rain ⋙ ashton irwin

ii

it had been three weeks since ashton and arabella had met each other in the forest. it's weird to think that she thought even for a moment that they could be friends. arabella was arabella, and no one really liked her. how could she for a second believe that ashton was different?

it had been three weeks since she's hugged anyone. three weeks since she had introduced herself to someone. three weeks since she talked to someone besides her only friend, that same friend who has missed seven days of school due to a high fever. but more importantly, it had been three weeks since it's rained.

the only times ara really went outside was when it was raining, as backwards as that sounds. rain is refreshing, it's cleansing, and she couldn't really find anything wrong with it. actually, maybe the "wrong" thing with rain is the fact that it hasn't rained one drop in 21 days, she thought to herself. arabella adjusted her pajama bottoms that hung on her hips and she trudged up the stairs for bed. she didn't try to be quiet because her dad wasn't home - and he hadn't been for a few days now. this past month he had left for days at a time, never saying anything before he left or when he got back. he didn't mention it, so neither did arabella.

even though ara didn't necessarily like her dad's company, she couldn't stand being alone. most teenagers would kill for the opportunity to have a house all to themselves for days at a time, but not her. her father's presence left the house alive. there was always a tv on, footsteps travelling up and down the stairs, and the sound of him muttering to himself. with all of that gone, she was left in silence most of the time.

silence never did anything good to arabella.

silence allowed ara's every thought to swirl through her head until every fragment of an idea began to suffocate her. she would never admit that it led her into doing things to herself, but it was quite obvious. that is, if anyone paid any attention to her.

the girl quietly shut the door to her room and trudged over to her bed, her dark pony tail ruffling against her back. it wasn't until she had put her head down that she realized she had forgotten to take off her makeup. rolling over, she sighed and shrugged to herself before drifting off to sleep.

~

arabella woke up happily. it was raining. she smiled the moment she heard the pattering against her window, and that was the first time she had smiled since she spoke with ashton in the forest. she got dressed and reapplied her makeup quickly. she chose to go with black skinny jeans and a plain red tank top with an oversized black hoodie to go over it. she applied a somewhat generous amount of makeup. arabella usually wore a little more makeup than the average teenage girl, otherwise her self esteem would be even worse than it already was. it took her awhile to walk to school, but she was completely content with that. her hood protected her hair and her makeup, and she still got to feel the rain falling onto her as she made her way to hell. even though it was stupid, it brightened her day.

as she walked in the building she tried to ignore the few snickers thrown her way when girls saw how drenched her hoodie was, but ara kept walking. deciding to avoid the large crowd of popular girl surrounding the staircase to her locker, arabella decided it was a better idea to take a detour through the library. she walked into the large library doors and weaved her way through the aisles to a small staircase at the back of the library. it was stupid, really, that not that many students here knew that there was a staircase here. it was so conveniently located, but she wasn't really complaining. she was perfectly content with keeping it to herself.

as she picked her feet up the first four steps, she glanced down between the rails of staircase. her heart lept to her throat when she saw none other than ashton sitting by himself at a table. he was working furiously in his calculus notebook. arabella was put in a complete trance by his presence alone.

his head snapped up suddenly as he glanced around frantically, as if he was afraid of something. just before his glances reached her spot on the steps, she snapped out of her shocked state and ran up the steps as fast as she could. she had gone to school here for just over three years of her life and yet she had never seen ashton once. and even if she had, he sure hadn't seen her. no guys ever notice girls like arabella.

a litte shooken up, ara met her friend vanessa at her locker. vanessa turned around, and as soon as her green eyes met ara's they lit up and she ran forwards to give her a hug. arabella smiled slightly into the hug. even if vanessa didn't exactly know a lot about ara, she was still so thankful she had her going through high school together. at the moment arabella was even more thankful that her friend wasn't sick anymore.

"how are you? i missed you!" vanessa smiled as she started walking towards her first class.

"i'm okay. i missed you, too," arabella responded vaguely. she never told her about ashton, and frankly she never intended to seeing as though it wasn't going to go anywhere.

"anything interesting happen here while i was dying?" she asked. i shook my head, looking at the people passing us through the hallway with us.

"i wouldn't know. you don't i don't pay attention to that stuff."

"that's true," vanessa chuckled.

"but now that you're back you can catch yourself up and you can tell me all about it when we hang out next, right?"

vanessa does something so... unlike her next. her smile falters for a split second. if you know vanessa, she never stops smiling. maybe it was nothing, arabella thought. a few thoughts passed through her mind that maybe vanessa just doesn't want to hang out with ara anymore, but she tried to ignore those ideas.

"of course! here's my class, i'll see you at lunch?" she asked. i nod at her and wave as she disappears into her honors physics class.

~

walking home from school is actually going to be exciting today, arabella thought. she threw her hood up onto her head and exited the prison she had been stuck in for the past eight hours. she took her time walking through the small downtown area of her town, never stopping to look at the people but rather to look at the raindrops bouncing off the sidewalk. she was nearing an intersection when a car horn finally caused her to look up.

"sorry, sorry!" a somewhat familiar voice called. she looked down the street to her left to see ashton flying across the street where clearly there was no crosswalk present. his green flannel flew out behind him along with his wavy hair. the car driver sped off as soon as ashton was out of the way.

ashton looked around him nervously before entering the store in front of him. arabella's eyes squinted curiously. glancing up at the intersection, she saw no cars present and dashed across the street. she made her way down the street until she was close enough to read the sign above the door that ashton used. to her surprise it read "High School Tutoring Center."

that was strange. most people at our school take their academics very seriously. going to a tutoring center is like social suicide in this messed up town. arabella frowned and turned around to continue her way home.

she was walking through the forest again when she realized two things. one, didn't ashton say that he was 19? that didn't make any sense. if he were 19 he should either be a freshman or a sophomore in college, not a senior in high school. maybe he got held back a year, arabella reasoned with herself. that would explain why he was also visiting a tutoring center.

two, why was it that the only times arabella has ever seen ashton was when it was raining? the first time she ever saw him was during the storm in the forest. then after three straight weeks of no rain, she sees him not once, but twice, on the very day it decides to rain.

what a strange coincidence.

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