[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
The alarm clock rang and Ashley groaned as she hit the snooze button. She turned to face the clock and read the time.

“Uhh 6:30 in the morning. Remind me why I wanted to go back to regular school?” she asked herself as she lay back on her pillow and covered her head. She was just falling back to sleep when Denise knocked on her door.

“Are you up?” Denise asked peeking her head in the door. “It’s time to get ready.”

“I don’t wanna go.” Ashley groaned from under the covers.
Denise chuckled and walked into the room. She sat on the bed and pulled the covers off her face.

“Come on. You have to go.” She pulled the covers down and got up to open up the blinds letting light into the room. “Your bus comes in an hour and I want to make sure you eat breakfast. So get ready and come downstairs when you’re done.”

“Fine.” Ashley grumbled and sat up. She went over to closet and got out the outfit that she and Angel had picked out before she went back home.It was a pleated denim skirt that came a few inches above her knee and a yellow and pink striped shirt and pink sandals.

She was so nervous about starting back at school. She wanted people to like her but she was never good at making friends. She was hoping that starting at a new school would be better because no one would know who she was. She grabbed her new book bag and headed down stairs. She wasn’t in the mood for breakfast but she knew Denise wouldn’t let her leave until she ate.

“You look so nice!” Denise smiled as she sat down to eat a bowl of cereal.

“Thanks.” She smiled timidly.

“I know you’re nervous but I’m sure everything will go great.” Denise reassured her.

Ashley just nodded and finished eating her cereal and drinking her juice. She went back upstairs and brushed her teeth and met Denise back downstairs.

“Do you want me to walk with you to the bus stop?” Denise asked as she handed her the book bag.

“No. I’m okay. I guess I’ll see you after school.” She shrugged throwing the bag over her shoulder and heading out the door.

When she walked down to the bus stop she looked around not seeing any other kids. She wasn’t surprised, there weren’t that many kids living in her community and the ones who did were younger. She sighed and leaned up against the wall waiting for the bus. She glanced down at her watch. It was 7:25 and her bus would be there any moment. She glanced back up and saw the large yellow bus coming her way. She took a deep breath as it pulled up in front of her and opened its doors. She climbed aboard and greeted the bus driver before looking around at the rest of the bus. Everyone was talking and catching up with old friends and joking around with one another. She saw an empty seat a few rows back and she headed straight for it. When she was seated she clung to her book bag and looked out the window as the bus took off. She was drifting off into her own thoughts when someone tapped her.

“Hey, you there?” the girl sitting across from her laughed.

“Huh?” Ashley tuned to face her snapping out of her thoughts.

“We asked you if you were new. We haven’t seen you around before.”

“Oh, yea I’m new.” Ashley smiled timidly.

“So where did you used to got to school?” the other girl asked.

“I went to Celebration Academy in 6th grade but I was home schooled last year because my family had to travel a lot.” She knew she bended the truth a little but she didn’t want anyone to know who she was.

“You were home schooled?” Another girl behind them chimed in. “That’s so cool.”

“So are you like rich or something?” The first girl asked.

“What?” Ashley was shocked at the question.

“Well you live in Palm Gardens. Everyone who lives there is rich.”

“Oh, well I’m not rich.” Ashley laughed a little. It was true that she lived in a rich community and that AJ had a lot of money but that was his. She herself was almost homeless two years ago until AJ offered his home to her and her mom. She was nowhere near rich.

“Oh.” The girl raised an eyebrow at her as if she didn’t really believe her. “Well I’m Marissa Stellar.” She introduced herself. “And this is Kelly Stevens and Kimberly Peterson.” She pointed to the other two girls that had been talking to her.

“I’m Ashley McLean.” She said timidly hoping they wouldn’t question her. The bus came to a stop and Ashley was glad they had arrived at school before she could be questioned any more.

“Well Ashley, maybe we’ll have some classes together.” Marissa smiled as they headed off the bus.

“Yea. That would be cool.” She smiled as they parted. The other girls joined a larger circle of people who had already arrived and Ashley looked around at the large school a bit overwhelmed.

Her last school wasn’t nearly as big as this. She stood around quietly as more and more people gathered. Suddenly there was a voice coming threw the speaker system.

“Good morning students. I’m happy to welcome you all to Memorial Junior High School. This is your Principal Mrs. Mendez and I hope you all will have a wonderful day and an even better year. If you all listen up I will read off homeroom assignments. As your homeroom is called please report to your room where you will receive your class schedule and locker assignments. I will start off with eighth graders.”

