Oh Calamity!

As the days went on I got more and more detentions I was in a hole I couldn’t get out of, I couldn’t tell Alex and Laura was just pushing to make it worse, I had 5 detention slips hidden in my bag, I didn’t go to Laura’s needing to try and get some work done before I got in too much trouble, I dumped my bag and went for a drink and then to get changed, I went down to get my bag to do work but Alex was standing looking mad, I froze but managed to compose myself
“Hey Alex” I smiled hoping I was just paranoid,
“what is this?” he said holing the detention slip out I couldn’t really see it but I knew what it was, I knew before he held it out, but there was only the one in his hand there were more in my bag,
“I don’t know I can’t see” I lied hoping I could get out of it somehow
“Ashleigh! Just don’t, I know you knew I had found them when I saw your face when you walked down”
“What are they?” Jack said walking in from the kitchen, Alex passed it to him
“See he didn’t know”
“Ash don’t” Alex said looking furious, I shut up,
“Why were you in my bag?” I said annoyed, realising he had to rummage through to find one
“your phone went off I was going to pass you it and this was under your phone, and I am allowed to check these things, so don’t talk to me like that, how many?” he asked I was hoping he wouldn’t ask and I could pretend it was the only one, I sighed
“5” I said quietly
“5? Seriously for god sake” he said getting more and more angry, I looked down I didn’t know what to say, and I was too nervous to speak and make it worse,
“You going to say anything?” he asked, I shook my head, scared
“Alex come on” Jack said quietly, he knew I never had anything to say if I was in trouble.
“Give me them and go to your room and do your work!” Alex shouted, I dug through my bag, handed him them and ran to my room with my bag, I spent hours doing work, I wasn’t caught up by a long shot but I wouldn’t get in any more trouble, after a few hours my door opened, I looked up to see Alex and looked down and kept working,
“Ash” he said gently, “stop working and talk to me” he said seriously, I knew I was going to hear it and I just wanted to avoid it, I sighed and put my pen down but couldn’t look at him,
“What happened?” he asked gently
“I don’t know” I lied, I knew Laura had pushed me but I didn’t know how to say that
“ok I’m only going to say this once, you are in enough trouble no lies, I know when you are lying and right now it’s only making things so much worse” Alex said, I looked up at him I couldn’t look him in the eye, not right now,
“I, didn’t do some of my work and then it just, it all snowballed, I didn’t know how to tell you I was in trouble but I couldn’t dig my way out of it, I came straight home alone to try and get some done, I knew it was getting too bad and you would find out soon”
“And how did it start?” he asked, I knew he had guessed, but I didn’t want to admit it,
“Ashleigh?” he said making me feel worse,
“Ok, I was spending too much time with Laura and she didn’t want to do homework” I admitted
“Why didn’t you just do it at home?”
“There was too much, I tried in the beginning then I just gave up when it got too much” I admitted looking down,
“ok well obviously you are grounded, for one month, no spending time with Laura, we will talk about her later, no mobile, no computer other than work and if you pull anything like this again you will be in so much trouble, I mean it hide stuff from me again and you will not get away so lightly”
“Ok” I said not looking at him,
“next time you get in trouble just tell me, I would have been mad with one detention but you would have probably got away with a talk, I would have kept an eye on you but I know everyone makes mistakes, hiding it and letting it get to this, lying about where you were, I thought I could trust you now, apparently I can’t, and don’t dare complain about me checking your homework, and I want to see your homework diary” I was hoping he wouldn’t do that, it wasn’t good, I got up and hesitated before I handed him it,
“ash I know it’s bad, I’m checking this every day anyway” he said looking through it I could see his face when he got to the weeks when it started, and as it got worse he looked so mad, then he stopped I wasn’t sure how far he went back but it didn’t look like he had read all of it
“seriously ash, come on this is ridiculous, I don’t want any attitude from you about home work at all, I want it all done, I will check it and maybe we will get back to how it was, and if I stop do not dare try this again, I mean come on what would your mum think if she were here? Well she wouldn’t, you wouldn’t dare do this if she were here, she would be so disappointed” he said ranting, every time I did anything wrong he brought her up and it killed me, I knew what I did was wrong and I knew she would kill me but he didn’t need to tell me that. I stayed quiet,
“I’m going to go make tea, I will call you when its ready” he said walking out, I sighed and lay down on my bed, now all I could think about was my mum, Alex was so mad at me I felt so alone, I heard a knock on the door but ignored it, I knew it was Jack and I didn’t want to talk, then I heard my door open, I ignored him trying to calm down before I looked at him
“Ash you ok?”
