Picturing Different Read online

  Ashlyn froze when she scanned back to the boys she had been carefully watching moments earlier. Their attention was all directed to one thing. Her.

  Chapter 3

  Ashlyn took her time getting to class after lunch. She sent a text to Eric to see if he was at least working on his assignments that had been sent home with him; however, she didn’t expect a response before her next class started. At least she was thankful that the day was more than halfway over, and tomorrow was Friday.

  “Barely made it,” Mrs. Cohen greeted Ashlyn just as she slipped in the room with two other students upon the ringing of the tardy bell. “Looks like today is your lucky day,” she said, causing Ashlyn to stop immediately.

  All science rooms had tables of two instead of desks. Upon returning for the spring semester a few weeks ago, Mrs. Cohen made all the students draw numbers for a new seating arrangement. With twenty-one students in the class, one person had to be the odd man out. Ashlyn didn’t mind that she didn’t have a seatmate, and when it came to partner work, Mrs. Cohen always let her join and make a group of three.

  She wouldn’t have used the word lucky to describe her situation when she looked at her table near the back window.

  “But, Mrs. Cohen,” Ashlyn began, her voice full of panic.

  “Please take your seat,” she insisted. “We have a full lesson today and can’t waste a minute.” Mrs. Cohen then grabbed a handful of dry erase markers from a container on her desk and went to the white board, already rambling about geology.

  Ashlyn could feel his eyes upon her, but she refused to acknowledge him. Instead, she placed her overly large tote bag on the edge of the table and dropped her backpack to the floor. She quickly rummaged through it and withdrew her earth science notebook and a pen. Mrs. Cohen meant business and unless she went off on a tangent, her notes could be hard to keep up with.

  “I think the universe is trying to tell us something,” a joking voice whispered.

  Ashlyn tightened her lips and dug her pen into the paper a little harder than usual. “We’re on geology. Astronomy isn’t until later. Check your syllabus.”

  “Cute,” was all Tripp said in response.

  Thankfully halfway through class Laura asked a rather simple question, but it led to a huge explanation from Mrs. Cohen. This was generally why every class period was a full lesson, as they never really got through the planned lesson; however, everyone gave Laura praising smiles at getting the chance to rest their hands.

  Unfortunately for Ashlyn, this meant that Tripp took Mrs. Cohen’s long and drawn out explanation to engage in unwanted conversation on Ashlyn’s part.

  Tripp brought his hands up like in prayer so that they mostly covered his face and turned toward Ashlyn. “I asked about you.”

  That got Ashlyn’s attention and she snapped her head toward him. “Oh, yeah,” she whispered back. “What did you find out?”

  A sinister smirk came to his face. “That you have a boyfriend.”

  Ashlyn couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across her lips. “I told you,” she shrugged.

  “I was hoping you were lying,” he said with a seriousness that Ashlyn didn’t expect.

  “Well, I wasn’t. Are you always so forward? You know nothing about me–”

  “Hence why I asked you for your number.”

  “You know what I think,” Ashlyn paused, still thinking.

  Tripp rolled his eyes. “I guess you’re going to tell me.”

  “I think that you think you can come in here all charming and attractive and get any girl you want because you’re the new guy. You’re something different, but I can see through that. You’re just a flirt, and I have no intention of playing whatever little game you’re trying here.” She let out an exasperated breath.

  Tripp raised his eyebrows to silently ask if she was done. When she didn’t respond, he replied with a soft chuckle that only she could hear. Her angry scrunched up face only made him laugh more.

  “What,” she hissed. She intended to put him in his place. He wasn’t supposed to be laughing at her.

  He leaned in more closely, so close that Ashlyn could see the little flecks of gold that made his brown eyes appear lighter. “You just called me charming and attractive.”

  Ashlyn’s jaw dropped and she thought over what she just said. While technically she used those words, she was not saying that she found him to be those things.

