Anyone else but you- Chapter 2

Ashley Davies...

"Ash I know you're in there and I know you're ignoring me" Carmen shouted through the locked bedroom door.

"Go away" Ashley finally yelled back knowing that Carmen wouldn't give up. She had been awake for hours going over everything in her head and trying to deal with everything the best she could but her biggest struggle had been not opening the bottle of Jack Daniels that she knows is underneath the floor boards next to her bed. Every inch of her was screaming for her to drink that but she all the seminars and meetings she had attending for the past year had helped her. She knew that of she let Carmen in she would have to tell her the struggles she was having and she didn't want to let anybody down like she would've done before.

"Ash...please hun...I know you need to talk"

"Ok..hang on" Ashley jumped down off the window ledge and opened the door much to Carmens relief. Carmen engulfed Ashley in a huge hug almost restricting her of air.

"I nearly drank...I'm sorry" Ashley confessed straight away.

"Drank what?"

"The bottle of Jack that's under the floor boards over there"

"I got rid of that bottle ages ago Ash...I'm so proud of you dude" Carmen said with a smile taking a sit on Ashley's bed.

"I can't live with her Carm...she hates me and I hate her"

"Sounds like you don't have much choice Ash, it will only be for a year and then you can move out. You'll have your inheritance from your Grandparents and we can move somewhere kick ass together and leave all this shit behind" Carmen was trying her best which Ashley appriciated and she that her friend was right.

"Her Mom seems nice" Ashley said after a while laughing to herself.

"But Spencer is such a bitch how is that possible?"

"Defect from birth?" Ashley joked not noticing her father coming into her room.

"Hey rock star how you doing?" Raife asked smiling warmly at Carmen as he walked over to Ashley.

"I'm ok Dad just shocked and I think you really underestimate what a bitch Spencer is"

"By the sounds of things you two are equally horrible to one another and it needs to stop"

"She's a bigot Dad....she calls me every insulting gay name on a daily basis"

"Actually that's Madison Dufarte that does that Ash....Spencer just agrees" Carmen interrupted trying to keep the peace.

"Don't worry Paula will be talking to Spencer about this issue and I expect you to take the high road today Ash. Spencer and Paula will be over for dinner this evening so we discuss arrangements"

"Where's Kyla?"

"She's already left for school but her Mom is picking her up after so they can go house hunting" Raife explained.

"Whatever...I'm going to be late for school" Ashley snapped still not accepting that this thing will happen. Carmen smiles at Raife and follows Ashley out the house to her car.

Spencer Carlin....

"Girl you need to stop this now...you can't share a house with that freak" Madison added as thetwo girls stood at their lockers collecting their things for their first class of the year.

"My Mom needs this Maddy and I'm not going to stand in the way of her happiness..." Spencer replied as if she had rehearsed the answer a thousand times over.

"What about your happiness?"

"I'm going to college next year and I'm sure I can ignore Davies' until then" Spencer added as she looked up the other end of the hall way and saw Ashley walking with her friends.

"Not likely chica....she's like a rash" Madison commented as she walked off to her class bumping Ashley as she walked past her. Ashley used every ounce of strength to let it go not wanting to get into trouble this quickly. She saw Spencer staring at her down the hall and decided that she would just go straight to class rather than starting an arguement so soon.

"Baby....are you ok?" Aiden said as he put his hand on Spencer's shoulder pulling her out of her daze.

"Fuck off Aiden" Spencer spat shocking her boyfriend as she never swore.

"She's lying Spence...I would never touch her" Aiden lied just pissing Spencer off even more.

"Aiden I know she was telling the truth...she has nothing to gain by lying. In fact I must've really pissed her off if she admitting to sleeping with a creep like you"

"I'm not a creep Spence....we had been dating over the summer and then after we did it she freaked out and then within a few weeks she was doing chicks. I didn't tell you because Ashley made me promise not to say anything to anyone"

"How can you be so horrible to her if you used to date?" Spencer asked genuinely interested

"She made me look like an idiot...everybody thinks I turned her gay" Aiden explained unknowingly digging an even deeper hole for himself.

