Yes, I know "I thought you weren't going to post this story until My English Love Affair was done" well, I got impatient okay. I'm really excited for this story. THAT & someone ripped off My English Love Affair. They basically took Rydel & Connor's situation in the story but made it with two different people and it pissed me off. So, don't expect an update from that story for a while. I'm sick of people copying ideas off my stories & claiming they came up with it all by themself & then getting praised for it. Like no, find your own fucking originality & stop copying off mine. Fair enough if you try & make it like your own,but when it's practically the same but with two different people... NO. STOP. & I will be copying & pasting this into the next update for MELA for the people who read that story. Like, if you wanna make a story that's inspired by mine or like it, let me know & I'll help you out into making it your own or a little bit different so it's not exactly the same. I won't bite. Jesus christ.

Not how I wanted to start off the new story but oh well \o/

I hope you guys enjoy it & I will be moving this out of the Austin & Ally category later btw, so if you're confused... that's why.

Disclaimer: I do not own R5, The Vamps or 5 Seconds Of Summer, all rights go to Hollywood, Mercury/Virgin EMI & Capitol Records!

Title: The Rejects

Summery: They say 11 out of 100,000 teenagers commit suicide for different reasons or the same. So what will happen when 7 people out of 11 are thrown together in the attempt to make each other happy again? Will some of that 7 become part of that 11? / WARNING: Might be triggering in later chapters.

Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Tragedy, Angst, Romance, Humour, Friendship, Family

Starring: Ross Lynch, Ellington Ratliff, Luke Hemmings, Ashton Irwin, Bradley Simpson, Riker Lynch, Alexa Dowd, Rydel Lynch, Michael Clifford, Jack Hemmings, Rocky Lynch, Savannah Hudson & Calum Hood

Couples: Rosslington, Lashton/Cashton, Rocklexa

*note: if you're wondering why I'm using Alexa & Savannah, it's because I'm tired of using Laura & Maia as side characters. That, and it's different.

Chapter 1
The Group

Awkward?

No, that wasn't the word.

Though, there are a whole other bunch of synonyms to describe the word awkward, and a whole other bunch of sentences that could probably describe this whole atmosphere perfectly. There were seven chairs, eight if you counted Riker's, in a circle and only five of them were full. Full of five people who did not know what to say to each other, and Riker was doing his best to try and get them all to say something but if he was honest some of them looked like they didn't even want to be here, which had two different meanings, some looked like they wanted to kill someone – aka Ashton – and the other looked bored out of his mind.

There was only one girl in the circle at the moment, Savannah, so she's probably feeling that she doesn't want to be here because she's the only girl. Which is fair.

But all this awkward silence was making it depressing.

That was it. That was the word. A depressing silence.

Which is ironic because this is a support group Riker runs for depressed teenagers with all sorts of different problems. Yet, here they all are probably feeling even more depressed and have the urge to slit their wrists wide open even more. Which is not the aim Riker is looking for. The aim he's looking for, is that by the end of the next 6 months they'll all be okay again with no worries and they'll all be better, and feeling it.

Besides, maybe it might work with these set of teens (well, Ashton's only just turned 20 and Ellington is 20). They're all newish, apart from Savannah who's been here for almost 5 months now and she doesn't seem to be getting anywhere near better. Ellington joined about a month ago, Ashton joined 2 weeks ago and Brad started last week. But today they had two new people coming which were two more boys called Ross and Luke. Ross was already here and sat by Ellington, but Luke wasn't – which made Riker begin to think about if he was even coming at all.

He did decide he wanted to wait a little bit longer for Luke, but it had been 15 minutes so if he was going to show up, he would have shown up by now. After all, he does know Luke and Ross were forced to come here by people. So were the others in some way, but they were literally forced it even said on a letter he got sent by some girl called Rydel and two guys called Michael and Jack. He doesn't know who made who go.

There was another seat spare in the circle for someone else, but she wasn't here and wouldn't be until next week. Why? Because she attempted to kill herself the day after Ashton came and failed. Not that he's saying Ashton made her want to kill herself, but that's how he keeps track of how long ago it was.