  Before she could find a way to respond, “It’s all good. The guys told me all about your boyfriend. They said if I knew any better, that I should back off before ever starting. They also noted that you were extremely loyal, and I didn’t stand a chance anyway,” he concluded, just as the bell rang.

  Tripp made it seem as though it was no big deal and he had already gotten bored. As Ashlyn gathered her things, she couldn’t help but watch as he casually left the classroom, two girls already scurrying after him.

  He’d have no problem having his choice of girls. With his confidence and looks, Ashlyn knew that it would only be a matter of time before girls were fighting over him.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  “Nice work on the sign,” Ellis scoffed, plopping down at the lunch table.

  “Ugh,” Emory huffed, although she still made room for him. “Why aren’t you eating with Abby today?”

  “She has an attitude and I don’t feel like dealing with her. Where are the other two?”

  “They have names you know. June is at lunch tutorials for band and Kayla got sick over the weekend,” Emory said, filling Ellis in.

  Just then, Deacon and Tripp strolled up. Deacon rarely ever joined the girls anymore unless Ellis was gracing them with his presence. Usually that only occurred when he and Abby were having a fight, which seemed to happen on a weekly basis now.

  “As I was saying,” Ellis began. “Your sign sucks.”

  “Shut up, Ellis,” Emory shouted.

  “It’s fine,” Ashlyn told her friend. “I worked on it all Saturday. It’s a big sign and I had to get all the base work done. Not like you’d know anything about art,” she snapped back at Ellis.

  “It’s just a sign. Don’t go all Picasso on it,” he huffed.

  “I’m confused,” Tripp chimed in.

  Ashlyn went back to her food and said nothing. So far, she had done a pretty good job of ignoring his unwanted and uninvited presence. Unfortunately for her, Emory wasn’t shy in filling him in.

  “Oh, you know the sign for the ball field? Ash’s wonderful boyfriend defaced it with derogatory writing. Then, because she’s an idiot and thought she could get Principal Willis to ease up on Eric’s suspension, she volunteered to repaint it.” She playfully nudged Ashlyn.

  Ashlyn didn’t mind it. What Emory said was basically true. She looked up to find Tripp with little to no expression on his face, staring at her.

  Even though his eyes never left hers, he directed his question to Emory. “When does he get back?”

  “Next Monday.” Then Emory quietly teased Ashlyn, although her level of quiet wasn’t all that so. “Aww, he won’t be here for Valentine’s.”

  Ashlyn rolled her eyes. Their school didn’t do anything special for Valentine’s anyway.

  “Back to Ellis,” Ashlyn started. “I’ll finish the sign this Saturday. Well in time for the first game.” She couldn’t imagine why he’d care. It was Ellis just being Ellis.

  “Excuse me,” a dainty voice called from behind Ashlyn and Emory. It was a bit foreign to Ashlyn, but all too familiar to her friend, who proceeded to roll her eyes and go back to her chicken tenders. “Could I talk to you girls. Privately,” Rachel added.

  Rachel was on the cheerleading squad the past fall with Emory. She was also Emory’s biggest competition for head cheerleader for their senior year, despite Emory expressing that she absolutely didn’t want that title.

  Ashlyn gave Emory a look and rose from her spot, Emory grumbling and throwing down her tender and following.

  Once they were near some glass doors leading to
the courtyard. “Okay,” Rachel began with a giggle. “The new guy. Laura told me that you sit next to him in earth science,” she said, pointing out the obvious to Ashlyn. Then she turned to Emory. “And he seems to be good friends with Deacon and your brother.”

  “And,” Emory huffed, pretending not to follow.

  “I mean, come on. Help a girl out. Every girl wants to get her claws into him, and you two are having lunch with him,” she squealed. “Put in a good word for me?”

  “What was that about,” Ellis asked when they got back.

  With a full mouth, “Oh, she wants us to make her sound like an angel in hopes that your buddy here will fall for her psychotic self. Seriously, crazy nutjob,” Emory said, enunciating each word carefully in Tripp’s direction.

