Why me? (Austin Mahone)

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It's finally Friday now. This weekdays felt extremely long.

Austin is back to school since the day he almost ran me over and... well, you know, when he drove me home.

I was seriously pissed off that day. I was really hoping I could just go home and have some 'me' time, but NOOO Austin decided it was a great time to have a little 'chat' in his car -who, just for the record- had to practically FORCE me to get inside. And once I was, he almost kidnapped me leaving town without me even knowing it.

I don't even know why I accepted on the first place and got inside the car. I know who he is and what I am getting myself into when I am around him. He has a big sign saying 'danger' all over him.

I haven't told anyone about what happened. Jake would kill me for even listening to Austin, and Chloe would overreact everything. And Austin? I know nothing about him. I don't know if he even looked for me in this past few days at school 'cause I've been avoiding him at all times. I didn't even had lunch in the cafeteria to prevent myself from seeing him. If he has been looking for me, he should think about that twice because he won't talk to me again, and if he isn't, then that's a great thing for me.

And apparently my threat to Alex worked. I need to high-five myself. He didn't talk to me or even get near me in all this days...

Suddenly there was that 'three-two' knock thing again.

"Ready to go?" Chloe asked.

I just realized how much time I snoozed out. The hall is almost empty now.

"Yes" I said closing my locker "More than ready"

I was going to Chloe's house to spend the day. We had nothing better to do, so we'll just chill, talk, eat, and watch some movies.

Perfect way to spend a Friday night.



***



"Okay" Chloe said once we were sitting on her bed with a bowl full of popcorns and another one full of chips. "So, 'The Notebook', 'A Walk To Remember' or 'Charlie St. Cloud'?" She asked showing me the movies.

"I don't know.. I've seen them all like five times each. You choose"

She chose 'A Walk To Remember', played it and ran back to the bed.

I love this movie, this has to be one of the best movies ever. It's one of those movies where you get jealous of the perfect relationship between both of them. Landon was such a badass at the beggining, the typical popular guy in school, but then he founds Jamie, she was such a nerd and everyone hated her, be he actually managed to get to know her and eventually fall in love with her..

"Oh my god" Chloe said turning the TV off when the movie was over "I can't believe I cried again" She was wiping her tears. "I hate this story because it's perfect and I know nothing like this will ever happen to me"

"Ohh Chloe" I said rubbing her back "I bet we will find someone even better than Landon. Well if that's even possible" She chuckled.

"Yeah sure. We will marry the most beautiful, kind and perfect boy in the world... buuuut" She suddenly recovered from crying and sat right in front of me smiling. "For now, we have to focus on the present. Which leads me to..."

"Brad" We said at unison.

"He being in our school is a call from heaven telling me this is my shot" She told me.

"Heeeeey!" I said pretending I was mad "He is my guy. I saw him first"

"Back off!" She threw a pillow at my face playfully "I am sure he likes me better"

I stick my tongue out "You wish Chloeeee!" I threw the pillow back at her but she caught it in middle air "He already loves me for sure"

"Maybe he is cheating on you with me" She raised her eyebrows twice.

"He can't be cheating on me if we are not dating dumbass" I said back.

"HA!" She screamed "You just admitted he is not yours! He can be anybody's! He is single" She danced like a maniac all around the room. I just laughed at her.

"Okay, okay. He is free so I guess we can share him for now" I said.

"Sounds perfect for me" She smiled sitting where she previously was. "The only 'but' I would give him is that he is friends with that bunch of sick-bully boys" She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"You mean Austin and his friends?" I asked.

"Of course I mean them. Who else?" She said "I bet that boy can stab you on the back when you are not looking"

"I bet he could" I said stating the truth "But I also think no one can be heartless. You know what I mean?" She shook her head "Like, yes he is bad, but I think that even bad people have some good inside them. We may not see it, but it can be way deep inside them"

She raised her brow.

"Am I wrong or are you defending that boy?" She asked surprised.

Well I was...

Was I actually defending him? No way.

"No. I am not saying that just for him, I mean everyone" She looked at me with a puzzled expresion and then she smirked.

"Now that we are talking about this..." She said in a 'warning' tone. "I can't believe I actually forgot about it"

"Forgot about what?" I asked curious.

"You never told me what's up with you and those boys"

Since the volleyball practice and my incident I never got the chance to talk to her about the subject...

"Oh no Chloe" I said closing my eyes and bringing my hands to my head "Please don't ask me about it"

With all the free time I had to think about this, I decided it wasn't a good idea to tell her the truth... Just imagine this scenario: I talk to Chloe and I tell her EVERYTHING. She understands and promises not to tell anyone... One way or another The Crew finds out and then... Let's leave it there. I don't really like to picture what would happen.

"Come on Ashley!" She yelled "You promised!"

