PAST

I close my locker and keep my textbooks tucked against my chest as I make my way down the hall for first period. So far, eight grade is going pretty well and I haven't embarrassed myself yet. I just hope it stays that way.

I enter math class and hold my books even tighter when I notice everyone talking to one another. I can tell that the class is divided into different groups and I'm not quite sure where I'd fit in considering I have a friend in each group. I'm a pretty outgoing person so I look for any available seat, knowing I'll be comfortable regardless. I'm walking towards one when I notice someone sitting all the way in the back corner, arms crossed and glowering. I hold back a laugh. I've accepted that Asher is always mad and cranky no matter the circumstance. That scowl of his is practically permanent.

"Here's a tip: if you don't act like you want to kill everyone in this room then people will actually talk to you." I smart and drop my books on the desk next to his, taking a seat.

"Very funny." He side-glances me. "What are you wearing?"

I blink and look down at my outfit. I spent way too long putting it together for the first day of school and was satisfied when I finally had it done. Grade eight girls dress differently, more mature, and I wanted to do the same. Mom took me shopping and bought me new clothes for the year, where most of our time was spent bickering over what was appropriate and what wasn't. Today's outfit is nothing more than a pair of khaki dress shorts that are long enough for the dress code, a white shirt, and some converse. "What do you mean?"

"I mean your clothes look too small for you. Did you not get the right size?"

"What?" I scoff. I look down again and frown. I'm definitely wearing the right size but my body changed over the summer. My thighs and hips are a little bigger and I'm starting to form boobs. I officially got rid of all my A-cup bras and am now proudly a B. I guess my...attributes are more prominent now and maybe that's why I look different. "My clothes are fine."

"They seem tight to me. Can you even breathe?" He snickers and I roll my eyes. Leave it to Asher to keep my ego in check. That's what I get for thinking I was getting stared at by some of the guys this morning. I even started wearing contact lenses and I feel prettier than I did last year but I guess I look weird instead. "Your shirt is see through, by the way."

"Barely." I glare at him. What is up with him? I know he likes to bother me but right now he's just being plain rude.

"What?" He shrugs and his eyes drop to my chest briefly. I feel my face catch on fire when he says, "The flowers on the pink bra are a nice touch."

What an ass! I cross my arms over my chest defensively, feeling much more self-conscious now. You can't even see my bra unless you squint really hard so why the hell is he even squinting?

I ignore him and watch the rest of my classmates instead. We have the typical hierarchy like any other school; everyone knows who the popular kids are and who aren't. I'm somewhere in the middle but a little closer to the popular side. I don't like to consider myself that way though because it's so cliché. I just like making friends so I happen to know a lot of people.

I watch a little curiously as Samantha Simmons, easily the most popular girl in this school, makes her way to the back where Ash and I are. She pauses beside his desk and smiles, bending down in front of him to rest her forearms on his desk. Samantha is the only thirteen-year-old girl I know that wears D-cup bras and right now she's definitely using that to her advantage.

"Hey, Asher." She says in this weird and breathy voice. Does she have asthma?

"Hey." He says in his usual, bored voice. I'm not surprised when his eyes drop to her chest but I am surprised that they stay there before gradually moving back up, his lip curling in his notorious smirk. I blink and a weird feeling forms in my chest. He never smirks at anyone like that except me. Until now.

"What are you up to Friday night?" Samantha flips her hair over her shoulder, smiling in a way that doesn't make her look eager but definitely interested.

"Nothing that I know of." Asher runs a hand through his hair. "Why?"

"I was thinking we could do something. You know...just us? Like last week?" Her teeth toy with her bottom lip.

Last week? This is the first I'm hearing of this and it bothers me more than it should. At least, I think.

I look straight at the whiteboard, keeping a bored expression on my face even though I'm eavesdropping. Why didn't he tell me about Samantha before? Since when does Ash even go on dates, if that's what they were doing? I hate that I'm completely in the dark.

