So guys this is the last update for a while. I'm thinking around a couple weeks until an update because school has been hectic lately :/

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. All disclaimers belong to Tom Lynch and The-N.

Chapter 11: An Impromptu Meeting

3 weeks later

Ashley's POV

I reach over my guitar to write the words and I butcher them in a singy tone. "Through the dark I toss and turn with you it's all I can do." I wait a while for something to pop into my head, "Cause I've got my…"

The door opens immediately, without a knock to forewarn me, to reveal Kyla with a small envelope in her hand.

Without putting thought into it, I shuffle all of the papers and shove them underneath my sheets. Kyla absolutely can not see my writing/ songs. It's like having a personal journal to me.

Kyla watches my manuevers with a quite confused face. I try to act natural with my guitar slanted in my lap and a fake smile. She speaks first, "What was all that about?"

I distract her attention, "Nothing." There's a long, drawn out pause and then I finally speak. "So what did ya come in here for?"

She walks a little closer to the bed as my heartbeat heightens. Please don't remove the covers. Please dear God don't touch them.

She gently tosses the white envelope onto the bed and says, "Your report card came dummy. What did ya think I came in here for?"

I decide not to answer her because I've been waiting for this damn thing for so long that I was going to go crazy if I didn't get it soon. I anxiously grab the thing from my bed and start ripping open the package. Particles fly all over my bed as I shuffle through the unimportant flyers they always hand out with the report cards. I finally find my report card at the end of the pile.

I quickly scan through the grades to get a general overview of my status, "95…95…98…95!"

I'm so happy that I might jump out of my own skin. Instead, I jump out of my bed, all giddy, jumping up and down. "I got all A's! Oh my God!"

Kyla says in an annoyed tone, "Dude, calm down already. It's just a report card."

I stop jumping up and down right there and then. I look at her with a serious face and no smile. I say, "I see how it is." I turn my back on her quickly to walk out of the room. I say with an evil smile on my face, "You remember that when you ask me to cover for you when you hang out with Glen on those really late nights."

She yells, "Oh shut up!"

I sneer as I continue to walk down the hall and the stairs. I run into the kitchen because I know Mom is gonna be in there. I walk into the kitchen to see Mom sorting through bills and whatnot. I say in a very ethusiastic tone, "Hey Mom, guess what?"

"What Ashley?" she says in a pleasant tone.

I hand over the report card and say, "Check this out."

She places her glasses back on her head and reads off the grades, "95…95…98…95." She waits a couple seconds to let it soak in. "That's amazing honey!"

My eyes are like quarters because of all the excitement. I say ecstatically, "I know!"

She asks, "Did you tell your dad?"

"No I just got it Ma, hold your horses, I say as she hands over the piece of mail. She seems more excited than I am, but I don't think that's humanly possible. I feel like I'm on top of the world right now and nothing can stop me. "I'm gonna go put it on my wall. Oh my God this is so exciting." I jump around a little and then begin to race upstairs.

Mom yells, "Oh, Ashley?"

I stop and yell back, "Yea?"

"Spencer called before, looking for you, but you weren't home."

I utter under my breath, "The house phone? She called the house phone?" I walk down the last few steps from the stairs and retrace my steps back into the kitchen. I ask Mom, "She called the house phone?"

She picks up her head from the bills, "Yea. It seemed important. Is everything alright?"

My phone must've died while I was out. Smooth Ashley, really smooth.

I say quietly, "I don't know. I hope so."

I run upstairs and start digging through my bag, trying to find my phone. It's not in its designated position of my bag. I flip over my bag and watch everything come crashing down. I lay everything out evenly to view everything…but my phone. Damn it!

I stand up from the floor and scream, "Mom!"

She yells back, worriedly, "What?!"

I ask worriedly, "Have you seen my phone?"

I hear her voice getting closer to the bottom of the stairs, "No. Where do you remember seeing it last?"

I say rudely, "Oh please Mom. Do I ever know where anything is?" but then quickly regret it by the look on her face as if I disrespected her. I stare at her grimace for a few seconds then say, "Sorry. I just really need my phone and I just…"

…Oh…my…God

…

Please don't tell me I left it there. Just…please

I bite my lip, looking down the hallway and then hesitantly back at Mom. I utter out, "I think I left it at the mall…"

Mom screams, making her eyes bug out, "What?!"

