Andy’s Point of View

“The ambulance is on its way.” The guy said walking back to Ashley and I while sliding his phone into his suit’s pocket. I nodded, unable to speak. I wanted to thank him for staying and helping us even though he was probably going to be late for work because of it, but the words got stuck in my throat. Ashley was still lying unconscious with his head in my lap, and I was grasping his hand like my life depended on it, silently pleading for him to wake up and be okay.

“What happened?” The guy asked quietly, kneeling beside me. I stayed silent for a moment. I really didn’t want to tell him since he was a stranger and I have major trust issues, but I decided he deserved to know since he seemed to be legitimately concerned.

“We get bullied a lot by almost everyone at school. The ones who don’t bully us just tend to pretend we don’t exist. It’s not so bad because most of the bullying is just name-calling or whatever, and we can handle that. In fact, most of the time we just think it’s funny because of how pathetic it is…” I trailed off, realising that I was rambling on, and the guy probably didn’t want to hear my life’s story. I cleared my throat and continued, still not looking away from Ashley’s face. “Point is, most of it is just name-calling, but there is a certain group of people who take the bullying too far.”

“You mean they physically bully you and your friend?” The guy asked when I didn’t continue.

“Me and my friends.” I corrected him quietly. I saw the guy nod slowly out of the corner of my eye.

“So, is that what happened to your friend then?”

I nodded after a moment’s hesitation. “My friends and I went to the office to report the guy who actually is the one who beats us. We managed to get him suspended for a week. I thought that it was going to be okay after that because when his suspension ended he just stuck to verbally bullying us. I guess I was wrong though. This is all my fault.” My voice cracked at the end, a new wave of tears escaping my eyes and running down my cheeks.

“Why is that?” The guy asked softly.

I paused for a moment to try and regain my composer. “Because I was the one who went to the office and told on Justin. If I had just left it alone and kept my fucking mouth shut, Ashley wouldn’t have gotten targeted by Justin to try and hurt me.”

“Why would this Justin go after Ashley to try and hurt you? Is he your brother or something?”

I shook my head, glancing up at him. “I just really care about him and Justin knows that.”

Thankfully, the guy just nodded, not pressuring me to elaborate. We remained silent for a moment, staring down at Ashley. I didn’t like the silence, it was awkward and made me feel uncomfortable, but I was too shy and too scared to break it. Thankfully though, I didn’t have to. The guy cleared his throat, sensing my awkwardness.

“My name is Daniel by the way.”

“Andy.” I replied quietly. “Uh, thanks for staying with us and helping. You’re probably going to be late.”

Daniel let out a small chuckle. “It’s no problem. I couldn’t just leave you and Ashley here, especially with Ashley in this condition. What kind of person would I be if I just left two kids like this? What person could?”

“You’d be surprised.” I muttered darkly.

“Actually, I’m quite surprised that no one noticed this while it was happening. This couldn’t have been quiet.” Daniel said after a moment.

I let out a small snort. “No one seems to notice when this happens. Not the teachers, not other adults… Or they do and just don’t give a shit.”

Daniel started to respond when I heard a soft moan coming from Ashley.

“Ashley?” I whispered. Ashley moved his head a bit before he opened his eyes. He was only able to open them part way because of the swelling, but I felt my heart leap into my chest when his brown eyes landed on me.

“Andy?” He mumbled.

“Yeah, I’m here.” I whispered, pushing his hair out of his face. I heard sirens coming from a distance before I could say anything else.

“They’re almost here.” Daniel said to me before turning to Ashley. “You’re going to be okay.”

Ashley turned his head slightly towards Daniel, a look of surprise and fear on his bloody and swollen face. “Who are ‘they’?” He asked, his voice shaking slightly. “And who are you?”

“His name is Daniel. He called the ambulance after Justin and his friends left when you were unconscious. Then he stayed to make sure we were okay.”

“Ambulance?” Ashley weakly cried, trying to sit up. “No, no. I can’t go to the hospital.”

