[Ashton's POV]

[Sophomore Year]

I didn't know her very well, but to say that I didn't admire her would be a lie. She was someone who intimidated me to no end and still, I always gravitated toward her. Charlie Brennan. It's not that she didn't get along with people. It was just that people didn't seem to want to talk to her. Because with just a single look, it was obvious that there was something special about her and everyone knew it.

I remember the first time I heard her sing. It was like any other day where, after school, I would go to one of the private rooms in the music department to practice my drumming. Her voice had been the pure sound I have ever heard, halting me in my steps. The words just flowed so easily from her lips. After that day, I would sit outside whatever room she would be practicing in and just listen.

There was one time I spoke to her, more or less. She must have seen me standing outside the door, how I don't know, because I had always been pretty good at hiding myself from others. Her voice cut off and within seconds we were face to face with each other. What did I say to the pretty girl with the perfect voice?

Nothing. Whatever I had been hoping to say came out in a stuttering mess of incoherent syllables. What had gotten me was that she didn't laugh and she didn't put me down for not knowing how to speak to her, like most other girls in our school would have. She looked surprised at first, but then just smiled the most breathtaking smile I had ever seen. And then I turned on my heels and practically ran out of the school building. I was quite a smooth talker back then.

Charlie never sang at school after that. I was positive it was my fault. Or maybe she just switched up her schedule and was there when I wasn't. Either way, I was not happy with the fact that I could no longer hear her beautiful voice.

High school isn't fun for anyone, let us be honest. But it was a lot harder for an Australian who had to move across the world to live with his grandmother because his own mother couldn't 'deal' with him.

When I first moved to Arizona, I was thirteen. Maybe if I had been younger I would have been able to make more friends, but kids were cruel. Everyone already had their friends, their groups, their cliques. They didn't need some awkwardly-tall-for-his-age kid coming in and trying to disrupt what was already built. That's why I felt like there was a connection between Charlie and I. We were both outsiders. The only difference was that Charlie wanted nothing more than to fit in.

I was comfortable with being alone. I was used to it. But it seemed as though Charlie craved attention. It wasn't in a bad way, she just wanted other people to accept her for who she was, though that never seemed to happen. She tried all throughout high school to get noticed, even by one person, but it never happened. So we both went along being alone.

Could she really not see me? We were in plenty of classes together. We sat by ourselves a table away from each other during lunch. It was like she didn't want to see me. It was like that one time she caught me outside her practice room was the only time she had ever noticed me.

. . . . .

A/N: Sorry for a short first chapter! They'll get longer as the story progresses. The first three chapters are all backstory, so they will mostly be narration, but after that it will pick up.

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