Howdy! Here's Chapter Two! I've only written three chapters so far for this one…b/c of finals…which sucked by the way…but anywho enjoy!

Chapter Two

I tried to keep my eyes open as Mr. Delaney continued to lecture the class on the wonders of the time sheet. Having to hear about the many ways that a business could efficiently keep their employee's records was the equivalent of someone sticking a pencil in my ear and twisting…hard. It was painful.

"Now once the time sheets are completely filled out they are normally taken to the finance department to be processed…"

RING

Thank you! I have to get out of here…I stood up and headed out to my locker. I walked down the hallway and reached in my bag to find my cell phone to call to see how Ashley was holding up.

A hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into a vacant classroom and I was about to scream when I felt the familiar touch of my girlfriend cover my mouth.

"Shhh…" Ashley said pulling her hand back. "It's just me…"

I hit her on the arm and scowled. "You scared the shit out of me Ash…"

She can't help but laugh as I pout and I shake my head.

"Why are you here? And why did you drag me into an empty classroom?"

"Whoa Spence…enough with the Spanish Inquisition…"

"I am not torturing you so this is nothing compared to the Spanish Inquisition…if you had actually gone to history class you would know that…" I said still upset with her for scaring me.

"Hey I watched History of the World Part One…" She said shrugging.

"Ashley…why…"

"Ok…I found out some bad news…" She said lowering her head.

"What's the matter?" I asked now very concerned that something bad had happened.

"You know that little trust fund that I was supposed to get on my 18th birthday?" I nodded my head and she took a deep breath. "Well…my father put a clause on it that makes my graduating from high school a condition to get the money then."

"What?" I couldn't believe that Ashley's dad would do that when he never really cared about whether she got her diploma before. Obviously he had a change of heart before he died in that unexpected car crash.

"He told his lawyers that he wanted Kyla and me to graduate and get a good education…why did he have to care!" Ashley said pouting. "Now I'll have to wait till I'm 21 Spence…it's not fair…"

"Aww baby…what are you going to do?" I said stroking her cheek.

"I don't know what I can do Spence…"

I pulled her in for a tight hug and pulled back to kiss her softly. She smiled at me and I kissed her once more. "You should go talk to the principal about what you can do to graduate…"

She pleaded with her eyes never having to say a word I knew she didn't want to go anywhere near the administration's office. I laughed suddenly and she raised an eyebrow.

"You know for someone who has no problem ditching school or singing in front of random strangers you sure are having a hard time with having to go speak to the one person who could help you with this situation…"

"But he's the man…" Ashley said with a straight face making me laugh harder. "And you know how it is…Damn the man Spence…Damn the Man…Save the Empire…"

"We are definitely not watching Empire Records again this month…" I said shaking my head. "Ash…go talk to the principal…don't make me spank you…"

She flashed me a devilish smile and I realized my poor choice in words. "Oh…well in that case…" She sat down on one of the desks and blew me a kiss.

"That's not what I was going to say…get up…" I said pulling her to her feet. "Now…go…" I said pushing her out the door.

"Do I have to?" She said as I had to push her along because she refused to pick up her feet.

"Baby…if you don't go talk to him…umm…" I tried to think of what I could threaten her and a perfect idea popped into my head. "I will go out with Aiden on our 'special' night this week…I'm sure he would love to go get a burger or something…"

"Hey…that's our weekly love night…not fair…that hurts Spence…really hurts…" She said shaking her head. She stuck her tongue out at me and I shot her the finger.

"Go…" I said laughing at how silly we were acting. She made her way down the hallway and I could hear her feet scraping along the floor as she headed towards the principal's office. I let out a deep breath and headed towards my locker to get my books for my next class.

Dammit Spencer…I hate going to the principal's office. I walked into the room full of sad looking administrative workers and shivered at how cold the room felt. I walked up to the rather large looking woman behind the desk and cleared my throat to get her attention.

She raised her head and looked at me expectantly. I shifted from foot to foot hoping that her death stare would cease but it didn't.

"May I help you?" Her whiny voice asked me making me wince slightly.

"I need to see Principal Barnes."

"Is he expecting you?"

"Umm…no…but it's really important…" I said trying to sound as urgent as I could.

"Let me go see if he's available…what's your name?"

"Ashley Davies."

She looked up at me and frowned slightly and I knew she was thinking of my father's recent death. I ignored her look and took a seat in one of the off-colored metal slabs that they were trying to pass off as chairs.

"You can go right in…" The woman said a few moments later and motioned behind her towards an office in the back.

I made my way slowly over to the office and walked inside to see the middle-aged man with the funniest bald spot I had ever seen before sitting behind his desk writing on a piece of paper. He looked up at me and smiled catching me a bit off guard.

"Ms. Davies…I was surprised to hear that you were here…actually at school…quite a surprise indeed."

I took a seat in front of his desk and flashed him my signature Ashley Davies smile. "Well you know I can't resist a meeting with the greatest man here at school…" Oh god that was so pathetic…I can feel the bile rising.

"What can I do you for?" He asked leaning back in his chair.

"Well…as you may have noticed…I have missed a little bit of my classes this year…"

He let out a whistle and shook his head. He looked down at a file on his desk and looked back up at me. "More than just a little…"

"And well…my dad left me some money…for…college…and well I really know that I have been slacking in the whole school thing and would really like to find a way in order to graduate this year with my friends…" I said lying through my teeth about the reason I needed to graduate.

He laughed and shook his head. "Let me guess…your father left you money in his will but you can't touch a dime unless you get your high school diploma…am I in the ballpark?"

