Chapter six

As Alex walked towards his seat, he was waving at everyone like a celebrity. With his back turned to his seat, he made to sit down. In a flash, Ashley moved his chair backwards and he fell flat on the floor. 

The whole class bursted into laughter. It was an epic moment for Ashley. She laughed so much, her stomach started to hurt. Anger sparked in Alex's eyes as he stood up. 

 Dropping his backpack on the chair, he stomped out of the class. Ashley pressed her lips together to prevent her from bursting into another round of laughter.

Anabelle walked to Ashley's seat. She was full of smiles. 

"Why did you do that?" She asked, lowering her butt to Alex's chair, but she quickly jerked to her feet realizing what she was doing. 

"Pay back" Ashley shrugged and pulled her to sit on Alex's chair. 

"Relax, they won't do anything" Ashley assured, noticing the worried look that stole across Annabelle's face. Annabelle chuckled nervously. 

"Now watch this" She whispered in Annabelle's ear as her eyes caught the sight of Claire and Monica from the window. 

She picked an empty bottle on the floor. With a mischievous smile curled on her lips, she poised, waiting for Clarie to step into the class. As soon as Claire stepped into the class, she threw the bottle and it hit her forehead. 

"Ouch!" She exclaimed, caressing her forehead. Then her furious eyes ran across the class.

"Who did that?" She asked as a look of anger clouded her face. 

Ashely raised her hand. 

"What do you think huh?" she smirked. Anger burned Claire's face bright red. She charged at Ashley, who didn't even move an inch.

"Don't you dare touch me" Ashley sterned, glaring at Claire, who stopped halfway. 

Suddenly, the siren sounded, indicating time for morning assembly. 

"I'll get back at you" Claire fired with clenched jaws and stomped to her seat. 

With a victorious smile plastered on her lips, Ashley stood up. She stretched her arms like she just finished doing a whole lot of work. 

"Hurry, let's go" Annabelle urged. 

"Calm down, why are you in a hurry huh?"

"We mustn't get late to assembly, school rules"

"I hate school rules"

***

Alex was seated on the floor in the store room. The store room was his secret hide out. All alone, his thought drifted to the new girl, Ashely. 

She wasn't afraid of anything. Usually, if he had done what he did to her last night to any other student, they would tremble at his sight, but her case was different. 

To top it all, she was beautiful. 

"That beautiful annoying little bitch" he muttered beneath his breath. As he pictured her face in his head, his lips curled into a smile. Getting a hold of himself, he slapped his cheeks softly. 

"Goddammit Alex, what the hell are you thinking?" He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. 

Just then, the door to the store room creaked. Thinking he had been discovered, he scurried to his feet and made to hide behind the boxes. 

"No need to hide dude" Sam's voice stopped him. 

"Oh, it's just you" Alex heaved a sigh of relief.

"Skipping assembly again huh?" Sam leaned his body on a box. 

"Obviously, you?"

"I'm tired of that boring gathering"

Sam flipped through the notebook in his hand. 

"The assignment?" Alex asked, lowering his butt to the floor. 

"Yup. Have you done yours?"

"Hell no, why would I?" Alex rolled his eyes and Sam shrugged. 

Silence engulfed the air for a while. Sam took his eyes off his book and focused them on Alex, who kept ruffling his hair like he was disturbed. 

"Dude, what's wrong?" Sam asked in a concerned tone. He closed the book in his hands and fixed his gaze on Alex. 

"The new girl..... " He trailed off.

"Don't tell me it's what I'm thinking" Sam said with a smug smile. 

"Hell no!" Alex half yelled. 

"She's beautiful you know, I'm sure many dudes are crushing on her already" Sam teased further and Alex made to smack his head, but he dodged. 

"That not it...... I'm thinking of a way to deal with her" 

"You sound like you're into her" Sam joked. He pressed his lips together to prevent him from laughing. 

Alex forehead creased in discontent. 

"Shut it, will you?" Alex snapped. 

"You're not helping matters" he added. 

The door creaked again and Henry strolled in. 

"Mind if I join you guys?" He rested his body on the wall. 

