Chapter Eight

Ashe tries to go on with his life, but keeps thinking about Nia.

Ashe turned on the cold water in the bathroom and splashed it on his face. The water's cold sting along with the morning's bitter wind made him shiver before staring at himself in the mirror.

'Maybe it was all just a dream,' he thought. 'Maybe she was never really there. Just some sorta illusion. Something my mind made for me.'

He dried off and threw on some clothes. Ashe hesitated before putting on his usual gray sweater, but he dismissed it.

Ashe grabbed his bag and drifted to school. It was the usual ruckus when he got there. Cliques gathered and people chattered. Down the hallway, the bigger ones shoved the timid ones as they usually did. They set their sights on Ashe sulking to class. They grabbed him and threw him to the lockers, laughing and acting like they did the funniest damn thing in the world. Ashe picked himself up and continued his trek. No snarling face. No cussing. No idle threat. He just kept walking as if nothing happened. He avoided the library whenever he could, telling himself that there was nothing there. Just books.

Class passed by as it always did. Nothing exciting about algebraical equations or the dissecting of an earth worm. A frog might have been interesting but all they had were worms. When the last class came Ashe noticed something, or lack thereof. He pulled out a pen and notebook from the bag and that was it. He usually brought a CD or two to share with her, but it didn't matter anymore. Class had started. Time to take notes or at least pretend to.

Once the bell rang, Mr. Balkan, Ashe's English teacher announced, "Remember to turn in those papers in Monday people. Also, Mister Corvis, come see me after class.

Ashe swung his bag over his shoulder and moved towards Balkan. "What?" he said.

Balkan, a gray haired man, removed his glasses. "Corvis," he said, "Over the past few days you've been turning in poorly done work for my class, sometimes even half-done work. Why the change?"

Ashe's eyes turned away from Balkan. "Just some stuff."

"Stuff?" Balkan nodded. "Stuff. I'm very familiar with...stuff. Girl stuff maybe?"

"Sort of."

"Well Mr. Corvis, from one man to another I should probably tell you to stop being such a damn wuss."

"Excuse me?"

"I've been teaching at this school for a long time and I've seen more high school drama than anyone ever should. So let me tell you what I've told every other whiny pretentious teenager who thinks that their world will end because their latest fling didn't last as long as they thought it would: cut the crap and do your work."

Ashe glared at Balkan. "Fling? Really?"

"Yes really. Corvis, everyone knows that no one makes it with the first person they think they're in love with and most high school sweethearts get divorced anyway. Save yourself the time and the trouble and get over it."

Ashe shot another glare at Balkan before storming out of the room and slamming the door. "A*****e."

Out in the school's parking lot, he thought of what he was going to do. He shook his head at the thought of going to the BlackBerry.

Sue came into view waving and smiling. "Hey you, what's up?"

"Nothing," Ashe mumbled.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine."

"Got any plans?"

Ashe shook his head. "Do you?"

"I'm just going to the Scene with a few friends. Wanna come?"

"Okay."

Sue spun around so fast she almost tripped over herself. She turned back to Ashe with a bewildered look on her face. "Did you say-"

"Yes."

Sue went up close to Ashe, examining him.

"What?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I said I'm fine, he snapped.

"Alrighty, let's go."

Ashe followed Sue to the Scene. The inside was filled with other teenagers talking about things Ashe didn't care about, and the smell of fried foods hung in the air like no one else cared. Sue pointed to a table at the back and waved. She grabbed Ashe's hand and dragged him with her. They both sat down at the table with three other people in front of them.

"Hey guys," Sue said to them. "I brought a friend along. Ashe, say hi to Tony, Greg, and Steph."

Ashe almost groaned when Sue put him on the spot, but he just tried to hide it. "Uh...hi."

After the introductions, they all started talking while Ashe just watched. He only answered the questions asked to him. After a while, a waiter took their orders. Tony and Greg took large burger combos, and Step and Sue got salads. Ashe just ordered a milkshake for himself. Soon the conversation turned from gossip to music.

"So Ashe," Tony said, "what kinda music do you listen to?"

"Oh, mostly rock music," he said. "Most of the bands I listen to are unsigned."

"Like myspace bands?" Tony asked.

"Well, some of them have myspace pages."

"That s**t sucks man," said Greg. Ashe raised a brow as Greg continued. "Hip hop is the s**t man. I wanna go out and dance man. Who the hell wants to listen to a bunch of whiny emo bands?"

"They're not emo," Ashe said.

"Yeah right man, that's like saying you're not emo. I mean, no offense but you already got the hair and stuff."

Ashe groaned at Tony's remarks, but tried to shrug them off. Sue noticing the tension, tried to change the conversation, but Ashe had already decided to stay out of it creating an uneasy feeling at the table. At the essential boredom of watching the others talk about MTV or whatever it was Ashe's mind drifted into other places. He wondered what Nia was doing and how she was feeling. He also remembered he vampire brother who almost tried to kill him. He wondered if Nia was also a vampire or how things like that could even exist. He hadn't seen her for a while now he wondered if-

"Hey!" Sue called.

Ashe blinked as him mind tried to find a way back to the table. "Wha?"

"Are you even listening?"

