Missing Pieces

Chapter 20

Ash and I made our way to homeroom together. We walked down the cool halls quietly. The sound of our shoes click-clacking on the shining floor. I looked to my right to see Ash silently staring at my stack of books. I frowned.

"Don't judge me," I muttered spitefully. I looked away from him, instead, looking down at my books.

"I'm not, why would I?" he asked, seeming genuine.

I retort with my own question. "If you weren't, then why were you looking like that?"

"Like what?" he asked, raising one eyebrow in confusion. He tilted his head at me, waiting expectantly.

I continued to look down at my pile of books. "You were...staring. It made me uncomfortable," I muttered.

Ash still looked rather puzzled. "Uh, sorry? I was just..." he paused, jabbing a finger at the top book. "I...I don't know. It peaked my curiosity, I guess." For some reason the last sentence sounded graver. Darker.

I looked up to see him looking at the book with what, for the most part was an unreadable expression. His mouth was closed in a flat line. His eyes were wide and flooded with curiosity. And something else...

He shook his head. "Eh, sorry about that," he said in a more cheerful tone, breaking the silence. "Let's get to class, shall we?"

Before I could answer Ash was already making his way down the hall. In a moment, I was rushing after him, down the hall. The sound of our footsteps mixed with the other echoing sounds filling the halls. More people had come in from outside. Lockers slammed shut, students gossiped, and people busied themselves with their work or each other. Some ran down the halls, rushing to where they needed to be. Others leisurely strolled down the halls, chatting with friends till the warning bell for classes rang.

I felt someone shoving me forward, making me trip over myself. I heard snickering as a familiar face passed by me. A girl with a mop of blue hair walked to my left, an orange head band keeping her curls out of her eyes. An irritating smirk was plastered on her face. Miette.

"Crap," I spat.

I closed my eyes and braced for the inevitable impact. But it never came. Instead I felt myself being pulled up by my arms. I opened my eyes and was relieved to see my books came out unscathed like I had. Miette's little shove, in my opinion, was a cheap move. This wasn't some high school movie full of petty teen brats. So why did she have to act like that?

"You okay?"

I looked up and saw Ash's face as he lifted me back up onto my feet. I silently nodded.

"So...you know her?" he asked.

"Long story short, yup."

I looked over Ash's shoulder to see Miette looking at the two of us with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. Her irritating smirk had been replaced with a malicious grin. Ash turned to see what it was that I was looking at. The two of them locked eyes and Miette gave Ash a wave as she turned and left, disappearing into the sea of students. Ash frowned. He stuffed one hand in his pocket and grabbed my hand with the other and began dragging me down the hall. His stride was too big for me to keep up with by simply walking. His grip on my hand subtly tightened when I asked him to slow down. He kept muttering things to himself like "Too much crap...not even 10 yet...too tired for this." I simply kept quiet as he angrily muttered.

---

The school day dragged on. 

Ash seemed off the rest of the day. Whenever I saw him he was scowling at the ground or staring into space. He seemed rather tense. He was silent in homeroom, and I didn't see him during lunch. The next time I saw him was when school was over.