“I’m fine I don’t want to talk about it please leave me alone” I mumbled,
“Oh ash” he said he rubbed my back, so hiding my face didn’t hide my upset, “sit up” he said I sighed knowing he wouldn’t leave until I did,
“I’m fine” I said not looking at him,
“What happened?”
“He told me off, he’s mad what do you expect?” I shrugged
“No you aren’t just guilty you’re upset, I know the look on your face, what did he say?” I shrugged
“He said something? I was just throwing stuff out till you reacted. What did he say?”
“Nothing” I lied,
“Ash you know you will tell me, just get it over with so we can sort this”
“Sort what?” Alex asked at the door
“Something has upset her”
“She actually got wrong for once?” Alex shrugged
“Alex she is actually upset, look at her”
“Ok come down and talk tea is ready anyway” he said I sighed and followed. I sat down and ate my tea in silence, the guys were talking, Jack was asking what was said, and I wasn’t answering so Alex was,
“Ash stop ignoring us” Alex said sounding annoyed, snapping me out of my thoughts
“Sorry” I said quietly, his expression changed
“What’s wrong, something clearly is, just tell us?”
“I don’t want to talk about it” I said quietly, I didn’t want to make Alex feel guilty, it wasn’t his fault I was a screw up,
“Ash Jack said it was something I said just tell me please, I didn’t mean to do this” he said quietly
“I’m done I’m going to my room” I said running off, I knew they would follow but I panicked, I didn’t even get the door closed
“Don’t run off like that!” Alex complained “now tell us, I’m not going to drop this” he warned
“Alex let me talk to her first” Jack said standing inbetween us to calm things down, alex agreed and reluctantly walked out the room
“I know you don’t want to tell him at least tell me?” I sighed, I really didn’t want to tell either of them but nothing I could do would make him go away at this point,
“Fine” I sighed “he brought my mum up ok”
“What did he say?” Jack sighed knowing how easily that could go wrong between us,
“every time he gets mad he always says I wouldn’t do this if mum was here, like I don’t realise she would be disappointed in me, I get I’m a screw up I don’t need him to tell me and bring her up every time I do something wrong” I said feeling myself getting upset,
“oh ash, he doesn’t mean that, he wants you to realise you need to change, he feels the pressure to make sure you are as successful as when she was alive, when you’re not he feels like he’s failing too” I shrugged looking down Jack hugged me
“So why did you let yourself get dragged in to all of this, I knew something was up with you, you could have pulled away and work?”
“I didn’t want to lose my only friend ok? Which I’m probably going to now anyway”
“She’s not worth it if she ditches you for getting your work done. I know you would have worked if she would, you wouldn’t purposely do this, so if she’s pushing you not to work then you shouldn’t really hang with her, hang with us” Jack grinned
“Yey” I said rolling my eyes
“See there’s the normal ash” he grinned
“And now I’m stuck here for a month” I sighed, “with meeee” Jack laughed
“Oh man” I laughed feeling calmer, I never understood how jack could do that,
“You ready to tell me?” Alex said appearing at my door, I panicked, and didn’t know what to say,
“I need to know what I did ash” Alex said sitting next to me on my bed,
“I’m going to go, ash tell him ok it will be fine” Jack said and got up and left, I sighed
“So?” Alex asked I sighed I really didn’t want to tell him
“Well” I started “erm you mentioned mum” I paused,
“oh ash I’m sorry I was mad I shouldn’t have said that” he said putting his arm around me, I sighed and lent into him, “she wouldn’t be disappointed, I’m so sorry, I’m still mad at you but things will get better again ok, but I’ve got to ground you and you have to sort this ok” I nodded
“Now you coming down to watch some TV?”
“I’m going to do some more work”
“Look I want it all done but you need a break come on” he said, I nodded and followed him, we watched TV and talked a little.

Notes