I probably shouldn't have said that. I should've just kept my mouth shut, told Kyla, and then we would've squirmed our way out of the house to look for my phone. No, that was definitely not the right choice. I must be mentally challenged because I let an answer slip out of my mouth, "I think I left it at the mall."

Mom waits only two seconds to respond, "You better hope its still there!"

I'm so screwed.

I run back down the hall to peak into my bedroom to find out Kyla left my room. I continue down the hall a little and peak my head into her room. I say, "Kyla, can you drive me back to the mall?"

She asks rudely, "What for?"

I say quickly, "I left my freakin phone somewhere in the mall."

She yells, "You what?!"

"You heard me. Let's just go before someone takes it."

She jumps out of her bed in an angry manner, grabbing her keys on her desk and says, "You realize that report card means absolutely nothing?"

She walks right past me, nudging me in the shoulder on the way. She begins to race down the stairs as I ask, "What are you talking about?"

I chase after her quickly. I step down the last step as she stops herself at the front door. She says before opening the door, "You may be book smart, but you have absolutely no common sense." She opens the door and walks right out.

Thanks, Kyla. I really appreciate the support from a loving sister. That really good feeling has officially left me.

I walk out of the house, closing the door behind me.

***

The first place we checked was the first place we went to in the beginning. We walked right up to each cashier and I asked, "Excuse me, has a phone been found within the past hour and a half?"

And each one would say, "No, I'm sorry."

After seven or eight stores, we had exhasuted all of them…except one.

We're on our way out of the mall and I suddenly realize we missed one store.

I say, "Wait."

I walk back a few steps and turn into the store to my left. I walk right in and notice there's a long line.

Great. That's just wonderful.

I trudge my feet to the back of the line and wait ever so impatiently as the line slowly shrinks. My eyes wander around the store, looking at the clothes, accessories and especially some people. Well, one person.

I hate to say it, but there's a girl, a couple people in front of me, who has caught my eye…more than once. But she's had her back turned to me the whole time I've been in this damn thing. And to make matters worse, her appearance screams, "Straight!"

She's about my height, with dirty blond hair…like Spencer's. She seems to be around my age too. And her face is pretty…not gonna lie.

Yet, no matter what, I can't keep my eyes off of her. I see her quickly turn around to, I'm guessing, stretch out from being in the same position for so long. I move my eyes quicker than anything so she doesn't catch on that I was…checking her out.

A few seconds later, out of the corner of my eye, I see her turn back and a shiny object catches my eye. It's not a ring, either. It's my cell phone…or at least one that is like mine.

What if it is mine? Do I go up and ask her?

The line moves up one person and I notice, if I make a move, it's going to have to be quick because she's the next person to be checked out.

I shake my leg in place and squirm a little, trying to get the courage to just walk up to her. The problem is, I'm going to choke and I'm never going to find out if that's my phone.

I peak my head over the kid in front of me to see there are only a few items of clothing to go for the person in front of her.

Just do it.

I walk right up to the girl and kindly ask, "Excuse me, can I see that phone really quick?"

She says in a sweet voice, "Yea, sure. It's not mine anyway. I just found it in the fitting room." She puts her hand out, allowing me to grab it.

Before I flip the phone open, I say," Really?!"

She nods her head.

I open the phone and immediately see: THREE MISSED CALLS

It must be something really important for Spencer to call me that many times. I exit out of the screen and start going through the contacts to make sure this is my phone. Two seconds later, I see the first contact is Aiden. Thank God.

I look at the girl with an ecstatic face and say, "Thank you so much. I don't know how to repay you."

She asks confusedly, "For what?"

"I was the idiot who left this in the fitting room about an hour ago. And if I didn't find this, my mom would have me by the neck."

She scrunches her face, "Oooh. I'm glad I found it, then."

My eyes widden, "Yes, I'm really glad you did, too. I owe you."

She says nicely, "Oh, no you don't. It was nothing. I should be repaying you back."

I'm the confused one now, "What?"

