below his eyes, his complexion was tan, and his body was seriously built. He wore dark jeans and a black t-shirt and had a piercing in one of his ears. The Ashton from the Sesame Street days was dirty and boyish along with chubby. This one...looked like an Abercrombie and Fitch model with a hint of bad boy next door.

"Hi." I said politely as Ashton and my mother looked up.

Ashton stood up from the couch and slowly walked over to me as he shoved his hands in his pockets.