Chapter Four: Moping and Plotting
"You're coming to my house tonight, right?" Nick wondered, noticing that Ashley looked more ... put together than usual.
"I don't think I should. I had fun, but I'm not a party girl." Ashley's memory flipped back to when she'd stupidly taken E and made out with Sean. "Me and party drugs don't clique."
"Then come to dance and chill out. You work way too hard." Marco chimed in.
"You're going?"
"Everyone's going."
"In that case ..." Ashley pretended to think about it." I'm not going. I don't want to see Craig and Manny ... at all."
"You won't. They won't be there." Nick offered.
"Yeah, it's their anniversary." Marco added. Ashley rolled her eyes, trying not to throw up. What a joke. An anniversary for a slut and a fake asshole.
"I don't think so ... I just need to be alone."
"Cool." Nick walked off as Marco looked at him, confused. Nick didn't seem to care what Ashley was doing, which was odd.
"Whatever." She briskly walked off in the opposite direction, taking a shower before 7th period rolled around again.
"So, what does this study with placebos show?" Ms. Okawno wondered, as Ashley struggled to pay attention. Psychology just wasn't her thing anymore. At one time, she thought that she wanted to help people sort out their problems, but now she couldn't even fix her own. It was a mess.
"It shows the power of suggestion." Liberty answered, still being the complete know-it-all that she was known for.
"Exactly. And what does the power of suggestion state. Ashley?"
"Umm ... It states that ..." She stopped. Who was she kidding. "I have no idea."
"Marco? And I suggest you listen Ms. Kerwin." Ashley looked away, embarrassed. School used to be the one thing that she could count on ... school and music. Now, it was all going away.
"It's like when someone tells themselves that they can do something or not do something ... it shows the power of the mental psyche. When you believe one thing, it's more likely to happen. Just like optimism and pessimism."
Ashley tuned in for the last part. The power of suggestion ... Maybe it could turn her life upside down ... completely ...
"I don't know if I should go or not." Ashley admitted to Marco who seemed to be one of her only friends this year.
"You know what I think."
"Yeah, but I'm gonna feel so out of place. Everyone expects me to be at home moping and plotting a way to kill myself." She sighed.
"Is that what you want?"
"To die? Of course not. I just want to get away from it all."
"Seeing that you have one more year until you graduate ... that's impossible, but you can try to have fun."
"Yeah. Sure. Hold on a sec." She clicked over to the other line, realizing that she had a beep. Maybe it was someone telling her what she needed to do.
(A/N: I'll put up the second part of this chapter later, and don't worry ... it gets better. NL If you want more, review, and if you don't tell me you don't and why.)