Keep your friends close and your enemies, closer

The weekend passed by terribly slowly. That was probably because I was waiting for something to happen. Or, maybe, for someone to call. But nope, Kent hadn’t tried to contact me at all. I would know. I waited all two days for him.

Things can’t turn back to normal. It just can’t. It won’t. Not after that kiss.

Why not? You’re a bad kisser, and he’s probably trying his hardest to stay away from you.

Was I even talking to you?

Who else would you be talking to?

I cursed under my breath. She was right. (After much deliberation, I have decided to call my evil conscience Lynn.) Who else would I be talking to? I mean, I was having a conversation with myself.

“You ready to leave, Ash?” Ranger called from the top of the stairs. I inclined my head to look at him. He already had his school bag slung over one shoulder, and was now descending the stairs.

I nodded and picked up my bag that was thrown carelessly near the coat rack. I walked past the open door and lightly tossed the key to Ranger. He turned away from me and locked the door shut.

I threw my backpack to the backseat and jumped over the car door to get to the passenger seat. Ranger made an irritated sound at the back of his voice, as he opened the car door on his side and sat on the driver seat. “Can’t you just use the door like everybody else?”

I shook my head, and fastened my seat belt. While Ranger was just starting up the engine, I turned on the radio and blasted it up. I frowned when they played the song ‘Baby I love you’ by 1st Lady. It didn’t help that the song related to my feelings.

I needed to keep my mind off of Kent. I knew I was definitely going to see him in school, so right now, it would be best if I didn’t have to think about him just yet. I turned the radio to another station and leaned back against the seat, as Ranger started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. Unbelievably, it was playing the same song! I stared at the stupid radio in disbelief. What is this world coming to?

“Um, Ash? Can you just pick something?” Ranger asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

I clicked another button and I practically sighed in relief as that station was playing Hand of Blood by Bullet for my Valentine. I never really liked screamo music, but I think Bullet’s pretty good.

“Is something wrong, Ash?” Ranger asked uneasily, looking at me with concern before facing the road once again.

“What makes you think something’s wrong?” I retorted, facing away from him. Ranger knew me very well. He was the only one who knew how I was feeling even though I had the ability to control my emotions.

“Just a guess.” He muttered. I resisted the urge to pull a face at him. I knew how he knew there was something wrong. All throughout the week I was… not me, you could say. “You want to talk about it?

I just shook my head and closed my eyes, thinking of nothing but the lyrics the singer was spitting out.

“I saw you look away,
is what you've seen too much to take or
Are you blind and seeing nothing?
(I saw you run) I saw you run away,
Is what I’ve done too much to take or
Are you scared of being nothing?”

“Ashlynn.” Ranger began.

“Yeah?” I replied, still not looking at him.

“Dad called while you were sleeping. He asked if we wanted to go to Wisconsin Friday.”

“What for?” I peeked at him through one eye.

“I don’t know. Holiday, I think. Apparently, Mom and he are free. They start work about three days later.”

“Are you going?”

“Yeah. Anything to get away from school. Are you?”

“I don’t think so.” He was smart enough to know not to push for a reason.

Ranger stopped the car as soon as the song finished. I opened my eyes and couldn’t say I was surprised to see that we had already arrived in school. I reached over my seat to get my backpack but my arms were too short. I had to climb over the seat a little to reach it.

“Ashlynn! Can you get your butt away from me?” Ranger inquired, getting out of the car and slamming the door shut. He walked over to the backseat and picked up his backpack. I got out of the car too, and walked alongside Ranger as he locked the car with his keys.

We walked past the school hallway and headed to homeroom. The gang was already there, Kent included. The moment my eyes met his, he quickly averted his gaze to his desk. I suppressed a sigh. I had a feeling things might turn out like this.

I took my seat next to Kent and just slumped down in it. If he didn’t want to talk to me, fine. Two can play at that game.
~

My God! Not talking to Kent was difficult. It was only fifteen minutes after first period, and I was already literally on the edge of my seat, biting my nails. I was so… used to talking to Kent everyday; I never knew how much his conversation meant to me.

I wasn’t going to give in, though. No, I wouldn’t be the one to start the conversation with him. That would mean he had won, and I wouldn’t have that. No. I WILL NOT GIVE IN!

“I’m glad you ‘will not give in’, Ashlynn,” Mr. Flores voice instantly brought me back to the present. “But will you please ‘not give in’ during lunch?” He asked wryly, staring at me over his glasses. I looked around me.

I was so caught up with my resolution, I hadn’t realised that I had actually jumped out of my seat and shouted it to the whole class, who were now staring at me like the weirdo I was.

“Sorry, Mr. Flores. What I meant was,” I tried to think of some excuse to save my cool. “I will not give in to… to… to those monkeys!”

Monkeys? Way to save it, Ash.

Shut it. You have a better idea?

Mr. Flores was now staring at me incredulously. Well, at least his expression wasn’t as bad as the class’s. They were staring at me as if I just told them whales could do the Macarena.

“Yeah. You know the monkeys? A bunch of evil creatures, let me tell you. All they ever think about is bananas. Well come on. That’s bound to give us some sick ideas.” I blabbered on, even making hand gestures to make my stupid idea seem plausible.

“THANK you, Miss Perez.” Mr. Flores interrupted my blubbering nonsense so sharply, I immediately sat back down on my seat. “As we were saying, before Ms Perez decided to share her opinion as to why monkeys are evil,” Cue retarded expression from the teacher. Ah, there it is.

I closed my eyes and groaned softly as I started to bang my head quietly against the table. Why, oh why, did I have to say monkeys? This was all Kent’s fault.

Oh, come on. You know you don’t believe that.

You better shut that thought, you ninny.

And if I don’t…?

(strangles Lynn) That’s what’ll happen.

You know I didn’t feel a thing right? You know I can’t, since I don’t have feelings right? That was simply a figment of your imagination, which does absolutely nothing to me.

AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!

I couldn’t believe it. I was going mental. Here I was, in the middle of a classroom, having an internal debate. No matter what evil Lynn says, this was all Kent’s fault.