Alex’s POV

I was waiting for Ash at our lockers. She had been called back by John as soon as the bell went. It was pretty weird, since teachers usually only did that when the student was in trouble. But Ash was a good student and John seemed to love the fact that she was able to play the piano so well, and not just play some chords to the most recent pop songs. You could say he favoured her pretty early on, not that he didn’t have any other favourite students.

So, anyway, I was waiting at my car, wrapping my hoodie around me tighter. It was late-mid October already and the weather certainly had cooled down. It no longer allowed shorts, and t-shirts were often just a bit too cold. Even though my mom told me I should have brought a jacket, I was of course being stubborn, and said I didn’t need one. I just hoped that the car wouldn’t break down, leaving us in this chilly breeze.

When Ash came walking out of the front doors of the school, I immediately perked up and unlocked the car, “so, what was it about?”

“It’s going to be a surprise,” she grinned like a fool and opened the door, throwing her bag in the backseat.

I joined her and put my keys in the ignition, “nothing bad?”

“Nothing bad,” she shook her head and smiled at me, as if I had something to do with it, “at least not so far…”

“You’re not going to tell me?” I raised an eyebrow and pulled out of the parking lot, driving down the road.

“Nope,” she giggled excitedly, “not yet.”

I shook my head at her and payed my attention back to the road. Now, you might be wondering my Ash was so excited. No, it probably wasn’t because of the news she heard just now… well, she did seem a bit more excited. But she had been like this for a while already. Luke had promised her to take her on a ‘romantic date’. I had no idea what that meant, but he told Ash to dress up nicely. Over time, I had learned to make my opinion less known, but I still thought that guy was a dickbag. I mean, how couldn’t I? He was a fucking asshole that was together with the girl I wanted. Nobody seemed to believe me, though. They all thought he was nice, but just didn’t know how to act around us. Yeah, right.

It was another day where my parents wouldn’t be home until later, and we decided to hangout at my place. This meant that I could use the actual living room, instead of the basement, which we often used for movie nights. We probably were still going to reside to that place, though… we feel more ‘at home’ there. But sitting in the living room, meant that I would be able to see Luke before Ash went out with him. I didn’t want him doing any stupid shit to her, of course I was going to want to secretly inspect him!

As soon as we got home, Ash ran upstairs to get ready, while I joined my friends in the living room. They had already found snacks, and had brought my acoustic guitar down from my room. I guess we always still played music, even though we weren’t actually having band practise. When I saw everybody already had a drink, I quickly went to the kitchen to grab myself one as well. I may or may have not added a shot of some sort of alcohol in it…

I sat down on the couch, and Jack turned to me, moving the guitar so neither of us would break it, “is Ash going to join us?”

I shook my head, and took a gulp of the weird mixture I made, before putting my feet up on the coffee table, “nope, she has that date with Luke, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Rian nodded, clearly also have forgotten about it, “now I get why she run up so quickly. I thought we were going to have to get mad at you or something.”

I rolled my eyes, of course they would think I would do something so stupid. Yes, I made the girl cry before, but I had changed. I would never ever to anything on purpose to make her cry ever again. That would be just very stupid of me. Like, seriously, I wouldn’t even sabotage her relationship with Luke, even though I really wanted to.

After a while of just fucking around and shit, the doorbell rang. I was about to get up and open it, but before I could even react, Ash was running down the stairs, surprising me she didn’t mess up her footing and tumble down, before opening the door. There were voices, and soon after, Ash returned in the living room, pulling Luke along with her.

“Ok, so I’m going to finish getting ready,” Ash announced, letting go of Luke’s hand, “and then I have to tell you all something!”

With that she rushed off, leaving Luke to awkwardly stand there. I shrugged, not really feeling it was my responsibility to make him more comfortable. Instead, I picked up the guitar and started strumming the chords to and singing Teenage Dirtbag, because, you know, what else would you do in a situation like this? I was about start off the second verse, when Luke cleared his throat loudly. However, I continued to play-

“Hey, buddy,” he was suddenly hunched behind me, whispering loud enough for the others to hear, in my left ear.

I put the guitar down and tilted my head slightly in confusion, “umm… hey?”

“You stay away from my girlfriend, you got it?” He grabbed both of my shoulders as if to threaten me.

I decided to push my luck and ask him why. If everybody said he wasn’t such a douchebag as I thought he was, then he probably wouldn’t do anything. But if he did, then what I had been saying the entire time would be correct. So, it was a win win situation.

“Are you being fucking serious right now?” his grip got tighter and it actually started to hurt, but I knew he was even stronger than that, “you know exactly why! I see the way you look at her, don’t try to tell me I’m wrong!”