There's a pause and I keep my gaze straight ahead even though I can feel Asher's eyes on me. He probably wants my opinion, like a best friend consultation or something. Whatever. Clearly he can make decisions for himself and anyways, he's been a jerk to me all morning so I wouldn't help him regardless.

"Sure." He finally says and the weird feeling in my chest grows bigger, stronger.

"I'll text you." Her smile grows wider. They have each other's numbers? I kind of hate that I'm not allowed to have a phone until I start high school.

She wiggles her fingers and sashays away, her hips moving side to side. I know for a fact she doesn't walk like that and is doing it on purpose. The other guys in our class gawk and I roll my eyes because apparently it's that easy. I really hope boys don't always stay this stupid.

"What other classes do you have this semester?" Ash asks casually. I continue to ignore him. Not only was he being a jerk to me but he's keeping things from me too, now? We tell each other everything.

"Ria." He waves a hand in front of my face and I smack it away, doodling in my open notebook instead. "Are you mad at me or something?"

I'm tempted to yell an angry "no shit!" in his face but I don't spare him a glance. With a best friend like Asher, you get good at the silent treatment. I swear he can't go two days without pissing me off, sometimes.

"Oh, come on." He huffs. "What did I do this time?"

Is he for real? Why are boys so clueless?

I'm about to snap and lose my composure but our math teacher finally makes his entrance and shushes the class. Ash has no choice but to face the front and stop bothering me once the lesson starts. I breathe a sigh of relief and open up my textbook, taking notes. The whole time I can feel Asher gearing at me but I easily disregard it. If he thinks I'm going to give in that easily, he has another thing coming.

***

"Ria, wait up!"

I quicken my steps when I hear Asher's voice. It's only been forty minutes since I started ignoring him and he's acting like it's been days. Can't he hold out any longer?

I stop at my locker to switch textbooks for my next class, grabbing my binder too. I double-check my appearance in the small mirror I've hung up and frown. I do look good. Screw Asher for making me feel like I don't.

I close the locker and am not the least bit surprised to discover Asher's scowling face inching into mine. "Would you stop with the silent treatment already?"

I raise a brow and step around him but he stops me by grabbing both my arms.

"Get off." I yank away from his hold.

"Look at that. She speaks." He deadpans.

"She is late for class." I wiggle my fingers. "Bye now."

"You're funny." He stops me again and this time grabs me by the elbow, dragging me away.

"Let go, you jerk." I try to break free but it's no use.

"Not happening." He loosens his hold but that's as good as it gets.

"Asher, I'm serious."

"So am I."

He rounds the corner and leads us to the deserted staircase. He finally lets me go and I hold my textbook protectively against me when his glare returns. "What's up with you? Don't lie to me."

"I'm the liar here? That's priceless."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I clutch my books tighter and force myself to breathe through my nose instead of my mouth like Darth Vader. "You never told me you hung out with Samantha Simmons of all people."

"Well, yeah. So?"

"So? We tell each other everything, Ash."

"I didn't think it was important enough to mention."

Except...isn't it? I don't even know anymore.

"Fine. Leave it."

"Ria, come on." He gets in front of me when I try to leave again.

I jab a finger into his chest. "And why are you being such a jerk today anyways? I know we like to tease each other but making fun of the way I look is kind of a low blow."

"Who said I was making fun of you?" He throws his hands up in exasperation.

"Well, you weren't exactly saying nice things either." I rub my temple. Nobody gets on my nerves like Asher. "I'm over this conversation. Just let me go."

"Stop." He murmurs firmly but gently. He takes a step closer and I tip my head slightly back to look at him. I'm the tallest girl in school and Asher is probably the only boy who's more than a couple of inches taller. "I wasn't trying to be mean about the way you look. That's the last thing you need to worry about anyways, Ria. You're easily the prettiest girl I know. You know, for a brat."

That weird feeling I had in my chest earlier? It transforms into something weirder at his words and for the first time since knowing him, I actually feel nervous and kind of shy around Ash. There is seriously something wrong with the universe today.