Ashley listened intently not wanting to miss her assignment.

“…If your last name begins with the letter N or M you are in room 309…”

‘That’s me.’ Ashley thought to herself as she entered the building and began looking around for her room. ‘Man this school is huge’ Ashley thought as she searched around for the room. After about 5 minutes she found it. When she walked in the room everyone else was already seated. Ashley stopped timidly at the door and looked around as everyone looked up at her.

“You must be Ashley McLean.” Her homeroom teacher smiled at her.

“Yea. Am I late? I couldn’t find the room.” She blushed a little.

“No. It’s all right. I was just trying to get a jump start on roll call. There’s a seat for you right in the third row.”

“Thanks.” Ashley smiled and headed for her seat. She looked around the room as everyone talked amongst them selves. Obviously she was the only new person in her homeroom because everyone else seemed to know each other. The bell rang signifying the start of the day and everyone slowly quieted down as the homeroom teacher began to talk.

“Well good morning everyone. I know that most of you know me, but for those who don’t I am Mr. Johnson and I will be your homeroom teacher for the year. We have a lot to get accomplished in a short time so I’m going to hand out your class schedules and locker assignments.”

He passed back the schedules and Ashley looked threw the stack for hers. When she found it she passed the rest on. She looked at the schedule and smiled seeing that her second class of the day was chorus.

‘I guess this isn’t so bad.’ She thought to herself as she read over the whole schedule. She had English first everyday after homeroom then chorus science and math then lunch. Everyday after lunch she had history followed by a study period. Her day ended with gym and health, which alternated everyday.

She was glad she had gotten lost on the way to homeroom because she had actually seen most of her classrooms on the way. After everything was handed out her teacher walked back to his desk and looked threw some papers.

“Okay so last thing before you go to your first classes. I have some announcements here. As most of you know the broadcast club usually does our daily announcements, the first meeting will take place Thursday after school and everyone is welcome. The anchor jobs will go to eighth graders so I know you guys who couldn’t do it last year are excited about that. The drama club will hold its first meeting tomorrow afternoon after school to discuss this falls production. Auditions for the play will be the following week and all are welcome to try out.” He finished up just as the bell rang.

“Have a great day kids and I’m sure I’ll see some of you back here for Science class, if not see you tomorrow morning.” He smiled at them as they exited the classroom.

The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully. Ashley had been to four classes so far and all of her teachers seemed to be really nice. It was already lunchtime and Ashley was starving.

She made her way to the cafeteria and pulled out her money, as she got online. After she got her food she looked around for an empty seat. She was about to sit down at a table by herself when she heard someone calling her name. She turned and saw Marissa waving at her.

“Ashley, come sit with us.” Ashley smiled as she walked toward the table. Along with Marissa were Kelly and Kimberly and a group of boys.

“Take a seat!” Marissa smiled as she moved over so Ashley could join them.

“Thanks. I thought I was gonna have to eat by myself. “ She smiled back as she sat down.

“So how do you like it here so far?” Kelly asked.

“It seems pretty nice. My teachers seem ok, I haven’t really met many people yet though.”

“Keep sitting with us at lunch and everyone will wanna be your friend.” Kim stated bluntly.

“Huh?” Ashley asked confused.

Marissa took over. “Look around. This school is separated into cliques. You have the freaky and the geeky over there,” She pointed towards the back of the lunchroom. “Over there you have the slackers. They don’t care about school at all.” Ashley looked around as Marissa continued. “See those kids. They’re like the super athletes. They play every sport in the world and those kids over there are the wishful thinkers.” Marissa laughed and Ashley looked at her confused again.

“We call them that because they wish they were us and would do anything to try and be us.” Kelley filled her in.

“So what are you guys then?” Ashley had always been in small schools where there were no cliques because every class had about 20 kids. She was clueless to the structure of things.

“We are the popular kids…and now that we’re in 8th grade we rule this school.” She smiled. “See so by being one of us you have it all.”

“But why me?” Ashley asked curiously.

“Why not? You seem to fit in with us. You’re really pretty and you have good taste in clothes.” Marissa stated.

“You really think so?”

“If we didn’t we wouldn’t have let you sit with us. Don’t worry you’re one of us now. ” All the girls nodded in agreement as the boy to Marissa’s left nudged her.

