To be or not to be? (Book #1)

Chapter 5

Ashley had a hard time getting out of bed on Wednesday morning. She hadn't gotten home from her date with Tyler until around midnight, which means she didn't settle down and fall asleep until about 2am. She yawned and threw on a sweatshirt, some old, worn out skinny jeans, and some boots. She quickly grabbed everything she needed and rushed out the door, realizing she was almost late for the bus. When she got to the bus stop, there was a crowd of high school students waiting for it to come. She spotted her best friend Madison and her boyfriend, Mark Frey, standng near a group of basketball players, obviously Marks friends.

"Hey you two" Ashley said with a smile as she hugged Madison.

"Hey." Mark said, smiling. He quickly went back to his circle of friends and Madison playfully rolled her eyes at him.

"So, how'd it go last night?" Madison asked, grinning.

"Um, pretty great... He kissed me." Ashley said quietly, unable to supress her huge smile. Madisons eyes grew wide.

"What! Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed, obviously shocked by the information.

"Yeah. Anyway, it was amazing." Ashley said with a small laugh.

"What was amazing?" A voice behind her asked. It was Alex, and her heart raced when she saw him.

"The dance comittee meeting yesterday." Madison lied smoothly. Ashley shot her a grateful look. Alex shrugged, uninterested.

"Oh. I thought it was something juicy." He said, then began talking to his basketball buddies. Ashley and Madison exchanged a look and smiled at each other.

Little did Alex know, it was something juicy. But he wouldn't find out about it, not if Ashley could help it.

~.~.~

"Hey, Ashley!" A voice called out while Ashley was walking down the hall towards the gym for cheer practice. She turned and realized that it was Tyler. She grinned at him and he came up to her and slid his arms around her waist in a tight hug. She held her arms tightly around his neck.

"Hi." She said sweetly, smiling to herself. Tyler backed out of the hug, his arms still around her waist, and her arms still around his neck. He looked at her and grinned.

"So, do you want to hang out tonight and watch a movie at my place or something?" He asked hopefully. Ashley's heart fluttered.

"Sure." She said with a smile.

"Great. I could take you to my house from school if you wanted?" Tyler asked.

"Sounds good. Hey, I've got to get to practice. I'll see you soon, okay?" Ashley said, smiling widely. He grinned back, kissing her lightly on the cheek.

"Okay, see you soon." He said. Then his arms were off her waist and she was walking into the gym, grinning.

"Someone just won the lottery." A girl on the cheer squad teased when she saw Ashley's smile. Ashley just laughed along with some of the other girls and ignored her comment.

"Okay everybody!" Ashley's cheer coach yelled as they were stretching and warming up. "We are choosing captains today for our squad! The cantidates are Brianna, Ashley, and Sarah! Write your answers on the sheets of paper that I am about to pass out, and we will have our captain today!"

All the girls yelled out a "Woo!" as the coach began to pass out little sheets of white paper. Ashley wasn't particularly excited about going up against Brianna for the captainship. If Ashley won, Brianna would hate her even more. But if Brianna won, Ashley wouldn't hear the end of it from her. There was no actual winning in this competition for Ashley. After all the votes were cast, the coach and assistant coach counted them quickly.