She explains while making a disappointed face, "I feel so bad. If I knew you were looking for your phone, which was the one in my hand, I would've given it to you sooner, instead of making you stand in line that whole time, worrying your brains out."

I try to encourage her, "Nah, that's silly. There was no way you could've known I was in line—"

The cashier says, "Excuse me miss," which cues her to move up and begin to check out.

I try to finish this nice conversation, "Well, I'll let you check out and thank you so much again for saving my life." I laugh nervously as I take a couple steps towards the exit.

She drops her things onto the counter and then says mysteriously, "Wait, I'm not letting you off that easily. You still owe me." I nervously wait for whatever is going to come out of her mouth. "Are you going to at least let me know your name?"

I laugh nervously and say, "My name's Ashley."

She smiles, "I'm Riley. It's nice to meet you Ashley."

I smile really wide, "Right back at ya."

She glances back at the guy swiping the items to make sure he's still doing his job. She makes another move, "Can I get your number, I mean since you've got your phone back and all?"

My heart sinks and then flutters back up to it's previous position. I'm getting butterflies in my stomach right now and they're swarming around vigorously. I'm still in a little bit of shock so I just utter out, "Yea that's cool."

She says, "Well, I'll give you mine first."

I open my phone and prepare to put a new contact in my phone.

"954…"

As I hear the numbers being projected towards me, I say to myself, "Maybe this whole losing my phone thing isn't so bad after all…"

***

I spend the whole car ride thinking about that girl, without realizing why I went to get my phone. Finally, it hits me right smack in the face. I was supposed to call Spencer back.

I step out of the car and check my missed calls: Aiden, Spencer, Mom. All of them are in chronological order. Why would Aiden call me, though?

I quickly dial Spencer's number and hear it ring a few times. Finally, I hear her voice at the other end, "Hello?" I walk through the open door.

I ask, anxiously waiting for an answer, "Spencer? Is there something wrong? Both you and Aiden called me. And you called my house…" I shut the door behind me.

Spencer speaks quietly, "Shannon broke up with Aiden."

I scream, "What?!"

Spencer says in a shocked tone, "I know! I can't believe it either. She told him she didn't love him anymore. I mean how can someone just suddenly stop having feelings for someone they obviously cared about a lot?"

I breathe out, "I don't know. I-I just can't believe she did that. They were so happy together." I walk into the kitchen, which is currently an unoccupied area.

Spencer agrees, "I know. I just feel so bad for Aiden, you know?"

I say quickly, "Oh my God. How is he doing?"

She sighs and hesitates her words, "Not good, Ash. He's really torn up. He's in tears right now."

My heart breaks hearing that. I let out, "Jeez," as I run my hand through my hair. "Where are you guys?"

She informs, "My house."

I glance at the clock over the stove and then say, "I'll be over in five minutes. I'll see what I can do to…cheer him up I guess."

She replies, "Alright, I'll see ya in a little bit."

"Bye."

This is not good at all. Aiden never cries. I've never seen one single tear fall from his eye in the 10+ years that I've known him. This is…scaring me right now...a lot.

I pivot and start pacing to the door. I quickly open and shut the door to begin my journey to Spencer's house...a few houses away.

It takes me less than a minute to reach her house, at my pace, and soon enough, I'm ringing her doorbell. A couple seconds later, Spencer opens the door, greeting me and allowing me to step in the house. The blast of warm feels good and cozy, considering the environment I'm going to be facing soon.

I strip my jacket from my body and lay it down near my shoes that I slip off as well. I ask in a whispery tone, "Where is he?"

She answers, "My room." She starts to walk towards the stairs.

I purposefully say something funny, "Spencer Carlin has a boy in her bedroom?!"

She says with a smile, "Shut up."

I had to say it. It's my way of "mentally preparing" for what I'm about to go through.

We walk up to the bedroom in a relatively small amount of time. Once we arrive at her room, I slowly enter first and say to Aiden, who has his head dipped down as he sits on her bed, "Hey Aiden." Spencer closes the door behind me, leaving me alone in the room with Aiden.

He says sullenly, "Hey Ash."

