Please read:
So, before we start this chapter, I've noticed that a lot if you don't read the messages at the end of every chapter but it would really be appreciated if you would. You don't have to but I would really like it if you guys did, that's it for now, so you guys can read the actual story now!

Thomas's POV

The next morning

I had put Ash on the couch and then by the time I had gotten into Alex and I's room, I was too tired to put Apex in his own bed so we just slept in my bed. Hey, it's not like we haven't done it before.

I was first to wake up, looking down the smol man laying down next to me. Maybe I wasn't the first one up. I poked Alex repeatedly.

"I know you're faking." I said. Alex opened his eyes.

"Okay, you caught me." He sighed.

"C'mon, get up, I wanna go take a shower." I said.

"Nah, I'm still tired." Alex said.

Though I wasn't surprised. He was literally just in the hospital because of lack of sleep. Alex shut his eyes again and I groaned. I took a good look at Alex. His throat had a bit of a slit and dried blood around it, his eyes had dark bags under them. A bruise was starting to form on his cheek and all together, he looked like a mess.

Suddenly his eyes opened wide and he sat up.

"Do you smell that too?" He asked.

I sniffed the air and it smelt like.. something burning.

I looked at Alex, my eyes wide.

Beep beep beep

The smoke alarm started going off. We both jumped up and ran into the kitchen to see Ash using a towel to try to blow away the smoke that was coming from the stove.

We helped her and found that it wasn't too bad. Just A lot of smoke and some burnt eggs and bacon. The toast was good though!

"U-um, here's your food.. eh heh heh... heh..." she said nervously holding out the plate after we got the smoke cleared.

"Aww, Ash, you didn't have to cook for us! We can do that for you! Mostly so that you don't burn the whole dormitory down." Alex said, laughing.

"I-Im sorry.. I didn't mean too! Im usually better at cooking I guess I just haven't done it in a while and I'm really sorry!" She apologized.

"Hey, you don't have to apologize!" Alex said, putting his hand on her shoulder causing her to flinch. Then seemed to mentally curse herself then nodded in response to Alex.

Alex looked over. "Hey you made the coffee good!" He exclaimed.

"That's one thing I know how to do! I can't live without coffee!" She said as if it was the one thing that mattered in life.

"Oh my God... now there's two of you?!" I exclaimed. "Nope. I'm out." I put my hands in the air and went to go take a shower while they laughed at me in the background.

Third person POV

"Anyway, it's too early for you. Why are you up?" Alex asked.

"Guess I got used to it after a while." Ash replied with a shrug.

Ash had short dark brown hair with a few light brown and blond streaks in her hair. It was greasy and the way it had kind of grown out weirdly looked bad, indicating that she either needed to cut it again or grow it out again. She kept having to move the hair out of her face because when it got greasy it started to curl around her face. Her eyes changed colour between green, blue or a mixture if both, today they were a dull green. She had a few freckles splashed across her face but none too noticeable. Most of them were underneath her eyes on her cheekbones and over her nose. Her mouth looked like she was trying too hard to pucker her lips because of her front teeth that stuck out a bit. Her face was more narrow then round and altogether she was pretty skinny. She wore a black sweater that seemed too big for her and dark blue skinny jeans. She had dark bags under her eyes but they weren't as bad as Alex's. She didn't have much of a butt or boobs, probably due to her skinnyness or maybe just genes. She had pretty large feet, around a size 8-9 in women's, indicating that she was most likely going to be much taller than she is right now, which was around 5'2. She also had pretty light skin. All of these things were very noticeable about her (other then the freckles), except for the white scars that lined her wrists and the red more resent ones that scattered her wrists as well. She came out to everyone as pansexual and only told Alex about her being gender fluid. But never told anyone about her depression, despite the fact that it was pretty obvious, but nobody just ever seemed to care. That made her become suicidal. But she stayed alive. For Alex and for her siblings. Until the hurricane. After that she had nothing to live for. But she kept living. And that's the part that she didn't understand. Ash never had a real friend until she met Alex. She had her cousin, Scott, but he lived farther away and rarely ever got to visit. So she was basically alone until Alex. People had pretended to be her friend only to leave her at some point, sometimes they would pretend, sometimes they just decided that they didn't like her, some just wanted to get information and make stuff up just to bully her. One of the rumors that spread through the whole town was that her mother was a slut. Ash never believed the rumors and defended her mother until she found out that they ended up being true. ... nobody wants to know how she found that out..

