Ash gets out as soon as the bell rings, looking for Neela. She finds her already coming toward her with another woman. Ash waves, and leans beside the door as DK, Han, and his gang come out. Ash watches as DK wraps an arm around Neela's shoulder in a slightly possessive way. "Hey, hope the boys didn't give you too much trouble."
"Other than my refusal to give jerks a name, I'm fine," Ash says, glaring at Han as he stands next to the other woman. Neela smiles. "I have... Spanish next?" Ash blows a breath out. "Great, I have the English block and then a Spanish II block." Throwing the sheet back in her pocket, Neela is already leading the way to her next class. Ashlynn pulls her bag up a bit more, putting an earbud back in and pressing play.
Ash notices there are assigned seats in her Spanish class and shakes her head. She's on the second row next to a Brian O'Conner and in front of a Roman Pearce. She's close to a window, which isn't a good idea for her. She's always looking out of the window. Ash takes her seat, looking at the teacher's desk. "Mr. Braga," she mumbles to herself. "Nice to know."
Soon a group appears. In front of her, a girl sits next to a black guy with a huge afro. "That's not what I'm saying, Suki. I'm just saying that guys often drive better than girls. I mean, you're one of the few women who actually race whenever she gets an offer. How else did you meet Brian?"
"Because we had the same science class back in our Freshmen year," Brian answers, sitting down next to me. "And Roman kept hitting on her." A guy sits behind me, and I assume he's Roman. "How in the world did Braga let this happen? He hates us, especially when we're together."
"Correction, Brian," Roman puts in. "He hates you for letting his daughter blow you in class. I think it's the in class that bothers him. That and you didn't even pay her." Ash turns bright red again, burying her face in her arms. She so doesn't want to be here. "Shit, Bri, I think we made the new girl without a car a bit self conscious. What's wrong, girl?"
Ash says nothing, instead facing the classroom front as Braga comes in the class and begins teaching. It's a struggle for Ash to stay awake and pay attention when she has the sun right beside her. She gets another note on her desk. Sorry about Roman. He doesn't really think before he talks. Ash looks at Brian, mouthing 'thanks' as Braga turns around.
"Sempers, try not to gape at boys in class. That one, in specific, doesn't need his ego pumped anymore." Roman snorts behind her, and even Ash slightly smiles as Braga growls at Brian's smirk, muttering in Spanish under his breath before going back to his teaching. Ash feels the hour and a half pass slowly and painfully, unable to wait for when the bell rings.
Ash gets out of class and finds Han waiting instead of Neela. She rolls her eyes. "So, Ashlynn, what do you have next?" Ash looks at her last class for the semester. She blows out a breath. "Mmm. Physical Education. I have good news and bad news for you."
"Give me the bad news," Ash mumbles.
"It's a co-ed class and most girls wear their uniforms short enough for the guys to not need much imagination." Han seems a bit pleased, but not enough for Ash to think he finds P.E. to be purely an orgy fest. This makes her feel a little bit better, but not enough for her to like it for now.
"Dang it!" Ash slams open her locker, leaning against it. "What's the good news?"
"Twinkie, Sean, and I are in there." He grins again, but Ash doesn't feel the same way. She smiles anyway because Twink and Sean are there. She chooses not to ask how he knows she likes them. It might creep her out or it might just be Neela, which she doesn't mind too much if it is just Neela giving out information about her that isn't too embarrassing.
"Twink and Sean are good news. You? Not so much." Ash places the books inside and turns back to Han. "Lead the way, jerk. I'm ready to go home already." She follows him around, not really wanting to speak, but that just makes it awkward between them. "So... Han, right? What's your girl's name? I'm kind of jealous of how pretty she is."
"Jealousy isn't a pretty color."
"Oh, shut it. I'm just trying to compliment her without complimenting you." They go outside to reach the gym. Ash keeps her eyes straight, but she can already see some of the people who dress rather quickly. She makes a face at how...short and tight everything is. "God, please slap me if I ever dress like that," she says with her eyes to the sky in prayer. "Because my mother will kill me second."
"Sempers," Han says, like it reminds him of something. "Your name sounds familiar. Any chance we've met before?" Ash sighs, not really wanting to share any sort of way they might have met. Her mom lived in LA for years, even meeting her father there. Ash lived there for the first five years of her life, Brock for three, but the only way Han would know the name is through her father. And she isn't sharing about that mess.
"If we have, I think I'd remember you for being a jerk."
"I notice you don't cuss," he says. "Why is that?"
"Uhh... Really Catholic family," Ash says remembering somebody mentioning it. "I just don't like it anyway. It's vulgar, and the only vulgar things I like are in movies. Which is really just comedy movies, so it isn't a lot of vulgar. Or Marvel. I do enjoy Marvel movies." Han shakes his head with a bit of a laugh. "What's so funny?"
"You," he replies. "I don't think you understand how different you are from this school. I like it." Han leaves her there in front of the locker room, and Ash goes inside to see girls cutting their shorts and ordering tighter shirts than they really need. She goes up and grabs the size she needs since it was all preordered for their sake of having it the first day to customize.
Ash slips off her shirt and pulls on the gym shirt she got, an XL because of how violated she feels by looking at these girls. It's practically a dress on her, but she likes it like that. Besides, she can keep her shirt on if she wants or just feels lazy. The girls all scoff at her, and she exits to find Twinkie and Sean arguing with Owen Shaw and another girl.