“You need to Ashley. You could have a concussion or something, if not worse.” I replied as calmly as I could, gently pushing on his shoulders so he couldn’t sit up.

“I’m fine. I can’t go to the hospital. Andy, please don’t make me go,” He begged me quietly. He looked so scared and vulnerable and I felt my heart rip into two.

“Why don’t you want to go Ash?”

“I’m underage. They’ll call my parents and they’ll flip. They’ll go to Mr Wallace and try and get Justin expelled. They might even go to the police. They’ll blow everything out of proportion.” He whispered, tears leaking out of his eyes.

“That’s good then! Justin should be expelled and the police should be involved.” I replied softly, confused to why he was freaking out so bad.

“No Andy, you don’t understand.”

“You’re right, I don’t understand.” I said, starting to get a little bit frustrated. He needed to go to the hospital and see if he was okay. Why couldn’t he just understand that?

Ashley sighed and closed his eyes. “Dad was offered a job in London. I begged for him not to take it so I could stay here. Since I’m doing so well in school and everything and I actually had really good friends that my parents approved of, my dad listened to me and turned down the job offer even though it would have brought in more money. Dad’s boss understood and said that the job would still be his if he changed his mind within two months.”

“What does this have to do with Justin, or anything really?” I asked him, my eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

Ashley opened his eyes and looked at me, his eyes glassy and red from unshed tears. “Don’t you see Andy? They wont just make me move schools. What good would that do, especially since Justin could still do this outside of school? Dad would take the job offer and we’d move to London to protect me.”


Ashley’s point of view

Andy remained silent after I finished explaining what would happen if my parents found out.

“Th-They would make you move to London just because of this?” He stuttered. I just shrugged.

The ambulance arrived before Andy or I could say anything else. Daniel got up silently to go talk to the paramedics and I looked up at Andy.

“Andy, please don’t make me go. My parents can’t find out about this. They just can’t.” I whispered, tears filling my eyes again. Honestly, I really wanted to go to the hospital. My head was pounding and there was a slight ringing in my ears. My chest ached with every breath, indicating that if my ribs weren’t actually broken, they were at least bruised to shit. I had a hell of a time breathing through my obviously broken noise, and in general I just felt like complete and utter rubbish. I just wanted go to the hospital to make sure that I was as okay as I could be after getting the living shit beaten out of me. If there was no way my parents would find out, I would have leaped very willingly into that ambulance.

Andy sighed heavily, looking away from me. “I’m so sorry Ashley, but you have to go.” I felt tears form in my eyes again, but before I could respond two paramedics were beside me with a stretcher.

“I don’t want to go.” I said bluntly to them. One of the younger paramedics gave me a small, sad smile.

“You have to go sir. You look like you’re in pretty rough shape.” He said, helping his partner lower the stretcher in order to lift me onto it. I shook my head quickly, instantly regretting it when my head began to swim and lights flashed in front of my eyes.

“I’m fine.” I muttered, closing my eyes as I began to feel sick.

“How old are you?” Asked the older one. His voice was rough and seemed unkind. However, when I opened my eyes to answer him, I saw genuine concern and kindness within his own dark green eyes.

“Eighteen,” I answered softly. I knew that I was lying, but if I was eighteen they couldn’t really take me to the hospital when I was awake and refusing it.

“Seventeen.” I heard someone say from beside me. I turned my head and saw Andy look away from me. “He’s barely seventeen.”

“Andy!” I weakly hissed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry Ashley. You really need to go.” He said, still not looking at me. I saw the older paramedic nod slightly and turn to the younger one.

“Help me lift him, Shawn.”

The younger one, Shawn I guess, put a neck brace on me before gently grabbing me. I felt the older one grab me as well and they lifted me up. I felt pain shoot through my entire body and I let out a loud moan, trying to hold back a scream. Tears filled my eyes and I closed them tight. The pain in my chest just intensified and before I could let out another moan, I felt myself begin to pass out and I was left in darkness.