"Well you're just as dumb as everybody else at this school...you can't make somebody gay you idot. You either are or you aren't...I can't believe I ever dated you" Spencer shoved Aiden as stormed off to her class. She thought that Aiden was one of the good guys but he was a bigger jerk than most of the other guys she had dated. Ashley wasn't somebody that she liked or knew really apart from everything she had been told by Madison. Not wanting to face the whole school who were probably talking about her now Spencer headed to the gym where she knew it would be quiet. Walking into the gym she could hear somebody bouncing a basketball around and she was almost relieved when she saw it was Caleb rather than one of the other jocks.

"Shouldn't you be in a class?" Spencer asked causing Caleb to jump and misshoot the ball.

"Shouldn't you?" He asked back dribbling the ball around the court and shooting from all angles..

"Couldn't deal with the masses" Spencer confessed taking a seat on the bleachers.

"I have a free period..I like the silence in here" Caleb said as he sat down next to Spencer.

"You were out of order yesterday mentioning Ashley's Mom"

"Why was I?"

"Do you even know what happened to her Mom?"

"Madison told me that she left her after she was born"

"Technically she did....but the truth is and if you tell Ashley I told you this then I will kill you"

"You have my word"

"Her Mom died giving birth to her...so no she didn't leave her because she didn't love her" Caleb explained.

"Why did you telll me that?" Spencer asked feeling more guilty by the second.

"Because it's important that you know that Madison doesn't tell things how they really are and I think that maybe if you see through the 'popular' bullshit then you could be a good person"

"I'm not a bad person Caleb"

"Yea you've never killed anybody but you make people's lives miserable on a daily basis without even knowing you're doing it. People look up to you for some reason and you take advantage of that by being a complete bitch. I'm sure you could stay little miss popular if you were same Spencer I knew before you transfered to my school so we could be friends for ever" Caleb said the last bit a fake cheerleader type accent mimicking Spencer's words when she told him the good news over the summer before she stopped being his friend.

"Don't think I can do that Cal...sorry" Spencer admitted knowing that it would take alot for her to give up her popularity.

"I think I knew that would be your answer....have a nice life" Caleb replied as he got up and continued to play around. Spencer hated that Caleb knew her so well and that he prefered her how she was before she had everything. Spencer thought that her senior year was going to be the best year yet, she was finally head cheerleader, she was dating the 2nd best basketball player on the team, all her friends were popular and she had great grades but within less than 24 hours of being back at school most of those things she held dear were hanging on a thread and she didn't know how to fix them or even if she wanted to any more.

Ashley Davies....

"Stupid goddamn signal" Ashley muttered to herself as she wondered around the bathroom trying to get her cell phone to work. She had ditched last period so she could get to the beach sooner. She had been so captivated by trying to get her phone working that she hadn't noticed Spencer was now in the room until the blonde started giggling.

"Is it turned on dumbass?"Spencer laughed startling Ashley who looked less than please to see her.

"Do you need to be here right now?" Ashley replied with only a touch of venom.

"Wanna use my phone?" Spencer offered trying to get rid of some of the guilt she felt for her part in yesterdays fight.

"Not scared you'll catch lesbian?" Ashley smiled fakely.

"I'll take my chances...look just take the goddman phone Ashley I'm trying to be nice" Spencer demanded shoving the phone into Ashley's hands. Ashley stared blankly at the phone not knowing whether this was some sort of trick so instead of using the phone she started looking around the room.

"Why are you being nice?" Ashley asked still confused having never had a polite conversation with Spencer, well not since before they hit puberty anyway.

"Because I was out of line yesterday at the party and I wanted to apologise" Spencer almost choked out the last part as it felt completely unnatural to her but it did help with the guilt.

"Seriously is Madison going appear somewhere with a bucket of cow blood to throw on me?" Ashley sort of joked by she checked every possible part of the bathroom.

"Euw...I wouldn't put it past her though and if she ever does it's totally nothing to do with me"

"I was trying to call my Dad to tell him I couldn't make it to the lame dinner thing tonight....still not sure how I feel about it"

"It sucks and I hate it but my Mom needs this so I'm willing to put whatever drama we have somewhere else...I'm not saying I'm letting everything go because you're a major bitch but I'm willing to be civil for my Mom"

"Look as we're having a rare kind moment I'm sorry for saying what I did about Aiden....I totally made it up just to hurt you" Ashley lying having no idea that Spencer the whole truth but for some reason she felt bad for humiliating her in front of all of her friends.