“What?” she turned to look at him.

“Are we invisible or something or are you gonna introduce us?” he asked.

“You have mouths you can introduce yourselves.” She laughed. He gave her a look as she rolled her eyes and turned back to Ashley.

“Sorry, how rude of me.” She said sarcastically. “This is my twin brother Matt and that’s Steven, Jesse and David.”

“Hi.” Ashley smiled shyly at the others first and then Matt.
‘Wow. He’s really cute.’ She thought to herself.

“You guys are really twins? That’s so cool. My best friend has a twin bother too.”

“Yea unfortunately.” Marissa laughed. “He’s such a pain but I guess I gotta love him.”

“Thanks sis. What a nice intro.” Matt teased. “Hey. I think I saw you in my Science class.” He smiled at her.

“Oh yea. Mrs. Rodriguez seems pretty cool.” She smiled back.

“Yea she’s alright I had her last year.” He kept smiling at Ashley and she could feel herself blushing. She quickly turned away and finished up her lunch.

“So what class do you have next?” Marissa asked.

“Umm history I think.” Ashley replied.

“With Mr. Kennedy?” Matt spoke up again.

“Let me check.” Ashley said as she pulled her schedule out. “Yea.”

“Awesome I have that class too. Maybe we could walk together?” he asked timidly.

Ashley could feel the butterflies in her stomach as she turned back to him.

“Sounds good to me.” She tried to maintain her smile.

“What else do you have?” Kelly asked.

“After history I have a free and then I have gym or health last.”

“Great we all have gym together then! That will be fun.” Kim smiled.


They all finished their food just as the bell rang.

“Ready for class?” Matt asked as they got up from the table.

“Yup.” She smiled and waved bye to everyone else as they headed off to class together.




The final bell rang and Ashley couldn’t wait to get home. She rushed to her locker to grab her belongings and made her way outside. She was heading over towards her bus when a honking horn caught her attention. She turned and saw the familiar black expedition with dark tinted windows. Thinking it was her aunt she headed over. The window rolled down a little as she approached.

“Surprise kiddo!” AJ grinned from inside the truck.

“Alex!” Ashley screamed in excitement as she ran around to the passenger side of the truck and jumped in immediately hugging him. “What are you doing here?”

“We got a few days off from rehearsing so I came here to surprise you.” He grinned. “I felt really bad about not showing up to the memorial. I wanted to make it up to you.”

“Yea well it’s gonna take more then just picking me up from school,” she stated bluntly. “I was really sad that you didn’t come.”

“I know…is dinner a start?” he asked as he pulled off.

“I guess.” She teased smiling at him.

When they reached the restaurant they were seated and looked over the menu ordering right away.

“So how was your first day of school?” he asked.

“Pretty good I guess. I have cool teachers.”

“Did you make any friends?”

“Yea a few people. They seem nice but they’re the popular kids. I don’t know why they would wanna be friends with me.” She frowned a little.

“Well did they say why they did?” he knew she hated meeting new people because she never knew if she could trust them.

“There’s always 8 of them…four girls and four boys, but one girl moved away and they need a replacement. They said I was too pretty to not hang out with them.”

AJ couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I know but I need friends and they’re the only people who talked to me today.” She smiled. “They were really nice to me and we all have lunch together and were on the same bus.”

“Well I’m glad your making friends already.”

“Me too.” Ashley smiled as their food arrived.


When dinner was finished AJ ordered them dessert. While they were waiting he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small envelope.

“Okay so I have another surprise for you.” He grinned handing her the envelope.

“What’s this?” she asked confused as she took it.
“Open it up and see.”

Ashley tore open the envelope and pulled out a gold American Express card. She looked it over noting that it had her name on it.

“This is for me?” she looked surprised.

“Yea. I know how tight my mom can be with money sometimes and I figured with me living all the way in California it would be easier for you to get what you want if you see something nice.” He explained.

“What are you taking I’m sorry lessons from Nick?” she teased knowing a credit card was his way of making it up to Angel for not being around.

“Maybe…is it working?” he gave her a slight smile.

“For now.” She teased as their dessert came.

“You have to be really careful with that though and don’t let mom see it or she’ll kill me.”

“I’ll be careful.” She promised him. “Thanks so much!” she hugged him. “You’re the best.”

“Yeah money always works with the ladies.” He joked.

