A sweeter place
~Selena Gomez

Brave woman. Wild soul.

Chapter Fifteen - Midwife Climbing Mount Everest

"And then he walked with me and gave me my stuff then I forgot to tell him my name." I finished telling the gang of how my day had been. The Blake part consuming almost whole.

"So what you mean to say is that Blake, the Blake talked and accompanied you like a gentlemen." Ashton made an exaggerated surprised face, dragging the 'o'.

Sam kicked him while eating from a bowl of popcorn. "Yeah, it's not like you saw it happen." She replied sarcastically.

"Your sarcasticness isn't appreciated Samantha." Ashton slapped her feet earning a glare from her.

"That's not even a word, you monkey."

"Yes it is. It's just not included in that horrible dictionary of yours." He pointed out while stealing a handful of popcorn from Sam.

"You use that dictionary too you doofus." Aiden threw a pillow at his twin, irritatingly scratching Sam's peach bandana that lied on his head.

Sam slapped his hand away, "Hey! No touching the bandana. You agreed to model it."

"No I didn't! You just told me that if I wear it, I can have popcor- hmph." Sam silenced him when she stuffed popcorn on Aiden's mouth, not giving him any chance to argue. Her blonde locks were tied up in a messy bun and her glasses were currently discarded making her blue electrifying eyes stand out.

We were currently laying on my bed. Since it was pushed at the far corner of my room, I had my feet planted on the wall. Sam had her head lying on my stomach, Aiden between her legs with his back resting on her and Ashton at the end of the bed with his face smashed into a pillow.

It's natural for all of us to hug or sleep with each other.

The innocent type of sleep.

We've been friends for how many years now and our bond is something unbreakable and special. We share everything with each other, wether it be a cute girl one of the boys met or a vase someone accidentally broke, we tell each other.

Now that I think of it, I'm really glad they were my friends. No, I'm really glad that I even have friends. The world today seems to be full of two-faced people, friends who stab your back or friends who put on a facade.

I forever will treasure our friendship.

"Hush you big baby. Now back to Nevaeh's Blake crisis." She looked at me while toying with Aiden's hair who seemed to be in some kind of trance, eyes closed and smiling to himself.

Which reminds me of operation lovebug. These two really seemed to like each other, they just don't realize it yet.

"We should give it a name. You know like.....Nerdy birdy." Ashton made a pair of glasses using his fingers then flapped his wings at the last word, grabbing the popcorn bowl and shoving a handful in his mouth.

I stared at him incredulously. "Nerdy birdy, Really?" Oh right, they were the ones who gave Sam the idea of Dane Watson.

I reached for the popcorn but he slapped my hands away. "No."

"But-"

"No."

"That's my-"

"No means no Natasha."

"Who the fuck is Natasha."

"Language," Sam interjected. Both of us ignored her since it was natural for us to curse without a care in the world.

"Shhhhh, I'm having a moment here. I like how Natasha gives me a very powerful vibe. You know, I suddenly feel like a midwife climbing Mount Everest with two babies on both hands." Ashton stood up and crawled to the other side of the room, leaving the popcorn at the foot of my bed.

We blinked at him. He was in crazy mode again.

"A midwife with what?" Aiden asked, peeking with one eye open.

His twin sighed and shook his head. "Nobody ever understands." He muttered then stood up.

"Watch-." I tried to warn him but it was too late. His head connected with the bottom of the hardwood shelf I had making a loud 'thump' noise. Idiot.

"Shit!" He glared at the brown shelves and started reciting an ancient spell of curses, one coming immediately after the other.

Still not satisfied, he brought a hand up and slapped it as if he would benefit anything from it. The shelf isn't even a living creature. It doesn't have a beating heart or simply even an eye so his motive of hitting it with his bare hand is useless. Unfortunately I spoke too soon.

As if the shelf came to life, it creaked and the nail at the right side became loose making the platform hang in a diagonal line resulting in the books falling painfully at Ashton. One falling after the other.

"Did the books just fall for Ashton?" Sam asked while three of us sat at the edge of the bed, staring at our fallen friend.

Normally, I would be screaming and punching Ashton for breaking my shelf. I mean with the price of books these days, I would even cry if I tore a page. But luckily my books were the ones at the second shelf that remained unharmed. The ones that fell down were cookbooks, magazines and vintage newspapers. All were owned by my mom

We all looked at each other. "Nah,"

"Who would fall for Ashton. Nobody would fall for Ashton." I glanced at the baboon in front of us.