"No you didn't" Spencer challenged.

"Yes I did...I've barely said two words to that idiot before"

"Ashley I appriciate what you're trying to do but I know what you said was true...I think you're probably the only person other than Caleb that has ever said an honest word to me at this damn school" Spencer replied sadly as she placed her hands in her back pocket looking shy in Ashley's eyes for the first time ever. Ashley shifted uncomfortably not knowing how the hell they had gone from rolling around on the floor fighting to having an honest conversation.

"Look I'm going to the beach I'll see you later" Ashley announced needing to get out of the bathroom that was shrinking by the second.

"I though you were calling Raife to tell him you weren't coming to dinner?" Spencer challenged with a raised eyebrow.

"Yea well...if you can attempt to be polite then I guess I can. See ya" Ashley replied exitiing the bathroom quickly not wanting any more alone time with Spencer Carlin.

At the beach....

"It was weird she was totally nice to me" Ashley explained to Caleb as they were sat on their boards in the sea waiting for a wave that would be worth riding in all the way to shore.

"Maybe she was being an adult...you should try it" Caleb answered smiling at his best friend knowing she call him a name or something as immature.

"Ass hat....she even apologised for saying stuff about my Mom...never saw that coming"

"Maybe she really wants to make this work for her Mom....they've been through a lot and her Mom is a great lady"

"Do you fancy Paula Carlin Caleb?Do you think she's a M.I.L.F?Do you want a cougar?" Ashley teased getting shoved off her surf board but still laughing as she climbed back on.

"Douche"

"Lesson learned...anyway I better head home for dinner before dead has a melt down" Ashley smiled and caught a wave taking it all the way in to the shore. While undoing her wetsuit Ashley spotted Aiden in the water with a familiar brunette and for some reason she got pretty pissed off.

"Fuck Aiden has Spencer even broken up with you?" Ashley shouted as she snapped a photo of Madison and Aiden kissing.

"It's not how it looks....get off me Maddy" Aiden shouted back making his way out of the water dropping Madison so quick that her head went under making Ashley smile. She had made her point so she continued back to her car feeling strangely satisfied with her find. As she climbed into her car she could hear Aiden and Madison arguing.

Spencer Carlin....

Spencer had driven over to the Davies' mansion on her own telling her Mom that she had homework but really but she just needed some time to get her head around everything. She pulled up outside the beautiful house and couldn't help but be amazed by the sheer size of the place. Ashley never seemed like she was stupidly rich, all she did was hang out at the beach Spencer thought to herself. She turned off her engine and braced herself for an evening that would probably end in an arguement. As she stepped out her car she was almost knocked down by the jeep wrangler that bombed up the drive. Spencer was already screaming obsenities by the time Ashley climbed out of the car.

"Sorry I didn't see you there" Ashley smiled still in her bikini which didn't go unnoticed by Spencer who suddenly felt herself blushing.

"It's ok...don't worry" Spencer stuttered as she started walking delibertly avoiding looking at Ashley which the brunette noticed causing her to smile even wider. She followed Spencer up to the front door opening it for her and walking ahead strutting slightly more than usual.

"Dad Spencer's here....I'm going for a long, cold shower" Ashley shouted while looking at Spencer. She started to climb the giant staircase, taking her time so she could look in the mirror at the top to see if Spencer was in fact checking her out and to Ashley's shock she was. Not knowing what to do with that she continued up to her room with a little bit more pace than before.

Spencer Carlin....

Spencer was amazed at the size of the house that she was supposed to be moving into in the next few weeks. Her house was pretty decent and she had definately never considered it small but in comparisonn it looked like a box. She stood silently dumbfounded as she let her eyes wonder to Ashley as she climbed the stairs in her very small black bikini and once again she found herself blushing in the presence of Ashley Davies, pushing whatever that was aside she followed the voices of her Mother and Raife into the massive kitchen. She couldn;t help but notice the stupid smile on her Mother's face and noted that she hadn't seen her smile like that for quite some time now.

