Star Riddled Skies

The next morning I'm up at a decent time, throwing back my covers and standing. I lean over, stretching out all the way from my toes to my fingers. I reach and press the button on the side of my phone, illuminating the screen, signalling I haven't got a message, and I feel a lump rise in my throat.

I run my hand through my hair and stand up, grabbing my towel from my radiator and my iPod from my desk, slipping through into the bathroom, where I lock the door behind me, and switch on the shower.

I strip down and turn on my iPod, leaving it on the windowsill, on full volume, so I can hear it over the shower.

I dance along to the Adieu Club Mix and wash my hair, body and face, before climbing out and towelling dry, still singing along very loudly to Shikari. I lean over and pick up my iPod, seeing that it's later than I thought, and curse a little under my breath.

I realise it's a bit of a task to keep singing whilst brushing your teeth, and when I'm done I grab my iPod and hurry back into my room.

My phone starts blaring Johnny Sniper and I bound over, hoping it'll be Zach, but it's not.

"Hey Ra!" I say, a little disappointed but glad to be talking to my best friend.

"Hey lovey!"

"Ready for today?" She says happily, oblivious, of my disappointment.

"Yeah... you guys getting the bus in?" I hear a noise on the end of the phone and I realise it's Ra nodding her head and I smile, "Ra, you know I can't see you nod your head..."

"Oh, yeah," She says sheepishly, and I giggle, hunching up against my phone.

"Well I've gotta get ready lovey," I say, twiddling a strand of my wet hair round my finger, "Text me if Zach's at the bus stop,"

"Wh- Okay love," She says softly. "Love you, see you there."

"Love you too," I say, smiling a bit and hanging up, putting my phone on my desk and making sure my iPod's on maximum volume when Anything Can Happen comes on.

I dry my hair, pull on the same shorts and top from yesterday, and my leathers from the back of my chair.

I run a bit of wax through my hair, humming along to the song, smiling as I smear on my eyeliner.

I turn my iPod down a little, checking the time, and then shoving both the earphones into my ears, sliding the iPod into my pocket, along with my phone.

I pick up my helmet where Mum left it at the foot of my bed, and tie my jacket round my waist.

"Ash lets go!" Mum yells up the stairs and I yell back, hurrying out my room and down the stairs, where Mum's waiting, spinning her keys round her first finger.

I follow her out of the door, and into the car, where I'm smiling, excited, right until we pull up in the arena car park.

"You don't want me in there do you?"

I raise my eyebrows, not sure whether to agree or disagree, "No?"

"Oh," Mum says, smiling, "Good, there's a sale on at Debenhams,"

I grin and my hand finds the door handle, "See you later Mum,"

She says her goodbye and I cut off the end of it when I close the door behind me, helmet in one hand, jacket in the other, and start across the car park.

There's a few seconds silence and I'm in the middle of the car park with seemingly no people around.

"NOW!" I hear someone yell, and what seems like the sound of a million footsteps fill my ears, along with yells of 'Ash!', 'Wuhey!', and 'Charge!'.

I turn just in time to see twenty or thirty people running full pelt at me, some with fists in the air, all smiling.

Before I realise the whole gang pile on top of me, and I catch a glimpse of Justin's grey and green hardcore jacket, Kikii's cherry covered flats, and I hear Ra's giggle.

"GUYS!" I say when a foot collides with my stomach, "Stop!"

"Never!" Someone yells, someone I think is Matt, and suddenly hands are at my stomach, tickling and prodding so I can't help but laugh, so loud and hard that my throat hurts.

"Stop!" I screech, my voice sore in my throat, trying to breathe through laughing as Ra, Justin, Matt, Ollie, Kikii, Tom, and at least three other people, one of which I hope is Zach, though I can't see his hands on my stomach or under my arms, tickle me horribly.

I roll onto my side and curl into a foetal position, trying to hide all my ticklish areas from prying hands.