“Shut up.” She stuck her tongue out at him before taking a bite of her cake. “It doesn’t always work but it helps.” She said through a mouth full of cake.

“Yea. Angel’s taught you too well.” He laughed.




When they arrived home Denise was sitting at the dinner table with Tony eating dinner.

“Hey guys!” Denise smiled at them. “How was your first day of school Ashley?”

“It was okay. I think it will be good.”

“Did you make any new friends?” She asked. AJ couldn’t help but laugh and Ashley sent him a dirty look.

“Yes I did.” She said as AJ continued to laugh.

“What’s so funny? Am I missing something?” Denise asked confused.

“Nothing. Alex is just an idiot.” She shoved him and he pushed back.

“Hey none of that you guys.”

“Ashley’s friends with the ‘popular kids’.” AJ finally supplied the reason behind his laughter. “She completes them.” He said in his best doctor evil voice.

“Shut up. You’re such a jerk.” She shoved him again.

“Alex, stop making fun of her friends. I’m sure they’re very nice kids.” Denise smiled at Ashley.

She stuck her tongue out at AJ as he teasingly hugged her messing up her hair.

“You know I’m just playing kiddo. I’m happy you made friends.”


Ashley sat downstairs with Denise Tony and AJ for a little while longer telling them about the rest of her day and all her teachers. Ashley glanced at the clock and noticed it was already 8:00.
She excused herself from the table and headed upstairs because she had promised Angel she would call her to let her know how everything went.


The phone rang a few times before Angel picked up on the other end.

“Hey girl.” She answered. “I was beginning to think you forgot about calling me.”

“Nope. Alex surprised me today after school and took me out to dinner and I was downstairs talking to my Aunt.”

“Oh ok so how did it go?” Angel asked anxiously.

“I was really scared at first but it was pretty good.” She smiled to herself looking back on the day. “I was ready to die when I had to take the school bus because I always heard how bad it was but there were these 3 girls who talked to me and they were really nice.”

“Awesome. At least you met people early.”

“Yea. I got lost on my way to homeroom but I pretty much figured out the school now. It’s huge though. My schedule isn’t that bad and I have good teachers but that stuff is boring.” She laughed.

“So then what’s more interesting?” Angel laughed along.

“Well I ended up having lunch with the three girls I met on the bus which was good cause I didn’t eat alone. So apparently the school has a lot of cliques and I guess they thought I was cool enough to be part of theirs. They’re considered the popular kids at school so I guess that’s cool.”

“First day and already at the popular table.” Angel teased. “See I told you that school would be fine.”

“Oh I almost forgot the one girl Marissa she has a twin brother too.”

“You just attract us twins don’t you?” she laughed.

“I guess so!” Ashley joked back. “His name is Matt.” Just saying his name made her blush and her butterflies come back. “We have two classes together.”

Angel could hear the excitement in her voice at the mention of his name and couldn’t help but bring it up.

“So this Matt kid. Is he cute?”

Ashley giggled a little. “I guess.” She said shyly.

“Oh give me a break. I can hear it in your voice that you think he’s cute.” Angel laughed.

“So what if I think he’s cute and that he has an amazing smile.” She continued remembering how he kept smiling at her.

“Somebody’s got a crush.” Angel teased in a singsong voice.

“Shut up. I do not.” She defended. She could feel her face flushing.

“You don’t need to lie to me. Hello I’m you’re best friend we’re supposed to talk about boys.”

“Fine.” Ashley gave in. “Yes I think he’s really cute.”
Ashley pulled the phone away as Angel squealed on the other end.

“Thanks for killing me ear.” She teased.

“Sorry I’m just excited that you finally have a crush on someone. I’ve been trying to hook you up for a year!”

“Well just cus' I have a crush on him doesn’t mean anything. I’m sure he doesn’t like me.” She frowned.

“Oh whatever. He’d be stupid not to like you.” Angel reassured her.

Ashley heard some noise in the background as Angel groaned on the other side.

“Hate to cut this short but I have to go. The dogs are going crazy and I need to eat dinner. Call me tomorrow and let me know how everything goes.”

“I will. Bye.” She said hanging up the phone and placing it back on the charger. She sighed noticing it was almost 9:00.

She decided to get an early start on getting ready for bed so she’d be wide-awake the next morning. After saying good night to everyone she returned to her room to shower and go to bed excited about what tomorrow would hold.