The Outsider || Ashton Irwin

Chapter 6

Zoe's POV-

I was sat in after school detention for another hour, yet again. Miss French was sat at the front, sitting up straight and quietly typing on her laptop. There was more of us in the detention today, in fact there was 10 other people in there, everyone except Ashton.

When Ashton finally walked in the room, I could tell there was definitely something different about him. His skin looked pale and bruised, his hair was messy, his clothes were in a bit of state. As for his expression, he looked empty. It was no question who did this, Calum Hood.

I felt so sorry for Ashton, he was obviously hiding something that made him frustrated I could see it in his eyes, he looked so down and upset most of the time.

He looked towards me and looked back down. I could feel a sense of awkwardness between each other. How was I meant to write a description on this boy?

After Miss French had a long rant at him he drooped into the same seat, which he sat in yesterday. I couldn't stand watching someone being upset all the time, but what could I do? I knew if I tried befriending him he would just shy away or ignore me.

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The hour went by so slowly, I was so happy it was over. Everyone rushed out, apart from Ashton, who had to spend an extra 15 minutes because he was so late. I hurried as fast as I could to the bus stop, luckily today I managed to get there just in time, most of the time I wasn't so lucky. As much as I hated taking the bus, it was better than walking for an hour down main roads. I had considered getting a car of my own but it all seemed too much effort.

I sat down on my own at the back and put my headphones in. I put my music on shuffle ad then clicked my screen off. 2 seconds later I heard a beep, meaning I had just got a text.

Jess: TEXT ME AS SOON AS YOU GET THIS!!!!

Zoe: Hey :)

Jess: You won't guess what happened!!!

I knew that I probably could actually guess what had happened but I didn't want to ruin her excitement to tell me.

Zoe: What happened??

Jess: Me and Luke are back together :) We are having a fresh start like you suggested :)

Zoe: Yayyyy :)

Jess went on about how it happened and how happy she was for the next 10 minutes. After a while, I switched my phone onto silent and ignored the incoming messages. I loved Jess really, but sometimes she could just be a bit too much.

I looked out the window, seeing my familiar neighbourhood. The bus stopped and I stepped off, feeling the warmth of the sun hit me. It was a short walk home. I usually took the longer way though because I wanted to avoid the dark alleyways, that were known for the crime that happened there.

When I got home I threw my bag on the floor and went to the kitchen, to find my dad swatting flies with his newspaper.

"Hey dad." I said, grabbing a coke out of the fridge.

"Oh hey Zoe." He swatted another fly. "Nasty little things." He mumbled to himself. Working with the police, meant I didn't really see my dad much. There was so much crime in this town.

"How was work." I asked him.

He finally looked around and placed the rolled up newspaper onto the kitchen table. He sighed. "I'm afraid there's another thief going around town. He's been robbing houses, shops and even tried the bank. We nearly caught him but he ran away and well we are on lookout for him at the moment."

"Is it only one person." I was surprised, with the number of gangs there was.

"We think so, every witness has given us similar descriptions and no other mates or anything have ever seemed to be around, which suggests it's just him. But we never know really." He looked down.

"Why do you think he's doing this?" I asked.

He shrugged. "It could be for anything, everyone has different reasons I suppose." I nodded and started to walk off but he stopped me. "How's school by the way?"

I turned around and bit my lip. "Great." I lied.

"Good." He smiled. "I might get a Chinese takeout tonight, is that okay?" I nodded back to him. Our family lived on takeouts, we had them most nights. This was mainly because my mum and dad always worked late and couldn't be bothered to cook anything. But another reason was because none of us actually could cook very well.

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Once the chinese came, me and my dad sat down in the living room and watched tv. We only did this when mum wasn't in, she always insisted on sitting on the table and have proper conversations as a family at mealtimes.

"What do you wanna watch then?" My dad said, throwing the remote to me.

I started flicking through the channels, waiting for something good to come on. I eventually gave up stopped it on a documentary about weather,

My dad looked over to me. "I didn't realize you were interested how clouds are formed." He started to giggle.

"Find something better then." I said, chucking him the remote back.

We ended up watching csi, my dads choice. He seemed really interested in it, I found it boring. Dad looked over to me. "Hey what's up, sweetheart?"

"Nothing." I said quickly. "I'm just tired I suppose."

He tickled my feet, making me squirm. "Well then go to bed. Your mum told me how you stayed at Michael's late the other night, you need sleep sweetheart."

I got up. "Goodnight then."

"Don't let the bed bugs bite." He joked.

I trudged up to my room. I collapsed on my bed, almost falling asleep instantly.