"Hey!" He threw a shoe at me at the same time mom peeked into the room.

"What's with all the noise?" She asked us with both eyebrows creased in annoyance. By now, we were all silent. Ashton froze with his hand up in the air, Sam had a popcorn halfway through her mouth and Aiden reached for the popcorn bowl slapping Sam's hand since it was in the way.

When she saw the flying shoe that barely missed my head, she raised an eyebrow at a wide-eyed Ashton still surrounded by the various books. Ashton nervously smiled and weakly waved his hand. "Hi Mommy Kate,"

"Ashton Ace de Ville," From the corner of my eye I saw Ashton winced. "What did I say about violence and throwing shoes at people." Her voice held authority, the type that all mothers have been blessed with.

Ashton sighed,"Physical violence isn't to be tolerated at any cause in this household," He muttered while staring at the ground unable to look at my mother's eyes.

I mentally snorted. I wonder how that rule went.

"And?" Inquired my mother, stepping further inside my room. She had hands on her hips and now that I could see properly, she had her hair up. A brown colored clam making it stay up with a couple of strands falling loose. Faint sweat was clear on her forehead making me know that she was probably cleaning or doing laundry.

"And.........and..........," Ashton looked deep in thought and I was sure that he forgot about what he was about to say.

"Did I tell you Kate that you look rather beautiful and radiant today? Oh, Is that a new hairstyle I see?" He gasped dramatically then rubbed his chin like he's thinking something, deep in thought. "Did you use a new shampoo? Conditioner maybe, Oh wait perhaps a new color?" He pointed finger guns at mom and continued to smile cheekily, standing up and stopping directly in front of my mother.

"Nice try buddy." She patted Ashton's hair and turned around walking out of my room. "Fix the mess you made before you compliment my hair."

The cheeky smile on his face dropped the moment my mother closed the door. He turned to us. "You're enjoying this aren't you?" He grumbled pass us, walking back to the pile of books and broken hardwood shelf. He glanced at the shelves of books in my room and grabbed a random one.

"Eleanor and Park," He read the title, flipping it over giving it a once over. "See, this is why you've been single ever since you've popped out of the uterus. You always spend the day reading instead of running or playing or I don't know, per say stepping outside of your house?" He glanced at me raising both of his shoulders along with his hands giving me a questioning gesture.

Aiden suddenly stopped eating popcorn, setting aside the popcorn bowl and propped up with one elbow at the side of his head. "He's right though Nev,"

"HEY!' Sam interjected, throwing a popcorn at Aiden, who opened his mouth and caught it. He smirked at a glaring Samantha.

She scooted closer to me and leaned her back at the wall, facing the two boys. "Reading an amazing thing to do. You can venture and explore any life whether it be a royal princess or a hybrid werewolf or something. It can and will definitely change your view on different aspects such as hypocrites, racism and poverty. It gives you wisdom and teaches you how to handle the cruel world without anyone or anything weighing you down. Reading can-"

"Exactly. Just as you mentioned, Reading is something you can do to venture and explore any life. Meaning somebody else's. Not yours. Get what I'm saying?" Ashton cut her off.

Sam glared at him, crossing her arms opening her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Moments later she muttered. "I hate it when you cut me off, it's just plainly rude."

"Yada yada I know, but we have an urgent matter at hand. One with the name nerdy birdy and I am not going to just let you guys grow up into some wrinkly 90-year old old ladies reading pride and prejudice or something," He stacked the books all according to size, the large and thick ones at the bottom up until the small and thin ones at the top, the pile laying at the bottom corner under the deranged and broken shelf.

I face palmed against my pillow, not really knowing where this conversation is headed. Just because my crush of how many years is finally acknowledging my presence doesn't mean both of us are soulmates or our encounters would lead to some New York based love story.

"What are you trying to say Tony?" I asked him, making an effort of lifting my face off the pillow. I'm tired and sleepy and hungry.

That was a nickname Ashton was given when we were basically young cubs. It always made him think highly of himself especially since he's a huge marvel fan and Tony Stark wasn't exactly a name known by few. It's been a long time since someone called him that. It felt so normal, capital N.
Yet at the same time it felt so different.

Ashton just shrugged, his hair tousled and his eyeglass was at the bridge of his nose as he continued stacking the books.