"Stop! Seriously! I've gotta get inside, Steve'll got ballistic!" I say through laughing, hoping I don’t die from lack of oxygen before I can these idiots off me.

"I think we should stop." Ra says, standing up and regarding me with her hands in her pockets, something I can see out the corner of my eyes, through the tears of laughter, "She's turning purple."

She offers me a hand and brushes her fringe out of her eyes a little, pulling me up. I look around wildly for Zach, hoping he'll be here, and whilst I'm getting seemingly endless hugs and good lucks I don't see him.

It's only when everyone starts walking towards the arena that I spot him, Drop Dead Umbrella shirt, Black hoodie, grey jeans, New Era hat, hanging around in the background, looking, for once, completely out of place.

I know something's wrong as soon as I smile at him and his own smile back is so weak it's barely visible.

"Zachy?" I say, walking up to him slowly, cautiously.

He seems to snap out of his daze and smile at me, forced almost, and I feel a strange lump in my throat. I cautiously link my arm with his, knowing that when something's wrong he'll snap at me and we'll be at each other's throats for the day. I'm thankful when he doesn't pull away.

"Good luck today," He says softly, not catching my eye, but instead staring at the floor, "You'll batter them."

I squeeze his arm in mine and smile, "Thanks." I'm glad when he squeezes back and I hope everything's okay.

"Where did you go yesterday?" I ask softly, cautious about approaching the subject.

For a moment I think he didn't hear me, or that he's ignoring me, but I see his lips move a few times before a sound comes out, "I had to go... I was talking to Justin then my... d- Mum, called and I had to go..."

My mouth makes a little 'oh' shape, and I can't help wondering about my text. I take a deep breath, "I text you?"

His arm stiffens next to mine and he stares straight ahead, concentrating as our feet move at a snail's pace, "It's...playing up, kept turning off." His tone signals it's the end of the subject, but I don't want to let it drop.

I stop and turn to him, grabbing his upper arms and staring straight at him, "No joke Zach. What's the matter?"

He just stares at me, his eyes full of meaning, meaning that I'm trying desperately to grab hold of. Now that I think of it, the skin around his left eye looks a slightly different colour, a darker more orange shade, concealer. Now I concentrate behind the makeup and see black, purple, blue. Zach sees me staring at the purple hidden beneath concealer and silently urges me on, to grasp what he's trying to say but can’t.

I finally get the meaning, finally realise what's happened, why he had to go, why he didn't answer his phone, why he's acting so weird, why his eye is bruised.

"Dad's back." He says simply.

It's a black eye.

I feel the tears spring to my eyes and will myself not to cry in front of him. It doesn't work and my eyes fill with salty water. The lump blocked my throat so I can't say anything, and I put my head down, pinching the bridge of my nose and feeling three or four tears slip down my cheeks.

I just walk away, hating myself for crying, hating Zach's dad for hitting him, hating Zach for letting this all happen, hating everyone for no apparent reason.

Just at the back of my mind, barely audible over my rasping breaths and roaring head, trying to stop the tears, I hear his sweet voice, "I'm so sorry Ash."

The door into the reception seems to bang louder than it should, and I say hello to the girl behind the desk, smiling and slipping off to the right to the changing rooms and waiting room.

I slip into the waiting room, seeing it horribly full, crowded and noisy, and knowing I wont be able to manage it, still holding back tears, I place my helmet and jacket on the seat near the door, and dodge back out of the room, avoiding Steve.

I quickly find the Ladies toilets and lock myself in a cubicle, letting all hell loose in my tears. I'm glad I'm the only girl in this stupid competition so no one else will come in here. I cry and cry and cry, wondering whether I'll ever stop, my throat raw and my eyes red.

The tears slowly stem and I feel so dehydrated, trying desperately to catch my breath. I stand up and unlock the cubicle, walking to the sinks and studying my reflection. I look horrible, red puffy eyes and blotchy face, but I take a deep breath and pull a few paper towels from a dispenser and mop up my face.

