I wake up, stretch out my arms, and quickly glance at my clock. I take a moment to take in my clock. It's a month new, and it's got a picture of the empire state building on it. Pretty. Then I realize the time. SHIT. Half an hour overslept. I throw on my uniform, scrape my hair back, and mouthwash, before running out of the door, just in time to catch Sam walking off. She turns and notices me. 'For goodness sake, Ashlyn where have you been! I've been waiting for like ten miniutes for you! I've got loads to tell you.' She smiles, instantly losing the angry front she'd put on. 'Go on then.' I say, speeding up my walk. We must be late. Sam launches into deep conversation about how this guy from the year below, (ew) , who she has been crushing on for like, years, popped up to her. 'And oh my gosh, we were both watching the same programme and I went, It's kind of cute, because it was about these mini animals, and then he put, your kind of cute with this wink face, I could NOT BREATH!' She exclaimed. I'd aired her for most of the time she'd been going on about him, and we'd finally reached the bottom of the schools drive. 'Great. Listen Sam I really couldn't care less. You've been talking about this for like, years.' I yawn. 'For fucks sake, friends are meant to tell eachother pointless things, aren't they? Well excuse me for trying to stop the covnersation going dead. You know what, recently, you never listen, your just in a world of your own, your so boring and...and...I'm sick of it!' She yelled, before turning towards the drive and storming off. A few late goers were watching, some laughing. Sam, yelling like that? Ouch, never knew she had a feisty side. Really, I should have ran after her. But I really didn't want to. I should be bothered, but I wasn't. Does this mean we're not really friends at all? Great, now I'll be known as the dull one with no friends. Ah, well. It's not like I have a reputation to follow up on. Suddenly I feel presence behind me, then someone taps my shoulder. 'Yo,' A male voice says. It's a nice voice, pretty common and avarage, but with this sexy edge. I blink, and turn around. I'm looking at this gorgeous, gorgeous boy, in adjusted uniform and a snapback. He's wearing Jordans instead of school uniform black shoes. His hair is dark and curly, but pretty short, and its less dense where he'd obvouisly had some sort of pattern shaved into it. His eyes are chocolate brown, complimenting his soft caramel skin tone, and just looking at them melts my heart. He's hench too, you can just tell, and his arms are strong looking and muscular. I look away, trying not to stare. Good looking guys never come to Meercroft School. Who is this guy? 'You late too then?' He laughs, catching up with me and walking by my side. 'Yeah, pretty much. I overslept. Why are you late?' I manage to cough in reply, trying not to fix my gaze on him. 'It's not that I'm late. I just couldn't be bothered to get up...forced myself out of bed in the end though. How do you stand this place, man.' He rubs his eyes sleepily. Ah. So gorgeous. 'I don't, it's horrible. Why did you even come here? Everyone knows it's got a reputation for being a SHIT school.' I sigh. 'I didn't want to come. My old school was sick, still. Had all my friends. I was expelled, my dad took it as a quick excuse to move houses. This was kind of my only option I guess.' He looks down. This is the wild, bad boy that everyone loves already? And he's talking to me?! I suddenly felt a million butterflies in my stoumach all at once. Stop being pathetic, you've only just met him, he probably talks to you out of pity, I tell myself. Pull yourself together and stop kidding yourself, Ash. I bounce down from the clouds back to reality. 'Your popular already, though, right? It can't be that bad!' I say. 'You think I enjoy all those over the top blondes hanging off my arm all day? Those spiky haired pricks who think they're hard trying to impress me? Pfft.' He looks at me. 'I kept trying to catch your eye yesterday, you know. Your so guarded though, man. You just looked through me.' He laughs. Is he being serious? I bet it's some kind of personal joke he's got with Nadia and Remi. 'Ah.' I manage to croak. 'I didn't even see you yesterday, you were so busy with all of the others.' Suddenly there's the loud unmistakable ring of the school bell. 'Great.' I groan. 'Wanna skip?' He looks at me. 'What?' I pause for a moment. 'Do you want to skip school with me? We can go to town or something, I've got loads of money on me.' He smiles. 'Erm...' I consider the question. I'm a wise girl, and I'm not letting anybody fool me on Nadia or Remi's account. 'Is this a joke?' I ask, narrowing my eyes at him and pulling my back up straight. 'No! What do you think I am?' He laughs. I doubt him still, I suppose, but it makes more sense that he isn't in this with them. Maybe he just actually wants to skip with me. 'Well, I can't anyway. I've got to go to school. I can't ruin my attendance record...or get a behavior point for skipping.' I say firmly, pulling my bag further up my shoulder and marching off. He grabs my arm. I suddenly go numb inside. His hand's warm on my wrist. 'You sure about that, beautiful?' He smells amazing, of Axe spray, smoke, sweat, and mint. And he just called me beautiful. I can practically feel my heart jumping around inside my chest. No boy has ever called me beautiful before, not ever. I just want to go with him, who knows what could happen. Mum always says, 'Always take a risk because it could into something beautiful.' . I still pull my arm away. 'Yeah, I'm sure.' I sigh, taking a few more steps up the drive. 'You want me, don't you?' He flashed the most amazing, sexy smile at me. 'What? Of course I don't I've only just-' He puts one finger across my lips, and one hand around my waist. Our bodies are so close to touching. 'You'll be mine soon, babe.' He stares straight into my eyes. Then he drops his finger of my lips, and before I know whats happening his lips are fixed on mine. And he's kissing me - and I'm kissing him back! It's hard to believe I'm not dreaming. I close my eyes, and feel so many different things. Sparks are jumping around right before my eyes. His hard chest is pressed up against mine, his tounge on mine. It's...it's nice. He leans into me even further, his hand moving slowly down my waist, further and further towards my bum. I manage to push him away. 'Told you so.' He says, flashing that smile again, his eyes glinting. Then he walks off, adjusting his snapback on his way. I just stand there for a second, taking it all in; not only have I kissed a boy, but the sexiest boy in Meercroft - in fact in the town...in the world! I feel all warm inside...is this what it's like to be in love? 'Stop kidding yourself, Ash. You've only just met him...he's a bad boy, he's probably got seventeen girls on the go at the moment.' I tell myself. But another side of me, a side I didn't think I had, fights back. 'He said you were beautiful, and he kissed you. It felt so nice, he felt it too!' It tells me. I scrunch up my eyes, as if it would block out my thoughts. I've only just met this boy, and he's left me MINDFUCKED...BRAINDEAD. But I can't help to have those silly 'what if' thoughts, like any girl. What if this is the start of something? I run up to school, in through the door, with a smile on my face.
CHAPTER FOUR >
