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|♡| ASHLYN'S P.O.V |♡|
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Ashlyn!
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Ashlyn?
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That's me.
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Yeah, no shit Sherlock.
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It takes a moment for me to register it in my brain. And when it does, I slowly turn around to see my pursuer. Who would know me in this school except Vanessa?
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That's when it dawns upon me that the voice was extremely familiar. Familiar fue to deep friendship four years of once-a-week videocalling.
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When I turn a complete hundred and eighty degree, I see him.
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Tyler Lewiston!
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"OMG! Tyler is that you?" I ask
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"Yeah, its me," he says, while giving me a shrug and a smile. But as he says the last words, I just cant help it anymore. I set my tray in Melody's table with a bang, turn around and run straight at him. He spreads his arms and engulfs me into a bear-hug.
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Not the romantic way.
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More like the best friend way.
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There was never anything (mind it), anything romantic between Tyler and me. We had been best friends for more than ten years now.
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We met when we were seven years old, when I lived in Seattle. We both had been neighboursand best friends ever since. We used to play together, eat together and had sleepovers almost everyday. Tyler's father worked in a social-servicing organisation. So he had to move from place to place. The longest he had lived in a single place was for six years and that was in Seattle, when he moved in next to me.
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And believe me, those six years were the best years of my life.
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When we finally let go of each other, he spoke up. "You did not tell me that you were coming to Boston."
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I could sense the whole cafeteria's eyes on us but I didn't care anyway.
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"You did not tell me that you studied in Vanessa's school," I retort.
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"We didn't have our video calls this week yet," he argues.
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"Exactly. So how do you expect me to tell you?" I say.
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"I just moved here four days ago and I did not even know that I was going to Vanessa's school in the beginning. But leave about all that. How are Jamie and Sally?" he asks, cheerfully.
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Jamie and Sally. Dad and mom. My parents. Dead.
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"They are dead, Tyler," I say in a hushed tone.
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"Wait, you're kidding right?" he asks, poking me humorously.
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"No Tyler. They really are dead," I say, trying my best to stop the tears that are threatening to fall.
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"Oh, I am so sorry. I didn't know. Tell me how it happened."
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"I will tell you later, not when the whole cafetaria is staring at us."
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He gives a light chuckle but there is no humour in it. "Fine. I'll go and fetch my friends and by that time, your job is to find us an empty table. We need to have a chat. Four years and we haven't met even once. I'll be back in a minute," his usual playful, badass tone returning.
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"All right. All right," I say with a giggle.
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He walks out of the cafeteria while I start walking towards Melody's table. I can still feel the entire cafeteria's eyes on me but nothing could beat Melody's reaction. Her mouth was hanging open and her eyes were wide and the awe that she felt was clearly printed on her face.
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"Mind if I sit here?" I asked her.
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She just nodded, her eyes still wide. When she finally came out of her daze, she started shooting questions at me.
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"OMG! You just hugged Tyler Lewiston, like, Tyler Lewiston in front of the whole friggin cafeteria," she said, a little out of breath.
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"Geez, calm down. I did hug Tyler but what is so great about that?" I ask.
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She just ignores my question. "I thought you were new here," she asks.
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"Yes, I am new here," I say.
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"Then how do you know Tyler?" she demands.
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"I know Tyler because we were childhood friends. So now if you would stop asking me so many questions, then I have a question for you too," I say.
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"Yeah, go ahead."
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"I guess we are friends now?" I ask her in a mocking tone.
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"Yeah, I guess we are. But I hope you won't hurt me in future," she says, voicing her thoughts from an old memory.
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"No, I promise I won't. But why did you ask me that question anyway?" I ask.
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"I once had a best friend named Janice. But one day, she ditched me for being the queenbee of our old school and then made my own boyfriend cheat on me with her," she says, her eyes welling with tears. "So I guess you understand."
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"Yes, I do. And its fine, you know."
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"I hope so."
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Just then, Laura walks inside the cafeteria. She grabs a tray, dumps some food in it, pays for her lunch and then makes her towards us and then takes a seat next to Melody.
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"Hi Melody," she addresses Melody.
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"Hey. Anyway, this is..."
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"I know who she is because her locker is right next to mine. I was just going to introduce both of you to each other but then I was late because Mr. Davidson wanted me to handle some project of his. BTW, hi Ashlyn," she says sweetly to me.
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"Hey Laura," I reply.
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"So its gonna be the three of us, then?" says Laura.
