popular ↬ a.irwin

[06]

+ ashton +

After Ashton and Edith finished signing in (as they were late to school), the two bidded each other farewell before departing their opposite ways. Edith jogged down the abandoned hallways in attempt to find her class, while Ashton took as long as possible to make his way to gym class; being, it just wasn't his thing. He preferred reading books than having Luke 'accidentally' throwing basketballs at him.

His eyes lingered over the freshly mown grass beneath his leather vans, hoping not to catch anyone's glance as he slowly neared the field. He could hear the distant laughter, screams, chants and their sport's teacher attempting to calm the rowdy boys. Ashton wished that the school hand't chosen to separate boys from girls; he had no one to 'hang' with. Heck, he didn't have anyone at all before Edith.

He placed his bag on the metal grand-stand seat before making his way over to Mr. Wittman.

"Did you sign in?" He asked him, briefly glancing at the shorter, ash brown lad. Ashton's eyes connected with Mr. Wittman's as he nodded before moving his attention to the bunch of teenagers jogging around the field.

Mr. Wittman brushed his thick, black hair out of the way, revealing more of his forehead. "The boys are doing 5 laps around the field.... You don't have to do it if you don't want to." Mr. Wittman had always been Ashton's favourite teacher; he understood the younger boy. He'd been in that position once before, and knew exactly what Ashton was dealing with.

"Thank you, Mr. Wittman." A genuine smile appeared on Ashton's lips, as he nodded the teacher.

"Call me Elijah," The brunette announced.

"Thank you, Elijah," Ashton corrected himself before turning to walk back to the grand-stand. He swung his bag over his shoulder, adjusted his glasses and began to walk in the direction of the library.

+ edith +

"Sorry I'm late, Mrs. Hines. I slept in again." Edith bursted into the classroom, causing all attention to fall to her. A blush crept to her cheeks.

"Did you sign in, Edith?" Mrs. Hines asked as she brushed her red hair off her shoulder.

"Yes, I did." She nodded.

"Take a seat" Mrs. Hines smiled her large, beautiful smile that all students loved.

Edith nodded before taking a seat at the front of the classroom, placing all her items onto her desk and preparing herself for the class. She opened her notebook up to the first blank page she could find and took the felt-tip pen from her pencil case. Her hand delicately pressed to the page while she wrote the title written in white chalk; 'Persuasive Techniques'.

"Hey, Edith! How's lover boy?" The familiar voice called out. Daisy Vongara; the school barbie doll who happened to be dating Luke Hemmings. Beside her sat Chloe Miles; one out of two of Nancy's minions, dating Calum Hood. And on the other side, Jamey Streeter; the most sinister of Chloe and herself; dating Michael Clifford.

"Luke's great." Edith smirked; seemingly in a more mean modd. 

Although she seemed confident and sometimes snarky on the outside, she was shy and depressed on the inside. She tried not to take anything to heart, but obviously she did. She'd spend hours upon hours crying in her room, but the only reason the tears have ceased is due to a certain ash brown, hazel eyed boy.

The entire class erupted into fits of laughter, causing Edith to giggle to herself and turn to face Mrs. Hines to see she too, was laughing. A loud groan over-powered the ruckus as Daisy stood up and marched out of the room, slamming the door closed. Soon enough, everybody was able to calm themselves and Mrs. Hines continued the lesson.

• • •

Edith pressed her back to the large oak tree as students began to exit the school grounds. Her eyes travelled over each and every single one until she spotted the familiar boy, whom looked extremely out of place. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, adjusted his shirt and pushed his hair back, all without noticing the blonde making her way over.

"Hi," She chirped, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"H-hey," He replied, a blush perching on his cheeks.

"Cute" Edith mumbled, a smile still praising her lips.

"P-pardon?" Ashton furrowed his eyebrows.

"Your cute." Now it was Edith's turn to blush at her own choice of words. "Shall we head off?" She asked, linking her arm with Ashton's.

"Uhh.. s-sure." Ashton scratched the back of his head and let the blonde girl lead him in the complete opposite way he'd taken every other day.

"We're taking a different route today. I don't want you getting hurt again," Edith notified. Ashton's face muscles relaxed in realization. "I don't know much about you, Ash. What's your favourite colour?" She questioned, briefly looking to Ashton.

"Erm... r-red.. i guess." He shrugged.

"Hmm... I don't like red that much. I'm more of a purple girl." She smiled, slowly sliding her arm down Ashton's and intertwining their fingers.

Ashton's gaze trailed down, a warm sensation forming in the pitt of his stomach once he came to realization as to what Edith had just done. His eyes slowly made their way to meet Edith's, meeting for a short time frame before quickly looking away.

"Why are you so shy? You stutter around me... but not anyone else." Edith came to the conclusion that Ashton didn't return the feelings she felt for him, he probably hated her so much that he was scared to tell her. Ashton shrugged in response, afraid to reveal the truth. "Ok, what's your middle name?".

"F-fletcher" His voice was only just audible.

"Mines Ava," Edith responded, slightly squeezing Ashton's large hand.

"Ava," Ashton whispered, not knowing Edith could hear.

Silence fell between the two, as they continued to walk along the sidewalk. The only sound being heard; the passing cars and their feet hitting the pavement. Edith came to a stop, letting go of Ashton's hand. He came to a stop too, looking back to her in confusion.

"I just want to test something." Edith took a step forward, slightly closing the gap between them. "Does this proximity make you nervous like it makes me?" Edith asked, butterflies erupting in her stomach. Ashton took his lip between his teeth, nodding his head vigorously. "Ok," Edith replied. She placed her hand on his hip bone, then let her gaze move to his.

"Do you feel tingles?" She questioned. He nodded, yet again. She dragged her hand up his torso before cupping his cheek. "What about now?".

"Y-yeah" He replied, crimson flooding his cheeks. Edith copied Ashton's actions, taking her lip between her teeth as she brought her hand down, cupping Ashton's junk. "Now?". Ashton's eyes widened in utter shock.

"Y-y-yes" He stuttered, keeping his gaze on her hand.

Edith could feel Ashton's pants tightening, in which she quickly retracted her hand and continued to stare at the forming boner. "Shit. I gave you a boner..." She whispered. Ashton's hands cupped his area, his cheeks redder than ever and his stomach swarmed with a herd of elephants. "I'm so, so, so sorry. That was just weird, and-and-and-and uncalled for." She shook her head, growing more nervous by the minute.

Ashton shrugged his shoulders and clasped his hand with hers. "L-lets head home." He announced. Edith smiled widely at the fact Ashton seemed far more open than he ever had, and only stuttered once. It seemed as though, time went by, Ashton grew more confident. He began to loose his stutter. Ashton began to fall harder for Edith than he ever had, and Edith was right there, ready to catch him.