Anyway that was very unnecessarily long.

"So what happened?" Alex asked.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, sitting down at one of the stools that were beside the counter, then took a sip of her coffee.

"What happened to your family and stuff?" Alex asked.

"Oh that... I.. I actually have no idea.. they didn't find and bodies or anything but... I doubt... I doubt.." she choked on her words as she couldn't seem to finish her sentence. She swallowed back a sob and held back her tears. "Hehe, sorry." She blinked away the remaining tears and laughed a bit as a cover up.

"No, it's okay. I.. understand." Alex said.

"Yeah.. what about you? You got kind of distant after.. ya know." She said. Referring to his mother's death.

"Sorry, I guess things just kind of got.. hard." Alex replied.

"Yeah, I could understand that." Ash said.

It was a bit of awkward silence before Ash finally desided to break it.

"So, this is your... dorm? So you go to college?" Ash asked. She didn't really get to see the outside because she fell asleep.

"Yeah."

"How did you afford to go?!" Ash exclaimed. Ash had started saving up every penny so that she could go to college and get a good job when she was older unlike her parents but that all washed away after the hurricane.

"I got a scholarship." Alex blushed out of embarrassment but also had a pit in his stomach. Despite Ash wanting to go to college and working hard in school, she never got very good grades, it was especially hard with all the bullying, her home life, and the pure fact that she had her parents genes. And both of them were idiots so...

"Wow! That's amazing Alex!" Ash exclaimed. She was genually happy for him, but also jealous and disappointed in herself. Mostly because she knew no matter how hard she tried, she'd never be able to be as smart as Alex. She looked up to Alexander a lot. So the fact that she was unable to be like him made her disappointed in herself.

"Thanks." Alex replied simply.

"And that's your roommate~?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"God you sound like Peggy." Alex sighed. Face palming himself and shaking his head while doing so.

"Is he your boyfriend~????" Ash teased more.

"NO!" Alex screeched with a blush.

"Mhm~ well maybe not yet! But my ship will sail!" Ash vowed, standing up on the stool. But being the clumsy person she is. Fell off.

"OMG ASH ARE YOU OKAY?!" Alex yelled. Getting off his stool and running over to Ash.

"I'm okay!" She said, jumping back up. She hurt herself by accident all the time so she was honestly really used to it by now.

"There's already a bruise forming on your head!" Alex said and pointed.

"Bah, it doesn't hurt!" Ash said, after trying to look at it.

"What about you? Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend yet~?" Alex teased back.

"What do you think? I've been living in an alleyway, I'm a fucking mess and ugly af, and I'm literally 13!" She yelled, then groaned and bashed her head on the counter.

"How have you not damaged your brain at all yet?" I asked.

"I wouldn't be too sure about it!" She said, her face still on the counter.

"Anyway, I myself am surprised you don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend!" Alex exclaimed.

Ash slowly looked at him with a dull look on her face.

"I wouldn't date me if I were the last person on Earth and was really horny and wanted to reproduce and make a million babies with my horny ass dick." She said as if it were the most casual thing in Earth to say.

"Since when do you swear and talk about the bad sexual body parts like that?! Where's my sweet lil inoccent angel?!" Alex screeched.

"Yeah, I've been like this for a long time now." She replied.

"So what's it like living in an alleyway?"

"Idk, what's it like living in a dorm?" She emediatly changed the subject.

Alex blinked at her a few times. "It's like living in a dorm."