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That's when Tyler appears out of no where and interrupts her.
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"Seven of us, miss, not three," he says.
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Behind him, I see three other boys grinning. All hot. All cool. I really didn't know how they managed to be hot and cool at the same time. And I wasn't really that curious too.
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The way Tyler behaved with them just screamed the fact that he was also in their group. That was not a problem for him. He was always tall, athletic and handsome.
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"So you're here, brother dear," says Laura, giving the guy in the center a hug. He returns it, smiling.
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"You know what, you can do your sibling reunion later. We have people to introduce here," Tyler interrupts them.
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So the boys take seats next to us. Tyler and Laura's so-called brother, whoever he was, sit next to me, while the other two sit next to Melody and Laura.
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"So I guess everybody here needs an introduction," Tyler speaks up. "As you all know, I am Tyler Lewiston." There was a pause. "Guys please don't tell me that all of you have forgotten your names," he says.
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"Okay, I am Ashlyn Wood."
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"So you are..." says the guy next to Melody but is rudely interrupted by Tyler.
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"Questions later. Introduction now," he says.
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"I'm Laura Austen."
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"Melody McCarson."
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"Chase Austen," days Laura's so-called brother.
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The word Austen grabs my attention. So they really were siblings. I thought that it was a joke or something because Laura and her so-called brother, no wait, Chase look nothing alike. Laura is a blonde while Chase has chocolate brown hair like mine. The only thing they both had in common were probably there eyes, both grey, like an upcoming storm.
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Wow!
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"Logan Spencer," says the guy next to Melody. He is handsome, has brown hair, cute face and muscles. Nice and attractive. And bad boy type.
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"And I'm Zack Arrington," says the boy seated next to Laura. He also has brown hair and that same playboy smirk.
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"So you were the ones who said that I had pretty hair and that my eyes match with yours," I say, pointing at Zack and Logan.
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"So you remember us," says Zack, sharing a high-five with Logan, who was smirking.
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"Yeah, I do. Your compliments were nice. At least I took them for compliments. Only problem, my eyes do not match with yours, Zack," I say with an amused smile.
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"Oh yes, they do," he muses.
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"No, they don't," I retort.
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"Oh, shut up both of you," says Laura, smiling. "Okay, so Ashlyn listen up. I'm gonna give you a verbal tour of the whole cafeteria, meaning the people here."
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"Okay," I say.
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"That table over there consists of the nerds," she says, pointing at the first table near the doors of the cafeteria. "That one belongs to the desperate wannabes of our school," she continues, pointing at table number two. "That, that, that and that belongs to the jocks, football and basketball players, the cheerleaders and of course the 'Queens' of our school," she says pointing at tables three, four, five and six.
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The last table, however, had only three people sitting in it.
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Three girls to be more specific.
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Vanessa and her two bitches.
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"The boys usually sit with the popular crowd. Anyway, that's Vanessa Jacobs. Queen bee of South Boston High School. Total slut and one of the meanest people you will ever face," she says, pointing at Vanessa.
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"To her left is Nicole Francis. Head cheerleader and has boys at the tip of her fingers," Laura continues, pointing at a very pretty blonde but I knew that behind all that make-up was a total bitch.
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"And the last one is Zara Arrington and she -" Laura speaks but I interrupt her.
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"Wait, you said Zara Arrington?" I ask, confused.
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"Yes, now pay attention," she tries to continues but is again cut off by me.
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"She is Zack's sister, isn't she?" I ask.
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"Yeah, she is. I forgot to mention that," she says biting her lower lip.
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And then the bell rang.
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"So what do you have next?" asks Tyler.
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"I think I have Calculus again right now," I reply.
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"So I'll see you later, I guess," he says. "Bye Ashlyn."
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"Bye Tyl," I call as he races to his class.
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And so Laura, Logan, Zack and I walked back to the calculus class.
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Mr. Gates came in and then started explaining random stuff. Logan started cracking jokes and Laura and Zack start arguing over something.
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Finally calculus got over, after how many eons, I really don't know.
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"So what do you have now?" I ask the triplet as we hustle out of the class.
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"I have English," says Laura.
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"So do I," says Zack, winking.
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"Whatever, Zack," she grumbles.
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"I'll leave you guys to yourselves. I'll have to get ready for gym."
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"Okay, bye Ashlyn," she calls.
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"Bye," I say with a grin.
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I refer to Laura's map and find the gym.
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To my surprise, I find only Chase inside.
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Along with Vanessa.
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