Ashley took a deep breath before walking through the front doors of the school the next day. It was taking all the will power she had not to break down and let the other people get the best of her.
“You can do this.” Tina said linking her arm with Ashley’s. Jared opened the door and led the two girls down the hallway. As much as she wanted to believe that everyone’s glances and snickers weren’t directed towards her she knew she would be lying to herself. A few guys whistled as she walked by but Jared immediately shot them a death glare and they stopped.
“Do you want us to go to your locker with you?” Tina asked as they reached their usual separation point.
“I’ll be fine.” Ashley took a deep breath. “You can’t hold my hand all day.”
“Well we can at least walk with you to class.” Jared offered. “We’ll meet at your locker after we get our stuff together.”
“Thanks.” Ashley smiled as they parted. She walked down the stairs and entered the basement hallway where her locker was located. As she reached the locker she could see it covered in the flyers Jared had found the night before. She could hear giggles and whispers coming from everyone around her as she tried her best to hold back her tears. She tore them off angrily and opened her locker quickly, just trying to get away from everyone. She knew it was a mistake to come to school today but she didn’t even know how to begin trying to explain to Denise what was going on. As she opened her locker there was another flyer taped to the inside with the word ‘SLUT’ written across it.
She stared at the picture once more trying to erase it from her memory. She tore it off crumpling it in her hand. Just as she was about to throw it away she spotted the culprits approaching her. Although she had no proof as to who was behind it, she knew they were the only ones who were vindictive enough to do this.
“You did this, didn’t you?” Ashley said angrily holding up the half crumbled flyer in her hand.
“Doesn’t it feel great to have this secret of yours out in the open?” Meghan smirked at her. “I guess we were wrong about you all along…you’re brother wasn’t paying for you to be here you did it all on your own just like you said.”
“Sleeping your way to the top…how classy.” Elaine added in as Stephanie laughed.
Ashley held back the urge to smack her in the face with all she had in her. She could feel the tears building in her eyes but didn’t want these girls to get the best of her, that’s what they wanted was to watch her fall.
“Oh is the poor baby gonna cry?” Stephanie faked sympathy as she rolled her eyes. “Might as well let people know the real you. This is all anyone will ever want from you anyway, haven’t you figured that out?”
“Why would you do this to me?” Ashley finally asked. “I never did anything to you.”
“You took the one thing that I had at this school and now because of you it’s my senior year and I’m playing second best to a cheap little slut.” Meghan said angrily. “Guess I’m not just talented when it comes to singing though, huh?” she asked holding up one of the flyers.
“So you’re admitting that you did this?”
“With something as good and genius as this I’d be stupid not to gloat.” Meghan laughed.
“You fucking bitch!” With every ounce of strength Ashley had in her she launched herself at Meghan, slamming her into the wall of lockers with a loud thud. Meghan yelled out in pain as she made contact. She fought back grabbing Ashley’s hair and trying to push back against her as they screamed obscenities at one another. Everyone looked on in shock not knowing whether to let them fight or hold them back. As they threw each other onto the ground Ashley took the chance to get in a few good punches, lading one right at Meghan’s nose causing her to start bleeding.
Finally hearing all the commotion teachers fled to the hallway to pull the two girls from each other and calm down the rowdy on-looking crowd. Jared walked into the hallway with Tina noticing the big crowd gathered near the end of the hall where Ashley’s locker was.
“What’s going on?” He asked stopping a student who was passing by.
“Two chicks are going at it…they were just talking and then bam the one went crazy…”
“Crap.” Tina said running towards the crowd just in time to see Mr. Robertson pulling Ashley off a bleeding Meghan. She looked up at them with tears of anger in her eyes as they led the two girls away and towards the dean’s office.
“I told you we should have gone with her.” Jared sighed. “She’s going to be killed.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ashley sat outside the dean’s office tapping her foot nervously as she held an icepack up to her cheek to try and reduce the swelling from the one punch Meghan got in. She had already been reprimanded by the dean and suspended for the rest of the week with probation for the whole month, meaning one more slip up and she could be expelled. She looked up as she heard Denise entering the room. She knew she was in deep trouble for this one, but Meghan got what she deserved.
Denise had a look of anger and disappointment written all over he face. She didn’t have to say a word, Ashley stood and followed her to the front desk where Denise signed her out. Jared and Tina had already brought her books and bag to the office so she was ready to go home. They walked to the car in silence and continued the drive home the same way. Once they arrived back at the house Ashley knew all hell would break loose. She immediately made her way to the living room and took a seat on the couch just waiting for Denise to lay into her.
“I honestly don’t even know what to say to you right now.” Denise shook her head looking at her. “Fighting at school? What were you thinking?”
Ashley just shrugged knowing there was no logical explanation for it, at least not one that Denise would understand.
“These girls just hate me, they’ve had it out for me ever since Meghan got taken out of the play at the end of last year.” Ashley tried to explain.
“Don’t over exaggerate, I’m sure they don’t hate you. I want to know exactly what happened.”
“They started it, they were saying all this mean stuff to me…” Denise cut it off.
“The dean talked to everyone who was around and they all said you started it.”
“Well technically but…”
“There’s no buts, you threw the first punch therefore you’re responsible for starting the fight.”
“I couldn’t just let her stand there and talk about me like that!” She wiped some tears from her face. “Just…never mind you wouldn’t understand.”
“Ashley there is no excuse or sensible explanation that would justify you getting into a fight. I know girls can be mean, but you’re above that.” Denise sighed. “You need to learn to ignore them. You have to think about what you do before you do it…you’re lucky you only got suspended a few days. You could have been kicked out of the academy or even worse expelled.”
“I tried really hard to ignore them mom, I really did. It’s just…”
“What were they saying that was so bad?” Denise finally asked.
“It’s more what they did.” Ashley mumbled.
“Ashley you need to tell me what’s going on. If there is more to this story then what is being told I need to know.” Denise studied her face, trying to read her emotions but she was a blank canvas. It saddened her to see what was becoming of her once vibrant and energetic daughter. She seemed so worn out and distressed, it was beginning to really worry her.
“It’s nothing. You’re right I should have just ignored them, I was wrong and I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” Ashley sighed. “Can I just go to my room now?”
Denise nodded and watched Ashley as she walked out of the room.
Ashley walked into her room closing the door before she let the tears fall. She was too embarrassed to tell Denise the real reason behind the fight and she couldn’t get what Stephanie had said to her out of her head. ‘This is all anyone will ever want from you anyway, haven’t you figured that out?’ Maybe she was right. First Derek then Steven and Adam. Maybe it was all she was good for.
She needed to get away and have some time to just think about how to deal with the situation. She knew it wasn’t the best move but she had no one else to turn to. She grabbed her cell phone and searched through the list until she found who she was looking for.
“Are you busy?” she said as she heard someone pick up on the other end of the line. “I need to get out of this house…can you come get me?”
Author's Chapter Notes:
yay i got it done! next one should be done Sunday/Monday :) enjoy! and thanks to everyone who reviewed the last one I appreciate it!
Chapter End Notes:
So who do you think she called???
