The final class for the day went by quickly and Ash actually managed to pay attention...for the first ten minutes.

The bell had sounded a while ago but Ash was still seated with her earphones plugged in. Caleb was her ride home and he was busy with soccer practice. The boys took their training way too seriously even by Ash's standards, and she loved soccer more than life itself.

She had blown Maddie off by telling her she had left already so she could enjoy some alone time.

A loud bang from the other corner of the classroom told her that she wasn't as alone as she had thought.

She brought down her legs that had been propped on the desk before her as she meditated to Halsey's vibe in order to look far enough to the side to see who it was.

There was a girl bending over to pick up the stack of books that had fallen from her hands, giving Ash quite the view of her ass in tight jeans.

She was still staring when the girl stood up.

It was Hailey.

"Oh hey! I hope I didn't disturb you. I'm sorry," she said, pushing a stray lock of hair away from her face.

"It's okay. I wasn't doing anything important."

She stood up and walked closer.

"Well you looked like you needed the peace and quiet."

"You could say that," Ash admitted, "What are you still doing here?"

"I wanted to get an early start on that Math homework," Hailey said.

"Those are Physics textbooks," Ash said, nodding at the books in her hand.

Hailey looked down and blushed. Actually blushed!

"I suck at lying, honestly. But I did try to read, whatever this is," Hailey confessed, "You just looked like you needed company."

Ash's black heart melted a little.

"But you haven't said a word to me."

"Not someone to talk to," Hailey shrugged, "Someone to wait till you're ready to talk. Or at least that's what I thought."

Ash smiled.

Who was this girl?

"But I have to leave now. My mom just called," Hailey said with an apologetic grin.

Ash nodded and smiled again.

"So I guess I'll see you around?" she said, flashing a genuine smile.

"My mom died over the summer," Ash blurted.

For a second, Hailey didn't know how to react. It showed in the way her eyebrows moved spasmodically.

"Oh..." she said finally.

"Yeah," Ash agreed, "It hurts like shit. Caleb's being a totally awesome brother but everyone else is trying to force me to-"

The nerd closed the distance faster than Ash could react and hugged her tight.

She didn't say a word.

She only broke away when her phone in her pocket began to vibrate.

"I really have to go now," she said.

She didn't look directly at Ash as she said that. Her cheeks were bright red.

She smiled and ran off towards the door.

"Hey!" Ash called.

She stopped at the doorway and turned.

"Thanks for the yogurt."

She smiled wide.

"You needed it more."

And then she was gone.

*****

It was early evening. Ash, Caleb and his girl Emily were at home which might as well have meant Ash was alone. Not that she was complaining.

Ash was downstairs in the kitchen helping herself to chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa, in order to give the horny couple upstairs some privacy.

She was on her second cup when Emily walked in dressed in a maid outfit Ash was positive she had once seen in a cosplay porn video.

She stopped at the entrance to the kitchen when she saw that Ash was there.

"Oh...hey, Ash. I did not expect to see you here," she muttered awkwardly.

"Emily. Interesting choice." Ash nodded in response while giving her a once over.

She looked down at her outfit and came to the conclusion that she needed to explain.

It was not out of fear of the mean sister of the guy she was dating. Emily was one of the few people who weren't scared of Ash. Not that she hadn't been at first.

Ash was sure the first words that she ever said to her when Caleb introduced her were still stuck in her head: 'So you're the girl he deleted his porn collection for. Not bad.'

It had been quite the awkward conversation and now it felt like Emily was unintentionally in the mood to return the favor.

"You see your brother and I-" she began.

"I do not want to know," Ash cut her off. She took a sip then added, "Please."

"Oh. Right."

Ash was gulping another mouthful when Emily added,

"You don't happen to know where the spatula is, do you?"

Ash did a spectacular spit take, spraying the counter with the brown liquid.

She continued to cough till her eyes teared up.

"Top shelf," she managed to mutter in between coughs.

"Thank you."

Through teary eyes, she managed to see the blonde girl hurry out with the spatula in hand.

Note to self, buy new spatula.

But at least her brother was having fun.

Her phone buzzed and she picked it off the counter.

It was a message from Maddie.

Maddieeeee: Hey babe. How are you?

She sighed and proceeded to type.

Me: Same as the last time you asked, Maddie.

Maddieeeee: You sure? Do you need me to come over?

She thought it over for a second. She didn't exactly mind the idea of company and when Maddie wasn't overbearing, she was fun.

Me: Bring chicken wings.

Me: And your English homework.

Maddieeeee: OMW.

She put the phone down again just as Emily reappeared.

She looked around for a second in the direction of the cabinets.

"Looking for the frying pan?" Ash asked.

Before Emily could react, she walked past her out of the kitchen with an amused grin.

*****

Hailey was three questions in on her actual Math assignment when her phone rang.

She swiped the screen to receive and put it to her ear without checking caller ID. There was only one person who called her at home.

"Hey Cait. What's up?"

"Hey Stranger. You tell me," came Cait's ever enthusiastic voice.

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't see you all day today."

"Sure you did. We had History together."

"I don't offer History, dummy."

"Oh..." Hailey muttered.

But she knew someone who did.

"Have I been replaced already?" Caitlin asked, sounding wounded, "Is there someone else?"

If only she knew the truth.

"You know you haven't, don't be such a baby. I just got super busy."

"It's cool. I'm just messing with you. I missed you though."

"Yeah yeah. Go do your homework or something."

"We have homework?"

"Jesus Christ, Caitlin."

"Now you sound like my Mom." Cait groaned.

"Hailey! Dinner!" Hailey's mom shouted from downstairs.

"I gotta go. My mom's calling for dinner."

"Are you having spaghetti and meatballs today? Can I come over?"

"Don't you have food in your house?"

"You know my mother can't cook to save her life," Caitlin said.

Hailey laughed.

"We'll talk later, crazy."

"I want meatba-!"

There was a satisfactory beep as Hailey ended the call.

The girl did love her meatballs.

For a second she wondered if Ash liked spaghetti and meatballs too.

*****

"Give me a sentence with a metaphor, will you?" Ash asked, turning away from the book before her to look at Maddie who was lying with her head on a pillow and her legs propped on Ash's butt.

"Your eyes are the stars that light up my dark nights."

Ash paused for a second in thought.

"Cheesy but that will do." She turned back to her notes and scribbled.

Maddie moved her leg to the end of Ash's robe and began to push it higher.

"Maddie. Homework," Ash reminded.

"We're more than halfway done, so unless you have a better excuse..."

She let her words hang in the air, uncompleted.

She pushed it up till Ash could feel the chill as her butt was exposed then Maddie began drawing a circle on one cheek with her big toe.

"Why stop at halfway when we can be totally done?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Maddie said.

The next thing, Ash felt Maddie's soft body climb on top of hers, her hands at her sides, undoing the robe.

She could feel her heated breath on the back of her neck as Maddie reached in and grabbed her breasts.

"Oh, Maddie..." Ash sighed.

She put her pen inside her notebook, shut it and threw it somewhere on the ground then turned to face her, the robe falling further open.

"Fine. You have my attention. Now what are you going to do with it?" Ash said.

"Oh I am so glad you asked."

Her frown turned into a gasp as she felt one freakishly long finger slide right up her center.

"Oh...fuck!"

*****