Trouble

Chapter 2: Richmond High

"Here we are, Richmond High." I sighed to myself, locking my car and shouldering my backpack.

"Hey! Pinky!" A pang of sadness hit me like a sledgehammer and I think I actually winced in pain, flashing back to Hunter and all my other friends who nicknamed me Pinky. I looked up from my car and flicked the pink bangs out of my eyes, catching sight of a tall boy with sandy blonde hair. He was wearing a pastel sweater and pressed tan slacks; he almost reminded me of Malibu Ken. He didn't look like someone who would fit in with 'my crowd' but I still allowed him to approach me without judging him. "Sick ride." I was a little surprised he didn't make any other comments about me, or my bright red lipstick, or my leather jacket and unlike the other students, he wasn't giving me awkward glares or glances. He only wanted to compliment my taste in cars.

"Thanks. I got it yesterday." He nodded and held out a hand to introduced himself.

"Ashton Irwin."

"Lacey Summers." He shook my hand and gave me a quick look up and down, not to judge who I was, but just to see what was there.

"Pleasure. You are new, aren't you?" He asked curiously, tilting his head to the side like a puppy. I nodded and noticed that even in my high heeled stilettos, he towered at around 6,0" over me at 5,8". I'll show you around. C'mon." Ashton led me around the school, showing me where the different wings were and how to decipher the general area of where classes were. After a quick tour of the campus, he took me to get my schedule. "Let me see your timetable." He briefly glanced over my schedule, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Alright, we have the English/History block together, gym, and music..." He looked up at me, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I didn't figure you as a musician, what do you play?"

"I'm a singer. Actually, before I moved here I was in a band."

"Really?" Ashton asked, looking surprised. "That's awesome!" Suddenly, Ashton whipped out his phone and checked the time before reaching out and grabbing my hand. "Follow me, we have math in the same wing."

~*~

After math and science, which were fairly easy considering I'd missed a week of introduction, I started walking to music with a pretty blonde-haired girl I'd met in science named Tara White.

"Hey Lacey!" I heard a voice call. I whipped around, hitting Tara in the face with my pink hair and saw Ashton waving to me, smiling like a goof. He pushed lightly through a group of kids to catch up to me. "Hi Tara."

"Hi Ash." She whispered, her cheeks taking on a barely noticeable pink hue. She nudged my arm before skittering away. "See you later, Lacey."

"Bye!" I chirped, waving as she disappeared into the crowd. She so likes him... I thought to myself. Ashton lightly touched my shoulder with one hand, guiding me into a doorway before I could be swept away by the rush of other students.

"Welcome to music!" He chirped, sweeping his hand grandly around the room. "Here, I'll introduce you to the teacher." Ashton guided me up to a tall man with straight chocolatey hair and the most gorgeous eyes; carmel brown around the edges and forest green around the pupil. "Mr. Stromberg?" The teacher turned to Ashton and gave me a once over.

"Ashton, I told you, Mr. Stromberg is my brother. I'm just Wesley." He teased, and I could tell just from his tone that they had this discussion often. Ashton just seemed so impeccably polite that he would never call a teacher by their first name, even if they asked. But to my surprise, the two went in for a quick hug before Ashton's hand found it's way back to my shoulder, drawing Wesley's attention to me.

"It's only the first week back man, I'm getting rusty." Ashton joked. "Wes, this is Lacey Summers. She's new."

"Nice to meet you Lacey, I'm Wesley." He held out a hand for me to shake. "Where'd you move from?"