I take another deep breath, willing myself to concentrate on this afternoon, that I have to win this competition, for myself, for Steve, for what little self confidence and pride I have left.

I pull open the door to the corridor and I see a blur of black, white and grey. I know who it is and bury my face in his chest, wrapping my arms round his ribcage and squeezing hard. I burst right back into tears again and his own chest shakes against my cheek.

"I'm sorry Ash, I'm just so sorry."

I take a deep breath and try to stop, pushing a hand between us to wipe away my tears.

"I'm sorry for not doing anything." Zach says as he pulls away, and I force myself to smile, sniffing loudly.

"It's..." I take a deep breath, "It's okay."

He puts a hand on each of my cheeks and tilts my face to look up at him, "This is my problem Ash. I'll sort it out, I promise, and I won't let it rip us apart." He smiles, and it's so infectious I smile back, albeit weak.

"Ash!" I hear a voice from my right, and I look that way, seeing Steve looking harassed, "Where've you been?"

Zach and I pull away, not touching each other, and I feel almost embarrassed.

"Sorry, my friends jumped me in the car park and I had to go..." I raise my hand to the toilets behind me, then realise I don't have an excuse, but then I realise Steve's too stressed to care.

"Whatever." He says as he grabs my upper arm and pulls me into the waiting room. I smile at Zach just before he disappears.

Steve starts giving me the usual pep talk, one I know off by heart. I can't concentrate from my raw throat and achey eyes, so I zone out.

When Steve pats me on the back, wishes me good luck and goes outside, I survey the room as I sit in the seat next to my helmet. The room is full of boys, and I see at least half of them staring at me. One is looking at me with more malice that he should, and I can tell he'll want a confrontation.

"Oi, emo kid." He says harshly, walking up to me with far too much confidence.

I look up at him and the corner of my lip lifts in disgust, I didn't need this, not today.

"I'm talking to you," He spits.

"What? Talk then!" I spit right back, trying to stay calm even though right now I just want to hit him.

He snorts and goes to walk away, "Fuck you emo kid. You're just jealous."

It makes no sense, but now I'm just pissed off, this arrogant bastard just the icing on the fucking cake.

"Jealous? Of you? Please!" I stand, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Yeah, because I'll kick your ass in this competition." He states, turning back to me and scowling.

I walk forward and get right in his face, angry, "What makes you so fucking sure then?"

He leans down, getting in my face, and I get the overwhelming urge to spit at him, "'Cause you're a girl."

"Fuck you." I hiss softly as my right fists balls and I find myself hitting him across the cheek and nose, making him stumble back in surprise. He goes to punch me back but I beat him to it, hitting him in the same place, "Fucking sexist cunt."

Everyone's watching now, some cheering, others laughing, everyone in shock. The door bangs behind me but I don’t care, all I'm seeing is red.

I pull my arm back again but someone grabs it and pulls me away, "Ashton Campbell!"

Steve.

"Steve fucking let me go!" I screech as I watch the boy shuffle away and clamber up, blood tingeing the tip of his nose.

Steve starts dragging me backwards and I keep yelling, swearing, just because I'm so angry, and him, and the boy, at everyone.

"Let me go!" I screech again as he pulls me out the room and starts dragging me across reception, the few people staring.

"Ash be quiet." He hisses softly in my ear, still pulling me along.

"No!" I hiss, "Let me go beat the crap out of him!"

By this time Steve's dragged me up to the stands, and found the gang, pushing me into an empty seat. I still struggle and yell and Zach sits next to me, hand on my arm.

I stop struggling and he squeezes my arm a little. I just stare right ahead at the tallest ramp in the arena, but I'm not really seeing it.

"Ash." Steve says, a hand on each of my shoulders, "You gotta calm down."

"But I wanna go beat the crap outta him!"

