Disclaimer: Ya know what's funny? People who think people who write fanfics own the things they're writing about.
It started out just like any other Thursday, with the exception of the loud machinery ripping up Ashley's back yard at 7:30 in the morning to put in a new septic system or something of that nature. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem, as by then she would have been not-so-happily on her way to school in Matt's Mustang. However, since their school let them have an extra hour of sleep on Thursday for teacher meetings, the teens had taken to coming in late, right after a quick trip to Starbucks. Ashley groaned and shoved her purple pillow over her head in a failed attempt to drown out the noise.
"All right, all right, I'm up, I'm up" she muttered angrily as she rolled out of bed. Before she could head into the bathroom to shower, the phone rang loudly as Ashley passed the desk. She sighed and picked it up, seeing that it was Ariel. "Uh huh."
"Nice to see you too," the voice on the other end replied cheerily.
"It's too early to be that awake. Whaddaya want?"
"That's nice. Well, ya see, I thought my mom was going to drive me in today, ya know, since my car's in the shop, and, well, apparently, she didn't. So..." Ashley sighed again.
"So you wanna know if you can hitch a ride with me and Matt. And don't bother correcting my grammar, it's too early and I don't care. Talk to me after I've had my coffee." She took a deep breath in and released it. "I'll call Matt."
"Thank you thank you thank you. Call me back?"
"Uh huh. Later." With that, Ashley clicked off the phone and slammed it back down in it's cradle before remembering that she had to call Matt. She sighed, picked up the phone again, and dialed her lover boy's number.
"Hullo?" A voice other than Matt's answered. Ashley recognized it as his older brother Mark, who had gotten engaged recently to some chick named Mariah whom Ashley had met her once when she was over at Matt's for the afternoon. She cursed herself for forgetting to dial Matt's private line. Oh well. That could be blamed on sleep deprivation.
"Hey, is Matt there?"
"Yeah, hang on. Is this Spaz?" Ashley groaned. Mark was the only one who used that name, one thing for which she was grateful. The nickname had come about one day when she and Matt had been making out on the porch when Mark walked out. She had spooked and jumped a foot in the air, to the extreme amusement of the brothers. Mark had taken full advantage of the funniness of the situation and deemed her "Spaz". Luckily, the name never caught on with anyone else, another thing for which Ashley was very grateful.
"Yeah...Hey Mark." Even through the phone Ashley could picture the amused grin on her boyfriend's brother's face.
"Hey. Well, I think the runt is still sleeping, so I suppose I could get him up if you really wanted."
"Dude, it's way too early to screw with my mind. So, please just go get Matt. He should be up already anyway."
"Hun, it's never too early for that. But, if you really want, I'm gettin' him."
"Mark-" One word, loaded with so many hidden threats that the secret service would have trouble finding them all. Mark seemed to sense this and hopped to it.
"Ok, Ok, I'm goin', I'm goin'" Ashley heard the door to Matt's room creak open and Mark stealthily sneak in, only to trip over a 20 pound dumbbell in the middle of the floor. She laughed, knowing his horrible sense of balance. Her suspicions were confirmed as a satisfying "thud!" came through the receiver, immediately followed by Mark swearing and Matt exclaiming "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!"
"Phone..." Mark handed off the object in question, still on the floor. Mark gave him a very strange look before picking it up.
"Yeah?"
"Hey," Ashley replied, still giggling insanely. "Your brother's an idiot." Matt rolled his eyes.
"Tell me about it. So, what's up?"
"Well, long story short, Ari needs a ride. Can you do?" There was a moment of silence as Matt pretended to weigh his options.
"I dunno, dude. We might be a little pressed for time." Ashley snorted in amusement. The only time the pair wasn't cutting it extremely close was when there wasn't any school to be late to. She decided to play along.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. This could mean we'd actually have to leave gasp! early!" Matt gasped in mock horror.
"No!"
