The Runaway | Ashton Irwin AU

Part 2

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[Ashton's POV]

[Junior Year]

Everyone changes throughout high school. You're finally realizing the person that you want to be and are trying to find positive ways of presenting that self to the world.

I hadn't changed. It's not that I didn't want to. It was just that I still wasn't quite sure who I was. At school, no one saw me as anything other than the lanky Australian, who was freakishly good at playing drums and minded his own business.

Drumming relieved stress for me, which was the only reason I kept it up. It distracted me from my estranged mother and the father I never really knew. It distracted me from the pretty girl who refused to notice me. It distracted me from the world outside my window if only for an hour or so. It was worth every second.

Charlie changed drastically our junior year. She joined as many clubs as she possibly could: the yearbook, the newspaper, photography club and prom committee. There were probably a few others I ha forgotten, but that wasn't the point. The point was that she was trying to get noticed, to make friends, which was the exact opposite of what I was trying to do.

I wished she would try to make friends with me. Maybe I had been wrong. Maybe she was just like every other person in this school, self-centered and going nowhere. But I knew that wasn't true. She had something that no other person in this school had. A voice.

She had signed up for the spring musical that year. Grease. I literally laughed out loud, getting a few glares from people, when I heard that it was going to be the musical for the year. I had been standing out in front of the massive bulletin board that held fliers for all the clubs, sports and other activities put on by the school. My eyes glanced over the audition list for the musical and of course I noticed Charlie's name on the list. I wasn't much of a singer, but if it meant a chance to maybe speak to Charlie, I was going to take it.

She sat quietly at the back of the auditorium when I walked in on audition day, other students dispersed throughout the large room. The drama club kids sat closest to the front, while a few other odd balls sat around in tiny groups, talking loudly. I made my way back toward the row that Charlie sat in. Her head was bent down as she scribbled ferociously in her notebook, not noticing anything that was going on around her. My eyes stayed on her, even as the teacher came in and began barking out instructions for how the audition process would go.

I'm not sure if anyone was expecting her to have the voice she did. It sure as hell shut up the drama kids who thought they were shoe-ins for the lead roles. The whole entire auditorium was silent once she had finished her version of 'The Worst Thing I Could Do.' I thought it was interesting that she wasn't going for Sandy, I mean she would be absolutely perfect for that role and yet again she surprises me by going for the most underrated role of the whole production.

After much applause from the teacher, Charlie made her way back to her seat as I headed down to center stage after hearing my name being called. We met halfway, our eyes meeting, she sent me that same sweet smile as before and I swear she had said good luck. But I was probably hearing things.

My audition went horribly, and what made it worst was the fact that when I stepped off stage, Charlie was nowhere to be seen. Had she left without listening to me sing? I was defeated. I thought for sure this would have been my chance to finally find the courage to talk to her, but like every other time before this, I had no such luck.

Of course I didn't get a part in the play, I didn't even get an understudy part. I didn't think I was that bad. But Charlie got the part she wanted and I was proud of her for that. I couldn't wait until the end of the year because I knew I would go to every showing of the play just so I could hear her sing again and again.

Instead of wasting the rest of my year doing nothing, I signed up as a stagehand. So for the next few weeks, I got to paint stupid sceneries after school. It was probably the dumbest idea I have ever come up with, but it was the best way for me to get closer to Charlie and listen to her sing on a daily basis. I just couldn't get enough.

Opening night was a shit show. People were running around backstage like chickens with their heads cut off and I just stood there like the idiot I was, not helping anyone with anything. I had gone out before coming here and bought a tiny bouquet of flowers. It was nothing special, just some daisies and a pretty blue flower I didn't know the name of. I had it all planned out in my head. I'd give Charlie the flowers and tell her how great she'd be and then she'd kiss me on the cheek and ask to see me after the show.

But nothing goes as planned, at least not for me. It took a lot longer to find her than I thought it would. The curtain would go up any minute and I still couldn't get more than 10 feet from her. Girls were touching up her makeup and doing finishing touches on her hair while someone was yelling at her to get to the stage. This was my only chance.

"Charlie!" I called out her name before she had the chance to get away.

She turned to me and I swear to anything holy that time stopped for a split second. I don't think she really saw me until this moment right here and I could only imagine what she was thinking. She looked shocked as she stared between me and the flowers I was holding. I must have looked like a complete tool.

"Are those for me?" She asked as someone tugged her in the opposite direction.

I could only nod my head. The world must have been against me all along because in that moment the rug was pulled out form under me and by that I mean Charlie was pulled away and ushered to the stage as her first scene was up. She did look back though, and she was grinning like I had never seen before and I knew in that moment I had to have her.

After the show had ended, I took my time leaving the auditorium. The janitor had actually come in and started cleaning up by the time I stood from my seat. My converse cladded feet carried me slowly across the deserted parking lot, the crisp spring air reminding me that yet another year had gone by and I was still nowhere near closer to Charlie.

My fingers curled tightly around the bouquet of flowers I still held as I got into my rusted old red truck. I didn't understand how I could loose all train of thought when I got anywhere near her. It made it almost impossible for me to actually accomplish what I so desperately wanted.

I discarded the flowers onto the seat next to me, hoping to forget how much of a fool I actually was. Starting up the engine, I tore out of the school parking lot and headed back home.

I had no chance.

. . . . .

A/N: The lovely cover above was made by stormyhale! Thanks again you did an amazing job. Also it's another short chapter, but we're getting there. :D

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