I awoke to someone gently shaking me. I moaned quietly and opened my eyes.

“Good, you’re awake.” I heard someone say. The voice was soft and sweet, and it clearly belonged to a woman. Finally my eyes adjusted to the bright light and I was able to focus onto the face hovering above me. The nurse was a young, pretty woman with long black hair that framed her pale face perfectly. Her lips lifted into a smile. I moaned in response. Being awake brought back the feeling of pain, and I hurt everywhere. Why couldn’t she just let me sleep, where the pain couldn’t reach me?

“We need to wake you up every so often because of your concussion.” The nurse explained softly, as if reading my thoughts. I didn’t reply. I was feeling dizzy and sick, like I was going to be sick at any moment. I was scared that if I opened my mouth I’d puke all over myself.

“Your parents and your friends are here. I can tell them you’re too tired to talk right now if you-”
The nurse started, but I cut her off quickly.

“My parents?” I asked weakly, momentarily forgetting about feeling sick and dizzy. I felt panic build up in my chest, pushing its way into the fog of confusion that I was in, no doubt caused by the concussion. It was like something was choking me, making it hard to breathe. I tried breathing deeply to calm myself down but instead my breath just came to me in quick, laboured pants.

“Yes hun.” She said, giving me a large, reassuring smile. She obviously thought I was relieved they were here instead of shitting bricks.

“Your friend Andy called them.” She continued when I didn’t say anything. Of fucking course he did. The ass hole. Didn’t he care that this would mean I would be forced to move to London?

Of course he doesn’t, idiot. He has Jinxx now, why would he need you?

I shook the thought away quickly. “Do they know why I’m here?” I asked the nurse.

“I don’t know.” She replied honestly. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t, but you could always ask them yourself. However, like I said, I can always tell them you’re too tired to see them right now.”

I shook my head after a moment’s hesitation. “No. I’ll see them.” The nurse smiled and left the room. I sighed and sunk back into my pillow.

“Fuck. My. Life.” I muttered to myself, feeling my throat tighten as I tried to hold back tears. I was going to lie to my parents and say that I was hit by a car or fell down a flight of stairs or something, but Andy probably fucking told them about Justin. What a fucking ass hole.

“Ash?” I heard someone say from the doorway, pulling me away from my thoughts. I looked up and saw my mum standing there, tears in her red and puffy eyes.

“Hey mum.” I said softly, averting my gaze. In a moment, she was beside me, gripping my hand so hard it hurt. “Mum, you’re hurting me.”

Instantly, she loosened her death grip on my hand. “Sorry baby, I was just so worried. When
Andy called…” Her voice broke and fresh tears trickled down her cheeks.

I was about to reply when the young nurse walked back in, my dad following close behind. He gave me a small, worried smile, which I didn’t return. I was too worried.

“Mr and Mrs Purdy?” She asked. I rolled my eyes at her question. I mean, what a stupid fucking thing to ask. Like, duh.

Mum and Dad just nodded though. The nurse gave a small smile.

“Your son has his share of injuries,” She started. Instantly, mum tightened her hold on my hand again, making me wince. “However, they’re mostly pretty minor. The only thing we really have to worry about is his concussion and his one broken rib. Otherwise he’s just pretty bruised up.”

“How bad is his concussion?” Dad asked. The nurse turned to look at him and gave him a cheerful smile. Fuck, I just wanted to slap the smile off of her face. She was way too cheerful and it was pissing me right off.

“It’s not too serious, but we would like to keep him here for a few days just to monitor him and make sure he’s recovering okay.”

My father nodded and looked at me. “Uh, would we be able to have a moment alone…?” He asked, trailing off.

“Tracey.” The nurse said smiling, a-fucking-gain. “Just press the button there,” She continued, pointing to the red button beside my head. “If you need anything.” Tracey gave one last cheerful fucking smile and walked out of the room. Silence was the only thing that filled the room for a moment before I let out an awkward cough, which I instantly regretted doing because of my ribs.