"I know I did, but just hear me out"

"Ughh" She groaned frustrated "Fine"

"You know that you are my best friend and that I tell you everything right?" She nodded "Do you think I just want to hide this from you because I want to? You need to trust me when I am telling you that you really don't want to know"

"But I do want to know" She said complaining watching me with pleading eyes.

"What if ending up telling you could bring repercussions? That if I tell you what happened something bad could happen. Would you want to know it anyways?" I asked a little nervous.

"Define bad" She said bitting her lip.

"Bad as in bad bad. Like really bad. If I tell you It woudn't just affect some people" I said refereing to Jake and I "It would put you in danger too"

She just stared at me thinking.

"Okay. Fine" She said rolling her eyes "I don't get why telling me something about some teenage boys will make any trouble, but promise me that nothing is wrong. Promise me you'll be okay"

"Why wouldn't I?" I said smiling, trying to hide the truth behind my eyes.

She smiled and hugged me. I was not expecting that, but I hugged her back.

"Well, I was not planning to ask you this, but since you are not telling me about you and those boys..." She was looking everywhere except me.

Now what?

"The other day, I heard some rummors about you at school..."

"What kind of rummors?" She didn't answer "Chloe!!"

"Geeez, calm down!" She said raising her hands in the air. "I heard some girls saying that you left with Austin the other day at school. That you guys left in his car"

Ohh shit. Just when I thought this coudn't get any worse.

"So what?" She asked "Is it true? I mean, I know it's not, I told those girls that they were wr-"

"It's true" I said cutting her off.

"It's WHAT?!" She said in shock.

"It's true" I repeated.

"God" She murmured covering her mouth with her hands "Oh my god, Oh my god" She kept repeating "So it's true?" I nodded "You left with him!?" I nodded again "Oh my God Ashley! What the hell were you thinking!?" I was going to answer but she didn't give me a chance "Did he force you? What did he do to you? Are you hurt?"

"My God Chloe! Can you stop making all those questions!?" I said annoyed "It was nothing"

"Sure girl. You can say it was nothing, but trust me, it is a big deal"

"No it's not." I answered back "All he did was take me home" I lied.

"Holly shit! HE KNOWS WHERE YOU LIVE!? OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO DEAD!" She yelled.

"Chloe!" I yelled slapping her in the shoulder "I had no other choice! He had a huge line of cars waiting behind him and told me he wouldn't move until I got in!"

"And so you did?"

"YES!"

I knew she was going to overreact everything. She is such a drama girl. Nothing really happened. I mean, yeah I was in his car, but apart from that, nothing was wrong...

"Okay.. we have to make up a plan" She said concentrating.

"A plan for what?" I asked confused raising my eyebrows.

"We need him to think you don't live there.."

"OMG Chloe! You think he is that stupid!? Of course he'll know we are lying. Let's just leave it like that and stay away from any kind of trouble"

"He's already stupid to me Ashley. That asshole has been talking some bad stuff about you at school okay? I could seriously go to his house and beat him up for it"

"He what!?" I asked astonished "What did you heard? What did he say about me?"

"Not good stuff okay?" She said evading the subject. But ohh no, she won't get out of this so easy.

"CHLOE! TELL ME RIGHT NOW OR ELSE..."

"Okay! He was saying that you were some kind of stalker, that was always following him and that you were all over him all the time... that's why you were in his car the other day"

"NO FREAKING WAY!" I yelled angry "THAT BASTARD SAID THAT ABOUT ME!?"

"That's what I heard... You understand my point now?"

I groaned frustrated, seething in anger and screamed in desesperation.

How could he possibly say that about me?

That meathead. I swear to God I'll kill him.

How could he dare say I am all over him when he is the one that made me -forced me- to get in his stupid car? He is a scumbag.

If I hate him more than ever.

"I WILL KILL HIM CHLOE!" I was really mad. Mad as ever. "HE IS THE ONE THAT TALKS TO ME! I HATED HIM AND NOW I HATE HIM EVEN MORE!!"

Chloe was going to say something but my phone began to buzz. I picked it up and saw I had a message from Brad. (he asked me for my number yesterday)

"Brad:

Hey Ashley! What are you doing today? Do you want to go grab an ice-cream? :)"

I would love to go but it's not a good time right now and I am with Chloe... so that was exactly what I texted back. He answered instantly saying that Chloe could go, he was going to take a friend too so it was going to be even more 'fun'.

Maybe going out to clear my mind a little wouldn't be too bad, so I told Chloe and she said yes at the second.

Chloe got changed and then Brad picked us up.

Brad's friend was in the passenger seat and Chloe and I were in the back. The boy's name was Finn and he was really cool. He was funny, charming and pretty hot.

We stopped at 'Dairy Queen' to get some ice-cream. We parked the car and got inside.

