Somewhere New ~5SOS Fanfic~ (IN EDITING)

♪Chapter One♪

"I've got a ticket to another world."
-Beside You

~*~
It didn't take long for my ears to finally pop; a side effect of being on a plane. When we reached, I didn't feel like staying awake for another second. The clouds in the sky were upon us as the taxi driver raced down the streets, scaring me a bit.

"Ashton...?" My father whispered, gently nudging my arm. I forced my eyes open, despite whatever force was dragging them down. "We're here. At the house." He said, not wanting to disturb me so much. His black hair was ruffed up with exhaustion, and his face was tired.

I looked to my right, and peered out the window. "This is real," I thought to myself. I was somewhere new, and there was no going back.

As the taxi cab driver opened the cab door, I pulled up the hood on my sweater. It was chilly for an early Autumn night. But I would have put on my hood anyway. I'm not a people's person, you see: I used to be, but ever since the bullying started midway through 11th grade, I had never been the same.

The moon in the sky had never been that clear before; it had always been so distant, and blurry in my eyes. But now, as I study it, I'm reading as if it was an ancient code. The first few steps I took onto the stone path-my stone path- were shaky and uncertain. Something about it all made me feel terrible. But when my mother turned the knob on the front door I felt worse.

The house-which was beautiful with it's brown wooded flooring and white walls-reminded me of my old home way too much. I didn't want to think about anything home related that night, so I lugged myself up the stairs, juggling two suitcases along with me.

But the whole house was empty, and our stuff wouldn't come until the next day. So, that meant I'd be sleeping on some clothes for a mattress, and resting my head on some sweaters.

The house was large-bigger than my old one. I couldn't believe the similarities that I was seeing. Even the room that I claimed as my bedroom looked the same. It was as if someone copied my house, and pasted it here. For some strange reason, I was appalled and pleased by it. A little piece of home in my new home. That, I could live with.

As I stared up at the blank wall that seemed to still drip white paint, I failed to fall asleep. I thought about Ashleen, my girlfriend that I had to leave when I moved here. I really missed her, but we had made a deal to video chat everyday. It seemed like we were giving a shot at this so called "long distance relationship". I truly wondered how long we could stay together. Bits and pieces of the last day I saw her came back to me out of order: Like how between the last few kisses we shared, she had whispered, "Always." I didn't really understand what she meant by that. Maybe she meant "We'd always be together."?

Last night, sleep didn't come so easy. It was spent by annoying tossing and turning, with about a second of shut eye. When I woke up the next morning with an achey back, I immediately felt grateful to see boxes being loaded into the house. I watched from my second floor bedroom window as busy workers scurried along, trying to be as fast as possible.

My parents were busy. As always, nothing new. They hurried along to work after they helped load the boxes inside, and sent me on my way. Luckily, we chose a house that was in walking distance of Hemsin High, which meant I wouldn't be getting there all out of breath and sweaty.

During the phone call my parents made to Hemsin a few weeks back, they told me that I'd be shadowing a guy that was in my grade. But as I stood in the counseling office, he was nothing like I thought he was.

"Excuse me," the boy with the pink hair asked, tapping me lightly on my shoulder. I plucked out the ear buds that were playing an All Time Low song to listen to his words. "I'm Michael Clifford, and they told me you'd be shadowing me for a few days."

"Yeah, uh, I'm Ashton Irwin." I said, adjusting my golden-brown hair. His skin was ice white, a lot lighter than mine. He wore a dark blue sweater, with a pair of dark wash jeans. Since he was standing, and I was sitting, I couldn't see his shoes. But in my head, I as thinking converse.

I was too lost in thought to say anything else, so when he spoke again, it was unexpected. "Ashton? Oh, like Pokemon?" He asked, a trace of excitement found in his voice. I shrugged, not wanting to kill his dreams. "Can I call you Ash?"

I tried to smile, but it came out as more of a frown. So instead, I just said, "Yeah, sure."

Throughout the day, Michael was treating me as of we knew each other forever. But I wasn't diving into a friendship with anyone wholeheartedly. I was still observing who I could and could not be friends with.

I abandoned him during lunch. I decided that I just wanted to eat alone, without having to make up random answers that weren't good enough. But no, nobody wanted to leave me alone, even for a second.

"Hey," a tall guy about my age said, as he walked to me. I imagined how inadequate I looked in his eyes; a tall dude crouching over a plastic bag, eating a salami sandwich alone, in a corner. I wasn't exactly showing best friend qualities.

"Hi," I managed to say through the sandwich. I took another bite, hoping that he got the message that I was too busy eating to talk. He got it, but decided to take a seat next to me.

"You kind of look like this guy my friend Michael was talking about earlier,"

I scoffed, staring at my jeans. "I'm him," I said, wiping the corner of my mouth. "I'm shadowing him, starting today."

"Ohh," he said, saying it longer than needed. "Well, the way he described you, you sound pretty badass."

I almost chocked. Me? Badass? What did I do or say for someone to think that? "Oh, really?" I asked, having to wash down my throat with a gulp of water.

"Yeah. But anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to sit with my friends and I?" He said, getting straight to the point. He flipped his dirty blond hair, waiting for my reply. Honestly, he seemed like my kind of person. "By the way," he said, stopping himself short. "I'm Luke Hemmings."

"Ash," I said, now getting used to the nickname.

It felt good to actually talk to people again, and to be comfortable in my own skin. I thought that they would be the only people that I would be able to make friends with, and I was probably right.

But as I fell asleep, outside, underneath the stars, I began to wonder if I'd end up enjoying myself here. I wasn't able to complete that thought as sleep whisked me away rather quickly.