Ashley’s Point of View

I found myself in English class again, Jake sitting silently next to me, as always. I had been here for three weeks. Nothing really changed much during this time. Andy was still annoying the living shit out of me, coming to my flat every other evening to watch some movie and eat some pizza with me. We never really talked and I didn’t plan on changing that. It was too much for me already that he came over. I never told him no however. I just couldn’t. This guy fascinated me but at the same time I wanted to get rid of him. He made me feel lonely when he wasn’t there. I knew I couldn’t stand this any longer, but I had made my decision. I didn’t need friends, so I wouldn’t make friends.
The only thing that changed slightly was the bullying. Even though I was ignored the first week, it increased. I got called names and people would shove me every now and then. I predicted this and I dealt with it in complete silence, just ignoring the world around me. I just hoped it wouldn’t get much worse, but who was I kidding? Of course it would get worse. I sighed and looked to my side. Jake seemed to be just as bored as I was. English was the only class where I could really relax. The teacher was always rambling about some uninteresting topic and Jake just kept quiet. In my other classes there was always at least one of the others. Jinxx was also quiet and talked to me as little as possible, but Andy and CC never seemed to shut up. They were still not giving up. I thought that was probably just CC’s nature. He would try to make everyone around him a happy shining person. But when it came to Andy, I was convinced that he wanted something more. He always seemed to stare at me, practically eye-raping me. In all honesty: It scared me.
The rest of the day went by in a blur. I was just celebrating in my mind that I made it through the day without someone shoving me, when my body flew sideward into some random locker. I groaned and held my right shoulder, looking up to see Pete and Collin, the two main bullies, standing in the middle of the hallway, grinning like the idiots they were. Shit. I was in serious trouble. The teachers were already at the teacher’s room, not that they would help me anyway, the office was too far away and other students just stood by and watched the whole scene. An eerie silence filled the corridor. I swallowed and looked at the two jocks as they made their way to where I was standing, still holding on to my throbbing shoulder.
“Look who we’ve got here!” Collin shouted as his grin got even wider. “The emo fag. Did I hurt you?” Pete laughed and I heard a few chuckles here and there from the crowd that had gathered around us.
“You didn’t think we let you go like this, did you?” Pete asked, cruelty showing in his cold eyes. I didn’t reply, I knew it was no use. They would beat me up anyway.
“Well, as you’re not going to speak anyway…” he trailed off. Next thing I saw was his fist flying directly into my face. I tried to duck but I was to slow and he hit me right at the side of my head and made me crouch down in pain. Collin’s foot collided with my stomach, then my rips. The pain didn’t let me think anymore, I was just lying on the floor, curled up in a ball and tried to ignore the beating. They kicked my face, my chest, my rips, my stomach. I choked on the pain I was feeling, letting the tears spill from my eyes. I didn’t know how long the beating was going to last.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” an angry voice yelled. I recognized it as Jinxx’s. What I was doing? I was trying to ignore the pain, trying to take the beating without dying. That was what I was doing. Was he blind?
The kicks stopped but the pain remained. What was going on? I didn’t dare to look up and kept my eyes shut tightly. I just wanted them to go away and leave me here.
“Well, kicking the living shit out of faggot boy here” Collin said matter-of-factly.
“Wanna join in?” Pete sneered and they started laughing.
“Get the fuck away from him or the next thing you see will be stars you asshole” another voice I didn’t recognize growled lowly.
What the fuck was going on? Someone was defending me? That couldn’t be happening. I just wanted to wake up from this nightmare.
“This won’t be the last you see of us” Pete growled. I heard people walking away but I didn’t move. The pain wouldn’t let me.
“Hey mate, you ok?” the voice from before said, touching my shoulder lightly. I flinched and squeezed my eyes shut. Why couldn’t they just leave?
“Ashley, it’s ok. It’s Jinxx and Jake. We wanna help you.” Jinxx’s voice said. That explained why I didn’t recognize the voice. I had never really heard Jake talk before. I slowly opened my eyes, terror and agony clearly visible. Jake kneeled down in front of me, looking at me with sad eyes.
“Can you stand up?” he asked softly, the anger from before was completely vanished. I shook my head and more tears escaped my eyes. Pathetic.
“Can you sit?” Jinxx asked. I shrugged. Jake moved to help me, bringing me somewhat in a sitting position. I whimpered silently, shutting my eyes again as pain shot through my whole torso.


