Never Be

{2}

Ashton's POV

7th hour bell rang and I rushed down the hallway to study hall. I don't want to cause any attention on myself. I was so close to the door, until Jessica stopped me, with her group following right behind her.

"Wow Irwin, why are you in such a rush to get to study hall? Are you meeting your dealer." she scoffed.

I decided to ignore her and run into the classroom, finding my seat in the back. Just where I liked it. I hated any attention on me, everyone already thought I was weird, so why would I want another chance for them to think I'm even weirder. I flipped my book open and continued where I left off. My eyes scanned the words, It was as if the author was talking face to face with me. The words drifted through my head, as I took them in one by one.

"Hey kid." a soft whisper from beside me said. I looked over to my right only to see the girl with long brown hair and beautiful green eyes looking at me.

"Oh um hi." I managed to get out.

"Hi." she giggled. "I'm Aria and I just wanted to apologize for my friends back there, they can be real bitches."

"Oh, uh, it's alright. I'm Ashton."

"Well hi Ashton. By the way I love your shirt." she said.

I looked down at my shirt. I was wearing my favorite All Time Low tank-top. I looked over at her and started to say "Thank you." but the teacher got to us first.

"No talking Ashton."

What the fuck, she was talking too. She let out a small giggle and went back to drawing. I looked down at my book and whispered a "thank you," hoping she would hear it. Then I looked over at her and she just smiled at her notebook, as if nothing happened.

Wait. If she's in the populars then why is she being nice to me. I guess some people aren't as bad as you think they are. I looked down at her drawing. Damn. It was pretty grim. It displayed a picture of a boy laying on the ground with a huge thought bubble above his head. In the bubble it had words like "worthless" or "ugly". I leaned over a bit to see more but Aria caught me. She looked over and gave a small smile before covering her drawing with her arm, causing her notebook to slid off of her desk. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she reached down to grab it. But as everybody else returned to their work I didn't. I saw it.

I saw her loose left sleeve push up just a little bit. But it was enough. It was enough for me to see the rosy red cuts on wrists. Starting from just where her palm ended, to who knows where.

~~~

Aria's POV

I let the breath held in all of 7th hour out one the dismissal bell rang. I quickly grabbed my things and slipped them in my bag. I pulled my bag over my shoulder and hurried out of the classroom.

I ran down the sidewalk to the crossing guard, hoping and praying that none of my friends would see me. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I spun myself around looking right into the boy's hazel eyes.

"Oh, hi." I said softly.

"Hey." he replied awkwardly. I scanned my eyes around the school yard, making sure none of my friends were around. Then my eyes landed on Sydney's bag.

"Well uh I better head off, it was nice talking to you." I said as fast as I could, already heading down the street.

"Wait." he said. Fuck. "Can I walk with you."

"Uh... I guess if you want to." I said, not sure what he was trying to do.

"So you like to draw?" He asked.