Ashton's PoV

Limping into the room, my eyes instantly fell onto Hannah and her smug group of friends. How should I play this? Call her out in front of the class or wait until she tries to tell me and shut her down? I think the latter may be better for both me and her; I'd give her the chance to say it and then BAM, I'd shut her up.
I was never one who cared about gossip, nor those who gossiped. It was a stupid thing and was nearly always filled with some sort of misinformation. Those who thrived off it were idiots and I did not want to associate with them.
I headed to my desk and sat down, the others filing in after me and taking a seat. Luke began a conversation with one of the popular girls just as Hannah caught my eye and smiled most innocently.

"Hey Ash. How are you doing?" She began, practically the whole class waiting for me to answer. All except earphones, who had her music in as always. I looked at her and back at Hannah, but I couldn't get her out of my head.

"Fine." I answered shortly in the hope Hannah would realise I didn't want to talk. My mind was still on earphones. I had to speak to her. Why did she try to come and see me after the accident? Was she okay after my friends decided to interrogate her? I don't know what drew me to her, but there was something about her that intrigued me - something real and raw.

"You know, Ashton, I heard amber cheated on you with-" Hannah began, clearly not taking the hint. I shot a glare up to her as I slammed my hand down on the desk.

"Kian. Yes I know." I snapped, causing everyone to straighten in their seats. The anger in my voice was unmistakeable. "And you were going to announce it in front of the whole class? What would have happened had I not known? Did you not care about how it might fucking affect me? No. Cos all you think about is yourself. You and trying to get into bed with me. You're fucking stupid if you think that's happening now. You're at the bottom of the list now, past the people I wouldn't even dream of having sex with." With one final roar of anger, I shoved my chair backwards and stormed out of the room - well as much as I could when I had a sling on my arm and a limp in my step. How fucking dare she. Hannah always thought she was the queen bee, always willing to throw someone under the bus if it meant bettering herself. I hated people like her but they were easy to manipulate. They were the quickest to become an ally when you needed and all you'd need to promise them was a date or sex. That's all they cared about, something else to add to their reputational CV. Something they could boast about to their friends so they could seem better than them. People like that didn't care if I fell off my bike and nearly broke bones and if I might actually have feelings and it would have hurt hearing those words spew from her lip-glossed mouth in front of everyone... they care about one person. Themselves.

Heading back into the bathroom, I kicked everyone else out of the room and sat back down on the toilet seat lid. This was becoming a habit. I'm Ashton fucking Irwin. I'm meant to be feared, angry and uncontrollable - instead I'm hiding out in a bathroom stool cos my feelings are hurt. What an idiot. Why was amber making me feel like this? What of those words she screamed at me was now stopping me being who I always had been? It was like she removed the chip that stored my personality and I was left with a few basics to tide me over. The guys were going to be mad at me. They already thought I was going soft and the truth is, I was. In any normal time, I would have launched at Kian and beat him up, not insulted the popular girl. I would have 'thanked her' for her services and getting me that information. I wouldn't have lost to Sirgani. I would have sought revenge and scared the shit out of him. Yet here I was.

BZZ

Reluctantly, I pulled my phone out. Who was it going to be this time?

Weirdo: I'm sorry it went down like that. I hope you're okay.

Me: what do you care? You don't know me.

Weirdo: Ashton, I'm just trying to be nice. Not everyone is devious. You should try accepting it sometimes.

I sighed at my phone. Despite almost every reply being horrible, this person on my phone screen was still there for me, still checking I was okay. It was a weird sensation, a warmth in my stomach as I thought about this secret person and how they'd actually been helping me. Without that text message before I got to class, I would have been humiliated. They stopped that.

Me: people aren't nice to people like me out of the goodness of their hearts. They always want something.

Weirdo: yeah actually. There is something I want.

I bit my lips together as my nostrils flared and I let out a huge sigh. Of course this was all a facade. Of course this person just wanted to use me to get something. And I was the fool who fell for it. For once, when that name popped up on my screen, I almost felt happy again. For once, I was beginning to let those walls down for someone just like I had with amber all that time ago. Fuck. Why did I have to be like this?

BZZ

The phone buzzed again, no doubt with the answer to what that person wanted from me. Did I even want to look at it? If it angered me, then it would be disastrous. I'd go on a spree of destruction just as I always would when words couldn't help how I felt. My friends would be the only ones that could pull me out of that. I knew I needed to control my emotions better but right now, as I held in my feelings and heartbreak for yet another day, I could feel the container ready to burst at the seams. I needed to let out my anger. I needed to let off some steam.

Already riled up, I decided checking the message wouldn't make much difference now. I unlocked my phone and opened the message.

Weirdo: What I want is for you to be happy.