Then after a minute or two of silence he finally looked up at me, his eyes travelling from me to Sam then to his twin who was now on the verge of sleep, not aware of how Sam was decorating his hair with small bits of popcorn then back to me.

"I honestly don't remember the awesome speech I prepared in my mind about what we are talking about," He picked up a worn journal, a messily painted flower in front of the cover and studied it. He seemed to be judging it of some sorts.

Sam answered for me. "Well thank God for that."

---------------

Math was never my favorite subject. Nor did I ever excel at it. I basically hated it, only willing lig myself to skim the pages of my lecture notebook once in a while to remind me that even if I loathed the subject, I still have to pass.

So imagine the feeling I got when I saw that I was assigned in an advance calculus class as my first period.

"What the fucking fuckery is this?" I whispered and rubbed my eyes, bringing the paper towards my face so that I could catch a closer look.

And I knew then I should've had checked my schedule first.

"It's a piece of paper moron, now stop staring at it." Ashton hugged his jacket tighter around him and for some unknown reason I did the same.

I don't know what mother nature's planning but I certainly do not like it one bit. The temperature dropped overnight making the wind chilly and sliding doors cold.

Like for real. It's not even funny.

We were now walking in the hallways with Ashton beside me, us a couple strides ahead of Aiden and Sam. Sunny and Logan weren't here yet which is a total surprise since Sunny always seemed to meet us at the school's entrance.

"Hey Nev?" Ashton asked me glancing from the corner of his eyes.

I hummed in response and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed being the 3rd wheel on this journey, and I guess you do too, " I looked back behind me and smiled when I saw Sam telling Aiden something whilst he was carrying her bag, slinging it on his shoulder. Sam's bandana for today was a maroon one made of silk that she decided to tie as a ribbon in a low messy, but cute bun.

I glared at Ashton. "Hey, that's not fair. How come he carries her bag and you don't carry mine?"

He looked at me them back to the lovebirds behind us. "What are we? Lovers?" He grimaced immediately sticking his tongue out at me.

I flashed my teeth to him in a bored motion. "Yes. Now carry my bag would you?"

"But I haven't even asked you yet," He pouted and smiled at me. I smiled back at him knowing he was only kidding. But that smile soon disappeared when I recognised the look of evil in his face.

"Say, why don't I do it right now?" He stopped walking then knelt in front of me in a proposing manner. Hell no.

Just as his knee was about to touch the school's tiled floor, Sunny came out of nowhere and bumped his shoulder using her butt making him loose his balance and eventually collapse on the floor.

"Move you peasant." She smirked at Ashton who glared back. My eyes were wide and I was trying to control my laughter.

"Hey! Can't you see I was in the middle of proposing,"

"Nope."

"Nev, help me out here." He opened up his arms, indicating that I help him get up. I reached out to help him but my hand slipped away when Sunny pushed him down again.

She grabbed my bag and tossed it towards Ashton, hitting his stomach. He groaned and glared at me. In these past couple of weeks both of them made it clear to everyone that they can't tolerate each other. I couldn't exactly say hate since it's a strong word.

"You sure know how to put a man in place." Aiden swooped in and helped his twin get up, getting my bag in the process and slinging it over his shoulder. "Come on guys, class starts in ten minutes."

Ashton grabbed my bag back from him. "Give me that, I wanna carry it." He grumbled and gave Sunny the stink eye.

We then started walking as a group, with Sunny between Sam and I.

"Where's Logan?" Sam asked Sunny.

"Probably with his girlfriend," Sam made eye contact with me and we immediately had an agreement that Sunny was not happy with whoever this girlfriend is.

"Oh. You seem to have a disliking towards her." I spoke out my thoughts.

"I don't seem to dislike her. I hate her. She's a bitch."

I made eye contact with Sam and jutted out my lip in Aiden's direction. "Okay guys, this is my stop." I smiled at everyone who halted and entered the classroom.

I chose to seat at the middle closest to the wall, perfect for listening to the lecture at the same time hidden from the teacher's view.

I bowed my head and swiftly sat down. God I hate it when I'm like this. I swept some strands out of my face and started looking around the room. Cream walls with a quarter of blue at the bottom, a white bulletin board at the back and a round wood clock hanging at the front.

I glanced at the students, averting my eyes when I see others peering at my direction.

There was one girl with black hair who was wearing a red baret and a red overall with a turtleneck underneath.

A boy was wearing headphones rocking his head back and forth, hands behind his back and feet propped up at his desk looking like he might topple over.