"Spencer, was that Ashley I heard making an entrance?"Raife asked as he noticed the small blonde girl enter his kitchen.

"Yes, she's gone upstairs to shower I think....you're house is amazing Mr Davies" Spencer replied politely.

"Please call me Raife and from now on please see this as your home too. I want you to feel as welcome as possible Spencer" Raife said as he offered Spencer s drink which she kindly accepted as her mouth had suddenly dried up since seeing Ashley in her bikini.

"In fact Spencer we have picked out a room that I think you would love sweetie" Paula added giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek.

"Already?"

"Yes well I thought it would be a fantastic idea for you and your Mother to put your own stamps on this place. You can decorate your room however you want..in fact why don't you go check it out so you can get some ideas?" Raife offered as Spencer tried to takle it all in reminding herself that this was all for her Mother so she couldn't freak out now.

"Which room?"

"Go up the stairs and it's the 3rd door on the right honey" Raife instructed showing her to the stairs. Climbing the huge stairs Spencer looked back and saw the same silly smile on her Mother's face and envied her to a certain degree because she had managed to find two people in her life time to make her smile in that way and Spencer was yet to find one. Following Raife's directions Spencer almost tiptoed down the winding hall feeling like an intruder rather than at home. Reaching the door she assumed to be hers she walked and was shocked at the room that had been ear marked as her own. The cielings were riculously high and there were two hugh patio doors that led out to a balacony that over looked the swimming pool. Spencer's head span as she took in the space and beauty of everything that surrounded her. Noticing another door on the far side of the room she went over and opened it seeing that it was an en-suite bathroom. What she hadn't noticed was that the shower was also running in there. Admiring the marble sinks and floors Spencer was startled by a voice from behind her.

"This is my bathroom" Ashley said from the shower in her a lower tone than usual considering she already had a husky voice.

"I'm sorry...I didn't know" Spencer replied not daring to turn around much to Ashley's amusement.

"Yea well considering it's my house you should assume" Ashley bit back not meaning to be so horrible but it was an automatic reaction whenever she was around Spencer Carlin.

"Raife...I mean your Dad sent me up here to check out the bedroom he chose for me" Spencer stuttered still refusing to turn around.

"Yea well you can have the room but this bathroom is mine"

"It has two sinks" Spencer returned getting back her natural attitude towards Ashley who was now out of the shower and wearing nothing but a small towel. Her dark hair was messy and dripping wet. He skin looked shiny and cool thanks to the power shower she had just had. She stood next to Spencer by the sinks who still hadn't moved smiling in the mirror.

"Yes and they are both mine" Ashley replied cooly trying to get a rise out of the nervous blonde.

"Not any more....if you don't like sharing then tough" Spencer said back picking up the courage to actually look at Ashley who was closer than she first anticipated.

"I know that you get your own way at school and probably at home but when you're in my house you play by my rules....and what I say goes" Ashley explained calmly while grabbing her body cream leaning across Spencer to do so.

"We'll see about that.....as you said I always get what I want and I want this bathroom" Spencer retorted for no reason other than she felt the need to annoy Ashley again after trying to be nice all day. She didn't any paticular interest in the bathroom other than it was Ashley's.

"Ok Blondie you can have it....but we're sharing" Ashley replied after thinking for a while. As she left the room she blew Spencer a dramatic kiss for effect and shut the door firmly behind. Spencer immediately untensed and left the bathroom which was now filled with steam and headed straight back down the stairs.

Ashley Davies....

After torturing Spencer a little bit more in the bathroom Ashley couldn't help but smile knowing that there were so many ways she could annoy Spencer if they shared an en-suite bathroom. After drying off and throwing on some shorts with a tank top that was far too small for her Ashley headed down the stairs for what she imagined was going to be a painful dinner. As she entered her kitchen she grabbed herself some water and made her way to the patio where dinner was being served.

"Sorry I'm late but i went surfing after work" Ashley said as she sat down taking a seat opposite Spencer.

"How was the water?" Raife asked as he always tookan interest in Ashley's life no matter how insignificant it may seem.

"Pretty flat but it was worth the journey" Ashley replied remembering the photo she had taken as she left the beach.

