Photo: Ashley played by @sophia_roe on ig

(Ashley's POV)

My window slid open with a creek and I winced, praying that my mum didn't hear. I swung one foot over the window ledge and then the other followed. I dropped my backpack to the ground first, following soon after it with a thud. I pulled my hood up over my hair and swung my backpack over my shoulder, heading over to my bike and riding off down the dimly lit streets. The air was pretty warm for April and you could tell that summer was fast approaching- despite it being the early hours of the morning, I wasn't freezing to death.

My father had gotten a call about half an hour ago and had raced off in his car at three in the morning. This was odd because usually he would send a deputy out, or something, and go back to sleep if he got a call that late. Considering he actually went himself this time, it must be something big. My mind was practically racing with all the scenarios I was creating. I could barely contain myself. I heard him mutter something about the community pool and then kiss my mum goodbye, so I waited half an hour for mum to fall asleep before I changed as quickly as I could and rushed off on my bike to follow him. The community pool usually meant that people had broken in to swim about after hours, but he wouldn't have dragged himself out of bed for just a simple break in. So, what was it?

Nothing excites me more than a crime scene and I'm hoping this one's big- it's been a while since a crime scene has been juicy enough for me to sink my teeth into it... outside the novels of course. The books are nowhere near as good as the real stuff. The thrill of actually being in the moment and following a case as it's figured out is thrilling because with a book you always have the comfort at the back of your mind that it'll be solved at the end, so you can sleep at night. However, in real life there is no certainty that it will ever be solved. I was sort of a crime junkie but it's totally cool, it's not in a sick way or anything- I don't have an empathy problem. In fact, I feel so much sympathy that I feel the need to help solve the crimes so that the victims can get closure.

As I rode up closer to the pool, I could see fire engines everywhere with their lights blaring, ambulances and police cars too. In fact, the whole street was illuminated blue and red- I had never seen so many people rushing about behind the police tape that closed off the whole crime scene. It looked pretty serious, the amount of police swarming the place was astounding. My stomach dropped at the thought of what could be inside, but my mind burned with curiosity. I just had to figure out how to get around the tape.

See, If I was any other person I could probably sneak past undetected: no problem. However, me being the Chief of Police's daughter had built me a reputation with the officers- especially when I get caught at crime scenes before the police even show up. Some find it entertaining to watch me being dragged off a crime scene with more evidence than they're even able to find, but others have it out for me because they think I'll ruin a crime scene. My dad had asked them to keep an eye out and send me home when they catch me hanging around, which was more often than I liked. It has proven to make my investigations harder, but I loved a challenge.

I dropped the bike into the bushes and pulled the hoodie further down my face as I walked past the nosey neighbours gawking up at the building. It seems everyone had seen the flames lapping the building and came running towards it, which if you ask me, is a poor survival plan. It looked like the fire had been put out a while ago and they were probably just assessing damage

or something. I snuck past the fire engines and then spotted a familiar number plate on a police car- my dads. I knew he wouldn't be in his car- he'd be consulting with his deputy, Sarah, somewhere else- but I still had to be careful.

So I made a break for it, running past his car and round the back of the pool building, finding the fire exit. I ducked behind some bushes and panted, catching my breath. I was dressed in all black and looked a little funny, but it was necessary for the operation. I pulled on my gloves and opened the fire exit door to reveal the dimly lit pool area- looks like the firefighters had just finished up and the police hadn't gotten the go ahead just yet to come in. Perfect. I had about ten minutes before they'd start filing in.

From where I stood, I could see that I shouldn't take another step- I would ruin evidence. The whole place was absolutely covered, the pool was a deep crimson colour and blood lined the walls next to and above me. A body laid on the ground just in front of me and I pulled out my phone, snapping a couple of pictures of the room before tucking it away and taking a step backwards, bumping into something. The sight of a dead body isn't anything new, but it was so mangled that my blood ran cold as I gathered my evidence. It was barely recognisable as a person.

