Chapter 2: Chapter One
"Go away," I mumbled and sunk into the covers a little more.
I pulled the covers more tightly around my body when the knocking on my door doesn't stop.
"Ashley, get up." Mom's voice came from the other side of the door.
I mumbled something incoherent to her but when she didn't give up and continue to disturb my peaceful slumber - I rolled off the bed and stumbled towards the door to open it.
"I'm up," I said to my mom and start rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand when I couldn't see her face properly.
"I can see that." She nodded and ruffled my hair from the behind like a deranged puppy. "Ok, now that you are out of your bed - start getting ready or you'll be late. Come on chop-chop." She smiled and then gave me a slight push inside the room after turning me around.
I'm too sleepy to do anything so I just yawned in response and trudged towards the window to open the curtains but I stopped in my tracks when a photo frame on my bedside table caught my eye.
An unconscious smile took over my face when I pick it up and looked at his face in the photo. We were wearing matching family t-shirts that day, mom and I was scowling at him because he one-handedly defeated us in a bowling match.
It was our last family photo.
my smile disappeared just as quickly when the memories of that dire day flooded my brain. One day when my dad returned home from his work he asked me and mom to come in the living look instantly. I was confused and worried because he never looked this much exhausted before but when his thoughts start shaping into words my world stopped. He informed us that he had leukaemia for years and just last month it reached the final stage. I was mad at him for three days because he kept all of this from me for years but on the fifth day, I broke and cried like a little girl who was desperately pleading to God to spare his dad. It was a life-changing revelation and then seven months ago he passed away. For most of these past months, I have been crying and mopping around the house. I just lie down on the bed and look at the ceiling like there's nothing more interesting in this world than this.
But now from a month or two, I'm starting to pull myself together and start joking about the fact that my life became a mess without him. My mom and I returned to our hometown from New York last month to start fresh lives when we realise that New York is not the same without him.
I came out of the bathroom after taking a shower and padded towards the closet to search for a suitable outfit.
I chose a hoodie which is big enough to engulf a giant whale.
Ok! maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit but my dad was a big man and I stole some of his clothes because they look so comfy.
I stand in front of the mirror to give myself a much-needed pep talk.
"You'll be invisible. Everything will be okay and no one will notice you. Just tolerate this year and it will be all over." I said and hitched my bag up on my shoulder to increase the effect.
Damn! I sound like a female lead of some high school romance novel.
I run downstairs after getting ready but stopped at the end of the stairs when I saw my grandma gossiping with some neighbours.
Every day she goes for a walk which in reality means 'gossip meeting with the housewives in the neighbourhood. There is no news in this town that women don't know about.
I rushed towards the kitchen when I get a whiff of my mom's pancakes. I can assure you that pancakes are as afraid of me as a bleeding human from vampires.
Mom gave me a quick once over. "You are going to wear this on your first day of school." She scrunched her nose in mock disgust and gestured to outfit with her forefinger.
"What is wrong with it?" I looked at my outfit. Nope! Everything is peachy except I look like a homeless beggar in clothes quadruple my size. "There's nothing wrong to prefer comfort over fashion and by the way if you don't know by now - I like being comfortable." I pouted and crossed my hands over my chest.
"But don't you think you should wear that cute top you get last week?" She tried to reason with me.
"Mom I'm not going upstairs again," I replied with an exhausted sigh.
"Why? You have plenty of time before we leave for school." She raised her brow at me and looked at the clock to confirm her statement.
"Because I don't have it in me to go all the way to upstairs and put something else." I groaned in protest and bang my head on the counter lightly.
As if on cue nana enters the kitchen from the living room door." I swear to God I have never seen a girl as lazy as you." She said and chuckled when I stuck my tongue out at her.
"I am not that lazy, " I huffed - I mean, I know I'm no Usain bolt but I walk.
When necessary.
"Oh, darling! Do you remember yesterday you called me from downstairs to give you a glass of water?" Mom asked me with an amused expression.
"But my feet were hurting!" I scowled at them. I feigned annoyance because they are ganging up on me but secretly I'm loving it because I don't remember the last time they were smiling like this.
"And why were your feet hurting?" Nana bit her lip so she wouldn't laugh at me.
Now I am as red as a tomato because no one was supposed to see me dancing like a penguin on a cracker but because I'm the luckiest person in the world, my grandma barged into my room without knocking and saw me jumping on the bed here and there while holding my baby pictures to show me that I was as fat as a baby hippo when I was a toddler.
Both of them start laughing at my antics and I scowled at them a bit longer before I gave in the urge and cracked with them too.
Yep! So worth it.
I gobbled my pancakes in lightning-fast speed and gave grandma a goodbye kiss before walking out of the house with mom. The ride to school was silent, only the faint sound of the radio can be heard in the background. A soft smile appears on my lips as the scenery outside the window brings back the nostalgic feeling inside me.
We arrive at the school after 10 minutes of peacefully silent drive.
"Bye sweetie, have a good day." mom said as I was about to get out of the car.
I smiled at her assuredly, "I will, You too mom." I said and get out of the car. I waited until the car disappeared in the distance and then turned to look at my old school.
The school looks almost the same. The red and yellow coloured building seems more rustic than I remember but there is no major difference than before.