"You know what," Riker said, standing up from his chair and clapping his hands together to get the attention of the ones who looked zoned out "we'll just start now, without Luke and see how it goes before he does get he—"

Riker heard the door open up from the corner of the room before he finished his sentence, and everyone's attention turned to it.

Luke did his best to try and open the door without it making a huge crash sound. He failed. Miserably. Because after he shut the door he turned around and found everyone looking at him from the circle. "Okay, how late am I?" Luke asked.

"About 15 minutes." Ellington answered from where he sat.

Luke nodded "Right, okay, sorry. Had some things to deal with. Good thing it's not school so I can't get held back. No? Okay. I'll shut up now and sit." Luke said, going over to where some boy with brown curly hair was to sit.

"No, no," Riker said, stopping Luke as he was pretty much sat on the chair "don't sit there. That's someone else's seat. Sit next to Ashton."

"Yeah, because I know who Ashton is." Luke said, referring to how he was new and didn't know who the heck any of these people were. Except for Brad and Ross, because he's pretty sure they go to his school. Not that he would know because he barely attends any more due to certain things that have occurred, but he won't go into detail about that just yet.

Ashton rolled his eyes "Which is the only other empty chair in the room?" he asked harshly.

Luke looked over to him and saw the chair. Yeah, now he felt like an idiot. But hey, someone has to lighten the mood in this depressing support group right? Not that it'll do him any good. He may look happy and seem happy right now but all he wants to do is go home or find somewhere quiet and slit his throat so he's gone forever. And he's pretty sure everyone else in the room feels the same way too.

He walked over to where this Ashton sat and sat down reluctantly next to him. He noticed how all the chairs were spread out pretty far from each other, making them about 1 or 2 metres away from each other. But for some reason his and Ashton's was like a ruler away from each other. Luke was about to move his chair a little bit away from Ashton, because to be quite honest he felt a little intimidated by him, but then Riker started talking. At least that's what he thinks his name his, he doesn't know he wasn't really paying attention when Jack and Michael were telling him about this place.

"Right, okay, as I was going to say," Riker said, trailing off a little "I know two of you are new here and some of you are fairly new and some of you have been here for a while. But welcome. This is as about as lively as it's going to get, unless you get to know each other then that way it becomes more fun and I hate to make it sound like a frickin' play school for children but unfortunately it's true. But once you get to know each other a little bit more we'll take it from there," he looked around the group, seeing blank facial expressions, depressed ones or some looking down because they didn't want to look up at everyone (aka Ross). "So let's get started then. Who would like to go first?"

Luke slowly raised his hand. "Ah, okay. Wasn't expecting that. But sure, go ahead." Riker said.

Luke put his hand back down "N-no, I didn't want to go first... but er... you said someone else was supposed to be here so why are we starting without them?" Luke asked, referring to the empty seat next to Brad.

"That's Alexa's seat. She tried to kill herself after Ashton came," Ellington said, answering on behalf of Riker "she comes back next week apparently."

"Fair enough."

Riker folded his arms and turned to Ellington. He sighed "Alright loud mouth, how about we go around the circle and you go first?" Riker asked, giving him a small sarcastic smile.

Ellington threw Riker a small glare and turned to everyone as he stood up "Well then, hi. I'm Ellington Ratliff for those who didn't know, I.E the blonde sat next to me, was it Ross? And the guy with the quiff the size of the World Trade centre," Ellington said, making Riker wish he never even put him up to introducing himself first "so that's only, like... two people who didn't know me who I could have introduced myself to in my own time without having to re-introduce myself to Ashton, Brad and Savannah," he sighed "anyway, yeah. My names Ellington Ratliff. Call me Ellington, or Ell, or Ratliff. Which ever you like better, I don't care. Heck, even call me Lee it's my middle name. Actually, don't call me Lee I hate being called by my middle name. And my middle name in general. Whatever. But, yeah. Why am I here?" he shrugged "I don't like being at home because it depresses me. You try living with two parents who constantly fight and ignore you like it's your fault because of your choices which aren't really big and shouldn't affect them that much. It's kinda depressing," he looked around the circle, seeing Ashton's usual eye brows raised and 'oh wow who gives a fuck' kind of look. "So yeah, that's all." Ellington sat back down, he turned to Ross "Your turn blondie."