"Then there's your answer."

"It's like living in a dorm?"

"Ughh, somehow I knew you were going to say that." She groaned.

Alex chuckled (ehhhhh). "I need to make a phone call for a second, I'll be right back."

"Kay." She replied back simply.

"In the meanwhile, why don't you eat something?" Alex suggested.

"I don't eat breakfast." She said hesitantly.

"Okay?" Alex brushed it off. Then walked over to the living room to have a private phone call.

Thomas walked out, he was wearing a magenta button up shirt with black jeans.

Ash avoided looking at Thomas. She didn't know him so didn't know what kind of person her was or weather he was trustworthy or not.

Thomas sat down in the seat that Alexander had been sitting at.

"So... my names Thomas Jefferson!" He said politely, holding out his hand.

"My name is Ash." She said, hesitantly shaking his hand, taking a few glances at him now and then but mostly avoiding his gaze.

"So, how old are you? I'm 18!" He said, trying to make conversation.

"I'm 13.." She said awkwardly. It felt weird to be the younger one. Usually she was the older one. Well, not in school, but at home she was.

"So, where's your family?" Thomas asked.

She had only been asked this question once and she was already sick of it.

"Probably dead in a hurricane." She said casually, deciding not to think to much about it.

Thomas nodded, seeming to understand.

It was awkward silence from then on. They both didn't know what to do. Ash was stiff making sure not to make one wrong move while Thomas was trying to think of something to say but kept coming up blank.

"Alright! Im all done! Now, Thomas, I need to speak with you please." Alex exclaimed, seeming excited.

Thomas and Ash let out a silent breath they didn't know they were holding in. Thomas got up to go see what Alex needed and Ash looked around for something to do.

Thomas' POV

"So what's up?" I asked Alex after walking over to the living room.

"So, I made some calls and the college agreed, after a lot of begging, to let Ash stay with us at our dorm! But I wanted to make sure it was okay with you first!" Alex exclaimed.

"Sure!" I agreed.

"Yay! Time to make some more calls! You should go talk to them and try to get to know them a bit better!" Alex suggested, already pounding a number into his phone.

"Them?" I asked.

"Oh, they're gender fluid." Alex pointed out.

I nodded and walked away as Alex started talking on the phone again. I got a ding from my phone indicating a message and opened up my phone to see who it was.

I'mSick: Hey, why'd you leave?
I'mSick: Idk why you're not responding but wanna hang out today??

MacaroniFucker: Sorry, can't, busy today. It's been really hectic these past few days and we'll need to talk in face to face soon but not yet, okay? Still have to sort this shit out, sorry.

I'mSick: Oh, that's okay, I guess.. love you! 💖

MacaroniFucker: yea..

I sighed and put away my phone.

"Boy problems?" Ash asked, not looking up from what she was doing, which was cleaning the kitchen.

"What- I- Um, maybe?" I stuttered.

How did she know???

"I'm not naive, I have seen men around you." Ash said. Finally pausing, then looking up at me with a smirk.

I blushed out of embarrassment.

She let out a small laugh then went back to wiping off the counters.

"Anyway, I have some exciting news for you!" I exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" She asked, finishing up with the counters then putting away her cloth and turning to face me.

"You're going to be staying with us!" I said.

She blinked at me a few times.

"What?" She asked.

"You're. Going. To. Be. Staying. With. Us. Aka me and Alex." I said slowly.

"One. Why? Two. It's Alex and I." She replied.

"Well, one. Because you can and it's better then living in an alleyway. Two. Whatever." I said in the same sassy tone she used with me.

"I never agreed to this." She said.

"I don't think you had a choice." I said.

"You guys really haven't through this through, have you?" Before I could respond she continued, "where will I sleep? What am I going to do while you guys are at classes? Are you guys going to be able to afford having me here as well? Ect. Seriously, I'd just be a burden to you guys!" She said.