"What did he do?" Ra asks over Steve's shoulder and I take a deep breath, breathing out through my nose as just thinking about it pisses me off.

"He was being a sexist cunt." Steve tuts a little, he hates me using 'cunt', "Said he would kick my ass 'cause I'm a girl."

Zach snorts next to me, "Yeah right."

I just smile and take a deep breath to try and calm down again.

"Please can I go kill him Steve?" I ask sweetly and Steve just laughs.

"Nope. You've gotta kick his ass in this competition, you'll get disqualified if you beat him up." He smiles, and looks over his shoulder, then at his watch, "I better go. Five minutes Ash, then back downstairs to the waiting room."

We watch Steve go then I growl in frustration and look at Ra, "Give us a fag love?" I ask, my voice rough, still a little angry.

Ra laughs and obliges, murmuring 'Addict' as she pulls one from a packet and lights it from her own.

I snort in laughter as I take it from her, "You can talk, you little hypocritical hoe bag." I smile and lean up from my seat to hug her to show I'm joking, and she laughs in my ear. I breathe in my best friends smell and suddenly I feel alright. I don’t feel angry or sad, I feel like I'm going to win this.

I kiss her cheek and smile at her, whispering in her ear, "Thanks lovey. It's what I needed."

Ra shoots me a look but I don’t need to explain, not until later when she drags me back to her house and wont let me leave.

I take a few drags off my cigarette and lean against Zach as the gang mill round, watching the people and bikes warming up in the arena below. Zach leans his head on mine and I smile, placing my hand over his on my arm. Someone murmurs something about five minutes and I jump up, stubbing out my cigarette butt on the floor, hugging Ra, Zach and anyone else I could. Someone appears in front of me with an oblivious smile and I feel my heart sink a little.

I hug him quickly, as quickly as I could, then hiss to Ra as I walk past, "Who invited Sam? He's not gonna leave me alone."

"I'll walk you to the waiting room." Ra says loudly as an excuse and links her arm with mine as we start down the few steps to reception.

"He was just there at the bus stop, and we couldn't, like, say he couldn't come. I know he fancies you and I swear he's trying to get between you and Zach, but me and Justin are doing everything we can to stop him and get you and Zach together, you're perfect."

I smile and feel this warm rush for my best friend, reaching out for her as we reach the waiting room door and hugging her hard. She squeezes me back and kisses my cheek, "Kick their asses sweetie."

I smile, just beyond words at this girl, and slip into the waiting room, quickly finding my jacket, slipping it on and holding my helmet. I find Steve and he hugs me hard, telling me I'll be last out, out of ten people. I hate being last, it's the waiting that I hate, so I pout at Steve and ask if I can go back up the stands with the gang, but he shakes his head and squeezes my shoulder in a way he thinks is reassuring.

"The only reason I let you up there before is because they're the only people who can calm you down, I know that about you." I smile and hop forward, kissing his cheek and hoping back to see him blush just a little.

"You're too cute, stop it."

It's a joke we've had for a while, both of us thought the other fancied us, when he first started teaching me, and when it came out neither of us did, we haven't let it drop.

"Sorry Steve!" I exclaim, placing my hand over my chest, "My heart belongs to another!"

I'm masking my nervousness with humour, and I have a feeling Steve is masking his apprehension in the same way.

"Zach." He coughs quietly into his fist and I make a shocked face, hitting his arm, "AHA! She didn't deny it!" Steve shrieks, pointing at me and almost addressing the whole room, though none of them are listening, competitors and trainers deep in tactics and pointers.

"Shuthefuckup." I murmur as I blush, and take my place in a hard plastic seat and cross my arms with my helmet on my lap.

When 'Tim Potter' is called I place him as the sexist guy and he shoots me a glare before going out the other door, I get up and follow him, standing in the entrance to the arena, the bikes behind me. I cross my arms over my chest and watch him intently.

