Not A Bad Thing//A.I.

11

Ashton woke up the next morning in a mood; it wasn't happy, yet it wasn't sad, or mad. He just woke up the same way he fell asleep, numb.

All he wanted to do was stay in bed, but he knew his parents would be suspicious. It was only his third day at school, and he knew they wouldn't let him miss, or at least stay home alone. He knew his mother would send him straight to the doctor's to make sure he was okay. Then she would be watching him all day, and that's not even over exaggerating.

It was just easier for him to take his pill and go to school. So that's what he did, at a slow pace nonetheless.

He got to class right as the tardy bell rang. He slowly walked to his seat next to Everly, he didn't even bother looking over at her.

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Everly knew something was off that morning. Her parents were quiet, not speaking one word to one another, or to their two children. They just silently went about their daily routines, like robots.

The car ride to school was painfully quiet.

When she got to her seat, she began to wonder where Ashton was at. It was only his third day.

"Would he miss?" she thought.

She kept looking between the door and the clock, waiting for him to walk in with the remainder of the class.

"Are you even listening to me?" Stephanie asked cutting Everly out of her thoughts.

Before she could apologize, she noticed a tall Australian walk into the classroom with his head down, just as the bell rang.

She looked over at him, expecting him to say anything, but he kept his focus ahead at the whiteboard, waiting for the teacher to begin today's lesson.

She opened her mouth to say something, but was immediately cut off by the teacher beginning the day.

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When the bell rang, Ashton quickly gathered his stuff and was the first person out the door.

"What's up with him?" Stephanie asked putting her stuff in her backpack.

"I have no clue." Everly answered, throwing her backpack over her shoulder, just wanting to catch up to Ashton and find out what's going on. She was worrying all period about it, wondering if it had anything to do with him witnessing her parents fighting yesterday.

When she got to her next period, she saw Ashton along with her other classmates, waiting for the teacher to show up, outside the classroom.

"Hey." She said standing next to him.

"Hey." He said quietly, continuing to look at the ground.

"Is everything alright?" she asked getting straight to the point.

"Yeah why?" He asked looking up to meet her eyes.

Everly noticed something different about his eyes, they weren't their normal sparkly hazely-green eyes.

"I don't know. You just seem odd today." She said being careful on how she answered him.

"Odd? Like how?" He snapped, "Sorry if I'm not fucking bubbly all the damn time."

His attitude took Everly by surprise, she wasn't expecting him to snap at her. She was just worried about her new friend's mood.

"Sorry I asked." She said looking down.

Ashton realized what he said, and he felt like a complete dick.

"No, I'm sorry." He said following her into the now open classroom.

"I'm not having a good day, and I'm sorry I shouldn't have taken it out on you." He continued to apologize, sitting in the seat next to her's at the same table.

"It's okay." She said still not looking directly at him, she was afraid he was going to snap again if she said something wrong.

"Hey, please look at me." He said softly touching her shoulder, desperately needing her to look at him.

When he saw her green eyes laced with hurt, he felt even worse than he did just a few minutes ago.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to snap at you." He genuinely apologized, looking her right in the eyes.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it." She said accepting his apology.

"I'm just going through something right now." He said grabbing his notebook out of his backpack to begin the assignment the teacher had written down on the board.

"Is there anything I could do to help?" She asked, not caring about the assignment, but about what Ashton may be going through.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine." He looked over at her.

"Trust me, by the end of the day I'll be my usual happy self." He gave her a half smile.

"Okay." Everly answered, just leaving it at that for now.

Everly stared at Ashton while he worked on the assignment. She didn't know how one day such a smiley boy, could turn into such a lifeless person the next.

She realized that she didn't really know her new friend at all.

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So here's another update!!

I was sitting here listening to The 1975, and just had the sudden urge to write another update for this.

Hope you enjoyxx