heights//lashton//

fix you

"when you feel so tired but you can't sleep"

Ashton did his usual morning routine.
Get up, get ready, make breakfast for the three of them and then walk his siblings to school and then continue to his school.
Not very exciting.
He dropped Lauren and Harry at school and told them he'd be home just after 6 because he had to work at the café this afternoon. They had his mobile number saved as speed dial or whatever in the house phone so they could use that if they needed anything.
"Okay I'll see you later yeah? There's some snacks in the cupboard. You can use the microwave for popcorn but that's it. No oven please. Have a good day"
Ashton waved as his younger siblings walked into their school gates.

He was walking to school and thinking about his weird dream last night.
He hated his mum for leaving them with nothing but her money, it was good that he didn't have to work to provide for his brother and sister and himself, just because he needs a bit of extra money, but he'd much rather her be here than the millions of dollars she left them with.
People just assume Ashton has a great life. He has a nice house, he doesn't struggle with money, he doesn't have a car but he's planning on getting one soon. But he doesn't have parents. And that's the most important thing. He became an adult and a carer for his younger siblings at age 13, no one should have to go through that. Sadly, it's not as rare as people assume.
No, it's not extremely common for people to have no parents or carers at all, but it happens, in some circumstances that's what you've got to do.
Ashton's mum left a request before she left, don't tell anyone.
The authorities would send them to a foster home or even worse, to live with their dad.
Ashton hasn't seen his dad since he was eleven.
His dad never met Harry and only knew Lauren for three years.
Harry has grown up without a dad.
He left as soon as he found out Ashton's mum was pregnant with Harry.

***

It was halfway through first period when Ashton got called to the office and to take his things.
Surely he wouldn't be in trouble, he hasn't done anything wrong.

"Um I got called down here?" Ashton said politely to the office ladies.
"Oh yes we'd like you to show around the new student, you're a good role model with good grades and high participation levels in basically everything, we'd love for you to show him the ropes"
"Yeah of course that's fine"
"Here's his class timetable just give that to him, it's the same as yours except for when you get a class off for the school newspaper group he has career studies"
"Okay cool"
"He's just over there"

"Luke Hemmings? Is that you?"
"Yep that's me, the one and only"
"I'm Ashton, I'll be showing you around, introducing you to your class teachers and where clubs and training for things are held, basically we get a day off class to walk around the school"
"Fun, where should we start"
"How about we go through and meet all your teachers, they'll be on class but they just have to sign to make sure you have the correct classes"
Ashton walked around and chatted with Luke as they got all the teachers to sign off.
"Okay, that's done. Are you joining any after or before school clubs, classes or sport teams?"
"Um yeah I wanted to check out the art group after school and the soccer team this winter, but is there any sporting groups in summer?"
"I love art classes! They're on Thursday afternoons from 3:30-5. I do running with my friend Calum. It's pretty fun. We do mainly just running but also other fitness and workouts, plus, we do heaps of fundraisers throughout the year.
You can join that in summer and do soccer in winter if you like?"
"That sounds pretty good, I think I'd like that"
"Well how about we go see if our coach is available?"
"Cool"
The two boys walked to the gym together and Ashton found his coach.
"Coach?"
"Oh hi Ashton, who's this?"
"This is Luke, he's new. He's in my gym class so can we get you to sign the form thingy? He'd also like to do running group and try out for soccer"
"Awesome, I'll talk more to you two in gym tomorrow. Have fun boys!"
"He seems nice" Luke said shyly.
"Yeah he's the nicest teacher you'll get, he isn't too strict, just loves when people are enthusiastic about gym class but I'm sure you won't have a problem with that".

When lunch came around, Ashton invited Luke to sit at his table.
He instantly bonded with Calum over sport and Michael over music.
Ashton really liked Luke already and was hoping they would become great friends this year.
If only Ashton knew who Luke really was.

***

All four boys had the last two periods together so they decided to walk down to the cafe after school. Ashton started work at four so he only had two hours of work today.
They were planning on getting a bite to eat and waiting around until Ashton finished his shift then they were going back to Ashton's for about an hour to get to know Luke better.

***

"Alright guys I'm finished" Ashton said as he hung up his apron he had to wear.
"So you sure it's okay if I stay at yours for a bit? I don't want to be a nuisance"
"Nope all good, my little brother and sister will be there but they'll keep out of the way"

During the time Ashton was working the boys went and got Calum's car so they drove back to Ashton's instead of walked.

"Lauren, Harry, I'm home!"
They two of then ran down the stairs and basically squealed with excitement when they saw Michael and Calum, the two boys were like other brothers to the little ones.
Obviously Michael and Calum knew about Ashton's situation, they were hoping Luke wouldn't ask about it though.
"Who's this?" Lauren asked while looking up at Luke, who was at least two and half feet taller than her.
"This is Luke. He's our new friend" Ashton said while Luke just smiled, "we'll be out in the game room if you need anything okay? We'll make dinner when my friends leave".

The four boys all got a bean bag and set up the Playstation.

Luke liked hanging out at Ashton's place with the other boys. He hasn't done this in a long time and it felt good to just be having fun with genuine people again.

It got to seven thirty and Calum decided he better drive Luke and Michael home so Ashton could get around to dinner and stuff.
Just as they were about to walk out, Luke's phone started to ring. It came up with No Caller ID and Luke excused himself to answer the call.
"Hello, yes everything's good I'm leaving now." With that said he hung up.
"Sorry about that, thank you for having me Ashton. See you tomorrow"
Ashton said bye to the three other boys and then went in to the kitchen to start getting dinner ready for his siblings.
*

****
After putting Lauren and Harry to bed, Ashton watched some tv for a while and finished off some homework. When he was done he looked at the time and saw it was nearing midnight and he needed to shower and get to bed.
As he was walking into his énsuite bathroom, his fingers skimmed over the dusty photo frame that had a picture of him and his mum in it.
He went quickly to shower before he started over thinking again, it never ends well for Ashton when he thinks too much.
Ruffling his curly hair, Ashton went to his nightstand and put his phone on charge. He looked up at the photo frame again, but this time it was cracked. He was gone for maybe 15 minutes and it just cracked.
Ashton tried not to read into it too much by concluding that he must have knocked it when he walked into his bathroom. Hopefully.

*****

Things were getting weirder and weirder each day in Ashton's life and he was starting to get scared. Especially for his younger siblings.
So he searched for paranormal investigators in his local area then felt like an idiot. This was hardly paranormal. Just a few weird occurrences. It won't last long.
And with that he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

a/n~ sorry i havent updated in forever. hope youre enjoying this. i kinda like it so far but it will get better i promise

xoxoxo