𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒻𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 ✧ 𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞

~nine~

(annie's pov)

i walked into the school building like it was any other monday. except maybe today i wasn't as afraid to see asher as i was the days before. i walked up to my locker and started getting out my books.

i was stopped by something, but i wasn't what i was expecting for it to be. i was expecting asher's soft voice, but that's not what happened. not even close.

i felt a hand wrap around my waist. i quickly whipped around shoving the person off of me. as he stumbled backwards i realized exactly who it was. hayden summerall. the definition of a jock. a player.

he walked back towards me with a smirk plastered on his face. "now what was that for?"

i made dead eye contact with him. i've never been in one of these situations before, but for some reason my anxiety didn't exist in this moment. i was just filled with rage.

"don't. touch. me." i stated holding eye contact with him as he go closer and closer to my face.

he began to put his hand on my face but he was stopped this time. and not by me, but by asher.

asher's hand was wrapped tightly around hayden's wrist as he said "i'm pretty sure she said to not touch her."

hayden smirked a little. "and what are you supposed to be? the big brave boyfriend saving the day, because normally you're hiding in a corner somewhere."

my eyes widened but asher's face just got closer to hayden's. "no. just a good friend."
as asher said this he dropped hayden's hand making it fall back to his side.

"alright whatever." hayden laughed as he walked away and joined his friends who had been watching the whole time.

i looked to asher and said "i could've handled it...but thank you." i tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and got my books completely out this time.

"are you okay? has that ever happened to you before?" he asked in a softer tone than what he was using when he was talking to hayden.

"yes i'm fine and no." i looked at the floor.

"well i wouldn't be able to tell. you handled it really well." he responded almost like it was a compliment.

"thanks i guess...i mean i know that kind of stuff happens, but never to me...i'm invisible. you know?"

"yeah i know exactly how you feel." asher let out a small smile. i started to walk the other way but i didn't make it very far.

"hey annie." i turned back around and made eye contact with asher again. "if he does anything like that again. let me know." he stated seriously.

"oh...okay." i softly smiled and then we went our separate ways.

in this moment i realized. i was fine. lilia was right. asher is a nice guy. he cares....right?....he cares. wow.

i made it to biology and immediately explained everything to jayden. the whole time she had shock written all over her face.

"dude i'm proud of you, but like im going to say 'i told you so.' now for all of the times i've explained how independent and strong you are and you thought i was lying...also asher. um hello. apparently he isn't the shy, scared boy everyone thinks he is..."

"i guess..." i said as a soft smile grew on my face.

"when you see him next you better ask him to sit with us at lunch." jayden stated as she opened her book.

"why?"

"because we must not let such a marvelous man sit by himself. it's not acceptable."

i knew she was messing around but she did have a point. "okay."

once i saw him in the library during fourth period i asked him about lunch. he gladly accepted. this actually made me happy. i don't know why, it just did.

we practically finished the project during fourth period we just had a few touch ups left. once lunch rolled around i got to the table first again, but was soon greeted by asher. he sat on my right which made me nervous for a second seeing as lilia always sits there but when she came in with jayden she didn't seem to have a problem with it.

maybe i was okay....i don't know. it feels like so much has changed so much in the past few days and i'm still adjusting, but it's not as bad as i was expecting. i'm actually happy right now. i mean despite what happened this morning.

the whole lunch just consisted of us getting to know asher and him getting to know us. i will say lilia talked the most seeing as she is the most social but we did laugh...a lot. so maybe i can make new friends. maybe asher isn't as annoying as i thought.

(a/n: i hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! let me know what you think and make sure to vote! i love you all)