"Damn…sorry…you pretty much hit that one out of the park…are you some kind of FBI agent or something? I mean you don't have my house bugged do you? Because I swear some of the things you may hear there…"

"Umm…let's stop while you're not ahead…" He said cutting my ramble off. I nodded my head and closed my mouth tight.

"So…what are my options? Is there any way I can graduate?"

"Well…I guess we could arrange for you to test out of each of your classes…but that would require a tremendous amount of studying…could you handle that?"

Could I handle that? That's like an information overload and if I had to do that my mind would literally bust open. "Are there any other options?"

"Honestly not really…unless of course you can think up some kind of alternative that would encompass all your subjects and that your teachers would find acceptable to pass you…"

Think Ashley…put your brain to use. Nothing…great. "Umm…do you think I could maybe think about it?"

He nodded his head. "Sure…if you are serious about graduating really think it over."

I nodded my head and walked out of the office ignoring the inquisitive look from the annoying woman at the front. I headed down the hallway rushing to find my girlfriend.

I had my pencil in my mouth and was chewing on the end of the eraser when I felt Chelsea tap me on my shoulder. I looked over at her and she motioned towards the window. I glanced over and saw Ashley motioning for me to come outside.

I looked at the front at my teacher who was beginning to doze off in his chair. I looked back at the window and shook my head. She pleaded with her hands and eyes and I refused to leave again.

I returned my eyes back to my work and heard Chelsea laugh. I looked up and noticed Ashley putting her body up to the glass and planting kisses on the outside. I couldn't help but shake my head as she tried to tease me. I mouthed to her that I wasn't coming out and an idea appeared to have come to mind for her because she smiled widely.

She disappeared and came back standing up on something making her entire body visible now. She began to lift her shirt and her perfect abs were being revealed to everyone in the classroom. I heard some gasps and whistles and jumped up running to the front of the room.

"Mr. Allen…" I asked the half-asleep man. He woke up and looked at me with a sideways glance. "May I use the restroom?" He nodded his head and I ran out of the room. "You are crazy you know that?" I said to Ashley as she stepped down off the chair she had found.

"I needed to talk to you…and you were refusing so I had to think of a way to get you out here…" She said smiling.

"So I'm assuming this is about your meeting with the principal?" I said crossing my arms.

"Yeah…he gave me one option…one really horrible option…" She said pouting. "He said that I would have to take an exam for all my classes and pass them all in order to graduate…unless…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Unless? Unless what?"

"Unless I could come up with an alternative to the exams…something that my teachers would actually approve of…I was drawing a blank so I told him I would think about my options and get back to him…" She said looking down at her feet.

"So can this alternative be anything?" I asked having a few ideas coming to mind. She nodded her head and I smiled. I walked over to her and whispered my idea into her ear and she pulled back with a shocked look on her face.

"You think that would work?" She asked unsure.

"Hey it's an idea…you should go run it by him…if he doesn't like it we will come up with something else…now shoo…before I get in trouble…" I said kissing her lightly.

"That man is not even alive Spence…we could be making out in front of him and he wouldn't even notice…"

I laughed knowing she was right. "Well you still need to go talk to Principal Barnes….so go…"

"Fine fine…" She said throwing her hands up in defeat. She slowly made her way back to the principal's office and I went back inside the classroom and Chelsea gave me a curious glance. "My girlfriend is insane…" She nodded smiling and I returned back to my work with a huge smile on my face.

I re-entered the administration office and the same woman from before was the first to greet me.

"Oh…you're back." She said a bit surprised.

"I just enjoyed our conversation so much from earlier that I just had to come back as soon as I could..." I said my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Hmmph…" She said standing and walking back to Principal Barnes' office. She walked back out and nodded her head and I walked back to the balding man's office.

"Well that was certainly quick…" He said as I took the same seat from earlier. "So have you made a decision?"

"Not exactly…see…I came up with an idea for an alternative to the exams…" I said taking a deep breath unsure if this idea Spencer came up with was going to fly. "So I was thinking that I could over the summer travel the country…and visit at least three cities in each state and write a report about the history, artwork, how things are run, stuff along those lines…and then turn in the reports at the end of the trip….I know this is really unusual and I'm sure you hate the idea…"

I watched as he thought about what I had said and I waited for his response. "That's certainly an interesting project…I like it…" I smiled widely happy that this might actually work. "But…" I hate buts…well I like Spencer's butt…focus Ashley. "I would have to have a formal presentation for this project for you to present to your teachers and the school board…they will make the final decision…"

I nodded my head and let a deep sigh escape my lips. "When would I need to do this presentation?"

"Well let me talk to the board and your teachers and then I will let you know when we could meet…sound fair?"

"Yes…very fair…"

"Good…now…while we get all this settled…maybe you should stop by your classes and make a few appearances so that you aren't on teacher's bad side when this meeting happens…" He said giving me a knowing look.

"I think I can handle that…" I said standing up and extending my hand to the man that was going to save my life. "Thanks…you really are the coolest man working at this school…"

He let out a laugh and smiled as he shook my hand. "Well thanks…I think…"

I made my way out of the office with a skip in my step and even flashed the annoying woman a winning smile before heading to my locker to see if I even had a textbook here. I'm sure they were growing little things on them by now but at this moment I really didn't care. I knew that I needed to give Spencer the biggest kiss ever when I saw her next for her brilliant idea. Now if I only knew where my classes were…better yet…what classes am I even taking this year?