The Outsider || Ashton Irwin

Chapter 5

Zoe's POV-

I was purposely late to creative writing, I'd circled the school at least 5 times I didn't want to go. I couldn't stand the thought of spending another full hour sitting next to Ashton Irwin. There was something about him I didn't like, he was hiding something, something he didn't want anyone to know. I didn't really know much about him other than he moved here 3 months ago and that he lives in foster care. I had heard the rumours about him, how he got kicked out of his old school because he threatened to stab someone. I didn't believe the rumours though, they were just rumours.

I flounced through the door into the creative writing classroom, all my classmates looked up at me with their lifeless faces.

"Your late, again." Miss Orchard snapped, whilst I passed her desk. She had a grim look on her face. I went to my seat, where Ashton was looking out the window, ignoring everything, "Right anyway class today we are going to be working on our descriptive writing." Miss Orchard started. I zoned out after a few seconds.

After a few minutes, the classroom became alive again and everyone started to talk to each other. I heard a voice from beside me.

"Z-Zoe." I looked over to see Ashton looking over to me, looking a tiny bit frightened of how I was going to react.

"Yes Ashton." I replied, politely. I didn't exactly want to talk to him but I'd rather be nice to him than if I completely ignored him.

"I want to say that I'm sorry about yesterday. It was rude to ignore you. I'm not very good at first impressions . Do you think that we could start again?" He said quickly. He seemed different today. yesterday he was quiet and annoyed. But today he was nervous.

"Yeah sure." I shrugged. I didn't really know what to say. "Do you know what we're meant to be doing?"

"Nope." He started to relax it bit, leaning back into his chair. "This class is shit isn't it?"

"Yep." I nodded, agreeing with him.

We sat there for a while, the awkward silence creeping in again, until I decided to break it.

"So why are you bad at first impressions." I said, trying to make convesation.

He shrugged, thinking for a while. "I guess I just am."

"There must be a reason." I looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"I just. Well I guess I don't know if I can trust them if I have just met them." I could tell by the way his body started to go stiff and how he started staring straight ahead, that he didn't want to talk about this.

"Why are you worried about if you can trust them if you just met them?" I asked. I regretted saying this straight after I said it.

"It doesn't matter okay?" He raised his voice, looking at me. There was something in the tone of his voice, he sounded angry but he also sounded a little bit scared. He looked back down at the table and then back to me, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak out like that, I just don't want to talk about it."

"It's okay, I shouldn't have asked." I mumbled.

Miss Orchard came over to us. "So have you too got to know each other? The more you know about each other the easier the essay will be." She said to us giving us her crooked smile.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Weren't you listening!" She looked angry. I shooked my head. "You have to write a description of someone for your first essay." She said.

"Who?" I asked.

"Him." She pointed towards the boy sitting next to me.

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"How am I meant to get Luke back? Zoe are you even listening to me?" Jess whined. We were in Biology, supposed to be testing cells under a microscope.

"Of course I am Jess." I smiled over to her. But the truth was I was thinking of creative writing and finding out that I had to write a piece about Ashton. At first I had considered not doing it, before realizing that would get me nowhere. I could just make it up, but then I would just feel bad. I was actually starting to consider getting to know this boy.

"Zoeeee what am I supposed to do, I need to prove to Luke that he can trust me!" Jess wailed, slumping down onto her stool.

"I'm not exactly the relationship expert Jess." I reminded her. I had never really had many boyfriends or hookups. I had been asked out but I would just shake my head and tell them I wasn't interested. I wanted something that would feel real, someone I truly loved, not a little high school romance that would end in heartbreak.

"Maybe," I suggested. "You should have a proper talk to him, maybe even suggest to start over or something."

She thought for a second. " I guess it's worth giving a shot."

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"He's a loser. I can't believe he tried to think he was so tough, by punching me in the face." Calum bragged in maths. I was sat at the beside Michael, who had decided to come to school today. Calum was showing off about his fight with Ashton at the end of school yesterday.

"Does he ever shut up?" I asked Michael. Calum was severely getting on my nerves.

"Calum does this all the time, " Michael shrugged. "It's just best to ignore it, you should know that by now."

The truth was, Calum had two different sides. At school he was one of the popular group, that would bully and beat up the nerds and outcasts of the school. However, when he was out of school, at band practice or just hanging out, Calum could be really nice and well not as much of a show off.

"I mean who does the kid think he is." Calum said, before bursting into laughter with the rest of his mates.

I thought about Ashton again, he was stuck in my mind. What had he even done? He was just another misunderstood boy I guess.

"It isn't fair." I whispered to Michael.

"What isn't fair." Michael looked confused.

"How they are treating Ashton. It isn't fair."

"Why do you care about Ashton anyway?" Michael said, sounding surprised .

"I don't know."

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A/N- okay so I've decided that I will try and update every 5 days. Keep commenting and voting I love reading your comments. Thanks for reading :)