Weak [Lashton AU]

Chapter 4

The chapter will probably be intense.

I looked at Julie, trembling in fear.

"Ashton, calm down," she whispered, "I'm scared too, but you have to calm down before you terrorize yourself," she said calmly.

Julie's words seemed to calm me down a bit, surprisingly. But why would anyone want to stalk me? I'm not interesting enough, for one. I should probably tell my mum but she can really worry about me.

"Should we tell anyone?" I asked.

She sighed, "Well... that would be the right thing to do. But I have the sense that you may want to wait for answers, first. We shouldn't jump to conclusions yet."

"I guess you're right."

We decided to forget about what we saw until the subject came up again. I turned on the TV with the remote and we watched the first quarter of Mean Girls until we were called down to dinner.

--

"Aren't you hungry, Ashton?" my mum asked in concern.

"I'm just not in the mood right now..." I responded simply.

Julie gave me a look of sympathy from across the table. We were sitting on a rectangle sized table. I was sitting next to Luke, Julie was sitting across from me next to her dad, and mum sat on the edge in between us. The table had mashed potatoes, chicken, vegetables, and bread with butter.

"At least eat some mashed potatoes," Luke demanded.

I glared at Luke, "I don't want anything to eat."

He took my plate and smacked mashed potatoes on the plate. He then slammed the plate on the space in front of me.

"Eat!" he shouted.

His father turned to Luke "Calm down, Luke," he spoke calmly.

Luke didn't calm down until he looked at me. I immediately put some mashed potatoes in my mouth and he smiled.

Everyone began to eat and small talk. After a couple bites of my mash potatoes, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

X:

Are you enjoying your dinner?

I starred at the text message then looked around. I felt goose bumps go down my skin as I read the words again.

"Are you okay?" Luke whispered.

A shiver went down my spine as I looked around. The window by the table had closed curtains.

"Ash, you're pale." he exclaimed.

I couldn't find the words to respond. I practically couldn't breathe.

"Sorry," I breathed, "I didn't mean to worry you guys."

I looked over at Luke who wasn't convinced.

"Honey, do you need to be excused?" mum asked.

"No, I'm fine," I sighed, "thank you for your concern," I said politely. I looked around at everyone's concerned faces. But soon everyone let it go and continued to eat. But Luke kept looking at me. He was definitely suspicious, but also worried.

*

I wrote my name on the packet the teacher passed out.

"Today, we will be writing our own stories. It can be any genre, as long as it's fiction. However, there's a catch. I want you to learn what it's like to work with a co-writer. I need you all to find a partner."