"Ashley, what the hell are you doing here?" Sarah practically yelled, frantically yanking me out of the pool room and slamming the door shut, "How much did you see?"

"Nothing." I replied quickly, raising a brow at Sarah's behaviour. Usually when she caught me at a crime scene, she'd laugh it off and tell me to get my butt home- today, she seemed furious I was here.

"Don't lie to me, Ashley. Did you really see nothing?" Sarah questioned, practically interrogating me. Her face was red and her glare was threatening, unsettling me.

"I promise. I barely had two seconds to look inside and it's so dark. Why, what happened?" I asked innocently, scanning her defensive body language.

"Fire. Now come on, your father's furious too. He's asked me to drive you home in the cop car with sirens and everything, so you can't play this one down. You've really crossed a line today."

I groaned, my Dad had been on the ball with catching me recently- I had barely gotten two minutes on the crime scene before Sarah found me. I did, however, get photos of the place- that

was better than last time (I didn't even take a step on the premises before Sarah had found me). I was going to need to find a way to track her, or something. She was incredibly on edge about this case too- which made it all that more interesting. It certainly didn't look like a fire.

I followed Sarah begrudgingly and usually everyone on the scene would chuckle at the sight of me being escorted to a cop car once again, but this time I barely got even a glance in my direction- everyone seemed incredibly busy. I basically knew everyone here because I was on scene so often, probably more often than the chief of police, my dad, was. They were friendly enough- the majority of them anyway.

"Say hi to the wife and kids for me will you, John?" I grinned over to him and he nodded in response, quickly ducking his dead back down afterwards. That was strange, "Is that a new car? Looks flash."

"You have a serious problem." Sarah tutted, opening the backdoor of the car for me, "Just can't stay away, can you? Not even once?"

"Never." I grinned in response, climbing into the car and pulling the door closed myself. We'd been through this routine a million times, I was more than used to the metal divider between the back and front of the cop car by now.

We rode home in silence pretty much the whole way, not that I would be able to hear much over the blaring sirens she'd turned on. I'd begged her not to- my mum got pretty angry when I had to ride home in the police car, so if the sirens were on there's no way I can hide it from her, which is why my Dad tells Sarah to do it. I swear there are laws against sirens past 11pm, it shouldn't be allowed if there aren't.

When we pulled up to the house, my mum was already standing in the doorway- in her dressing gown and slippers- her arms were crossed and a scowl plastered on her face. I'm not sure why, but I got the impression she wasn't very happy with me. I pushed the door open and stepped out, waving goodbye to Sarah as she drove off in the police car. She never stuck around long after driving me home- my mum was not a force to be reckoned with.

"Wow mum, I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted! Just gonna pop off to bed now-" I tried to squeeze past her into the house, but one look from her stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Your father and I have been speaking and we're both worried about you. You spend half your nights creeping around crime scenes, you're quiet, only read crime novels and you have no friends at school. Not once have you ever been to a sleepover or a party! You're seventeen! You should be sneaking out to go to clubs; not to follow your father to his work." My mum ranted and I flinched as she mentioned the lack of friends, "We spoke to the school counsellor and she wants to meet with you every so often, but also advised you to put yourself out there more, so we want you to join a club."

"A club? Mum, I have better things to do-" I started to protest, but the scowl returned to my mum's face. I gulped, but I wasn't backing down, "No."

"A club would be great for you, Ashley. You'd be in an environment where people are getting to know you- without dead bodies all around you. You will do as I say, and don't even think about lying to us, I've asked the counsellor to ring us whenever you don't show up for your club." Mum smiled, sickly sweet, and then ushered me up to my room, "Night sweetie."