I walk over to the bed and plop a seat right next to him. I wrap my right arm over him and rub his arm like a caring friend. I ask, "What's going on, Aiden?"

He replies with an attitude, "You know what's going on."

I exaggerate, "Aiden..." I take in a deep breath. I plead, "No really, what's up? Tell me what's going through your head."

Aiden sits there, looking like he's contemplating whether or not he should spill his guts. I don't know why he thinks he shouldn't. He knows I've got his back. It's been that way for years and I'm not gonna let that change.

After a few moments, he says, "Shannon dumped me."

I bite my lip, holding back from responding. I'm not sure if Aiden knows I already know. Wait—he must because he was snappy with me a few seconds ago when I asked him what was going on. I answer quietly, "I know. I'm sorry to hear that."

He suddenly gets up from the bed and says angrily, "But it doesn't even matter anymore. It's over. She's moved onto another guy." He shies his face away from me.

I plead, "Is that why she broke up with you?"

He continues with an angry manner, "She didn't have to. I caught her sharing saliva with another guy."

I yell, "With who?!"

He says in a disgusted way, "Some tool from Union Hill. Jake said he's some "hotshot" on the football team."

I'm a little confused right now. When did Jake all of a sudden enter the picture? I utter, "Huh?"

He explains, "Jake, Sean and I went to the movies cause we had nothing better to do and we spotted the two right when we stepped in."

I ask, "Does she know that you know?"

Aiden says clearly, "Nope. We left as soon as we saw them."

I'm getting there...I only need a few more pieces to the puzzle and I might be able to help him. I clear my throat and then ask, "Then you went home or...?"

He's easing up a bit, which was my original goal in order to sort of distract him from his pain. He turns and looks at me, for once, and says, "I spent a while with the guys because I didn't want to go home after that. I wouldn't have been able to handle it. And of course the whole time, the guys were trying their best to cheer me up. They kept saying, 'You're too good enough for her,' and 'She's not worth your time.'." He stands there, pondering what he just said. "You know what she meant to me? Absolutely everything. I would've done anything for that girl, my god I would've married her if she told me to."

I interrupt, "Alright Aiden. That's taking it a little too far."

He cuts me off, "But it's the truth. I loved her so much and for her to just treat it likes its nothing is killing me right now."

I say calmly, "Aiden, I can't know what you're feeling right now. You're hurt, sad, shocked, and mad and many more on top of that, but you gotta realize that if she's gonna treat you like that, then she's not worth it. No—"

He becomes sharp quickly, "Ash, you have no absolutely no idea how I feel right now so don't even give me all that crap. I've heard enough of it."

He turns his body and opens the door violently.

I jump up from the bed and grab his arm and yell, "Aiden! This is hard for you, but that shouldn't mean you can be a bitch to me."

He fights back, "What do you want me to say, Ash? That I'm completely over her? That I can just walk away from this and go back to a normal life—without Shannon in it? Well I can't because she's still in my life, just in a different way now. I still have to break up with her and that's gonna be the hardest thing about this whole thing—saying goodbye."

I try to find some good, "It's not goodbye forever."

His voice cracks, "Yes it is. I can't let her back in again, even if it is as a friend. I can't go through this kind of pain again." I can see it in his face that it's getting harder for him to hold the tears back.

I say the only thing that comes to mind, "If that's what you need to do, then do it, but don't do anything that you'll regret later."

He sniffles and then sorta laughs. Aiden says, "I think its too late for that. I asked Shannon out over a year ago and now I regret it."

I try to get his mind ouf of the gutter. I say, "Don't be like that. You don't regret going out with Shannon, I know it. You still love her and you probably will always love her, but when the perfect girl comes around, Shannon will just become a pigment of your imagination."

He jokes, "Can that perfect girl come sometime soon?" He laughs and grabs a tissue to wipe his nose.

I speak honestly, "I hope she does come soon for you. You deserve her."

He bows his head slightly and kinda shakes it for a moment. He picks up his head and looks into my eyes. He says quietly, "Did I ever tell you what a great friend you are?"

I joke in a conceited way, "No. I already know what a good friend I am." I make a big grin on purpose, which causes him to chuckle.

He tosses the tissue into a pail filled with rolled up tissues. Jeez.