“Ashley…” Dad started, but I cut him off.

“I don’t want to hear it Dad. Yes, I’m having some problems with Justin and my old ‘friends’ at school because I was dating Andy, but so what? It’s nothing I can’t handle. It’s no big deal, so don’t make it one.” It took so much effort for me to speak coherently without becoming confused because of the stupid fog the concussion caused, and when I was finished speaking I was basically panting because of the amount of energy it took me to speak.

“No big deal? Ashley, you’re in the fucking hospital with a broken rib and a concussion!” Dad basically yelled. I felt my mum flinch slightly, but she didn’t say anything.

“Dad! Just fucking stop!” I tried to yell right back at him. However, the yelling put too much strain on my throat and I just ended up doubling over in a violent and painful coughing fit.

Tears were running down my face and my chest was screaming in protest, but there was nothing I could do to ease the coughing. For five minutes my body put me through total agony. For five minutes Mum tried her best to comfort me; squeezing my hand, rubbing my back, and whispering comforting things in my ear. Dad, on the other hand, didn’t move or say anything. I looked up at him through my fringe for a moment when I was blessed with a short moment of peace from my coughing and saw him watching me with worry and pity in his eyes. Still, he didn’t say or do anything, not even when my body was yet again over come with coughing. He was obviously trying to make a point.

Finally, after five minutes of torture, my body released me from the complete agony and I lay back on the pillow. I was suddenly exhausted, feeling myself already drifting into a peaceful sleep. Dad’s quiet voice pulled me out of it though.

“See, Ash. You’re not fine.”

I didn’t reply. I had nothing to say because I knew it was true; I wasn’t fine at all. I hurt everywhere, I felt dizzy, confused, numb and tired. I was so fucking tired.

“I don’t want you to make this a big deal Daddy.” I murmured, my eyes still closed. Did I seriously just call him Daddy? I haven’t called him that since I was eight years old. I mentally shrugged though, too tired to give a fuck.

“But it is a big deal Ashley. Justin could have killed you.” Mum whispered from beside me.

I sighed slightly, too tired to put up a fight. “What are you going to do?” I asked quietly. There was a slight pause, but Dad spoke up.

“We’re going to go to the principal and talk to him about this. We’ll probably involve the police too.”

I let out an almost silent groan. “Don’t involve the police Dad. Please. I just want to forget this happened.”

“That bastard should be arrested and charged.” Dad said angrily, his voice starting to get loud again.

“I know Dad. He should be charged, but honestly I just want to get better and forget this whole thing happened with him. You can go to the principle and try and get him expelled, but please don’t go to the police. I’m fucking begging you.” The effort from speaking drained my energy completely and my confusion made it really hard to put together sentences so what I was saying made sense, but I had to try and convince them to leave the police out of this. Silence followed my speech and I was getting worried my pleading would get denied again.

Finally though, Dad just sighed. “We’ll talk about this later Ashley. Right now though, just concentrate on getting better. We’ll come see you tomorrow, okay?”

I felt my heart sink. His answer wasn’t agreeing with my request, but at least he wasn’t straight out rejecting it either. I just nodded, not knowing what to say.

I felt my mum stand up from kneeling position and lean over to kiss my forehead. “Bye Ash, try and get some rest.”

“Okay.” I murmured. Dad walked over to me after Mum let go of my hand and kissed my forehead too. Dad wasn’t one to show affection or anything like that like my Mum did, so his action surprised me. It kind of made sense though because of what just happened.

“See you tomorrow, son.”

I nodded, barely moving my head. I felt myself slowly slipping into unconsciousness again and I was too weak and tired to do anything else.

“I love you Ashley.” I heard Mum say from the door.

“Love you.” I murmured.

“Your friends are waiting to see you in the waiting room. Would you like us to tell them to come back later and let you rest?” Dad asked.