  Emory then looked across the room to an eagerly smiling Rachel and gave her the thumbs up, eliciting laughter from Ashlyn.

  Tripp looked in the direction and the girl immediately turned away, her face red as could be. He could say that she was attractive, but so were lots of girls. Not wanting to be rude, and not saying it outside of his own head, he could also admit that she was easily forgettable. For some reason she didn’t capture his attention like the girl before him that he was thankful for bumping into days earlier.

  “What do you think,” he asked Ashlyn, putting her on the spot.

  Her eyes widened. “About what?”

  Tripp nodded his head in the direction of Rachel. “Worth pursuing?”

  A strange feeling ran through Ashlyn. She knew the mayo on her burger smelled funky. She just didn’t expect the queasy feeling taking over her stomach. She shrugged. “Yeah. Emory just doesn’t like her because she’s going to be in charge of the cheer squad next year and she’s already letting it get to her head.”

  Ashlyn wished she wouldn’t have looked up and met his eyes. The way he was looking at her, combined with that devilish smirk, told her that he found humor in her response.

  Chapter 4

  That Monday was the only day of the week the guys ate lunch with the girls. Once Ellis and Abby made up, just in time for Valentine’s, he went back to sitting with her during most of lunch and some of the baseball team toward the end of lunch. Ashlyn was thankful for that; sitting beside Tripp in earth science was already all she could stand of him.

  As she finished her lunch that Friday afternoon and made her way to class, she realized that after Monday’s lunch, and the mentioning of Rachel, Tripp had barely spoken more than a handful of words to her.

  While walking down the hall, she felt her phone go off.

  Eric: Sorry I missed your text during lunch. I just got up.

  Ashlyn: You do realize you have to be here by 8 starting Monday.

  Eric: Ha. Anyway, going to go play some Call of Duty. Happy V-Day!

  Ashlyn sighed. She wondered if he would have said anything had she not said something first. Lately he had been messing up a lot, and though Emory liked to tease her about how Eric wasn’t the same guy she met during freshman year, she was slowly wondering about the truth to that.

  Tripp didn’t say anything to her when she sat down. He was engrossed in something on his phone, but Ashlyn greeted him anyway.

  “Hey,” he responded, not bothering to look away from his phone. “Crap,” he quietly hissed to himself pulling his hoodie up over his head and answering his phone.

  Ashlyn’s eyes widened. The tardy bell would be ringing in less than a minute. Phones were allowed during lunch and passing period, but if Mrs. Cohen were to see him with his phone out after class started…Scratch that. He didn’t just have his phone out, he was having a conversation on the phone!

  “Yes. That’s correct. Thank you,” he concluded, rushing through the conversation.

  Tripp then removed his hood and tossed his phone into his bag, letting out a sigh of relief.

  Ashlyn couldn’t help but note his change in demeanor. When she first came in, Tripp looked almost irritated. Now he appeared his usual self, albeit, a little hyper. He kept bouncing his left leg, which Ashlyn found just a tad annoying.

  Mrs. Cohen, while always in a good mood, was in an especially good mood. It probably had a little something to do with the vase of a dozen red roses on her desk. Notetaking was surprisingly easy with no one complaining of carpal tunnel.

  “Alright, we have fifteen minutes of class left,” Mrs. Cohen announced as she handed stacks of papers to the tables in the front. “Take one and pass it back,” she instructed. “This is a short worksheet. You’ll be able to finish it before the bell, and because I’m feeling generous, today you may work with your seatmate.”

  Tripp immediately gave Ashlyn an out. “I can work on my own, if you want.”

  “Oh…” She was quite surprised. While she didn’t know much about Tripp, there seemed to have been a shift in him ever since Monday. It’s not like she cared, but Ashlyn did find herself wondering if it had anything to do with Rachel. “Or, I can do the first half and you can do the second, then we’ll share? Half the time?”

  Tripp narrowed his eyes on her. “What if I’m really stupid?”