I change the topic and whisper, "Did Spencer say anything to you…about anything at all?"

He ponders a little and says, "No. Why?"

I answer, "I don't know. She just seems off lately, but I don't know what it is."

The tables have turned and Aiden's the one giving advice. He responds, "Then just ask her about it."

I scuff, "What are you kidding? I can't just ask her if something's up because if there isn't, then I'll feel bad."

"Then talk about important stuff, alone, and see if she brings up anything. I don't know what to say."

I think about it a little and then blurt out, "Eh. It's probably nothing or just that time of the month for her." I chuckle, but Aiden doesn't find it funny.

Aiden responds and he grabs the doorknob to walk out, "And that's my cue to leave the premises."

I play around with him as I grab the closest thing to me—a softcover book—and chuck it towards him. He scurries away quickly and shuts the door, causing the book to ricochet off the door instead of him, I like planned.

I shake my head as I have a smile on my face and walk over to the book that is open and lying, face-down on the floor. I pick up a book as I watch a piece of paper fall out. I toss the book on the bed and open the paper like the nosy person I am. I peak my eyes in and read off, "I know she likes me. I can feel it."

WHAT?! Someone's trying to go after my woman?! Well, she's not my woman, but I'll be damned if anyone even thinks of going after her…wait—Spencer's gay?!

What the hell is going on?!

I grab the book and fold the paper back up and stick it into the book. I toss the book back on the bed and walk out of the room in a very dazed and confused manner.

Is Spencer talking about me?

----------------------------------------------------------

The next day

New classes today! New classes today! I'm so excited! And first class is Biology. After that I have Art, Spanish and of course, math that is too hard for me to understand. Its gonna be a really fun semester…besides the math of course, but I'll get over it. Right now I gotta get to my class.

I turn the corner and enter into the Bio room where I see a bunch of people huddled up in front of the class, waiting for the teacher to assign the seats. Why must teachers assign us seats? Do they honestly think we're still five?

A few seconds after I step into the classroom, the bell rings. The teacher immediately calls out each name and points to where they are seated. He says loudly, "Spencer Carlin."

Yes! Alphabetical order, which means I might have a shot at sitting next to Spencer. I gotta ask her about that paper from yesterday. Maybe not. It's probably best to not say anything. She obviously doesn't want me to know because she would've told me by now, right?

"Ashley Davies?" The tall, dark-haired man with a little goatee going on, says my name and points to the seat directly next to Spencer's.

Jackpot. This is really going to be a great semester.

***

Halfway through the period

Mr. Pulem gave us a lab to do…on the first day of the class. That's usually not a good sign. And of course he's a brand new teacher and the newbies are always suck ups, which means the students are going to suffer from so much work.

But I figure if Spencer's in my class, no matter how much work we'll get, I'll have a decent time. She made Mrs. Stark's class the best one of the day, which was a big difference the previous year with her. I'd like to toss that whole year out of my memory.

I'm dazing out into space as Spencer works on the lab that I should be helping her with, but obviously I'm not. I can't keep concetrated.

All of a sudden, I feel this slight tingle on the top of my thigh. It feels magically.

I look over and Spencer's hand is on top of my thigh. My heart beat just jumped 20 beats per second.

I look up at her face and see that she's not scared—she knows she has her hand there. She starts to caress my leg, which is causing tingles and jingles in places that it shouldn't be happening in. I give her sort of a death stare and ask, "Spencer, what are you doing?"

She ask with a sneaky smile, "Doesn't that feel good?"

I breathe out, "Yea."

She slowly begins to move up my leg while she watches my reaction closely. Does she realize what she's doing to me?!

I jump out of my seat and back away with a very scared look on my face. I probably look like someone just hit me with a truck.

She asks, "What's wrong?"

I ignore her and run up to the teacher's desk. I ask quickly, "May I use the bathroom?"

He nods his head and says, "Take the pass."

I grab the pass on my way out of the classroom, panting furiously.

I race down the hall saying to myself, "It's me. It has to be me from that piece of paper." I make a left into the bathroom and stand directly in front of the mirror. I say, "Where's a cold shower when you need one?"