Again, I just nodded, wishing they would leave so I could go to sleep. I heard them leave soon after though, Mum’s heels clicking nosily down the hall. Soon afterwards I felt myself drift asleep, lulled by the beeping of my heart monitor.


- Time Lapse: Two days –

For the next couple days, I was in and out of consciousness. For the amount that I was sleeping though, I was surprised that I was still completely fucking exhausted, though it was probably because of the amount of drugs the doctors were pumping into my body. The only time I was awake was when the young nurse, Tracey, came in every so often to wake me because of my concussion and to eat.

This time though, when I opened my eyes to Tracey’s smiling face, I finally felt rested and wide-awake. I was also, after two days of feeling nothing at all, starving. I sat up slowly in my bed and Tracey’s smile grew into a grin.

“Feeling better then Ashley?” She asked me. I smiled at her and nodded.

“Hey, Tracey?”

“Mhm?”

“What’s for breakfast?” I asked, my smile growing larger. She let out a laugh and walked out shaking her head to get me something to eat.

I closed my eyes for a moment, letting my head sink back into the pillow when I heard a knock on the open door. I opened my eyes expecting to see Tracey, but instead saw Andy and Jinxx staring at me, making me feel rather awkward. I noticed that their hands were intertwined and felt my heart sink, tears springing to my eyes. I thought for sure that Andy and Jinxx would have broken up after what Jinxx had done the day Justin beat the shit out of me.

Andy awkwardly cleared his throat, pulling me away from my thoughts.

“Hey.” He whispered. I looked down.

“Hi.” I replied, blinking away tears. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We wanted to see how you’re doing. Plus I brought your homework and stuff from your classes for you.” Andy said quietly, still not moving away from the door. He looked down at his feet and started to shuffle them awkwardly. I looked up and stared at the two guys who used to be my best friends. Jinxx was clutching onto Andy’s hand so tightly that his knuckles were starting to turn white. He was looking around the room; looking anywhere and everywhere but me. I cleared my throat and looked back down at my hands.

“Uh. You guys can come in if you want to I guess.” I whispered, not looking up from my hands. I heard Andy’s black shoes walk across my room and saw him sit down in one of the chairs out of the corner of my eye, Jinxx following close behind.

“So…” Andy started quietly before trailing off, obviously not knowing what to say.

“So, you’re still with Jinxx then. That’s great.” I said sarcastically, looking up at Andy. Jinxx looked away but I never broke eye contact with Andy.

“Ashley…” Andy said before I cut him off.

“Funny.” I said, looking away finally to look at Jinxx. “I, for whatever reason, thought that after what Jinxx did, you would have ended it with him. Considering you said you still care about me or whatever.” I let out a humorless laugh. “Guess I was wrong.”

“Ashley, Jinxx didn’t do anything.” Andy replied harshly. I quickly looked at him, my face burning with anger.

“Exactly! He didn’t do a fucking thing!” I practically yelled. “I was supposed to be one of his best friends and he just left me there to get my ass kicked from Justin without fucking doing anything!”

“What was I supposed to do Ashley?” Jinxx said quietly, looking up from the floor into my eyes.
“There were five fucking guys. I couldn’t do anything to help you.”

Tears filled my eyes, angering me further. I quickly wiped them away.

“For fuck sakes.” I muttered before looking away from Andy. My gaze settled on Jinxx and suddenly I exploded, anger filling my body. “I know you couldn’t have done anything Jinxx! I fucking know that, okay? But you didn’t even try. At least Andy tried. You just fucking walked away!”

“I was hurt and angry Ashley! Jesus Christ, I know I was wrong. I was mad at Andy for lying to me and I took it out on you. After I got to school I had calmed down and I instantly regretted leaving you and Andy. I texted Andy a billion times to make sure you were okay. I’m sorry Ashley, I’m so fucking sorry.” After Jinxx finished speaking, he did something I’ve never seen him do before; he broke down crying, his body shaking from the loud sobs that overcame his body. I instantly regretted shouting at him and I wished desperately that I could get out of bed and comfort him. I knew I couldn’t though because I wasn’t fully recovered yet and I didn’t want to risk injuring myself further.