He's not that good, no fancy tricks, though the basic tricks he pulls are textbook perfect arms and legs, there's no flair in his tricks.

I let a smile flicker across my lips as his score's announced and he pulls his bike to a stop near the door. I let my smile morph into a smug one as I realise I could easily beat his score, and I step to the side to let him through, begrudgingly.

I watch the next guy, and I can tell he's older and more experienced than the others, and I'll have a hard time beating him. He's got flair, and his tricks are perfect. I'm glad I've got my big finale up my sleeve, and I hope that'll win.

He pulls to a stop and I actually smile at him, showing some kind of reaction to an opponent in the whole of my competitive career. I'm next, and I find my helmet and jacket, shrugging them on and finding my bike, climbing on.

"And finally," An over exaggerated voice says over the tannoy, "Our final competitor, the only girl in this competition." I hiss under my breath as a murmur runs through the crowd, "Ashton Campbell!"

I kickstart my bike, swinging my legs over and riding out into the arena. There's a howl of high-pitched screaming that I know is the gang, and it makes me smile behind my helmet.

I do a lap round the outside of the ramps, suddenly turning in to one of the small ones, pulling a simple but perfect trick over it before landing. I hear the gang cheer again and giggle behind my visor, stopping as I turn at the end of the circle, back towards another ramp.

I go through my routine, getting several cheers at the fancier tricks, and I'm concentrating so much I don’t hear the deep voice commentating on my tricks. I kick out the back tyre when I almost hit one of the padded walls, and take a deep breath as the next trick is the big one.

I rev the bike up, and feel the engine strain underneath me, as I force myself to keep the brake on, until the engine revs so loud it almost drowns out everything else. I release the brake and feel the surge of power reach the wheels. I'm concentrating so hard I can feel every miniscule bump and dip in the sand, every millimetre the wheels turns left and right.

The grip on the wheels changes as I move from dirt to the metal of the ramp. I can hear the commentator speculating what trick I'm going to do and smile, he doesn't expect it. I feel both wheels leave the ramp and I get the weightless feeling for a split second before gravity kicks in. I push the bike away and throw the handlebars to one side, concentrating on keeping my legs and arms straight, the bike under control.

There's silence around me, even the commentator silent. I pull the bike back towards me and wrap my legs back round it. I'm still quite far away from the ground, and correct the bike, making sure its vertical, and decide to put a little flair into the landing. I take both my hands off the bars and hold the bike with my legs, making a T shape with my upper body. The bike hits the ground and jerks with the impact, as I leave it as short as I can, before grabbing the handlebars.

Cheers roar through my ears and I grin, swinging the bike round and turning the engine off. I breathe in and out, feeling the excitement and adrenaline, since everyone is still cheering.

I stand on the pegs and raise my hands in the air, smiling. The crowd reacts louder and as I climb off my bike and wheel it back to Steve, he greets me with a flying hug. Over his shoulder I rip my helmet off and he kisses my cheek.

"You were fantastic!" He says, putting me down and we both turn to wait for the scores, "That no hander at the end has got to have pulled it your way."

I hide in my forearms, covering my face, as the commentator waits until the scores are tallied.

Last place, sexist cunt.

Yes!

He climbs up the table, until he reaches second place, and my name hasn't been mentioned. Neither has the boys I smiled at. It's me or him. I cant take the nerves and my forearms start shaking as I hear Steve let out a constant stream of swears under his breath.

"Second place... Goes to... Curtis Kitching!"

"OH MY HOLY FUCK!" I scream, leaping up and down, turning and reaching to kiss Steve briefly.

Everyone murmurs, but some of the sportsmanlike ones clap and smile at me. I smile and calm down a little, identifying Curtis and shaking his hand.

"Well done love." I say and he smiles.

"You too."

I smile and move off, congratulating everyone else, except the sexist cunt, Tim Potter, until I smile a little evilly and approach him. He looks almost wary of me as I offer my hand.