  Ashlyn motioned to his notes. “You take great notes. You actually pay attention. Plus, if you’re playing a sport, you and I both know you have to keep up the grades.”

  “Wow. Was that a compliment,” he teased. It was the most they had spoken all week.

  Ashlyn found herself smiling ever so slightly. “Don’t get used to it.”

  When their papers finally reached them, “Do you want to work together then?”

  Ashlyn didn’t see the harm, and it would save time. “Sure.”

  Tripp slightly scooted his chair a little in her direction, but the look on his face and the way he began talking about the assignment, made Ashlyn shake any thoughts of it being a flirtatious gesture.

  It wasn’t until they were nearly done with their work that Ashlyn heard her name being called by Mrs. Cohen from the front of the classroom. She looked up with many of the other students, only for the room to fall mostly silent. The once vigorous talks of trying to complete the assignment turned to whispers when the office aide handed Mrs. Cohen the exquisite vase.

  Mrs. Cohen held it up, meeting Ashlyn’s stunned expression and repeated herself. “Ash, these are for you.”

  Ashlyn nervously rose from her seat. She didn’t have to look around the room to feel all eyes on her as she walked up to the front. Lots of girls might like that sort of attention, but she most definitely did not.

  Mrs. Cohen smiled sweetly when she handed Ashlyn the bouquet. “I’d say that you’re a very lucky girl,” she whispered.

  Ashlyn couldn’t make eye contact with anyone on her way back to her seat. Several girls along the way complimented her on the flowers, but it wasn’t until she placed them on the table and sat back down, that she really got a good look at them.

  They were…different. Students throughout the day had received deliveries, some from friends and significant others, some from family and parents. They were all the same thing that you see for Valentine’s, red roses. This was something else entirely. The vase was overflowing with unimaginable flowers that Ashlyn had never seen. Every color under the rainbow poured throughout the beautiful leaves and petals. Most of the stems were tropical and exotic, as their names escaped Ashlyn. The only ones she could clearly identify were the lilies and bird of paradise, but even the lilies weren’t the standard ones that she was used to seeing in the market.

  She was shaken out of her bubble when the girl in front of her leaned back in her chair and turned to her. “I guess Eric feels pretty bad for not being here.”

  Ashlyn smiled. “I guess so.”

  At that, she grabbed the card, only to be disappointed. All it contained was her name and the address to the school. The inside was completely blank.

  Ashlyn couldn’t wait the few minutes until the bell rang and quickly retrieved her phone.

  Ashlyn: Thank you so much! The flowers are gorgeous.

  Eric respon
ded rather quickly with back to back texts, only for Ashlyn’s heart to stop for a beat.

  Eric: Dude! I told you I was playing Call of Duty!

  Eric: What flowers?

  Ashlyn: You didn’t send me flowers today?

  Eric: No. Was I supposed to?

  Tripp pretended to still be finishing his worksheet. The truth was he had already done the last two problems on Ashlyn’s as well.

  From the corner of his eye, he could see the texts coming and going from her phone beneath the table. Just as he read the last one, Ashlyn tossed the device into one of her bags.

  “Uh, here,” Tripp said, pushing her paper towards her. “I finished writing your last two.”

  Ashlyn’s brows were furrowed, and her face scrunched in a combination of thought and disappointment. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

  Tripp cleared his throat. “Your boyfriend did well,” he said, gesturing to the large vase with his pen. When she didn’t respond, only continue to stare at the flowers, “For someone who just got spoiled, you don’t seem to be in a very good mood.”

  “They’re not from him,” Ashlyn replied quietly.

  “Oh?”

  The rise of pitch in Tripp’s one word made her instantly regret filling him in on that piece of information.

  She tried not to show her disappointment. “They’re probably from my parents.”

  Thankfully the bell rang. “Do you want me to hand in your paper,” Tripp asked, already sliding it on top of his.

  “Yeah. Thanks.”

  Just then another girl walked by. “Wow, Ash. Seriously, best boyfriend ever. That’s totally like sweet and sensitive bad boy.”