She walks up, happy her hair is already in a tight ponytail as her phone goes off. She's learned the teachers here don't care what you do with your cell as long as you do the work and make the grade, preferably on your own. She pulls it out to see her boyfriend, Morgan, calling. He's a bit hesitant to do the whole long distance relationship, but they've got the money to go back and forth on weekends easily. She's actually going to visit, leaving Friday and coming back Sunday.
"Hey. Are you out of school yet?" he asks, and Ash already knows why. Just because she isn't okay with actually having sex doesn't mean they don't roleplay online. She isn't a virgin on the internet.
"Nope. I'll call you when I am. Tonight at six?"
"Tonight at six." She hangs up, happy to know she's got a little date for the night. At her old school, people rarely dated because they liked the person. It was a popularity gain, see if you could get talked about. Everything done there was to get the attention. One of things Ash won't admit she hates. Ash walks up to Sean and Twinkie.
"She isn't some type of prize, Shaw," Sean says in his southern accent. "If Ash wants to race, then she'll race. If she doesn't, then she won't." None of them notice Ash, but the idea of her racing makes her stop and listen. She crosses her arms over her chest. "Ash isn't the type anyway. She's not like your little fanclub who can't be around you for more than five seconds without wanting some. Which you freely give."
"All of the winners give it," Owen says with a smirk on his face. "But she will eventually race. Whether it's tonight, next week, or next month. She will race." Owen finally sees her and his smirk grows. "It's in her blood to race." He walks away after that, and Twinkie and Sean turn around to see her. Sean is a bit red as he sees her.
"Hey, Ash." Twink wraps an arm around her shoulders, but she's a bit shocked at how Owen could possibly know about it. "Sorry about Shaw. He's a senior and thinks he's better than everybody. I hate him. You'd do better staying away from him." She nods with a smile. "You are so different from the other girls in this class. Sadly, we don't do much other than run and play kickball."
"Kickball?" Ash asks, hiding her surprise at Owen's comment.
Twinkie nods, face grave. "We have very intense games of kickball, my friend. In fact... We're playing kickball today." The last part is a groan, and everyone goes outside to the empty field. Ash lines up with someone between her and Twinkie, and Twinkie does the same with Sean. She sees Han out the corner of her eye, hands twitching.
They were wrong in how the teams were separated, and she ends up on the same team as Sean and Han. Ash growls as she goes to the kicking area, where the rest of her team is. He only grins at her, and she soon finds the girl with Neela earlier on their team. She'll keep Han from bugging Ash, right? "Hello, Ash," she says, and the brunette can hear a distinct Mexican accent. "My name is Gisele."
"Pleasure to meet you, Gisele," Ash says, shaking hands with her. "Nice to know there's somebody who can keep him out of my hair for a while." She turns to see Jesse not too far away and smiles. She waves at him, and he looks around as if she weren't going to wave at him. Then he waves back at her.
"You know Toretto's group?" Han asks, a bit curious.
"Nah. I sit next to him in first block. I can be a friendly person when I feel like it. Plus, he's kind of nice. And cute. Definitely falls into the cute department."
Gisele smiles at the way Ash talks, identifying her type immediately. "You're from a private school."
Ash blushes scarlet. "Uhm... Yeah, I was going to private school. But we don't have the money anymore." The last part is a lie, but Han seems a bit surprised. He nods, and Ash squeals as Sean lifts her off of her feet. "Sean Boswell!" She slaps his shoulder, already closer to him in one day than any of her friends, even her boyfriend, in all of her years of knowing them.
"Who's kicking first?" Han asks, looking at the front. As the usual kickball tradition goes, one team sucks while the other team is amazing. They happen to be on the crappy team. Ash sees a few people up to kick, and decides she wants to kick today. She starts going up for the line, but Sean grabs her arm.
"There's no way a skinny girl like you can kick the way it takes to play kickball here."
Ash looks down. "You think I'm skinny? That's sweet, honey, but I was one of the heaviest girls in my class. They were mostly anorexic or on serious diets, but I prefer food and sleep over water and running. I want to kick today, so I'm going to kick today." She tugs her arm back gently, taking her spot in line. The first guys to kick were good, and it's soon her turn after two home runs.
"Hey, Sean! You watchin'?"
"I'm watchin'!" Owen is the pitcher and rolls the ball. Ash kicks it over the field where no one catch it and takes off for first. She makes it to second before the ball is back, and Sean whistles. She takes a bow, waiting for the next kicker. "Bet I can do better!"
"Do it then, Boswell!" Ash calls back as she begins running for third, the next kicker terrible. She barely makes it, sliding a bit to get there. She stands up, wiping the dirt and grass off. Sean goes up, kicking the ball. Ash walks home, and Sean comes up beside her. "You did good, Sean. Don't let it go to your head." She steps on the cone they have set up, and goes back with Han and Gisele.
"Nice kicking," Gisele says, starting up a whole conversation between her and Ash. Ash gets a message from her boyfriend. He's a bit whiney now, and even moves up the time. "Impatient, isn't he?"
"Believe me, I'm near the break up stage. I just didn't want to have to deal with the girls. Most of them have new numbers again, so if I don't answer... I have an excuse." She grins at Gisele. "Can you tell the girls were not entirely likable?"
"You know, I have the feeling this is the start of a beautiful friendship, Ash," Gisele says with a small smile.