Which I was right since he did loose his balance but thankfully didn't fall because a girl was just passing by behind him when it happened. Her bag that was slung in one shoulder almost falling-

Wait a second

I forgot my bag

Holy shit iguana poodles

I stood up, making my way towards the front since the door was at the front left, earning a few stares as I go.

Just as I stepped a foot out the door, my bag came right into my view. Literally. It clashed right into my face. "hmph."

As I managed to catch it in my arms, a smiling Ashton was the next sight I saw. He came up to me with arms wide open and hugged me, making my chest constrict since oh I don't know my bag was right in the fucking middle. "Bullseye." he whispered.

"Let go of me you monkey."

"Nope."

"Class is about to start."

"Let me think about it, nope."

"Douche."

He retracted away from me, placing a hand over his heart. "Did you just involuntarily break up with me? To be honest that hurt my feelings Nev. But I understand, It would be better if we didn't see each other anymore."

At that, I placed my hand over his eyes as I shut my own. "There, all done." 

"Haha smartass," He shook of my hands away from him. I gave him a full out grin just to annoy him more.

"He's coming bitches, move your asses." Out of nowhere a running Sunny, Sam and Aiden all looking like they were being chased by a man eating buffalo came barreling towards us. 

Me and Ashton stared wide eyed at each other. "Run bitch," He pushed me and soon enough we were following behind the other three. I don't know why we were running.

Once we crossed a corner, they stopped for a breather. Aiden noticed me and scrunched his eyebrows together in a questioning manner. "What are you doing here Nev?" 

"What do you mean what am I doing her, what the hell are we doing here." I replied back. "Yeah I'm asking the same thing here." Ashton fanned himself then out of nowhere he blew on me. Literally.

I grabbed his face and pushed him away. "Hey hey hey, your breath stinks,"

He leaned away and checked his breath, an offended look crossing his still panting figure. "I do not,"

"We ran because Mr. Kouwenji, our neuroscience professor was already headed to class," Aiden broke off Ashton and I, knowing that the situation might lead to another argument. I mean it's Ashton, what do they expect.

"If that's the case then why the hell am I here?" I glared at Aiden, pointing a finger to myself.

"Beats me." Sam just patted my hair as I groaned. At least I get support.

Just then the bell rang, signalling the start of class. I did the 'I'm watching you' gesture towards them and ran to class, my bag in one hand silently preparing myself knowing how the room would be full by the time I would arrive there.

Blue has always been my color for some reason. It's not my favorite, it's just the color that I feel like I connect with.

Maybe it's because of my eyes, or how I love staring at the sky or maybe because I have a blue camera.

But despite whatever the reason is, I hope the color would do me some good and would miraculously fill up my empty paint tube. I've been trying to squeeze anything out of it for the past few minutes but nothing seems to work.

It's already my last period and Mr. Parker, my art teacher has, ordered us to sit in groups of seven circling a small plant placed on top of  a wooden stool. An easel was already placed in our respective areas along with a canvas measuring the height of a half of an arm and a width of two palms. Okay so I don't actually know what the measurements are but my type of measuring still works.

"Remember that art isn't something you must can steal from others. It's something you create using your imagination, whether it be an illusion you stitched or the reality you live through," Mr. Parker leaned on the wall beside the door with arms crossed and brown eyes travelling the entire class.

"Or it could just be lines and circles." A girl in our class spoke up causing the entire class to laugh. It's true though, sometimes even the most basic paint splatter can be worth millions. That's still a mystery to me.

"Or it could just be lines and circles. Right Red? " Mr. Parker looked at Red who only hid himself in his easel. On instinct, the whole class shared a glance at Red. Red was a boy who specializes in a specific type of painting technique. He uses lines and circles, even dots sometimes to make portraits and images which is pretty cool to be honest. I always kept asking myself how could someone have an imagination so wide and perhaps where do they get their ideas from.

I sighed as I can't seem to muster enough strength to squeeze the tube. There's got to be a little left. There has to be. Even just a dot.

Mr. Parker chuckled and clapped his hands drawing the attention back to him. "Alright now I want you to use-," His sentence was stopped short when the jiggle of the doorknob was heard.

The door opened, a slight screeching sound was heard throughout the room. Blake stepped in, the same grey bag slung on one shoulder along with what appears to be a maroon cardigan draped across his forearm. "Sorry I'm late, I had some manners to attend at the office," He grabbed something from his back pocket and gave it to our teacher.

