The Best Mistake

Two weeks of community service.

A you’re-so-grounded-for-life lecture.

A very pissed off teenage girl.

A very pissed off teenage boy.

A very large debt the teenage boy still needed to pay.

Those are the only five things that came out of what happened yesterday. Luckily, the old lady didn’t sue Nash and I or something. All we ended up with was two weeks of community service- no matter how many times I tried to convince the police that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Clearly, my argument wasn’t believable in the slightest.

My mom had been beyond angry when I called her to tell her that she needed to get me from the police station. I was thankful that my time was limited, so I had quickly told her I loved her and to hurry, before hanging up. I had gotten the information for my community service and by the time my mom got there, I was ready to go. Although I’d rather be in a holding cell than spend the next three hours of my life trying to reason with my mother and being yelled at.

Nash completely blamed me for getting caught. He thinks it was because I had started an argument and was being loud- because when he broke the window, it was totally quiet. This accusation, of course, turned into another argument. And I guess after a while the cops got tired of our bickering and made me sit across the room on a bench. So… I didn’t really know where Nash and I stood at the moment.

“Ashlyn! Hurry up!” Mom said, banging on my door. “We need to leave in order to get to the park on time!”

Did I mention that my mom took away my driving privileges and she insists that she will take me everywhere from now on? Or did I mention how my two weeks of community service will be picking up garbage from the park? “I’m coming, mom!” I called as I slipped on my worn out tennis shoes. I heard my phone beep, signaling I had a text message. I walked over and saw I have a text from Kat. I clicked ‘Open’. have fun on your glorious first day of being a garbage bitch. ;) xoxox. I rolled my eyes, not bothering to respond. Everybody else found my punishment funny.

I hurried down there stairs to find my mom waiting by the door, tapping her foot impatiently. “Are you sure I can’t just drive myself?” I questioned. “I mean, really, I’m not going to risk jail time and extra fines!”

She crossed her arms. “You’ve proved to be irresponsible and you’re gonna have to pay the consequences,” she said.

“Isn’t community service and groundation enough of a consequence?”

“Groundation isn’t a word, sweetie,” she informed me. “And this is punishment for leaving Aurora at the mall yesterday.”

“In my defense, it was never said that I was going to take her home,” I defended.

She rolled her eyes, grabbing her keys. “Are you ready?” she asked.

“Yeah, just let me grab a Poptart,” I grumbled, walking into the kitchen and took the Poptart off of Alex’s plate.

“Hey!” he whined.

“Just get another one, I’m in a hurry,” I begged. “Thanks, Superman! You saved my day!”

“I can’t believe you bribe your little brother by praising him like he’s a superhero,” Mom sighed, as I walked back into the living room. I shrugged, chewing on my Poptart as I followed her out to the dark blue station wagon.

The ride to the park wasn’t short, but it was completely silent and I pretty much ran out of the car. I checked in with the cop that was supposed to be supervising- by supervising, I mean reading a newspaper and eating a big cheeseburger about two-hundred feet away from where we’d be working- and then I grabbed my trash bag and poking thing and walked off.

There were a couple other kids picking up trash, but I didn’t know why they were here and I didn’t want to end up having a conversation with some creep convict, so I went off and started my own little area. I was singing lightly to myself as I did so. Given the circumstances, this really wasn’t that bad.

“Your singing is terrible.” Oh wait, I spoke too soon.

“Go away, I’m trying to work off these charges,” I said, focusing on the trash below me and not looking at the dark-haired boy.

Nash barked out a laugh. “Charges that you brought upon yourself,” he said.

I turned around, glaring at him. “I was trying to help you out!” I snapped.

“Hey, you didn’t need to follow me,” he said calmly. How the hell can he be like this?

“You know, if I was a violent person, this poking thing would be shoved up your ass by now. Multiple times,” I threatened.

“It’s called a trash stick, you know.”

“I honestly couldn’t care less.”

“Feisty today, are we?”

“Well let’s see,” I started as I walked a little closer, before counting off on my fingers. “One, I’m up at nine in the morning poking trash. Two, I’m grounded for life! Three, my car privileges are taken away for God knows how long. Four, my so called boyfriend is a-“

“Complete asshole,” we both finished at the same time. I glared at him. He just shrugged. “Hey, I warned you from the start that I wouldn’t be the best boyfriend,” he defended himself.

“But you’re not even trying!” I said desperately.

He narrowed his eyes at me. “How the hell do you know whether or not I’m trying?” he growled at me. “I’m trying, but apparently that’s not good enough for you. And I understand that, but you don’t need to be a complete bitch about it.”

“You’re blaming me for this-“ I waved my arms around to prove my point. “- when it isn’t even my fault! You broke the window; which is what most likely tripped an alarm or something!”

“I was trying to get the money to pay that guy back so he doesn’t kill me!” he said through clenched teeth. “You can’t blame me for getting your ass in trouble, when you didn’t even need to be there!”

“If you would just listen to me and let me try to help you-“

“I told you I didn’t need your charity, nor do I want it,” he told me.

“Let me finish!” I snapped. “I could talk to my mom and Jeremy.”

He snorted. “What’s that gonna do?” he asked. “They both probably hate me.”

I sighed, not being able to argue with that. “They’re not exactly… happy with your presence at the moment, but all I need to do is explain. Say that you want to turn things around,” I tried. “My mom knows people at the board of ed; she might be able to get you back into school for you senior year. And Jeremy might be able to hook you up with a job at where he works or something.”

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. “It’ll never work,” he finally said.

“You’ll never know until you try,” I said. I dropped the trash bag and poking thing, taking a few steps closer to him before hesitantly reaching for his hand and lacing my fingers through his. “And I want to be there right beside you. I know you can do it, Nash. You just have to try.”

He chewed on his bottom lip as he stared at our hands, thinking it over. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he sighed and gripped my hand back. He stared at me as he brought his hand to my cheek and leaned down to kiss me, his lips lingering a few seconds before he pulled away, resting his forehead on mine. “I guess,” he paused. “I guess if you have this much faith in me, I can try too.”

I grinned, and leaned up to kiss him. “Hey! You two! Get back to work!” I pulled away quickly, blushing as the large cop glared at us.

Nash gave him a half smirk, before saluting him with two fingers. “Aye aye, cap’n!” he called, before turning to me and winking. “He’s just jealous he doesn’t have a girl like you.”

I felt my blush deepen. “Shut up,” I mumbled, picking my things back up and getting back to work, not being able to suppress my smile.

I had a feeling things would finally start going well.