Secrets Of AshGrove (On Hold)

<<Eight>>

<<Eight>>

  You know, when you're a kid, everything seems simple. All you have to do is go
to school, listen to your parents, do chores, and try not to do anything stupid. Seems easy, right?

Wrong.

These children that I attend school with, bring a whole new meaning to juvenile delinquency. The first few days were fine, hardly anything bad or sketchy had happened but now... It's like I have a bulls eye on my back now, all cruelty is ejected at me. Have I stepped into a episode of Stranger Things? People have graffitied my locker with fake blood and the word 'WITCH', sprawled over the front of the blue metal. Have I given up and gone home crying to my mommy? Haha, come at me bitches. This isn't my first rodeo, I know how it goes and how cruel people can be. I have thick skin and can take almost anything but that doesn't mean I won't finish a fight that they throw at me.

I ignore the writing on my locker and proceed to open it with little to no luck.

"When are you going to get another lock?" Asked Kade who snuck up beside me.

"Knowing me? Probably never. I see me making myself suffer for unknown reasons." I said as I jiggled the lock.

He gently pushed me out of the way and opened my locker with a grim look on his handsome features.

"Who did this to your locker Birdie?" He asked.

Is that like, an illegitimate nickname for me now? Do I get a say in that decision?

"Hell if I know."

"You aren't mad?" He asked with his hand in his pockets and a backpack strap over one shoulder. He raised an eyebrow at his question.

I shook my head. "Nah, I've dealt with this stuff before. No harm no foul. I could care less what people have to say. All though I would like to know what caused the sudden 360° shift in the atmosphere." I said.

"Well, I probably should have warned you. Being seen with me is social suicide." He admitted with a shrug of his shoulder.

I raised a brow. "That's it?" I asked calmly.

He nodded his head.

I busted out laughing. Not to loud but enough to gain a few stares from my locker neighbors. "Are you kidding me? That is so petty. Who does that?"

  "I'm not the most liked person in this town."

"So, as a punishment they've chosen to seclude you from the population. Are you shitting me?" I asked.

He shook his head no. I felt heated. I don't know what Kade had done in the past but people need to learn to get over things. if I can then anyone can.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, it was for a selfish reason. I can't remember the last time I talked to a pretty girl without the glare of death. I understand if you would like to cut our interactions to an end here." he said making a chopping motion with his hand.

I felt even more angry. He didn't tell me that for a, 'woe is me' moment. he told me that in an, it's fine, I'm used to this. It's whatever' kind if message. He didn't want my pitty, nor for me to suffer the losses of popularity.

"Who did or said what?" I asked without emotion.

"I'm assuming the Carmichaels. They were the only ones to see us interact and almost everyone listens to them. Only because they're the mayors sons." He said.

He was honest in an unincriminating way. He didn't say it in accusation or malice. He said it out of truth and what he believed to be true but with no dramatic flair. Wow, none Exaggerative Narccasistic teenage guys do exist. Surprise, surprise.

Out of nowhere, I grabbed Kades hand and dragged him to the cafeteria.

"Ashlie, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Showing those snot nosed fuckBoys that they need to try a little harder to stop me from being friends with you!." I said in a rush as I continued to stomp forward.

"Since when did I agree to bring friends, Birdie?" He asked with a smile in his voice.

I was too lit to look at him, I had a quest to accomplish.

"Since when did you get it in your head that you had a choice?" I retorted.

He laughed as I busted through the door. Everyones eyes shot to me and the tree of a man that shadowed my figure. We got in line for our food. Never thought a Cafeteria could be so quiet, not even a chime went off to signal a text message. I got mini corn dogs and fries while he'd just got sprite and bag of chips. Not so healthy but at least he eats, right?

We walked to my empty circle table towards the back of the room and sat down and poured ketchup on my trey. He sat across from me with his legs outstretched under the table in a relaxing position. I ate and people began to whisper and go into deep conversations about Kade and I. Who cares who I hang out with?

That Rose girl Wouldn't stop looking at us and neither would the Carmichaels. Me being the douche I am, I smile at them, teeth and all. It made Kade laugh. I looked at Kade a noticed the scar over his eye brow.

"How'd you get that scar?" U asked.

"Which one?"

"The one over you eyebrow, scar face." I joked.

He touched it. "Oh, I fell out of a tree when I was a kid."

"Hmm."

"What about you? You have any scars?" He asked.

I only had one and it was on my side. I got it in an accident when I was a kid. I pull up the size of my shirt, just enough the show the claw like marks. Kades face dropped when he saw it.

"I can't quite remember how I got it, I was so younge but my mom told me a neighbors dog attacked me. Since then she's never liked dogs much." I said and pulked my shirt back down.

He went quiet and picked at his food before murmuring something encohearent. It sounded like he said, 'I'm so sorry, Ashlie.'

Which then made me realize... I never told him my name was Ashlie.