Array
(
[text] =>
Ashad was on his way to maths when he heard Ella call his name.
“Hey Ella,” he said, keeping his expression blank.
“Ash.” She trotted up the hall and fell into step beside him.
“Don’t call me that.”
She smirked. “Whatever, Ash.”
He ground his teeth together. “What do you want?”
She looked taken aback. “Dude, I just wanna chat. Do I need a reason to talk to you?”
He remained silent and took his place in class, pulling out his books.
“Anyway, why have you been ignoring Jeremy all week? He’s been trying to talk to you nonstop, and he won’t quit telling me about it. It’s getting annoying.”
Ashad bit his lip in frustration. “Okay, you wanna know why? Because he is confusing as hell.”
“Because he kissed you?”
So Jeremy had told Ella. Who else had he told? “Yeah, because of that. What am I supposed to do? It’s obvious he’s fucking with me.”
Ella nodded. “I know he is, because he’s a freaking idiot. He’s so afraid of being bullied that he won’t even let anyone close to him anymore.”
Ashad mulled it over. “So that’s it?”
“I think so.”
“Well I’m not prepared to forgive him.” Yet, he added silently in his head. “I’m not gonna lose any more sleep over his worthless ass.” And he refused to speak with her for the rest of the lesson unless the subject matter involved angles and algebra.
And even though Ashad managed to shake Ella off for a while, he couldn’t get rid of Darcy. They hung around him and Toby at lunch, chatting away with Toby about some comic book series Ashad had never heard of. Eventually a topic came up that piqued his interest, but he didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“You should have been there on Sunday when we had lunch with our grandparents,” Darcy was saying, shaking their head in disbelief. “It was a fucking bloodbath. Tom and Marian ended up in a shouting match with them, and Jeremy had a panic attack… plus I think my parents want to disown me. It’s hectic.”
“So will you keep living with the Doyles then?” Toby asked.
“I sure want to, even though there’s always so much drama going on over there. I just hope there’s no legal trouble if my parents push the issue. They’re just so close minded, you know? I can’t live in that kind of environment.”
Ashad felt kind of guilty then. He’d been pushing Jeremy away for days, ignoring his texts and walking right past him in the corridors, even in the midst of a huge family drama. It had to be taking its toll on him. But he’d been hurt too many times by Jeremy, especially when he’d had the gall to kiss Ashad at the party. He’d been drunk, for God’s sake. He doesn’t care about me at all, he was just… confused because he had one too many beers, Ashad told himself firmly.
Yeah, it was getting hard to even convince himself.
Ashad was still thinking about Jeremy when the bell went and he started making his way to chemistry. Maybe Ashad would apologise to him. Maybe.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud clang. He looked around the corner of the corridor and had a sense of déjà vu: he saw Jeremy pinned up against the lockers by his collar. Jay and Brandon were threatening him again, and they’d barely come back to school after their second suspension. Ashad couldn’t help the rage that flew to his limbs, so he dropped his bag and ran straight at them.
“I told you to leave him the fuck alone!” Ashad roared, loosing his fist at Brandon’s face as he turned around in surprise. Brandon staggered back, clutching his nose and howling. Ashad spun and grabbed Jay by the shoulders, ramming him into the lockers.
Jay sneered at him, his lips drawn into an ugly smile. “Come to protect your boyfriend, have y—” Ashad cut his sentence short with a blow to the stomach.
“Don’t talk to me, or him, again,” Ashad said in a low voice, staring Jay straight in the eyes. “I will fucking murder you, don’t you doubt it.” He shoved him roughly away.
Jay looked like he’d go back for a second bout, but then a teacher started down the corridor. “Fuck, again? Let’s go, Brandon.” Jay grabbed his friend by the arm.”This isn’t over,” he grunted to Ashad, pointing at him like it was a promise.
“I think it is, mate,” Ashad retorted coldly. “Tata.” He waved his hand delicately like the Queen and Brandon snarled, still holding his nose as they retreated.
Ashad looked down at Jeremy, who had slid to the floor at the base of the lockers. His eyes were wide with fear and his hands were trembling. “Ashad, I—”
“Don’t say anything.” It hurt to shut Jeremy out, but it would hurt more to let him speak. “I need to go.” Jeremy looked so small and alone as Ashad walked away. Ashad forced himself not to look back and left the school through a broken part of the fence, unable to face chemistry class with Jeremy.
A/N: Sorry for the late update everyone, you know how summer holidays are. I hope you had a lovely break, no matter where in the world you are, and my best wishes go with you into 2017.
[text_hash] => 9091230c
)