Ross felt uneasy by the way Ellington was looking at him and with everyone else looking at him. He glanced up a little, but didn't bother to stand up like Ellington did. "Er... my names Ross."

"I think I can hear the mouse that lives under the floor boards better than you, speak up." Ellington said, only to receive a funny look off everyone else but Savannah.

Ross took a deep breath "I said my names Ross. Is that better for you?" Ross asked, snapping. He felt bad about it afterwards, feeling nervous as to what Ellington's reaction was going to be towards him. It was bad enough he seemed like a real cocky and sarcastic person, so he dreads to think what he would be like when someone acts the same back or is horrible to him.

"Leave him alone," Riker said, stopping Ellington as he went to go say something else to him "why are you here, Ross?" Riker asked, being more caring than Ellington was. He could tell he was nervous and scared, and it wasn't really hard to figure out why he was here.

"My sister made me come here." Ross mumbled, not wanting to speak any louder. He even started playing with his hands out of nerves.

Everyone else in the room was only just able to make out what he said. They all wished he would speak louder, but didn't bother to say anything. They'd only contribute more to his obvious depression and anxiety issue. "Yeah, that's part of the reason why you're here. What's the actual reason?" Ellington asked.

Brad rolled his eyes "Alright, back off. Leave him alone. It's obvious why he's here. Lets just move on." he said, having enough of Ellington and he'd only been here a week.

Ellington held up his hands in defence and slouched in his chair. Ross gave a small nervous smile to Brad as if to say 'thank you' and quickly looked away again. Riker sighed "Alright, Brad. Your turn." Riker said, running his hand through his hair as he felt stressed already.

"What's the point? You've already introduced me, it's Ashton's turn." Brad said, not really wanting to introduce himself after what just happened with Ross and Ellington. He didn't fancy being commented on as he spoke.

Riker went to go say something but was cut off by Ashton's voice. "Why thanks Brad," Ashton said with a sarcastic smile "now that I've been introduced maybe now Savannah can introduce herself and the other newbie can introduce himself. Oh, wait! Done. No need any more."

Riker groaned, flinging his head back a bit. Ellington, Brad and Ashton were making life more difficult for him. Especially when he's got a newbie who's nervous about everything around him, another newbie and a girl who won't talk because she's too depressed. Having loud mouths around like Ellington, Brad and Ash were not a good match for the other three. And if Alexa was here she would have sorted them all out by now. But no.

He rubbed his eyes "Alright, how do you all wanna do this? Do you just wanna get to know each other in pairs and make life a little more easier for me and yourself or do you wanna do it as a six?" Riker asked. Everyone silenced, looking around awkwardly. "You know what, I'll make life easier. If you're Ellington, Brad and Ashton talk to the person on your right." he turned back round and sat back in his chair.

Brad turned his head and saw the empty chair sat next to him, and passed that empty chair was Ashton. But to Ashton's right was Luke. Which meant Brad was on his own. That wasn't much of a surprise to him though. He's always alone. Even when it comes to friends, family and school. He's always been the outcast. He sighed and shut his eyes.

There goes his depression kicking in for the 100th time this week and it's only Wednesday.

Ellington dragged his chair and got closer to Ross as their chairs were about a metre apart, and he made Ross nervous by the way he had gotten closer. Ellington sat comfortably on the chair and smiled at him nicely as you could hear very small and quiet talking from Luke and Ashton, and also Savannah who had moved over to Brad "So, what's a pretty face like yours really doing here?" Ellington asked.

"Ellington." Riker said, warningly.

"What?!" Ellington asked, his voice raising in pitch "I'm being nice!" he said, making Riker roll his eyes. Ellington faced Ross again and smiled "I repeat the question. What's a pretty face like yours doing here?" he asked "by the looks of you, you look like you should be elsewhere getting laid by some hot girl. Or guy. I don't know what you're into."

Riker shut his eyes and shook his head slowly at Ellington. Why did he suggest for poor Ross to sit next to him when he first arrived?