"Yes! It might mean skipping our little trip to Starbucks." Matt nodded seriously.
"Yes, it very well might." They managed to maintain their composure for a moment more before bursting out laughing.
"That's funny," Ashley said between laughs. "To think that we'd skip Starbucks just to be on time."
"Tell me about it. That's only happened, well, never. That has never, ever happened."
"Exactly my point, exactly! Damn it, Mouse, get out of my head!" Ashley never missed the chance to quote from one of her many memorized movies, especially when the opportunity arose as perfectly as it just had. "So...Ari, ride, yes, no...?" Matt sighed exasperatedly.
"Yeah, always. You go call your other half and I'll pick you up in about 10 minutes, Ok babe?" Ashley closed her eyes, wanting desperately to go back to bed. The all-nighter she had pulled over the weekend was once again starting to catch up to her. "Hello? Ashley? You still with me?"
"Never. Always. Whatever. You know what I mean. It's early and I'm tired and I'm getting a headache and all I want is my coffee and to go back to bed."
"Aw...Well, if it makes you feel any better, Mark kept me up half the night last night-"
"Stop there. I don't want the graphic details. At all. Period."
"Got it. So, 10?"
"Yeah, I guess. Love you."
"Love you too. Later hun."
"Yeah huh." From there it was a simple matter to hang up the phone, turn it back on, and dial another number.
"Hello?"
"Yeah. 7 minutes. Be ready. Later." Ashley couldn't be bothered with full sentences so soon before a caffeine fix. Ari just stared at the phone, wondering what had just happened.
As usual, the second the last bell finished ringing, Ashley slipped into class, with Ariel. Their band director, Mr. Morgan, glared at the duo disapprovingly as they shoved their instruments together in near record time. In response, Ashley put on her best innocent face and held up her coffee. He rolled his eyes and went back to shifting through an seemingly endless stack of scores in attempt to find the correct one for that day's rehearsal. The girls exchanged satisfied glances before setting up their music. Ashley got by with that excuse on a very regular basis, since Mr. Morgan was a very big Starbucks fan and would typically overlook anyone who came in late with a cup of coffee from the place. The only time that didn't work as well as some people would like was when a concert was looming on the horizon, but that was typically considered to be a deadly time to approach him with anything, even if it was related to band.
The rest of the period passed without incident (well, with the exception of Mark Tokarz jumping up randomly in the middle and proclaiming he just figured out that he could play games on his iPod), as did the rest of the day. It was when they were on their way home that things started to get a bit more interesting.
Matt was driving Ashley home after a particularly strenuous jazz band rehearsal that had been painful both psychologically and physically as Ashley has figured out in record time. She inspected her middle finger, which was swelling beautifully and turning a spectacular shade of purplely blue. It had had a little run-in with the rim of the second rack tom, which Ashley blamed entirely on the positioning the last person who used the kit left it in. Matt was wise enough not to point out that the last person that had used it was her, during a last period study hall.
"Hun, do you want some ice for that or something, cuz we can stop and get some if you want." Ashley shook her head somewhat distractedly. She had moved on to poking the bruise with another finger to see how much it hurt when she impaled it.
"Ow...That was rather painful" she winced, having found out that poking an injury such as this was a very bad idea indeed. Matt looked over at her as the car slowed for a yellow light.
"You OK?"
"Yeah, fine. Damn it, Morgan's gonna kill me if I can't play tomorrow!" There was a concert in two and a half weeks and it would be only a matter of days before the band director started going totally anal on everyone.
"Get a note from someone. That might keep him from murdering you too badly."
"Yeah, but who-" The sentence was cut off in a screeching of tires and the sound of glass shattering. Everything went white, then black. Unconsciousness was inevitable.
Ooh, the plot thickens! Next chapter we actually get to the real plot of this story. I know, I know, you were just starting to think there wasn't one, weren't you? Don't bother denying it, I know you were.