"So what do you girls want?" Brad asked "This one is on me"

"No, no" I immediately answered "It's ok, I have money with me" I was taking my purse out but he hold me by the arm and stopped me.

"Really" He insisted "Let me buy you this"

I am not the type of girl that likes when a boy buys her everything, it makes me feel bad and guilty at the same time. Plus, it's really awkward. I don't mind buying my own stuff once in a while. But since he kept insisting I agreed and so did Chloe.

We sat and talked for a long time about silly stuff. We never stopped laughing the whole time we were there. This two guys were a bomb together.

"So what are you doing tomorrow?" Finn asked

"I don't know..." Chloe responded "Nothing really"

"Well we invite you two to a party tomorrow" Brad said grinning. "Would you like to come with us?"

Of course I would like to go, but I don't want to look like the girl that was dying to hear that come out of his mouth. You need to make yourself hard to get.

"Actually I-" I was going to excuse myself but Chloe interrupted me.

"We think it would be really fun" She kicked me from under the table and smiled at me.

"Yes, we would love too" I said following Chloe. She nodded and winked at me without them noticing.

When we realized how much time we spent there -it was already 8:00pm- they drove us home. They left Chloe at her house and then they left me. I thanked them and said goodbye. Brad said he would pick me up tomorrow and he would text me to know the time. I got in and then they left.

This turned out to be such a good day after all.

I laid against the front door, pressed my head to the back and squeezed my eyes shut. I started having a weird dance convulsion.

Brad invited me to a party tomorrow! Did that really just happened?

I ran upstairs and into my room jumping in excitement. I opened the door without even bothering to turn on the lights. I jumped in my bed and layed down looking at the seiling. I sighed remembering everything that happened today.

Besides everything with Brad and Finn, the conversation that I had with Chloe randomly popped out in my head... Austin.

What is he up to? Is he a bad person or does he really have some good inside him? NO. He is not good. Not after everything he has done to me.

Maybe I woud think he was some kind -deep down- good if everything I saw and lived inside -and after- the alley wasn't true. But unfortunately it is. I still can't believe everything was just for a flashdrive. A flashdrive I happen to be hidding.

Remembering it, I got up and walked to my desk, looked at the collection of books I had and took 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' out.

The day I got my purse back -with my cellphone and the flashdrive- I needed a place where I could hide it. A safe place. One no one would be able to find except me.

So yes: I had to sacrifice my 'Harry Potter' seventh book for a good cause. It was the longer and biggest book I owned so I took it and made a tiny little square in the middle of all the pages, making a perfect spot for the flashdrive to fit in. It was perfectly hidden, and anyone would see it as a normal book on the outside while I knew what was on the inside.

I took the flashdrive from the book and hold it in my hands for a while... No one, and I mean NO ONE knows I have this, not even Jake. I am in some serious trouble. Guys with guns are looking for this thing, if they know I have it... I am dead meat.

Just thinking about that made me shiver so I put the flashdrive back in the book and closed it, putting it back on it's shelf.

It was getting late so I got up and went to my closet to get my pj's. Then I was heading to my bathroom when I realized I left my window opened.

I don't even remember opening it in the morning, maybe Martha did when she was cleaning...

I walked to the window, looked out and saw nothing so I closed it and went to the bathroom. I got changed into some shorts and a T-shirt. Left my phone charging and walked out to my room.

I closed the door to my bathroom and went to my bed.

I was almost there when I saw a silhouette standing right next to my opened window.

"OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOD!" I screamed unconsciously.

The figure turned and saw me.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I don't even know why I screamed, I was supposed to stay quiet and ran to my parents room without being noticed, but the panic took over me.

The person rapidly reacted to my scream and ran towards me. Every step he took forward I did it backwards until I hit the wall. By that time, the person got to me and covered my mouth with one hand while holding one of my hands against the wall with the other.

"HEEEEEEELP" I screamed. But since he was covering my mouth it came out as weird mumble.

"Shhhhhh!" The person cooed "It's me Ashley!"

It's me? It's me who you idiot!? He was a boy... wait a second. A boy.

"Austin?" I asked, but again he couldn't tell what I was saying.

"It's me! Austin" He said loosing hold of my hand but still not letting me go. "I will take off my hand if you promise not to scream" He said.

I slowly nodded my head and he let me go.

"Good girl" He said taking a step back.

"GOOD GIRL NOTHING YOU ASSHOLE!" I yelled "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOIN-" He interrupting me by placing his hands in my mouth again.

"I said no screaming" He said scowling.

I couldn't even see him, if it wasn't for his voice I would have thought he was a thief breaking into my house.

"I really don't want to do this again" He said slowly like if he was talking to a baby "Would you promise not to sream again?" I nodded instantly and again, he slowly took his hand off my mouth.