“Jinxx, fuck man. Jinxx, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled.” I said softly, trying to comfort him with words while Andy held him in a tight hug.

“No, Ashley. You have every right to be mad. I hate myself for leaving you and I don’t blame you for hating me either.” Jinxx gasped in between sobs. I sighed, unsure on how to respond.
He was right, I did have every right to be pissed at him, but seeing him cry and everything, I felt my anger slipping away.

“Jinxx, it’s fine really. You couldn’t have done anything, even if you wanted to.” I whispered quietly as Andy rubbed Jinxx’s back to try and calm him down.

“But I should have wanted to!” Jinxx wailed, pulling away from Andy to plunk himself down in the chair. He hid his head in his hands and continued to sob. “I let my jealousy of you get in the way.” He looked up at me, his eyes red and puffy from crying. “You’re my best friend Ashley. I’m so sorry.”

“Jinxx. Really, it’s fine. Look, I’m fine, okay?” I said, looking him dead in the eyes. Jinxx looked away and didn’t respond. “Jinxx, buddy, look at me.” After a second’s hesitation, he finally did look up at me, uncertainty displayed on his face. “Okay?” Slowly, he nodded. I smiled at him and he gave me a small smile back.

“Come here, Jinxx.” I said, spreading my arms out indicating I wanted a hug. Jinxx gave me a huge smile, jumped up from his chair and basically leaped into my arms. After a couple minutes he pulled away.

“Are we okay?” He asked, worry replacing his look of happiness. I broke into a grin.

“Yeah, we’re fine.”


- Time Lapse: An hour –

“No way!” I laughed.

“I’m totally serious dude!” Jinxx replied, laughing as well. “Andy used to dress up as like, Nikki Sixx and Gene Simmions and people like that! Then he’d make his family sit down and watch him perform!”

Even before Jinxx finished telling the story of young Andy, tears of laughter were running down my face. My ribs were aching from laughing so hard, and I’m pretty sure my abs were becoming rock hard too.

“Ah! No stop! It hurts!” I laughed, wiping away tears.

“H-He would perform for anyone who would actually pay attention to him!” Jinxx continued, clutching his stomach while laughing.

“Guys, it’s not that funny.” Andy mumbled. He didn’t sound amused at all, and his arms were crossed tightly across his chest. I ignored him, still pissed at him for making me go to the hospital, for calling my parents, and for dumping me for Jinxx. Jinxx however, just chuckled and wrapped him in a hug, which wasn’t returned.

“Aweh baby, yes it is.” Jinxx said into his neck. I looked away, suddenly not in a good mood anymore. Soon, Jinxx sensed my change of mood and pulled away from Andy. He looked at me and smiled, which I tried to return. I’m sure it came out awkward and forced though. Jinxx’s smile dropped as his expression changed. I knew he was trying to tell me that he was sorry with his eyes, but I just looked away.

Andy apparently also noticed my change in mood because after looking between Jinxx and myself, he awkwardly coughed to clear his throat.

“Uh, Jinxx and I should probably get going. We got some homework we have to do still and you’re probably getting pretty tired.”

“Yeah. I am pretty tired.” I lied. Honestly, after sleeping for pretty much two days straight I was wide-awake, but I didn’t feel like socialising anymore. I was glad that Andy gave me an excuse to get rid of him and Jinxx. At least he was still good for something.

“Alright. So we’ll see you tomorrow or something?” Jinxx asked sounding disappointed. He obviously didn’t realise that I didn’t want them there anymore, not like Andy did. Andy could still read me like a book, and I fucking hated him for it.

“Yeah, or something. Thanks for bringing me my course work.” I responded, giving Jinxx a forced smile.