"Well..." I stumble over what to say. I've never had any problems with comebacks either but right now, my brain blanks out for some reason. It's hard to think past the thumping in my ear. Why is my heart beating faster? It's not like I've never been called pretty before but...this is the first time Ash has told me that. Why is it freaking me out? "Thanks, I think."

His lips twitch and his eyes are full of teasing. "Why are you blushing?"

"I'm not." I almost stomp my foot, especially when I feel my face growing even warmer. Freaking jerk.

"Then what's this?" He pinches my cheeks for emphasis, squishing them between his hands.

"Please stop." I say through my now compressed lips.

He laughs softly and my stomach does a little flip. Asher isn't the kind of guy who laughs, well, ever, and it's always rewarding when I can make him do that.

When he finally lets go of my face I press a hand to one of my cheeks. "Ouch."

"Don't be dramatic. I know that didn't hurt."

"Actually it did, so screw you."

He rolls his eyes but leans forward, pressing his lips to my cheek for a brief moment. It's nothing more than a brush of his mouth in the form of a feather-light kiss but once again my stomach clenches tightly. What is going on with me? Asher kisses my cheek all the time. I'm used to it.

"Better?" One side of his mouth tips up as he waits for my response, his face only a few inches apart from mine.

I search his eyes and wonder if he's feeling the same weirdness I am. He doesn't seem any different than usual so...it's probably just me. I force a bit of sass into my tone before he figures out something's up with me. If he finds out, he'll never let me live it down. He'll probably think I have a crush on him or something which is insanely bizarre and gross. This is Asher. "Was that supposed to do something for me? Because it really didn't."

He presses a hand to his chest. "Damn, Princess. Now who's the one doing the hurting?"

"Stop calling me that." I insist. It's such a cheesy freaking nickname.

"Not happening." He winks. It always looks like guys are trying too hard when they wink but Asher makes it seem natural. I guess he has some charm. I mean, all the girls in this school drool over him constantly. I can understand their appeal because he's cuter than most guys in this school but I don't think of him that way. Not really. "So are we good?"

"Yeah." I sigh. Asher may piss me off on catastrophic level but he's also the easiest to forgive. I can never stay mad at him for too long. I just can't stand having any sort of negativity between us. "But let me in on what's happening with your life, would ya? I mean I guess we're at the point where we'll eventually go on dates and get into relationships and I'd like to know who those people are for you."

His back straightens and those watchful eyes turn on me. "Why do you say that? Is there someone you like?"

"What? No." I blink at the sudden change of direction. "But it's not off the agenda, either. We're growing up, Ash. This is part of it."

"No fucker deserves you, Ria. Why bother looking for a relationship?"

I ignore his aggressive tone. Asher has been cursing like a sailor since the day I met him and Darren and Abigail have given up trying to cleanse his vocabulary. "I'm not saying I'm looking for one but would you really be surprised if it happened? Besides, you're going on dates too. How is that any different?"

"Because I won't get my heart broken."

"I'm not a damsel, Asher. I can take care of myself."

Him and Nate are annoyingly overprotective of me and I should've known not to mention that. Now he's probably going to snitch on my twin and then I'll have the dynamic duo on my back. Just great.

"Whatever." He mutters. "If any guy even looks at you in the wrong way, you tell me. I promise I'll break his arms off his body."

"I believe you." I deadpan.

"Promise me." He holds his pinky up.

"Seriously?" I laugh. "Aren't we getting too old for this?"

I can count on one hand the number of times Asher has made me pinky promise him something. The first time was a couple of months after Darren and Abigail started fostering him and Asher admitted to me that he liked them better than his other foster parents. He didn't want me telling anyone and convinced ten-year-old me that pinky promising not to say a word was the equivalent of a blood oath. The second time was when we were eleven and Ash overheard a conversation between Darren and Abigail that he misinterpreted, thinking they were going to stop fostering him. That was the first time he cried at the thought of another family leaving him and I caught him mid-tears curled up on his balcony. The pinky promise to stay quiet couldn't come fast enough. The third time was the day Asher told me about his birth parents and how they abandoned him. This was sometime this past summer and we were both on my balcony, laying down and staring up at the stars and just talking.

