Counting Stars ☯ ashton

Chapter 1

"Jess!"

"What?" I already know why my mom is calling for me but I ask anyway.

"You have to get up! There's no being late to your first day of school!"

I groan from exhaustion as I roll out of my tiny and warm bed. It's already 7:15 and the bus is supposed to be here in 10 minutes. Great. I hurry across my cold wooden floor to my closet and pick out a simple outfit consisting of a long sleeved (of course) white v-neck and jeans. Once dressed and in the bathroom I look in the mirror.

Do your hair, put on makeup. You'll only look like an ugly freak otherwise.

I quickly make myself look decent and hurry downstairs to find a box of cereal on the counter and a bowl of milk next to it. What a pleasant surprise.

"Food is for eating not staring, you know." A voice says behind me.

"I'm just surprised."

"Why? That I helped you get some breakfast?" my mom slightly chuckles.

No, that you actually noticed me this morning.

"Uh, yea."

The school bus honks from outside interrupting our awkward conversation.

"Well, gotta run." I quickly shake some cereal into my mouth and drink some of the milk right out of the bowl. After grabbing my bag and lacing up my black high-tops I start out toward the next nine months of torture and hope for the best.

•••

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when I see my best friend Luke sitting in one of the grey bus seats.

"Hey, Jess! Aren't you excited?!"

Luke is not like most guys in my school. He's totally into school, ya know all super smart and shit; but he's also really athletic and good looking. He's one of the schools heartthrobs let alone his glasses and super geeky personality.

"Totally." I respond as I plop down next to him and pull out my phone.

"Oh I forgot to tell you!" He grabs my forearms in excitement causing me to wince.

"What is it?" He immediately lets my go and his eyes flash with worry.

"Oh nothing, just a little sunburn," I lie." I'm fine go ahead."

"Oh, um well I got all A+'s in my summer classes and I've been doing really well in sports and stuff lately, so... my parents bought me a car!" It's insane that he goes to summer school for the pleasure and not because he needs it.

"That's great! So why didn't you drive it today?"

"Oh, um you see... w-well I didn't want to leave you on the bus by yourself and you see I would've just come by but I was afraid you were um going to catch the bus before I got to your house so uh I just um..."

I start to giggle "You could've just texted me not to get on the bus, silly."

His cheeks are red so I change the subject.

"I haven't seen you practically all summer! I heard you joined a band? You never told me you could sing."

His face brightens. "Um, yeah. It's me, Michael, and Calum. We were in the same history class during summer. And I think Michael's friend Ashton is going to join too."

"Cool." I smile at Luke. I wonder what Ashton looks like.

My daydreams of Luke's band and what it must be like to perform in front of an audience are interrupted when the bus jolts to a stop meaning we're here.

•••

Third period: Astronomy. I'm so glad that Sader High offers Astronomy as a class because if I have a weakness, it's the stars. I'm not only fascinated by them, but I have a really strong connection with them too. My grandmother, who raised me for the first 7 years of my life because my mother didn't want me, used to talk to me about the stars all the time. We'd make up names for them and even choose stars to be ours. Ever since then I actually gave each person I loved a star. I've lost a lot of people in my life, so that's how I learned to hold onto the people I cared about too much to let go. You see, there's not a lot of people who understand how hard it is to lose someone that you love and let them go. They don't understand how it hurts. Those people are gone and there's nothing you can do to bring them back. It's heartbreaking and unbearable at times, so I pray to the stars. I talk to the people I cry over night after night and I feel like they can hear me.

I walk into the classroom a little nauseas but as soon as I see the walls I feel better. The room is covered in the night sky. It's breathtaking. I choose a desk in the fifth row and take a seat.

"Hey, I'm Kaylee. But you can call me Kay because Kaylee is so overrated." I look to my left and see a perky girl introducing herself to me.

"Um, Jessica; or Jess I guess."

"Coolio. So you like the stars? Me too. I love how they make constellations and stuff, like it's just so cool." She's giving me a headache.

"Yea. I think we should be quiet while the teacher's introducing himself, after all it is the first day." She nods and looks up to the front while I start to doodle on my notebook.

•••

As I walk out of the building with Luke I'm relieved the day is over. The August sun and clear skies relax me but I suddenly jump when I hear sirens blaring down the street. Wait a minute. Are they...? Oh no. I have to get out of here. I stumble down the steps and to the right where I stop dead in my tracks when I see what happened. There's a huge circle of students crowded around a car and three people. One is climbing out of the driver's seat, panicked and worried, quickly rushing over to the front of the car. There I see a girl and a boy sprawled out on the concrete, bleeding and unconscious. Oh no. Oh no.

I start hyperventilating and seeing spots. The world starts spinning and Luke jogs over just in time to catch me as everything goes black. All I could remember was lying in the back seat of a car and Luke's voice telling me, "You're okay Jess, everything's fine. Just breathe."