“No problem, Ashes. See you later.” Andy said, starting to walk towards the door. The use of my old nickname made me cringe, but I somehow managed to keep my facial expression blank. Jinxx gave me one last smile and a wave before following his boyfriend out the door.

“Oh, hey Mr and Mrs Purdy.” I heard Andy say from somewhere outside my room not even a minute after him and Jinxx left. I felt my stomach start to tie itself into knots when I heard Dad respond.

“Hey Andy. Is Ashley awake?”

“Yeah, we just left. We dropped off his homework and everything so he wont fall too far behind.” Andy replied.

“Oh, thank you guys. You’re such great friends to Ashley.” I heard Mum say. At that, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Great friends? Sure, if breaking my heart, calling the ambulance and my parents against my wishes (Andy) and leaving me to get my ass beat without even trying to do anything about it (Jinxx) is considered being good friends, then I had the greatest friends ever.

Being lost in my own thoughts, I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation and soon Mum and Dad were standing outside my hospital room door.

“Ashley?” Mum asked, unsure if I was still awake or not since I had my eyes closed.

“Yeah, I’m awake.” I said after a moment of debating whether or not I should answer.

“So,” Dad started, not wasting anytime with the typical ‘how are you feeling’ question before getting right to the point. “Your Mum and I talked. We both agreed that it would be best for us all if we don’t involve the police.” Before he even finished talking, my face broke into a large grin.

“That’s awesome! Than-” I started, but Dad quickly interrupted me.

“Wait, Ashley. We’re not involving the police on the condition that you’ll let us go talk to the principle to talk about Justin’s behavior.”

I nodded quickly, still smiling like an idiot. “Of course, I already told you, I’m fine with you guys going to the scho-” I said, but again, Dad quickly cut me off.

“Ashley, stop. I’m not done. We’re not going to the police if you’ll allow us to go talk with the school and they’ll actually expel Justin.”

For that, I had no response. I had no control over Mr Wallace’s decision on what to do with Justin, and my parents knew that. Despite that though, I wasn’t worried. I was pretty sure that Justin would get expelled without much thought.

“Okay, that sounds fair.” I said. Mum gave Dad a worried glance and he just slightly shook his head in response. At seeing that, my smile faded. I knew something was wrong and I had a horrible suspicion on what exactly that ‘something’ was. I just prayed that I was wrong.

“Listen Ashley, your mother and I don’t think you’re reaching your true potential here. With everything that happened between your friends and now Justin, we just think that it’d be best if-” Dad said with an unreadable expression on his face, never breaking eye contact with me, but it was my turn to interrupt him.

“I don’t want to hear it Dad. I’m doing fucking fine here.” I replied loudly, folding my arms across my chest.

“Ashley Purdy. Do not use that kind of language with me or your father.” Mum said harshly. Her tone suddenly softened. “Ash, just listen to what your Dad has to say.”

I looked away from them, tears forming in my eyes. I knew this would fucking happen. I fucking knew it.

“Ashley, I talked to my boss this afternoon. He said that the job offer was still open if I had changed my mind.” Dad continued as if I hadn’t said anything at all.

“I don’t want to hear it Dad.” I said firmly, trying to hide the fact that tears were now streaming down my face.

“Ash, your Dad took the job. We’re moving to London.”



A/N: Ugh, I finally updated. I’m really sorry about the long wait guys, I’ve just been super busy and lazy, and I had really bad writer’s block. Plus I wanted to make this as long as possible without making it boring because…
This might be the second last chapter of this fanfiction.
But yes, I shall go before this a/n gets too long. :)
Remember to comment with negative or positive feedback. Comments make me happy, and they also help improve my writing skills if you comment with things I should change about my writing style, etc. <3
Plus comments make me end up smiling like a retard for the rest of the day. Just kidding, I don’t mean day. I mean week. Seriously.
Thank you guys again for your support, patients, and understanding. You’re the best readers EVER.
I love you all!
See you next chapter.
xoxox.