"How so?" Paula joined in with the questioning which was strange because even though Kyla's Mother had been around almost all of Ashley's life she had paid no attention her.

"Nothing important Mrs Carlin....just saw something that I should never have seen and it made me smile"

"How very cryptic of you Ashley and please call me Paula. How as school girls'?"

"lame" Ashley and Spencer said in unison.

"So Spencer what did you think of the bedroom?" Raife asked trying to keep the conversation flowing.

"It's beautiful Raife....I especially love the bathroom and Ashley has already said she doesn't mind sharing" Spencer answered with a smile which she directed at Ashley in a rather smug fashion.

"That's very kind of you Ashley"

"I'm a giver....so Spencer did you sort stuff out with Aiden?"

"We spoke this morning....I think he's learnt his lesson you know. I think I might pop over and see him later"

"Why he's a jackass" Ashley said not meaning to be so blunt about her feelings towards the boy.

"Since when do you care?"

"I don't"

"Good let's keep it that way"

"I just thought you were grounded that's all plus the boy is a tool" Ashley added because she will take any chance to berate the jock.

"Ashley watch your mouth please. Spencer can date whoever she wishes to even if you don't agree" Raife interrupted once again trying to keep the peace.

"So Ashley are you seeing anybody special?"Paula asked trying to take the lime light off Spencer for a while.

"From what heard over the summer you were 'seeing' quite a few special people" Spencer answered her Mother's question instead wanting revenge for Ashley's dig at Aiden.

"Since when do you have such an interest in my love life?" Ashley snapped no longer pulling any punches.

"I don't think sleeping with girl's in dingy bathrooms is what you would class as a love life really Ashley"

"Compared to dating the guy that's fucking your supposed best friend as well as most of the cheerleading squad?" Ashley yelled back as she stood up and walked out. Spencer sat at the table completely shell shocked and embarrased because if any of the comments she made were true she would be destroyed.

"Ashley get back here" Raife demanded but Ashley was past the point of reasoning and was already half way up the stairs.

"I'm sorry Mom....I'm sorry Raife.....I'm going to go talk to her" Spencer announced after collecting her thoughts. She needed to know if Ashley was telling the truth. Storming up the stairs she found what she assumed was Ashley's room and went straight in without knocking.

"Wrong room again dumbass" Ashley snapped from her bed where she was lying.

"Shut up....tell me you're lying about Aiden?" Spencer begged which almost made Ashley feel sorry for her. She liked she was so desperate for Ashley to be lying that hearing anything other than a lie would break her into tiny pieces. Ashley didn't want to answer because despite how much she didn't like the unwanted girl in her room she couldn't be cause of that kind of pain, she had felt that pain before and it was the straw that broke the camels back in Ashley's case.

"Please Ashley.....tell me you just wanted to upset me....tell me you take it back. Tell me and you can keep the damn bathroom" Spencer was almost crying now which made Ashley realise what she had to do. She grabbed her phone from the side of her bed, opened it up to what she wanted and passed it to Spencer preparing herself for the worse. Spencer stared at the picture for a while and dropped the phone, sitting back on the bed she fought back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Why would you do that?" Spencer asked in a barely audible tone.

"Because I'm a bad person.....I'm sorry...I only saw it today and I if it makes you feel any better at all I called him a name for you and a little bit for me" Ashley had no idea why but she wanted to comfort Spencer, it was probably because people like Spencer that crave popularity so much will quite happily pretend in order to save face.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because no matter how much we don't like each other I don't like seeing people being made fools of. Even if you treat people like that I still don't think you deserve it"

"I don't make people feel foolish"

"Really?What about in freshman year when I tried out to be cheerleader and you let me do my routine and then you outed me to everybody. You had just got with Aiden after we had broken up and he had told you everything I had ever said to him....you used that against me. What about Caleb?when you made him choose between you and me in the lunch room about 2 days after outing me. You have done mean things Spencer and guess Karma is kicking your ass but I thought you were better off finding out from me...."

"I.....I only did that you because I was scared....and you were....look forget this I need to go home...sorry for everything. The bathroom's yours...." Spencer left before Ashley could say anything else or before she could take in any of the part sentences that Spencer was trying to say.