chemical kiss | ashton irwin

Prologue

It was within the last week of school; I couldn't believe it when Mrs. Gosford, my English teacher, told the class there would be a new student.

I thought it was moronic. The newbie would know nothing because nobody would teach him or her anything. There's nothing to learn when there are only seven days left of school.

"He will be arriving later today, and again, I am so sorry for the short notice," Mrs. Gosford said to the class, a crease in her naturally wrinkly forehead. She had a motherly vibe about her that made her somewhat tolerable.

We were the smallest average-rank group of students, so it made sense to add another kid--just not this far into the year. "Now, everyone turn to page 36 of Wuthering Heights."

As a slight side-project, we were reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. It wasn't my type of book, but it wasn't that awful either. It kept me awake while simultaneously putting me to sleep. I flipped through the wordy pages and landed on page 36, beginning to read, "The roof has been kept whole hitherto..."

At about 12:11, the middle of class--this was one of a couple two-period classes--the door very rudely slammed open, startling almost everyone on that side of the room. I was too zoned out as I pretended to read the rest of the chapter, causing my oblivion as to who stormed into the classroom and disrupted everybody's peaceful reading.

"Class, this is Ashton, our new student! There seem to be two empty seats right by the girl in the blue--why don't you sit there?" Mrs. Gosford announced, gesturing toward me. I peered down at my distressed T-shirt and recalled that it was indeed powder blue.

The boy at the front of the class donned tattoo sleeves that evidently disgusted the teacher. He stalked forward slightly, close enough to me now so I could see that he had vertical labret piercings and dolphin bites, forming the shape of an anchor on his bottom lip. That was creative. He wore a strangely thick, kohl ring around his hazel eyes, and his light, curly hair was sheltered under a grey hood that was attached to a denim vest.

Before he decided to sit down at the desk next to mine, even with the option of creating space between us, he rasped into my ear, "Hey there, Delilah."