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My alarm screeches at 7:00. I roll out of bed. Electricity's out. Great. I walk into my bathroom to brush my teeth in darkness. I throw on sweats and a hoodie.

I walk through the hallway to find my mom passed out on the floor with a bottle of alcohol seven inches away from her hand.

"Mom. You need to get up and get Jeremy to school."

She grunts and mumbles.

"Mom. I'm not fucking doing this. You're the fucking parent. Get up and get your son dressed for school."

She looks at me with groggy, bloodshot eyes. She reaches for the bottle and tries to throw it at me. It doesn't move more than two inches.

I go into Jeremy's room to give him his clothes.

"I'm leaving. Here are your clothes. Don't be late to school and don't talk to mom."

I walk out of the room before he can ask me to help him. I'm gonna be late if I don't leave now and I don't want another fucking detention.

I walk to school. It only takes about ten minutes because I live just around the corner. I like school. It's heaven compared to the hell of a house I live in.

I walk into my class two minutes after the bell rang. Fuck.

Ms. Trent glares at me.

"Tardy again, Ashley? That's a detention."

She writes me a detention slip and I sit in my seat waiting for her to start her lesson. Halfway through her spirited lecture on the Declaration of Independence, a tall, cheerful, curly haired boy walks into the class.

"Sorry I'm late. I couldn't find the class." He says with a smile.

The teacher laughs lightly. "That's okay! What's your name?"

"Harry Styles." He says, his eyes sparkling.

"Well, welcome Harry! There's an empty seat over..."
She glances at me with a frown. Then looks up at the new kid with a sympathetic smile.
"...there." She points directly at me.

"Ashley, raise your hand so Harry can find his seat."

I raise my hand without even looking at the cute creature staring my way.

The boy finds his seat next to me. He reaches out his hand for me to shake.
"Hi, I'm Harry." He smiles brightly.

I look at his hand. I almost oblige and shake it but I quickly decide against it. I look up at his eyes and they were the most beautiful green you could imagine. I immediately looked down.

"I'm Ashley." is all I could mumble. He touched my shoulder gently. I looked up at him, confused.

He smiled, dimples fully showing. "Nice to meet you, Ashley."

All I did was half smile and pretend to focus on what the teacher was saying, fully aware of the gorgeous model sitting next to me.

I glanced over at him and caught him staring at me. He opened his mouth to say something. I walked past him. I don't want a friend and I'm sure this boy will find a pretty, preppy girl to give his attention to.

The bell rings and I walk quickly to class.
Not even thirty seconds later, the new boy is walking by my side, smiling vibrantly.