In The Midst Of A Crowd

Chapter 7

"Okay. Spill. Now!" Renee demands.

"Okay. Okay. I will. But all of you have to promise not to interrupt me." I say looking at them. They all nod in agreement. "Okay. Here goes nothing. Do you guys remember how when I came here (after we became friends) I told you that I moved because of a past that I hated?" they all nod "Well... Our new student Austin Grey is from it."

"The new really cute guy?" Renee asks.

"Renee! No interruptions!" Peyton says.

"I guess. But anyways... Please don't talk about me if he's around, and try not to become anything more than acquaintances with him. He will hurt you in many ways and break your heart as well."

"What do you mean?" Peyton asks. I take a quick glance at Katie and I see that she is absorbed in her food instead of the conversation around her. I wouldn't blame her, she already knows some of the details. But when Peyton asked that she instantly shot up, staring at me for my reply.

"Austin and I-" I begin, but I'm interrupted by chairs being pulled out from our table and three sweaty boys sitting in them.

"What are you girls talking about?" James asks me. He is seated on my left, Colin is across from me squished between Renee and Peyton and Lucas is sitting at the end of the table next to James and Peyton.

"Just how annoying you guys are." Katie says rolling her eyes.

"But you love us anyways." Colin says giving me a wink. I just shrug and continue eating my salad. As I'm about to start speaking, Sadie Clarke and her minions walk behind me, clearly oblivious that I can hear them.

"Did you guys hear?" Sadie says, "We have a new kid in our grade. His name's Austin and he's so cute." This makes me freeze and lean back in my seat. "I had Spanish class with him earlier, but the stupid boy wasn't looking at me, he was staring at the idiot Ashlynne. I have no clue what they all see in her. I mean she's as ugly as you can get." I'm on the verge of tears right now, but everyone is too lost in their own conversations. I look over at James and see that he's watching me out of the corner of his eye. I look over at Katie and see that she is watching me too. I lean over to talk to her but before I can say anything Lucas starts talking.

"We have a new guy in our school, James. I think his name's Austin or something like that." He says.

"Yeah," Colin agrees "Rumours are going around saying that he knows you Ashlynne and that he's going to try and take the quarterback position. Do you really know him Ash?"

"Yeah. I do." I quietly whisper.

"How?" Lucas asks me.

"He's the reason I came here." I say shrugging my shoulders. I'm pissed and mad that because I'm pissed I'm not hungry.

"He may have changed Ashlynne. I mean you haven't talked to him in years, he may not be the person you remember." Renee says.

"What'd he do anyways?" Lucas asks me.

"None of your concern, Lucas. And Renee? Just so we're clear. I'm not telling you who you can be friends with, but when it comes to Austin I'm not having anything to do with him." I say.

James must have heard something in my tone about how mad I was, because he gives everyone a 'Shut the hell up' look. He then leans over and asks, "Can I have your milk? If you still want it that's fine."

"Knock yourself out." I reply coldly, pushing it towards him.

"You wanna come to the bathroom with me?" Katie asks.

"Sure. Let's just go and find Tyler to let home know about the plan for tonight." I say getting up. The nice thing about the Pierce's being like family, is that I already have stuff at their house and they have some stuff of theirs at mine, so we never have to worry about forgetting things.

"We'll see you guys later." I say to the group as Katie and I get up. They all nod in agreement and continue with their conversations.

As we're leaving I hear a few things that makes me know that they are talking about me. I then hear James tell them to stop talking about me, and when I turn around he's staring right at me. I give him a small smile and continue walking with Katie with my head down. Because I'm not paying attention it's a given that I run into someone, but this time it's someone that I wish I had noticed. Glancing up I see Austin staring at me with a worried smirk. "You okay there sweetheart?" he asks.

"Ash?" Katie says, pulling my arm.

"Right. Sorry about that." I mumble as Katie drags me away.

"Dont worry about it sweetheart." I hear Austin call after me.

Thanks to that little outburst, the entire school is staring at me, so as I walked to the popular table the eyes followed me.

"Hey Tyler?" I say. Tyler stops talking Chase and Jacob turns around to listen to our conversation.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to the Pierce's after school. Katie already texted her mom and she said that I could stay the night."

"But Ash. We need to talk about what happened today."

"And we will. Let's go out for dinner together to Peter's and I'll tell you all about it. We can all sleepover at the Pierce's if you want. I just really need to be surrounded by my family tonight and that includes Chase, Katie and James." I finish about to leave. Jacob nods and continues eating and before I can walk too far, Tyler grabs my arm spinning me around. 'I love you' he mouths. "I love you more" I whisper, walking out of the cafeteria.

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A/N:
There you go guys 999 words. Thats the longest thing I've ever written. I have a conclusion to this chapter in James's POV, but I don't know if I should add it or not. Please tell me what you guys think!
This took me a week and a half to write and I have honestly never felt so relieved. I really want to know what you guys think of this!

And I have a question for you guys... Do you think that Austin has changed? Please tell me what you think I should do, but I can't guarantee that I will do it.

I'm at 1111 words now.

Love,
Cae♥