Okay! Time to face the water.
I headed to the front entrance of the school - trying to be as discreet as I can because this school have so many people and confrontation I don't want to face just yet.
I only want some of my usual friends to survive this year. I keep walking through the school hallway and avoid almost everyone's gaze but as I lift my eyes for just a second.
I froze in my tracks.
No, this is not happening to me.
I froze Because I saw one of the main reasons I wanted to be invisible this year. The bad boy of twin falls high in his signature leather jacket and his perfectly ruffled black here. He has gotten taller and his body looked more sinful than ever. I can see his prominent cheekbones even from here but the one part that hasn't changed a bit was his forest green eyes, they are just as mesmerising as they were two years ago.
Zack Hart.
There is no denying the fact that he looks hot but it doesn't change the fact he's a horrible person. He is a bully, who tormented everyone for years and He only thinks about himself.
Like he did two years ago.
He's standing there in front of his locker with a book in his hand-
Holly crap on a cracker!
I must be hallucinating because there is no way he has a book in his hand and not some disturbing adult porn magazine.
But why is he standing here alone? Where did his scary basketball friends go? The school hallway was used to be his hang out spot.
He must have felt someones gaze on him because he lifts his head to check and the moment our eyes meet my heart jumped. Not because I get scared or repulsed, but because he did something I never saw him done before.
Well, at least not sober.
He smiled.
He fricking smiled!
Not smirked - which he used to wear on his face all the time two years back.
And that's when the bell rings and an alien spaceship came out of nowhere and destroyed the planet earth.
I look around.
No!
No, alien spaceship.
Hell, I really thought this is what going to happen, but instead the hallway starts flooding with people and when it clears after a few minutes - he was long gone by then.
I headed towards my first class, still strongly believing that the guy I just saw in the hallway must be his twin but a smile took over my face when I saw my best friend playing with her pen while staring at her Calculus notebook. She looked annoyed and I already know that she's annoyed due to some Calculus question she can't get a hold of.
"Kate," I poked her head when I stopped in front of her desk. The moment she looked up and saw me, She squealed and her face breaks into a broad smile. She literally threw herself at me in excitement and the next thing I know - we were sprawled on the floor.
It doesn't affect her even in the slightest bit that we were rolling on the floor in front of so many peoples so I decided to let go and returned her hug just as eagerly. We texted or called occasionally these past two years and her support these past few months meant a lot. She was on a vacation with her family when I came here last month and we didn't get a chance to meet face to face.
She pulled away. "Oh my god! Ashley, Ashely, Ashley, Ashley." She started chanting my name like a broken CD player when we stand up from our awkward position on the floor.
'Position' - what a dirty word I laughed a little to myself.
There is no way you're normal! You must have hit your head somewhere in the past because Otherwise, there is no explaining these kinds of dumb thoughts.
"What?" My smile widened when she pulled me for another hug.
"You donkey poop, where were you?" She gave me a mock glare but the smile reappeared on her face again after some time. "I was seriously considering to barge into your house to wake you up myself if you would have taken 5 seconds more. I didn't think you are capable of waking up early by yourself." She continues to ramble before I can respond.
"I did wake up early, mom didn't even have to try that hard," I mumbled.
she gave me a sceptical look. "Seriously? Do you think I don't know you?"
"Okay, You got me there." I lift my hands in mock surrender and we start babbling about some random stuff.
But when someone opened the classroom door, everyone stopped the work they were doing and turned their gazes to the door.
I look up in time to see Zack making his way to the last bench. He didn't look up or meet anyone gaze instead he just went to his desk silently and opened his notebook to scribble something.
I moved to the desk next to Kate and start doodling in my notebook too.
After an hour the class ended. I pack my stuff quickly and headed to towards the lockers with Kate. She informed me about all the things I missed these years and then we headed our separate ways after getting the necessary books for the next class.
Other periods and lunch flew by swiftly in catching up with my old friends - Derick and Jina.
Jina is still the same feisty girl she was two years ago but I can see that Derik changed a lot.
But when I was at the cafeteria, I noticed another thing - that there is something strange wherever I see in school today because for some reason the school seems unexpectedly normal. No news of fighting, bullying or any regular stuff for twin falls high.
After eating lunch with my friends I pick up the backpack from my locker and start making my way to the next class but as I turned the corner something happened-
I bumped into someone pretty hard and all the things from my backpack fell on the floor. It becomes worse when some of them started rolling around the hallway like a happy hippo in the mud and I stand there like a loon, gazing at them.
My eyes widen when I see the pack of tampons lying on the ground and begging for everyone's attention. There were some other important necessities too which were happily lying on the floor.
Like two packs of KitKat a family pack of chips and some candies.
What?
Don't judge me!
I'm a Foodie!
I was Embarrassed by the contents which my backpack not so subtly vomited all over the floor, so I took a deep breath to control my jittery nerves and then try to peek through my eyelashes to see who saw my secret dietary supplements. But every thought flew out of my mind when my eyes locked with a pair of lovely forest green eyes of a person I wasn't prepared to face - ever.
Zack Hart.
Authors note:
Hello!
I hope you like this chapter, please support, comment, vote and follow.
Stay tuned for the next updates.
Gaurav Sharma.
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