Mr. Parker scanned the paper and nodded his head. "It's alright, please find a seat and let's get started."

He looked around, eyes scanning for an empty seat. While he was doing that, I took the time to asses his clothing. He wore a plain white t-shirt with a front pocket at the upper left area and grey sweatpants. His hair looked presentable to say the least and his glasses were at the edge of his nose, almost falling. Fuck, he's cute.

Suddenly painting wasn't easy for me anymore. My mind felt like a spiral where all the ideas are jumbled up and my body felt like it was trapped in an ice cube, unable to move and respond to the things my mind is directing it. Damn boys and crushes.

When I saw his eyes skimming the part of the room were I was, I ducked and after a few moments peeked at the corner where he was once in. My ears didn't pick up where he headed because the whole room was boisterous. 

"Alright everybody, eyes on me." Mr. Parker pointed a finger to himself and raised an eyebrow when he noticed that most of the girls in my class weren't just looking at his eyes.  I wouldn't blame them. Mr. Parker was a teacher in his early twenties. With curly light brown hair and grey smoldering eyes I would easily grade him as an A+ when it came to looks. His name didn't fail to disappoint. Now that I thought of it, mostly all of my subject teachers are relatively young. 

"My eyes are up here girls, you do know that right?" They all nodded making him playfully narrow his eyes at us. "For today's activity, I want all of you to make the plant in front of you act as a base for your artwork. Paint it however you like. Use an inspiration, add a smiley face, you can even paint it plain black," Then he pursed his lips and furrowed his eyebrows. "Okay maybe don't paint it plain black." He added earning chuckles from the class.

"Why are you still laughing at me, go paint already." He exclaimed and retreated back to his desk opening a book to keep him busy.

I stared at the plant in front of me, the paint tube still in my hand. I placed it back inside my pouch and stared at the object in front of me hoping that an idea would strike.

Let's explore the objectives. 

It's green.

It has leaves.

It's a plant.

And that's about it. 

A couple more moments passed by when I stuck my tongue out at the plant. I was annoyed at the fact that I couldn't imagine anything I could paint with a plant in it. 

When I realized what I did, my eyes widened and I tried to look around subtly. Luckily, no one was watching.

I looked at the clock and saw that I only had less than forty minutes left. I decided to grab my bag for inspiration. Maybe a chocolate wrapper with a plant engraved on it could work. As I looked through my bag, rummaging across different papers I seemed to have a conclusion. 

I, Nevaeh Mis'xielle Wilson therefore conclude that I'm a dumb fucking bitch.

As I mentally bad-mouthed myself, I saw my camera strap peeking out of the pocket of my bag making a sudden idea pop in my mind. Smiling to myself, I grabbed the pencil and started sketching the outline of the image I want to create. My hand was always in an awkward angle whenever I sketch. Pencil between the thumb and pointer finger with my pinky bent upward in a weird fashion. My hands worked on their own accord, not over thinking about what I want to create.

I learned from an early age that over thinking leads to over stressing, eventually leading to getting nothing done. 

Halfway through my painting, the greatest threat has returned once again.

The blue paint.

I know that there are more paint tubes, hell even cans at the cabinets but I don't want to draw attention to me just my standing up. I can suck this up thank you. I started squeezing it, the cold aluminum creating wrinkles and dents as I do so. 

I glanced at the plant once again but sucked in a breath of air when I saw Blake at the other side of me. Okay I just saw blonde hair but some way somehow I know it's him. And I guess I've been staring at him for some time because next thing I know he sat up straight, making our eyes meet.

Suddenly, an abrupt splash of blue paint tainted my hand forcing me to break eye contact. Oh so now you come out.

I didn't dare to look or even take the simplest of peeks at him knowing that once I would catch a glimpse, his eyes would capture mine in a trance that would make me lose my focus. I finished my masterpiece, limiting the times I had to look at the plant careful not to meet his gaze.

"Five minutes left. Write your name at the back of the canvass then you may leave." I grabbed a random pen from my bag and did what was told.

When I flipped the canvass, I glanced at Blake. I wonder if Ashton was right when he said that I should live up a bit. I mean I could just go and introduce myself to Blake like a normal person would. What's the harm in trying right?

So in those remaining five minutes, instead of gathering my things and leaving like I should, I mentally prepared myself. I'm going to do this. I will do it. I must do it.

When the bell rang, I said screw it and left the room in a hurry.