Disclaimer: Not mine
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: That was pretty much the idea behind it, to make Andros be nice to Ashley. I was going to have something happen to Andros, but then I remembered that Ashley was still mad at him. So that happens later.
Jenny: I'm glad you liked that line. : )
GreenDayfan1: Andros never really hated Ashley, and he didn't mean to tell her that he did. He always liked her, deep down, but he was too afraid to admit it to himself. Whoa, that's deep . . .
Juzblue: I couldn't kill Jeff. That would be mean. : ) Now, onto all the horrible things that I do to the rest of them . . .
Chapter 7
"Can I talk to you?"
Andros looked up from his breakfast, and sighed. Ashley had said almost the exact same words to him yesterday morning, and he remembered guiltily how that had ended.
"Fine," he agreed.
"In the hall?" Ashley asked softly, nodding to the other rangers, who were doing their best to not stare at them outright.
Andros shrugged and followed her into the hall, staring at the floor. He didn't want to look her in the eye, afraid of what he might see.
"What do you want?" he muttered, focusing on the ground.
"I . . . " Ashley shifted uncomfortably, unable to look at him either, "I just wanted to say . . . that last night . . . you . . . I . . . "
She trailed off.
"Oh," Andros said, unsure of how to respond, or if he should say anything at all. "I, um . . . How are you?"
"I feel better today," Ashley said. "But thanks . . . You were really sweet last night."
Andros didn't say anything.
"Andros?" Ashley asked softly. Something in her voice made him look up at her. "You can be so nice when you want to be. Why won't you let us be your friends?"
Andros stiffened, and he gazed blankly at her for several seconds. It took Ashley awhile to realize that he wasn't seeing her. He was seeing something else, something that had happened long ago.
"I can't have friends," Andros said in an oddly robotic tone, as if he were reapeating something he'd said over and over . . . or been told.
"Andros?" Ashley asked, growing alarmed at the coldness of his eyes. "Are you okay?"
Andros stared at her, and for an instant, Ashley thought he looked scared.
"I'm fine," he snapped a moment later, turning around and heading down the hall.
"Don't follow me!" he added as an afterthought.
Ashley stared at him, wondering what had happened that had made him so cold.