Ross sighed shutting his head, keeping his eyes on the floor as he felt his heart beginning to beat even more from nerves "Thanks, but I'm not gay."

"That's cool, neither am I." Ellington said with a small shrug.

Ross stared at him confused "But... you just flirted with me."

"Clearly you've never heard of bisexuals."

Riker put his head into his hands and shook his head, deciding to lose focus in Ross and Ellington's conversation as he couldn't bare to listen to Ross getting flirted with and not being able to do anything about it. So he decided to listen in on Luke and Ashton's conversation, Savannah and Brad already knew each other and they were nice so he didn't have to make sure if Savannah was going to be hopelessly flirted with or if Brad was going to get killed by Savannah.

Luke felt a little bit awkward being thrown into a conversation with someone who he had never met or spoken to in his entire life, and Ashton felt the same. Ashton had only been here for two weeks and he didn't speak to anybody really, he didn't connect with anybody. He had the strangest feeling he wouldn't with Luke either. But hey, the quicker he gets this over and done with the quicker he gets to go home, be depressed and all the other things he has been doing ever since he became like this. "So," Ashton said, turning his head to Luke "what's your name?" he asked.

"Luke. What's yours?" He asked stupidly, even though he already knew it. But hey, anything to make conversation right?

"Ashton," He replied nearly straight away "so tell me. Were you forced to come here by someone or did you come of your own free will?" he asked.

Luke shrugged "I was forced to come by my friend Michael and my older brother Jack. They felt I needed too before they came home one day and found me hanging from the ceiling. Which I did try to do one time, but you know, I kinda fell over and woke everyone up before I even got a chance to put the noose around my neck."

Ashton nodded "Fair enough. Don't fall over when trying to hang yourself. I'll remember that the next time I want to kill myself which will probably be somewhere between the next..." he looked to the ceiling for a moment thoughtfully "hour."

"Will you actually kill yourself though?"

"I don't think so... I'm scared too. You know, in case I fail and it hurts like a bitch."

"Who says you'll fail?" Luke asked, Ashton turned to him and gave him a funny look. Luke's eyes widened when he realised how that sounded "Oh no, no! That wasn't meant to sound encouraging! Oh no, no! Please don't! If anything if you did try to kill yourself, I'd want you to fail so you'd still be alive, I mean who wants someone to kill them self for? You know what, I'm just gonna shut up." Luke said, turning away from Ashton and putting his head into his hands in embarrassment.

Ashton sighed heavily and shook his head, being able to tell already that Luke wasn't very good with words. After a few seconds, Luke lifted up his head "Hey, I'm Luke. I'm an idiot sometimes when I speak so just ignore me, it's nice to meet you. I'm taking it your names Ashton. You look like an Ashton." Luke said, restarting the whole introductory thing all over again.

Ashton laughed softly "Hi. I'm taking it you're here because your brother and friend forced you too?" Ashton asked, Luke nodded "may I ask what caused you to be depressed to have made them make you come here?"

Luke frowned and shook his head "No. I don't feel comfortable sharing that with you. Not yet anyway."

Ashton nodded "Fair enough. It's nice that you have two people in your life that care about you deeply though, that helps a heck of a lot with people like you and me."

Luke cocked his head a little bit "Why? Don't you have anybody that loves you in your life that cares? Like, friends... family. Or a girlfriend maybe." he said, again realising how insensitive that sounded.

Even when he tried to reintroduce himself, he sounded like a prick. Ashton glared at Luke slightly "Yeah, actually I do," Ashton said, suddenly getting harsher after trying to be nice. But after being insulted twice, basically, it kinda takes the kindness away from you. "I had a boyfriend called Calum. But he died like 2 months ago though in a car accident, so he's really letting me down lately."

Luke nodded, getting the answer to his first idiotic question and the follow up question which would have been 'what made you depressed?'. He grabbed the bottom of his chair and moved away from Ashton, feeling the tension coming off him after pissing him off.

Already, Riker could sense the next 6 months were going to be a blast.

Not.

Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter & sorry to start this story off with a pissed authors note :) I'll try make the future ones happier ;)

Please review & let me know what you think :D