Andrew Biersack’s Point of View

“What takes them so long?” I whined as I waited with CC outside of the school building. Jake and Jinxx should be here by now; everybody else has gone home already.
“Maybe they got into trouble and need to talk to the headmaster!” CC exclaimed, totally excited about his idea.
“Nah, they never get into trouble. That’s Jinxx and Jake we’re talking about.” I shook my head. “Let’s go inside and see if we can find them.” CC nodded and we walked into the building again. I hoped they had a good reason to not come out immediately. As we walked down the hallway three figures came into view. One was sitting against the lockers, holding his stomach, another one kneeled in front of him and the third one just stood there, looking down on them. Ashley, Jake and Jinxx. I wondered what had happened.
“Hey guys!” CC shouted and I rolled my eyes. That was just typically him. Three heads turned into our direction and I saw the relief in Ashley’s eyes. His face was covered in bruises and blood and I would bet that his torso wasn’t any better. I got worried and asked myself what had happened here.
Jinxx gave us a sign to stop in some distance and after saying something to Ashley and Jake, came over to us.
“What happened here?” I asked immediately, looking past Jinxx to Ashley. Jake was talking to him quietly but he kept shaking his head.
“Ashley got beaten up by Pete and Collin.” Jinxx explained.
“Those assholes” I growled. I started to walk, I just wanted to comfort Ashley and tell him that everything would turn out fine, but Jinxx stopped me.
“Jake will take him home.”
“I can do that! He lives directly opposite of me!” I said and gave Jinxx a look that told him not to argue with me. He shook his head.
“He doesn’t need a hyperactive Andy that wants to fuck his brains out at the moment. He seems fine with Jake; I guess they just get along because they both don’t really talk much. I bet Jake is the only one of us that doesn’t annoy him.”
I sighed. Jinxx was right about Jake and Ashley, but his assumption that I just wanted to fuck him was wrong, even though I kept telling myself that. I knew that I cared for him and at the moment I actually just wanted him to feel better. But I couldn’t tell the guys that I actually cared. I just nodded and turned around to leave the building.
“Rehearsal at yours, CC?” I shouted back over my shoulder and saw CC and Jinxx following me.


Ashley Purdy’s Point of View

“I’ll talk to them.” Jinxx said and left, walking over to Andy and CC.
“Come on, I’ll take you home” Jake said and moved to get up. I shook my head.
“I can go home alone.” I didn’t want Jake’s company and he probably knew it. He just wanted to make sure that nothing happened on the way.
“No arguing, I’ll take you. I have a car, so we’ll be there in no time and you don’t have to walk. That makes it less painful.” He explained. I kept silent. “Ashley, I know you don’t want my company and I can understand that, but you are in so much pain. Please let me help you.” Jake was pleading by now, so I just nodded my head, much to my own dislike. I knew he only wanted to help and hell, I needed help. I couldn’t even breathe properly.
“Let’s get you on your feet.” He said and stood up, offering me his hand as support. I took it and let him pull me on my feet. I swayed a bit and for a short moment I couldn’t see anything but after a few seconds I was better. Jake supported me and together we went to my locker, to put unnecessary books in there, before leaving the building and walking to Jake’s car.
He helped me unto the passenger seat and then climbed into the car.
“So, where do you live?” he asked and looked at me sympathetically. I laughed silently, earning a strange look from Jake.
“Opposite to Andy.” I answered. Jake had to laugh too.
“Ok, I know where that might be” he said, winking at me.
“Well, I could of course always give you directions if you can’t recall that place entirely” I joked and made him laugh more. He was actually fun to be around, even in my current situation. I shouldn’t get too close to him, though. I still didn’t want any friends. It didn’t mean we were friends because he drove me home after defending me when I was beaten up, right? Right.
He stopped in front of my apartment complex and looked at me.
“Erm… you want to come in?” I asked. I didn’t want be an asshole and just say thanks and let him drive off. So I was nice and would even offer him some coffee. I could be nice if I wanted to.
“Sure, if I don’t bother you.” Jake said and killed the engine. We got out of the car and made our way to my flat. I opened my front door and told Jake to just feel at home, while I made some coffee for us. With two steaming mugs of the hot liquid in my hands I made my way over to the sofa where Jake sat. I handed him a mug and took a sip of my coffee. It was silent for a few moments, only the traffic outside could be heard.
“So…” Jake said and looked into my eyes. I raised an eyebrow at him and wondered where this was going. “Ashley, I know you really don’t want anything to do with us, but I also know that you need someone to talk to. I’ve noticed you zone out a lot in English class; I know it’s boring like hell, but I bet there is another reason. You don’t want to get close to people, you live alone, you barely talk to anyone.”
I just kept quiet. I knew where this was going. Andy sort of tried to talk about the same things with me, the first night he came over and we watched Batman. I sighed, shaking my head.
“I know we’re persistent little fuckers” Jake chuckled and I grinned a bit. I couldn’t help but like him. He was quite talkative at the moment even though normally he seemed to be as quiet as me. “I have an idea that you’re life isn’t easy. I’ve been like you until I met the guys and CC and Andy annoyed me to no end but I’m a happier person now. I think you can be happy too, if you would just accept that thought.” He looked at me with pleading eyes, hoping I would talk to him. I sighed. I knew that he was right and that I just couldn’t keep all my problems to myself. But I was scared. I was scared that he would tell everyone and that even more people would make fun of me. A tear rolled down my cheek. I knew I had trust issues and I knew that I didn’t want to solve them.
Jake’s hand reached to wipe my tear away. I looked at him and let it happen. He looked so worried. I swallowed and nodded.
“You’re right” I whispered. “I need someone to talk to. Please promise me that you won’t tell anyone anything I’m about to tell you.” I stared into his eyes. He nodded.
“I promise I won’t tell” he said and I saw the honesty in his face.
I just hope this wasn’t a mistake.

Notes

I know this took me forever, but writer's block is a bitch. Next chapter will follow as soon as possible, I'll start it right now. You might have noticed, that it's getting serious here. And in the next chapter we're gonna find out what exactly is wrong with Ash, isn't that exciting? ^.^ Ok, it's rather sad, I admit. ANYWAYS! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave me a comment maybe =) And if you haven't done it already, I would be super happy if you'd subscribe! That would be AMAZING! :)

xoxo Rebellious Redamancy