"Told you so." I say sweetly, holding his hand a little too tight, and when I let go he shakes his fingers a little and pulls a face. I walk away before he can reply, and the commentator calls the top three onto the podium.

I fix my hair a little and take my place, smiling widely as I see the gang, their very bad dancing and loud, loud cheering.

A smiling blonde girl comes upto me and hands me a small trophy, and as she lets go I feel the weight of it in my hands.

This is real.

I don’t think I can smile anymore. Someone passes me a microphone and my voice shakes a little as I speak into it.

"Uhm, this is so cool... I don’t quite know what to say, but thanks to... god, this sounds cheesy, but thanks to my friends, and my mum, even though she isn’t here... damn, this is so cool!" I laugh a little and look around, lost, before passing the microphone back. Curtis and the boy in third place who I cant quite remember the name of do a little speech and as the commentator says words I don’t register the crowd spills over the barriers onto the dirt.

I see Zach and Ra running towards me, Zach reaching me first, wrapping his arms round me and lifting me clean off the podium. I raise the cup in the air and grin as he spins me round.

"Well done! Oh my god, you were amazing!" He sets me down and hugs me tight, smiling against me, finally letting me go when Ra swears at him.

"Oh my God, baba!" She kisses my cheek and holds me close, lifting me up and spinning me round so I almost feel dizzy, "You won, oh my fucking god!"

Suddenly the gang is round me, and I'm being lifted clean off my feet. I keep smiling until my jaw aches, but I can't stop.

I feel so light-headed from happiness that I think I'm going to faint, but I don’t care, pushing it away and landing nimbly on my feet when I'm put down. We keep cheering over and over until our throats are sore, but we're not stopping, far too happy.

Everthing ends and we calm unwillingly, and I end up sat in the dirt between Ra and Zach, still laughing, still hyper, still smiling, and we're greeted by stares as the arena empties around us.

"This is so cool!" I giggle, lifting my cigarette to my lips and taking a drag.

"I know!" Ra giggles back, shuffling into Justin's lap.

Zach pulls me closer with his arm round my shoulders, "Walk with me?" He says again in my ear, and my heart jams itself in my throat.

We clamber up and walk slowly towards the open waiting room door, where Zach turns to look at me, right it my eyes.

"You were amazing today..." Zach says, fiddling with my fingers a little nervously between us, it makes my skin tingle.

"Thanks Zacky..." I say, still not able to speak properly from my heart in my throat.

"Ashy Ashy Ashy..."

"Zachy, Zachy-" I'm cut off by a voice at the door and every part of my body sinks in dissapointment.

Sam.

"Your mums here Ash... You were fantastic today." He sounds oblivious, but I bet he did this on purpose, just like Ra said.

I hug Zach hard and he lifts me off the ground like he's taken to doing over the past few days. I smile at him, and dodge out the room, grabbing Ra's hand, yelling goodbye to the group and legging it out of the room.

"I need some best friend time." I mutter to Ra as we go through the reception and she wraps an arm round my shoulders.

"Sure baba." She says, her new word over the past day or two.

We jog to the car, where Mum winds down her window and sees our smiles, "Did you win?"

"Hell yes Mum! It was amazing! I won!" I screech, Ra and I jumping up and down in our spazzy victory dance.

"Congratulations love." She says, leaning out the window to kiss my cheek.

"Mu-um," I whine, striking my 'cute' pose, "Can Ra come back for a bit?"

"Sure." Mum says, jerking her head towards the back seat and I squeal a thank you as Ra and I throw ourselves in the back seat.

"You and Zach?" She whispers in my ear as I sit in the seat in the middle, instead of the opposite side.

I turn to her and rest our foreheads together, "I really like him."

"I know baba." She says, smiling.

"I wish something happened today though..." I say thoughtfully, biting my lip.

"It will. I promise."

And being my best friend, I believe her.