"Ashley!"

I stopped my best friend as she was about to turn a corner at King High. She could sense the franticness in my voice.

"What's wrong, Spence?" Pulling her aside, I tell her everything that went down since I saw her yesterday...

"In two days, Ashley! He downed two bottles in two days! I'm sure he feels like dying right now, but what about me? I can't lose all my family, c'mon!" I started with loneliness & confusion and ended with anger & frustration. To hide my emerging tears from my toughest friend, I turn to face the wall, head in my hands.

"Spence, everything will be okay. Give your dad some time, he'll come around and be there for you. This is so unlike him. He's always been a good dad for you, give him some time." With her hands caressing my shoulders to comfort me, I felt better. She's right; I need to give him some time.

God, I hate it when she's right.

And so, I headed to first class which Ashley and I share. After the philosophy lesson starts, I pull out my textbook and attempt to follow along. Ashley instinctively moves her desk closer. Mr. Arsenburg frowns on students who do that. "It marks up the floor and makes a terrible racket," he always says. Well, what can I say? Ash has always been a rule breaker and isn't easily deterred by being threatened with detention. Besides, she was only trying to follow along, right?

Ashley leaned in close to me, "Party at my house, Saturday night. Mom's in the Costa for a few days with her new man."

She leans back, to keep her whispering on the down low, before her body is moving back towards me. The guys go crazy for the arch in her back. They like a flexible girl.

"What do you say? It'll take your mind off your dad for a night." She looked up at me with those big blue eyes. I could resist if I wanted to, I really could. But I wouldn't do that to Ash. What she probably meant was Ben&Jerry's and a good movie. Just us two girls.

Smiling, I nod, then point to the front.

"Are you finished, Ms Davies?" She slinked back into her chair, sending one last smile my way. Good thing for Ashley that Mr Arsenburg always gives a warning before detention.

"So, who's all coming to this party of yours?" Catching up after class, we head to our lockers which are beside each other's .

"Oh, you know... You..." Did Ashley just blush? She turned away quickly to hide that fact.

I pretend I didn't notice. "Just me? Will we invite Ben&Jerry? Or, is it Häagen-Dazs' turn?"

The playful wink I sent was caught and returned. We laugh it off and head our separate ways. It was time for Ashley's lunch, unfortunately different than mine, and my turn for English class.

My teacher is Ms Jeste, queen of grammar. I figure if I can write a simple sentence, I should be able to survive in the real world. Doodling is my second favourite thing to do during class, besides being loud and disruptive with the help of Ashley.

Once class ends, I bolt out of the room to my locker. Ashley has been trained, you could say, to wait for me there. She just knows that so many new and exciting things happen during Ms J's English class that I can't wait to tell her! Yah...as if. Actually, I just wanted to show her my most impressive doodle to date.

"Oh, Spencer! You have clearly outdone yourself this time!" She can't help but laugh at the silly drawing of a caricature of Ms J, enlarged head and all, on the body of an old man re-enacting the opening scene of Baywatch.

"I don't know what came over my imagination today!" Ashley's laugh was contagious. So was her smile.

Her smile is known to brighten up my days.