Further (#5 in the 'Outcast' series)

Chapter 65

Chapter 65:

"Ooh, don't we look stunning this morning?" Ashley exclaimed as I sat down next to him in class, about half an hour late.

I just rolled my eyes as he took a piece of my now dead straight hair and looked at it. I smacked his hand away and he smiled at me, making me smile back a bit.

"Don't touch the hair man; you'll ruin all of Juliet's hard work," I said with a smile, Ashley smiling back.

"That why you're late?" he asked, nudging me in the side with a childish grin on his face. "Lettin' ya girl straighten your hair?"

"What of it?" I asked back, still a bit of a smile on my face as Ashley gave a bit of a laugh, clearly excited this morning. "She really wann'ed to, so I let her; what's the big deal?"

"No deal!" Ashley exclaimed, making a few people look over. The teacher was currently nowhere to be seen, so I'd managed to get into class unnoticed. "I like it! Makes you look hotter. Looks great!"

I just shook my head as he grinned at me.

"I can't believe you just called me hot," I said with a bit of a laugh as Ashley gave me a guilty grin.

"Huh, oh well!" he said cheerfully. "By the way, nice to see you buddy!"

He pulled me into a hug, catching me off guard and making me laugh as I put my arm around him and hugged him back as a few people watched.

"Great seeing you to Ash," I said with another laugh as he refused to let me go. "I'll take it you missed me then."

"Of course!" Ashley said as he finally let me go and I gave him a tired smile. "I always miss ya when you're not here; makes my life boring."

I just gave him a smile and he tilted his head to the side curiously. I frowned and looked over to who he was looking at. Quite a few people in the class were looking over at us, and I wasn't too sure why that was. I saw Matt up the back, playing around on his phone, and by the looks of it, he was the only one that wasn't fascinated by my return.

One of the kids spoke, getting Ashley and my attention.

"We all thought he'd finished you off y'know," he said as I looked at him. "You look like you could use another few days off."

I just gave a nod and looked back down at the desk. Ashley's expression became unamused.

"Excuse me mate, I don't think you have any right to say that," he said, sounding slightly offended as he put on a slight Australian accent, clearly having worked on it. "You sound like you care, and I don't like that."

"Why not Purdy?" the kid asked, equally as annoyed. "We all thought he was done for."

Ashley scoffed as I just got my notebook out and a pen, drawing as I listened in.

"Why?" he said, almost in disbelief, back to speaking normally with his American accent. "I'll tell ya why Jerry, it's 'cause you guys never gave a fuck about this kid, and as soon as something life threatening happens, you care. It's complete bullshit and I'm not tolerating it buddy. I know about people like you, and you only wanna hear the damn details then go back to harassing and making him feel bad about himself; he has too many people doing that to him, so I'd appreciate it if you backed the fuck off."

Jerry shot him a glare, but Ashley just stood his ground, clearly annoyed. I looked to him.

"Ash man, just let it go," I said, making him switch his gaze to me. "Just drop the subject, ok?"

Ashley gave a nod, but the Jerry kid spoke again.

"Why'd he try off you anyway?" he asked, directing it at me as I shifted my position and took my jacket off, as I was starting to overheat a bit.