It had been quiet when he suddenly began the story of how his parents were cooking up some meth, as per usual, when one of their workers accidentally dropped a toxic chemical and they ran out of there to avoid getting caught in the impending explosion. There were five adults in the room and they all left Asher, who was a mere ten months old at the time. The ambulances and fire department came in time to save baby Ash but he was all alone while he recovered in the hospital. I'd heard bits and pieces of that story before but I was surprised when Asher kept talking, saying there was more. Apparently one of his earliest memories is walking around a grocery store with his foster parents at the time when he noticed a couple off to the side, watching him. His birth parents. He'd seen a photo of them a couple of weeks prior and instantly recognized them. They merely shared a glance before looking away and walking right out of the store. He never shared that last detail with anyone except me and that time, I had my pinky held up before he even asked. I knew he needed it.

Which is why I'm surprised that he's asking for it now and that too over something so trivial. A pinky promise just to tattletale if a dude even looks at me wrong? It just doesn't seem anywhere near as serious as the rest of our pinky promises.

"You're never too old to make a promise." He tells me now and I break out of my thoughts. "You know these are important to me."

"I know." I sigh. "But even now?"

"There's going to be lots more pinky promises in our future. You can count on it."

I smile reluctantly. Nobody is as vehement that we'll be friends forever as Asher is. It's kind of my soft spot.

"Fine." I intertwine our pinkies together and hold them up. "I promise."

"Good." He lets go and tips his chin up toward the staircase. "Get to class now, brat."

"You too." I narrow my eyes. "Don't skip. It's only the first day."

"Sure." His grin screams trouble and I know he won't listen to me. I roll my eyes and start heading upstairs, waving back to him when he tells me he'll see me after school.

I practically jog to my second class and burst inside ten minutes late, smiling guiltily at my history teacher who raises a brow and watches me until I've taken my seat. She turns around and continues on with the lesson while I open my textbook and start writing notes as quietly as possible, not wanting to draw more attention to myself.

"Where were you?" Lisa asks from the corner of her mouth. She's one of the few girls in this school I actually like.

"Got into a fight with Asher." I scoff. "And solving it led to a million other fights in the process. You know how it goes."

And she does. I complain about Asher to her on a daily basis.

I pause my note-taking when I feel her unwavering stare on me and meet her eyes in question. "What?"

She shakes her head. "I don't get it. How can you be friends with that and not be in love with him?"

"That?" I snicker. Someone shushes us and I cringe, lowering my voice even more. "What do you mean?"

"I mean it's Asher." She whispers. "There isn't a single girl in school that doesn't have a crush on him. He's gorgeous, Aria. I've never seen a thirteen-year-old who's bigger than most high school freshman. He even has freaking muscles. Plus, he has that whole brooding and angry thing going on. How do you keep a straight head around him?"

"Because it's Asher." I repeat her words back to her. Aside from today, I always keep a straight head around him. "I guess it's just different because we grew up together. I honestly don't see him like that."

"You're telling me you've never had even the slightest bit of urge to kiss him?"

Kiss him? My eyes widen in alarm as her words force me to imagine Asher and I kissing. That is...bizarre. My gut does a series of flips when I think about Asher pressing his lips to mine, maybe even toying my tongue with his own. No. Just no.

"Gross." I turn my attention back to my notes and focus on them instead. "That is never going to happen."

"I don't know." She nudges me with her elbow. "You guys look really cute together."

Ha! Yeah, right. That's the last thought I need to be entertaining after the morning I just had. This day is getting way too weird and I want everything to go back to normal. Normal is Asher and I being best friends. Just friends.

That's never going to change.

_________________________

A/N

The more I write about these two, the more I'm fangirling over them. I LOVE getting an insight to their relationship in the past and how it's shaping their present! My heart is falling hard and fast for these two! Who feels the same way?

Please VOTE, comment and share if you liked this chapter!

Happy Reading :)