As much as I wanted to punch him and nock him down, I had to contain myself and act as normal as I could.

"What do you think you are doing here!?" I finished but this time in a lower voice. "How did you even get inside!?"

"By the window" He said calm. I turned and saw that it was opened again. Great.

I walked to the door to get out of my room was but Austin grabbed me by the arm.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

I moved and took his hand off me.

"Don't touch me, I am turning the lights on" Not waiting for an answer I walked to the light switch.

I could open the door and ran to my parents room, tell them Austin suddenly broke into my room at the middle of the night to do God's know what... but he would probably would catch me on the attempt, he is way faster and bigger than me.

It felt like I someone read my mind when I heard my parent's door opening. A second after that, the light's to the hall behind my door were on.

"Ashley are you okay?" My mom asked knocking the door. "I heard you screaming"

She was going to open the door but Austin instantly ran and locked it. I was about to object but he placed a finger up to his mouth, signaling me stay calm and quiet. Then he moved his head to the side, telling me to answer back.

"Uhmmm... yeah" I could just say Austin was here but he joined his hands as if praying, 'asking' me to please keep this as a secret. And for a strange reason I agreed "I just thought I saw a spider but it was nothing"

"Are you sure honey?" She had a sleepy voice, she probably just woke up "Why is your door locked?"

"I was just changing to my pijamas when you knocked mom. But I am okay, thank you" I looked to see Austin and for what I could see with the lights off, his lips were curving into a smile.

"Okay. If anything happens you can wake me up"

I told her I would and then she went back to his room.

"You must have a really good reason to be here or else you-" I said while I turned the lights on and turned around to face him.

The first thing that caught my eye was his face.

He had bruises under his lips and above his right eyebrow. He had a black eye and was bleeding from his mouth and nose.

"My God Austin" I said walking next to him "What happened to you?" I lifted my hand to touch the bruise above his eyebrow but he moved.

"It's nothing" He walked back a few steps.

"This is not nothing" I walked a few steps forward to be next to him again. "You need to take care of this or it would look really bad by tomorrow" Knowing that he would have said no I dragged him to my bathroom "Come with me"

When we got there I made him sit on the stairs that lead to the bathtub while I got the first aid kit. I knelt on the ground next to him and started cleaning the cuts.

He just frowned and squeezed his eyes shut a few times but never said anything.

"So how did this happen?" I asked. I don't even know how my mood changed from 'I'll kill everything on my sight' to 'let me be a good samaritan and help you up'. Guess I can be bipolar sometimes.

"It was just a stupid fight" He said still with his eyes closed.

"A fight with who?" I had my eyes glued to his bruices and cuts. Once they were clean and free from blood I took the hydrogen peroxide out to take all the dirt out of the wounds.

"It was a fight with Alex" He said once he opened his eyes.

"Alex?" I asked surprised stopping what I was doing to look at him "I thought he was your best friend"

"He is" He answered "But this things happen sometimes. We had a dissagrement that's all"

I didn't know if he wanted to drop the subject or not but I was helping him so he better talk.

"It should have been a big argument if he left you looking like this"

"You should have seen how I left him. What he did to me it's nothing" He said grinning.

"Oh sure. Sure you did" I cackled.

Once I was done with the hydrogen peroxide I took some werid ointment my mom uses a lot and rubbed it gently on his right cheek.

"Ow" He closed his right eye in pain and complained for the first time.

"Don't be such a baby" I said while going up to the bruise on his eyebrow. "So you want to tell me what did you guys fought about?

I was surprised when I heard he answered back.

"He let a new guy join The Crew" He wasn't looking at me, he was lost in his own thoughts "A boy I particularly hate"

I can't believe he just 'opened up' to me about this.

"And who is that boy?" I asked curious, not knowing if he would answer.

"A dude named Brad" He said rolling his eyes.

Holy mother!

"Brad as in Brad Summers!?" I asked astonished and he nodded "Oh my God"

I dropped the bottle of ointment and covered my mouth.

This can't be truth. He is part of The Crew? Kill me now.

"I have a bad feeling about him" He continued probably not hearing me "He is just- Since the first time I saw him I knew he was strange... He has something weird and bad in him." He then turned to see me "You should stay away from him Ashley"

He just said what?

"How do you even know I know him!?" I asked confused.

"I saw you getting out of his car when you got home, and you should trust me on this one.."

He was at my house before I was even here!? I don't think he knows he just said that...

He was looking at me with his mesmerizing green eyes "He is no good"

Sure thing.

I'm sure he has more good in him than Austin does...



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi!

I finally finished this chapter! It's not edited so I'll probably read it again tomorrow and change some mistakes.

Thanks for being so patient and supportive!

I think I am getting better at this 'long-chapter' things.. hehe

I love you! -katie