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Overhearing

I was awoken by the obnoxious sound of my phone ringing. The light was off in my room
and it felt like it was 2 a.m.
"Hello?" I said, annoyed.
"Imogen?"
"Cammryn. What? It's late." I said, sighing.
"Just come to the skatepark. Please?"
"Why?"
"Just do it, dammit." I was quiet. "Just be here." She hung up.
I sighed again while getting up and changing into actual clothes. I slipped into my
Chucks and opened my door. The house was so quiet. I started making my way towards their
room to ask if I could go. I opened their door. And then I remembered. No one was going to be
there.
My chest felt heavy again. I saw them sitting on the bed, hugging me and talking to me in
soothing voices while I cried. Mom then picked up her keys and said it was time for an ice cream
intervention. I shook my head, making the memory go away, and then closed the door and
walked away.
I didn't ride my board to the park, I walked. And Cammryn noticed. "Where's your
board?" She asked, annoyed.
"I left it." I said, looking down.
"Why? You took fucking forever to walk here."
"Don't worry about it. What did you need?" I looked around. "No one's even here."
She looked away from me and sighed. "I saw Tony texting someone to meet him here at
3. So I got worried. And now I'm stalking him. And so are you." She smiled and walked behind
a bush.
2:48 a.m. Twelve more minutes. "He wouldn't cheat on you. It might just be one of his
buddies."
"Might," She said. "Get over here and behind this bush. We need to start watching."
I reluctantly squatted beside her, watching the skate park. I had just turned twelve the
first time I came to the park. I had just gotten my skateboard and I was so ready to get on it. I
was new to the town, moving from Rhode Island. And that's where I had met Cammryn. She was
thirteen and honestly, one of the Skate Sluts. All she wanted was one of them to give her some
attention. She wore the most emo clothes ever. Batman and all.
I came up, really shy and unsure of what to do. The town was small so people noticed I
was new. Cammryn noticed especially. She had glared at me, challenging me to try and take her
spotlight. I didn't like conflict so I left it alone. I started trying to get my balance on it, failing
three times before finally getting the hang of it. I was so happy. Until I almost fell. Luckily, this
very nice and very cute boy caught me and smiled like an idiot.
I blushed so bad.
"Hi." He said, still smiling big and wide.
"Hi, I'm Imogen." I smiled back, standing up, trying to conceal my extremely red face.
"I'm Asher, and you're new." He said, his smile never going away.
"I am... I just got this board and now I'm stumbling around like an idiot." I picked up my
board and shifted around, unsure of how to stand and what to do. "I'm probably gonna go
home."
"Will I see you around again?" Asher asked.
Cammryn shoved me, bringing me out of my memory. "Dude, pay attention."
I shook my head and sighed, bringing my eyes back to the center of the skate park. Tony
was heading towards the skate park, and another figure was with him. No one else than Asher, of
course.
"What the hell?" Cammryn whispered.
Asher and Tony stood on their boards, talking to each other.
"Why are you back, man?" Tony asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Asher hesitated. "I missed Imogen. Like a lot." He looked away. "And... Gavin. He's a
problem again."
"Fuck dude. What now?"
"I owed him some money. He kept hassling me, I had to get out of there. So I came
back."
"What if he comes and tries to find you?" Tony asked, messing with his skate board.
"I don't know, man. I'll probably just..." Asher trailed off and shook his head. "I don't
know."
I turned to Cammryn. "Can we go now." I stated, more than asked.
She nodded, picking up her board carefully, accidentally dropping it, blowing our cover.
Tony and Asher whipped around. I felt my face flush, then get extremely red.

"Shit," Cammryn muttered.

"Cammryn?" Tony asked.

"Uh..." Cammryn bit on her lip.

"I'm going home." I said, rolling my eyes and turning to walk towards my house, taking

the long way around. Cammryn didn't try to turn around to tell me to stop.

I sighed, aggravated with Cammryn for being so selfish. I crossed my arms and watched

the pavement as I walked, soon hearing the familiar sound of truck tires roll against the

pavement. Asher.

He rolled down the window, and drove slow, at pace with me. "Gen."

"I just... Want to go home and stay home. I just want that. I don't want to be dragged out

at 3 a.m. to do stupid shit anymore. I don't want to have this freedom. I want to have to ask if I

can go somewhere, I want my parents back, I don't­" I sighed. "I'm just tired, Asher. I'm just

extremely tired."

Asher stayed quiet and stopped his truck. He got out and walked around then stood in

front of me, his eyes searching for mine, until they locked and I couldn't move. "Gen." He

repeated.

His eyes were this kaleidoscope of greens, and there was a light brown freckle in the

inner corner of his left eye. He had natural olive skin, that grew slightly darker in the summer, as

it was now. I had to look up at him due to him being 6 inches taller than me. This is Asher. These

are things I love about Asher.

Loved. It's loved. "What, Asher?"
"Come with me." He said, worry lines creasing his sweaty forehead. "Just... Come with

me. Let's go for a drive. Away from the bridge. Away from everything, alright?" He pleaded, his

hands moving towards mine for a split second, before he pulled away, sticking his hands back in

his pockets.

I saw the bare, exposed Asher that I hadn't seen in awhile. He wasn't his straightforward

self anymore, his strong self. So I nodded and got in the passenger seat, covering up the cigarette

burn once again.