“You’re wrong?” I knew I shouldn’t have said that, but I was just testing how far he’d go, making it come out like a question rather than a statement. But it was like he was asking for it, you couldn’t really blame me.

However, Luke did not seem to like my answer at all. He hit me on top of my head, hard enough to hurt me, but not too hard to give me any major problems. After he heard a groan from me, he went back to digging his nails into my shoulder blades, “you better fucking stay away from her!”

“Woah, dude, calm down,” Zack stood up for me. He was the shy kid, but if one of us was in trouble, he wasn’t afraid to intervene. After all, he was the muscle of the group… but he wasn’t near as muscled as Luke. There was no way Zack would win this fight if it came to it.

“Don’t you ‘dude’ me!” Luke harshly ripped his hands off me, and stood up quickly, glaring at Zack before turning to Jack and Rian as well, “you all better stay away from her, you got me!”

Before any of us could do or say anything back, we heard Ash’s bedroom door open. Luke immediately composed himself, changing back to the normal person we knew before. Was this guy was being fucking serious? I was about to call him out, when I was caught of guard my Ash. She looked absolutely stunning. She was wearing a red dress, black shoes, and her hair was put up. Everything about her was perfect. And then I was broken out of my daydream by her softly kissing Luke. Oh yeah, that guy was here still as well.

“Ok, so, what I wanted to tell you all,” Ash included us now as well, “my dad said my grades were a lot better here than in Germany, so he’s happy to let me finish off school here. He already sorted it all out with the school, so I get to stay here if I want!”

I was about to open my mouth, tell her that it was great news, and maybe even give her a hug. But Luke claimed her before any of us could do something. He wrapped her in a hug and it didn’t look like he was planning on letting go soon, knowing that he didn’t even want us around her.

“Now all I have to do is find a place to live, and I’ll be set,” Ash added after Luke finally decided to let her go, having a feeling that we all got the hint.

“You could move in with me!” Luke told her without even having to think about it. I choked on my own breath, but played it off like a normal cough. There was no way I was going to allow Ash to live with him! That would be so dangerous!

Ash looked at him, hesitating before giving him an answer, “I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“Why not?” he pouted, trying to guilt trip her. Oh boy, was he a fucking sneaky dude.

“Because I need to focus on school, and I’m not ready to have such a big commitment. Maybe after I graduate, but not any time soon,” she told him honestly.

“You know, I could always ask my parents if you can stay here until you figure that all out,” I suggested carefully, not wanting to set off Luke. He actually managed to scare me: he wasn’t afraid of hurting us.

“Thanks, Alex, I appreciate that,” she gave me a small smile before turning to Luke, “shall we go?” And with that they both said goodbye to us, even though Luke probably didn’t mean it, before walking out of the door.

What did I do? I just picked up the guitar and continued the song Luke made me cut off, “her boyfriend’s a dick!”

----
Ash’s POV

After our amazing date -- Luke had taken me out to a restaurant that was pretty fancy -- we decided to go to Luke’s place for a bit, since we still had some time to spare. I wasn’t on planning on having anything go down… but Luke had different plans. As soon as we entered the house, he pushed me up against the wall and started kissing me. I didn’t think too much of it then, since we had done that before. And soon after he started walking us to his bedroom before laying me down on the bed. He was hovering above and continued to kiss me. I tried stopping him a couple times, but he would just continue. None of my excuses had worked, and he just wouldn’t stop. I thought he was just joking and playing with me, so I didn’t give too much effort. However, when I saw the time, I realised I really had to go, and told him, but that didn’t matter to him at all.

“No, seriously Luke, I have to leave,” I giggled, trying to push him off of me.

Yet he still didn’t listen. Instead, he continued to kiss my neck, grinding against me, and feeling up my dress.

“Stop it,” I pushed him off and stood up, “seriously, what’s wrong with you?”

He stood up as well and grabbed my hips before lustily whispering, “I just want you.”

“And I just want to do my homework,” I grabbed his hands and threw them back at him, “I don’t want to do this with you yet!”

“You fucking bitch!” He shouted before bringing his hand up and slapping me across the face.

“What is wrong with you!” I screamed, bringing up my own hand to caress my face before running out of the house and into the pouring rain.

Notes

So, if you read my other story, you probably know why I haven't updated in sooooo long. School is really busy right now and I never have time to write after school (I only managed to write for this story because today is a public holiday). However, there are only 10 weeks left, and I hope to update at least 10 times (so, at least once a week). I can't promise anything, though.

But, ok, to the chapter itself. What do you guys think?
I know Ash's POV is very short here, but I needed it to cut off there.
What do you think will happen? Will they break up? Will Alex find out?