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

Chapter 17

"Thanks for everything! See you tomorrow at school!" Ashley called to everybody. She lugged her stuff inside the house and closed the door behind her, slumping against it and sighing. Her mom was gone, again, and she was alone. As usual. She dragged her things upstairs and flopped on her bed, suddenly exhausted from the vacation and everything that had happened while they were there. She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes... Just needing a little nap.

~.~.~

Ashley's alarm startled her the next morning. She had slept all night and the annoying beeping woke her up. She quickly jumped out of bed, showered, and dug through her drawers to find something to wear. She miraculously found some old jeans and a hoodie. She pulled her coat on over it, and grabbed her bag, not bothering to do her hair or makeup. When she opened the door, it was pouring rain; but she was already running late, so she just yanked her hood up over her head and hurried away on the long walk towards the bus stop. When she got there, there were just a few people there. At first she just stood by herself, waiting in the rain, until somebody came up behind her, covering her with an umbrella.

"Hey pal" A voice said. She smiled immediately.

"Hey Alex," She said, turning around. She gestured to the umbrella "thanks." He nodded and grinned.

"Anytime." He said. Ashley just smiled, still tired from the trip and not really wanting to try and make small talk.

"So did you get my texts yesterday?" Alex asked. Ashley was confused.

"Yeah... We were in the car together." She said, half smiling. Alex shook his head.

"Not those ones, silly. I texted you after we got home but you never responded." He said.

"Yeah, I fell asleep and then overslept this morning and didn't think to check my phone." Ashley mumbled while taking her phone out. She had two texts from Alex and one from her mom. Alex's texts just asked her if she was doing okay and that he was worried about her being all alone, and the other one said that he had fun on vacation with her and that they should always do that. She smiled after reading those texts. She looked up at him, still smiling. 

"Me too." She said, in response to his text. He smiled back.

"Were you okay last night?" He asked in a low voice. Ashley nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just fell asleep pretty much right when I got home and then got up and came here." Ashley explained, shrugging. Alex nodded and then he looked at something behind her and anger flashed in his eyes. Ashley looked over her shoulder and saw Tyler watching them. He walked over and smiled sadly at her.

"Hey, um, can we talk?" He asked, holding his umbrella out to her. Ashley glanced at Alex. His eyes begged her not to go, but she said "okay" and walked away with him.

"What's up Tyler?" She asked,

"Listen, I know you hate me and everything, and I know you don't ever want to be with me again but can we just please at least be friends? I can't stand not having you in my life, Ash. You were the one person I could talk to about anythng." Tyler asked, his voice wavering a bit. Ashley contemplated this for a while. Would she fall for him again? Probably not. Would he fall for her again? Probably, but he already claimed to be 'in love' with her, so what would be the harm? She sighed, weighing all the options in her mind.

"Alright, fine. But if you ever try anything I swear you do not want to know what's going to happen to you." Ashley threatened. Tyler grinned widely and hugged her with his free arm.

"I won't, I promise." He held her there for a second, until she cleared her throat. He let go quickly and blushed.

"Um... Sorry..." He said. Ashley rolled her eyes, trying not to smile.