"Sure" Sam shrugged and Alex rolled his eyes. 

***

"Come on Ashley, hurry up" Annabelle urged Ashley, who decended the stairs rather sluggishly. 

"If you're so eager to go, then off you go. I'll join you soon" Ashley said and Annabelle ran off. 

Getting to the long corridor that led to the assembly hall, she was stopped by the robust guy she met at the park yesterday.

"This pervert again!" Her inner mind screamed and a look of disgust appeared on her face. 

"What?" She sassed. 

"You should watch the way you talk to me" He said with utmost seriousness and she rolled her eyes. 

"Out of my way" She tried to shove him aside, but he gripped her hand. Anger flashed through Ashley's eyes, her fists tightened. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled, trying to free her hand from his hold.

"Charles" A tall boy called in the hallway and he turned, still holding onto Ashley's hand. 

"So his name his Charles" She thought. Seeing that he was distracted, she quickly jerked her hand from his hold, but she didn't run like any other student would. 

"What is it?" He asked in a pissed off tone. 

"Mrs Jones wants to see you" The boy said and ran off. 

"What the hell does she want?" He muttered, turning to face Ashley. 

"I'll get you for sure" He smacked his lips. 

"In your wildest dreams" Ashley retorted and walked away angrily. "What does he take me for? Some kind of toy?" She fumed as she made her way to the Assembly hall. 

The principal was dressed in a black suit. He stood on the podium, holding the mic in his hand.

"Hello students" He said. 

The students chorused a reply and Ashley could tell that it was coming mostly from the junior students. 

As usual, the principal gave the students words of advice, emphasizing more on hard work. 

Charles came to Ashley again with a devilish grin on his face. 

"I'm gonna smack this boy's face one of these days" Ashley thought as she looked at him with disgust. 

"I'll get you I swear" He whispered in Ashley's ear before walking away. 

"As if" Ashley scoffed.

***

Ashley slumped heavily against her chair. The assembly was long  and to top it all, it was boring. 

she unzipped her backpack and brought out her mathematics notebook. As she flipped through her notebook, she wondered who was going to take the seat to her left. 

Her eyes darted towards Claire's direction. She was looking very worried and Ashley's mouth curved into a satisfied smile. 

The classroom door flung open. Alex, Sam and Henry strolled in. 

Ashley's face lit up as soon as her eyes met Henry's.  A sweet smile curled on his lips as he took sight of her. She waved eagerly at him. She didn't even have the slightest idea that they were in the same class. 

The girls cooed at them as they moved to their seats. 

As he made her way to her seat, her heart raced. She had never felt like this before.

"Hi" He said, taking the seat on her left. Ashley turned scarlet, she couldn't control it. 

"Hi" She said, cupping her face in her hands to hide her red cheeks. Her heart leaped in excitement. She loved that Henry was sitting beside her even though there was a jerk sitting beside her on the right. 

Alex was irritated by her reaction upon seeing Henry. He was angry, but he couldn't tell if it was because Ashley embarrassed him, or because of her reaction to Henry. 

He sighted the notebook on her table and an idea suddenly popped up in his head. 

"Is this your seat?" Ashley asked Henry just to be sure. 

"Yup" He replied, unzipping his backpack. Ashley's heart jumped in excitement, she felt butterflies in her tommy. 

"I never thought you would be a member of this class" Ashley said, still cupping her face in her hands.

He smiled. A smile that melted her heart. 

She slowly dropped her hands from her face and turned to her table. 

Her eyes widened in surprise. Her notebook that was lying on her table had disappeared. The first thing that flashed through her mind was Claire.

She stood up ready to confront Claire.

"Your book is right here" Alex's voice stopped her. He was drawing a cartoon character in it. 

Ashley was so pissed off, she smacked his head hard. Everyone focused their attention on them.

Furiously, Alex tore out the first page of the note. 

"Stop it!" Ashley screamed as she tried to snatch her book from him. His hold on it was tight. 

"Let go of it!" Ashley yelled. Alex didn't let go until the book tore into two equal halves. 

Ashley stared at her book in disbelie and tears shone in her eyes.