EVERYTHING MATTERS

CHAPTER 3

                          ASH

My heart starts to race as i get closer to the groups lunch table, when i reach the crowd, the buzzing of their voices die down and they all go silent, a girl with eyes the colour of almonds looks up at me and gives me a warm smile. None of the others make eye contact with me and i wander why.

To break the awkward silence, i greet them with a simple "hi".

"Im Eliza, come sit." the girl with the almond coloured eyes says shifting to the other side of the bench.

"Lily." I say sitting down.

One of the boys with messy, blonde hair wearing a khaki jacket sticks his hand out and announces, "Mark."

I shake his hand and pick at my food deciding wether i should eat this gross looking macaroni and cheese.

"This is Liam, Sarah and sam." Eliza says pointing at each one as she calls their names out. They started asking me dozens of questions about my life, why i never sat with them and about the death of my brother and just before i could answer them back my eye catches sight of a spindly looking, pale boy with tousled black hair, wearing black jeans, grey V-neck T-shirt and a leather jacket. he starts heading over to our table taking large steps and just before he gets here Sarah says, "That is Ash Brown."

He sits down next to me and blurts out in a deep, husky voice, "Hey, I'm Ash."

"Lily." I respond for the thousandth time. I look at him in the eyes and suddenly i am lost in them, a bright, crystal clear ocean appears, no waves or land in sight just still glassy waters.

The sound of distant murmurs become louder and louder the closer i get back to reality and as I'm back in the real world, i find Ash just staring at me with his beautiful eyes. My heart starts beating fast and loud and i feel as if everyone can hear it.

"Are they contacts?" I ask.

He chuckles ,"No."

Without thinking i let slip," They're alluring." I say.

He gives me a smile that reaches his eyes. What the hell is going on, i think to myself, why are my cheeks burning, why does it feel like i have butterflies in my stomach, what is this feeling. I tell myself that I'm probably just overwhelmed because I'm actually interacting with people who have real souls and that theory for me was perfectly fine (even if it might not be one hundred percent true).

When the bell rings the whole high school starts to disembark the cafeteria and as i start to walk towards class, Ash catches up with me.

"Pity we don't have any classes together," he says and just before i could reply he was already walking away, but as i was about to walk into my maths class, he turns his head and says, "I'll see you around Lily." He winks and turns to walk down the other hallway.