• Roxy •
I kept my head down as I walked through the doors of the school, making a beeline for the front office. I was walking at a bit of a faster pace because I knew that Ashton was following behind me and he had long legs — I didn't want to fall short and have him take the lead. I walked up to the woman at the front desk and Ashton appeared at my side with his 100-watt grin.
"My exchange student needs his locker number," I said briefly, shrugging a shoulder towards him.
The woman at the desk handed Ashton a slip of paper with his schedule, locker number, and combination. His locker was in the same hall as mine. I thanked her quickly and made my way to second hall.
"Are you in my first class?" Ashton asked from behind me, trying to make conversation. "English with Mr. Richardson?"
I nodded quickly, not bothering to turn around. I stopped at my locker to drop off my backpack and pick up a couple of my books and notebooks, then waited for Ashton to finish up at his locker. My sister would actually slit my throat if Ashton got lost on his first day, so I had to go with him pretty much everywhere. It took him three tries to get his locker open and when he did, he threw his black backpack inside along with his grey sweatshirt and pulled out a couple notebooks and pencils.
"Let's do this thing," he finally said, closing his locker door. I bolted, leaving him to catch up as I traveled up the stairs to the second level where Mr. Richardson's room was.
I sat down in the right corner, frowning just a little bit when Ashton came and sat next to me. Michael was in this class with me, too, and now he'd have to sit in front of me.
Mr. Richardson came over to Ashton's desk and introduced himself, shaking Ashton's hand and asking him a boatload of questions about himself. Ashton just grinned and replied. Michael made it just before the bell rang and dropped his books on the desk in front of me. He gave me a questioning look after glancing at Ashton, but he couldn't ask me about it right now because class had begun. Mr. Richardson was very strict about the "no talking in class" rule.
"Alright, students," Mr. Richardson said, clapping his hands together, "before we begin class today, I'd just like to introduce you all to our new exchange student. Ashton, would you come up to the front, please?"
Ashton obliged with a smile. I noticed the girls in the classroom staring at him, wide-eyed and mouths gaping. The sleeves of his red flannel shirt stretched tightly over the muscles on his arms and his hair was messy in the best possible way. Nobody could say that he was difficult to look at.
"Tell us a thing or two about yourself, Ashton," Mr. Richardson said with a smile.
Ashton glanced around the room and gave a little wave. His hands were huge and his fingers were as long as two of mine. "Hi everyone, my name is Ashton Irwin. I'm originally from Sydney, Australia, and I'm staying with Roxy Edwards's family currently. Some of my hobbies are singing and playing the drums and ... yeah, that's about it."
He shrugged slightly and came back to his seat, leaning backwards slightly when he sat down. Mr. Richardson went along with class as planned, talking about the book that we were going to be starting soon. I zoned out and played with my rubber Panic! At the Disco bracelet.
The bell was a rude awakening when class ended. I glanced over at the schedule on Ashton's desk and realized that I had the next two classes and lunch with him.
Fantastic.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur of girls staring at me in the halls as I walked along with Ashton and teachers introducing him to the class like it was preschool show-and-tell and he was their pet hamster. The only classes that I didn't have with Ashton were the last two of the day and, even then, I still had to show him where his next classroom was. My school was huge and easy to get lost in.
He caught me at my locker at the end of the day.
"Is your sister driving us home?" He asked, brushing back a stray curl that had fallen onto his forehead.
"Ryann's driving you home, but I'm going with my friends," I replied, shoving a couple books into my backpack and throwing it over my shoulders. I started to walk away down the hall before he called my name, making me turn around.
"I know this is going to sound weird, but do you think your friends would mind if I came along with you?" He asked, holding his backpack in one hand and his jacket in the other. "I don't want to be a bother or anything, but I would just be more comfortable going with you. I've been around you all day and I don't really know Ryann that well just yet."
"Well, how are you planning on getting to know her if you don't drive home with her?" I asked. He shrugged in reply. "Fine, just keep up. Ryann didn't want you to meet my friends, but I personally don't really care about what she wants, so let's just go."
He grinned and followed behind me as I walked out into the commons to meet up with Mari, Michael, and Diana at the usual spot. They were joined by Luke and Calum today, which was a rare occurrence.
"Hey, kid," Mari greeted, glancing at Ashton behind me. "Who's your friend? Oh my god, is this the exchange student?"
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, please don't traumatize him."
I turned to Ashton and gestured to my friends as I introduced them. "This is Mari, her full name is Marilyn, but don't call her that. That's her boyfriend, Michael, and Diana is in the cardigan. She's literally always wearing a sweater so it's very hard to lose her in a crowd. That's Luke, Diana's boyfriend, he's a giraffe. And that's Calum, he's not Asian, don't talk about it. Everyone, this is Ashton, he's scared of my sister and doesn't have any friends, so he's coming with us."
Ashton looked overwhelmed and slightly terrified, but Mari smiled and said, "Don't worry, Ashton, you can hang out with us. We're pretty cool."
"Don't tell him that, he'll be disappointed when he finds out that we're actually losers," I replied, but she shushed me.
Diana caught up to us and sent a grin Ashton's way. "Well, Ashton, I hope you like pizza, because the other boys insisted that we should get some for dinner," she said with a laugh.
Ashton smiled. "I love pizza."
"Perfect," Mari chimed in. "I think you're going to fit right in with us."