He saw that the others were all looking at him as he tried to think of an answer.

"See? He wasn't even paying attention," Greg said. "Man, if you don't wanna be here get lost. Ain't nobody gonna miss you."

Sue tried to say something in Ashe's defense but he had already gotten up to leave. Either way, she followed him outside. "Hey come on. He didn't mean it."

Ashe kept walking until he found a bench to sit. "Oh really?"

Sue sat with him. "I'm sorry. I just thought it'd be cool to hang out ya know? You've been all moody and depressed lately."

'So she noticed too,' Ashe thought. "Sue, do you know anything about vampires?"

Sue's face widened in shock for about a second and then shrank into a smile. "What do you know about vampires?"

'How the hell do you answer a question with the same question?' Ashe thought. He turned and leaned towards Sue.

When his face got close to her's she asked, "W-what are you doing?"

Ashe took off her glasses and stared into her eyes for a few seconds. He handed her glasses back. "It's nothing." Sue put her glasses on with a slight blush on her face. "I'm gonna go. Thanks anyway."

Ashe drifted through the streets until he reached a bookstore. He went inside and went through the fantasy/supernatural section. He asked one of the workers there which book was good on vampires and such. She pointed him to a popular teen romance novel. He flipped through and read a random page:


His scintillating arms of transcending beauty wrapped around me and held me close to his body. It was like a tribute to Adonis and all the Greek gods. Words parting from his red sanguine lips, "I. Am. Vampire."


Ashe slammed the book back on the shelf. "Well that was stupid." Aside from other vampire novels were books on werewolves and witches. None of them looked like they would help him at this point. "Of course not," he said to himself, "this is all fiction." Giving up, he decided to leave the store. Opening the door, he saw Sue in front with her usual wide grin. 'I'll never get used to that,' he thought.

"Hey," she said. "I was wondering where you went off to."

"How did you find me?"

"You went in a circle." She pointed behind him as he spun around to see that the bookstore he went into was right next to The Scene.

'God-f*****g-d****t!'

"What's wrong?" she said.

"It's nothing," he said.

"Are you sure?"

He sighed. "Just drop it."

"Come on, talk to me. It's not good to bottle these things up," she said. "Plus it's not like I can help make things worse."

She's got a point. "Well," he started. "I have this friend."

"Your girlfriend?"

"Sort of. But she has this...family member who kinda scares me. And he really doesn't want me around."

"So you left her because of that?"

Ashe blinked. "Sort of."

A silence fell on them before Sue replied. "You jerk." Ashe glared at her, but Sue turned around. "How could you just leave her like that for just a small reason? I know you're not exactly a fighter but you could at least try to talk to her. I'm glad you're not my boyfriend. My dad and my brothers would have scared you off for sure. I can't imagine how she feels."

How she feels. Those words rang inside Ashe's mind for a while. He walked right past Sue. "You know, I really don't like you."

Sue smiled and spun around in place. "Yeah I know." She watched him go down the street and eventually disappear. "Let's see what happens next."

***

Ashe stood in front of the the decrepit house, looking up into the window. He yelled, "Nia." Nothing happened. He yelled again, "I know you're there. Please, I want to talk to you."

Ashe slammed into the ground with someone grabbing him by the neck over him. He could barely turn his head to see the man in the black suit.

"You should have stayed away." He tightened the grip on Ashe's neck making him squirm under him.

"Please...let me...talk to her..."

"Why should I?"

"Because...I don't want..."

"No, you don't." The man lifted Ashe up over his head with one arm. "You don't get to see her. My sister doesn't need someone like you."

"Denzel, stop it. That's enough." They both turned to see Nia approaching.

"You don't need him," Denzel said.

"He wants to talk to me. Just leave him alone."

"Why?"

"Because I like him." Denzel examined Ashe. "If you hurt him I'll never forgive you. Now put him down."

Denzel threw Ashe in front of Nia. Ashe quickly got up and dusted himself off. "Nia, I-"

"Could you leave us alone?" Nia said.

Denzel made his way to the house, his eyes never leaving Ashe. "Word of warning, just because you can't see me, doesn't mean I can't see you." Denzel went into the shadows and disappeared.

Ashe and Nia stood in front of each other with an awkward silence separating them.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Yeah," she said.

"Are you mad at me?"

"A little."

"Do you hate me?"

Nia shook her head. "Denzel said you wouldn't come back. I started to believe him after a while."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Nia crossed her arms as if she was holding herself. "So now what?"

"Can we start over?" Ashe held out his hand.

"Are you sure you want to?"

Ashe nodded. "Yeah, I don't care that you're a vampire."

Nia gave him a strange look. "I'm not a vampire."

"Wha?"

"No." Nia picked up her leg and crossed it in the air where she stood. "I'm a witch."

Ashe lowered his head. 'God-f*****g-d****t.' The first thing that came into his head were all those books he saw merging together.

Author's Note

I wasn't sure if I should have left that last sentence in but eh. Again, waiting a long time for this update. I still think I'm getting worse. Oh well let's see what happens.

Reviews

[Emily B]

Fix this--You're not exactly my most brightest student, but you do get your job done. So, why the change?"

Typo--"Where you even listening?"

It's going. That's okay. Write it. And then edit.