"You'll sleep on the couch, you'll obviously go to school, you're thirteen so you're in high school already, and I'm sure we'll be fine money wise. And you're not a burden." Alex replied, coming into the room. "Now come on! You gotta get ready!" Alex exclaimed, dragging her away.

"Ready for what?!" She questioned.

"You're going for an interview with the principal for your school! Trust me, I'm already ten steps ahead of you! Also, what size are you in clothing Alex asks.

"Um, I-I don't know!" She said.

"Hmm. You're size small. Ima just go off of that. Now, you have a shower! There's shampoo and conditioner in there and there's towels in the drawers on the far left!" Alex yelled, pushing her into the bathroom and closing the door.

I was laughing in the background.

Alex's POV

After shoving Ash into the bathroom I went into the bedroom and started looking through my clothes. I started off with few pairs of clothes but having Hercules as your friend results in you having.. a lot more clothes then when you started out.

"Hmm... nope.. no.. eww! Definitely not! Wtf?! Where did this come from?! No! Oh Hell no! Fuck this shit I'm out!" I yelled.

"What are you even doing?" Thomas asked.

"I'm trying to find clothes for Ash!" I said, pulling out my phone to call Lafayette.

"Alex! Mon ami! What's up?" Laf asked.

"Laf, it's an emergency!" I yelled.

"What's happening mon ami? IS SOMEBODY WEARING PLAD WITH STRIPES?!" He screeched sounding as if he was about to fall over and die.

"No, but somebody doesn't know what to wear for an interview with their new principal in about.. 2 hours!" I yelled.

"I'm on my way and I'm bringing Hercules, Maria and Peggy!" He said. "Wait, who's going for an interview with their new principal?" Laf asked.

"Ash. The smol child you met last night."

"Got it!"

Not even five minutes later, Lafayette basically kicked down the door to the apartment.

"Where is she?!" Laf basically yelled.

"Can you guys quiet down!?" I yelled.

"Oh, right, forgot, sorry!" Laf said. Forgetting he was yelling.

Laf went to go see what I had, to wear, with Hercules. Maria had brought her makeup bag which was basically a small makeup suitcase! And Peggy was just.. there for motivation.. and to raid our kitchen.. wait a minute.

"PEGGY YOU BETTER NOT BE EATING MY COFFEE CRISPS!" I screeched.

Third person POV

Alex was now chasing Peggy around the dorm while Peggy was eating as many coffee crisps as she could. Maria was getting her makeup out and deciding which ones were her favorites and which ones she should most likely use. Peggy and Alex usually getting in her way which made her get annoyed. Lafayette and Hercules were both deciding what Ash should wear. Well, Hercules started going solo after Lafayette accidentally started rearranging Alex's closet.

Maria had arranged her the lipsticks on the table perfectly and then Peggy jumped on the table and ruined them for the millionth time.

"UGHH!" Maria nearly screamed and pushed Peggy off the table.

Peggy fell down and Alex snatched the coffee crisps out if her hands.

"MINE!" Alex yelled and hugged the large box if mini coffee crisps.

"Awww!" Peggy whined.

"THEYRE ALL GONE!" Alex screeched.

"Hehehhehehe!" Peggy laughed.

"IM GONNA GET YOU!" Alex yelled and thus the chasing began.... again.

Let's just say, Ash came out of the shower too find... a lot going on.

Hehehe that was a fun chapter. So as I said in the last chapter, Ash is kind of based off of me, but I promise she is a part if the story more then just for extra. But she's not completely important in this exact story except for helping Peggy get Alex and Thomas together and maybe helpful for other character developments and for her own character development. But she would be more important if there were to be a sequel which you guys can choose when this story is done if you want one or not. I could even do another story and then do a sequel to this one. Idk yet, but we'll find out when this story is done! Which it's not that far away! Yay! Or not yay for you guys but yay for me! (This bug kept flying around in my face and o just smacked myself really hard XD)

Word Count: 3,233

(Another long chapter?!)