With that, she trudged up the stairs and I dropped my bag- heading to the kitchen for a drink. I couldn't help myself pulling out my phone to look at what I saw. I'm glad Sarah didn't see me taking the pictures, or she would have made me delete them. The photos were pretty disturbing, as I flicked through I realised they must have been young. It was hard to make out their features after the disfigurement and blood, but they didn't look any older than me. My tummy flipped and I locked the phone- they could have been anything they wanted, but now they're gone. That's partially why I'm so invested in crime scenes- helping justice come for those who were treated so badly is what makes everything worth it.

I only got around two hours of sleep after that- by the time I finally got to bed it was five in the morning and I had to wake up at seven for school, so it was a dreadful night's sleep. I groaned as I pulled myself out of bed, pulling off my pajamas and replacing them with a sheer lilac short-sleeve shirt and a black slip dress over that. The sun was shining through my curtains, so I presumed it would be warm outside, but I grabbed my denim jacket just in case.

I swung my lilac Kanken over my shoulder and grabbed one of my crime books and my headphones, heading out of my bedroom and down to the kitchen. I made myself some oolong tea in my travel mug and then grabbed a banana, pulling my converse on and heading out the front door and locking it behind me.

I slotted my earphones in, playing Gus Dapperton while walking over to where my bike was leant against the wall; Dad must have brought it back with him last night. I climbed on and started to cycle in the direction of the school, humming along to the music. I was brainstorming over which club to join- I just wanted to join the club that took up the least amount of time.

I had checked out some of the clubs on the school website before I went to sleep last night and decided that I didn't want to join any sports- I wasn't big on running around in the cold and the rain. I also didn't want to join anything that involves public speaking (for obvious reasons). I know the school newspaper was mostly independent homework, writing articles and stuff and independent research, so that sounded appealing. Plus, it only requires half an hour on a friday for a meeting. Sounds good to me. I guess I'll go today to get my parents off my back as soon as possible, the club is probably filled with people so I can just sink into the background.

The way I see it, I can go a few times and then once my parents are off of my back about it and think I'm being social or something, then I can quit- go back to how things were before. Plus, I'm sure the newspaper will be so busy they won't even notice if I don't actually submit any articles, or show up to any meetings. I'm not much of a writer, so anything I do submit is likely so bad they won't even bother publishing it anyway.

I locked my bike up when I got to school and headed inside, making my way through the building towards my biology class. Biology was probably one of my favourite subjects, next to Chemistry of course- I want to go into forensic science, so it only makes sense.

I took my seat at the front and pulled out a notebook and pen, ready for the lesson. As the teacher walked in, I pulled my headphones out and sat up straight for an hour of bio, but then another person followed him in- I had never seen him before (trust me I would definitely remember a face like his).

"Hi class, happy Friday. This is the new kid... What's your name again?" The teacher spoke monotonously, bored to be here, per usual.

"Tye." The guy replied shortly, his eyes flicking around the classroom and holding eye contact with me for approximately 0.2 seconds. The guy had silverish hair with dark, shaped eyebrows and a sculpted chin. I practically swooned.

He was wearing an indie band shirt, tucked into some black, cuffed trousers. The guy could certainly dress himself well and I loved his vintage windbreaker. I pulled my eyes away and

focused on my desk before he caught me staring, that would be too embarrassing for me to handle.

"Well Tye, take a seat and welcome to Bayshore Sixth Form, I'm sure you'll receive a very warm welcome from the students here, yadda yadda, sit down. Today we'll be looking at..."

I zoned out after that, not because I wasn't interested but because I caught sight of Tye sitting down just behind me. Not at all an optimal seating position for my crush on him to blossom. To look at him I'd have to turn all the way around, which would then brand me as a creepy peeking stalker, which effectively I could have been if he'd just sat in front of me like I wanted. I could have spent the next year staring at the back of his beautiful head. But no, now he's looking at the back of mine.

I hope my hair isn't a mess- I hadn't done anything special to it today since I'd only had two hours sleep, I probably had seriously bad bags around my eyes too. Great. My eyes felt heavy now as I remembered the little sleep I'd gotten. I slowly lowered my head against my desk and let my eyelids droop down. Finally... sleep.