Not-Too-Shabby Authors

Crazy... It seems as though I get called that a lot lately. Sadly, it's not true. I'm completely sane, but lately I've been hearing voices. Not random voices, I mean I hear a very distinctive voice... One that would sound like an older brother, except this voice sounds like my boyfriend, Ashton, who died a year ago in a freak car accident.

Ashton wasn't like any other person you'd ever meet. He'd never gotten involved with drugs or alcohol, nor did he associate himself with people on them either. He could tell if something was wrong with any person, even those who hid all of their emotion behind a "cookie-cutter smile".

He's the complete opposite of how most people believe senior "hipsters" act. Sure he'd bring his guitar to school and play whenever he had any free time, and when he did you knew he was doing it either to cheer someone up or to talk someone out of something that could ruin their life, or to play to whomever he had a crush on.

One fine day, Ashton had waltzed into school with guitar in hand, with determination to play. That day he played to two people, a suicidal girl named Kristyn and to me, Varity Sweet. I'm "that one girl" who has brightly dyed hair, wears black skinny jeans, Converse or Vans, and band tee-shirts. Ashton Kael, the boy that every girl wanted to date, had a crush on me.

That morning, unlike any other, had started off rather smoothly- my mom didn't come into my room screaming like she usually does, my hair actually was cooperating when I was fixing it, and I had just opened a new bottle of my favorite perfume "Rock Princess". Once I had gotten to school, however, things were being said about Ashton bringing his guitar to school.

"Hello? Earth to Varity! Ashton Kael's brought his guitar to school!" my best friend, Pheonix, nearly screamed into my ear once she saw me doing my eyeliner at my locker.

"Yeah, I know. It's not like it should matter to me anyways. It's not his good guitar or anything." I said, with all intention of showing her that I didn't care.

"That's it though! It IS his good guitar. Some girl, or girls, are going to get played to today at lunch!"

I gulped, who's it going to be this time? He usually doesn't bring his good guitar if he's just trying to cheer someone up, it's usually to tell a girl that he's crushing on them. Sure, I sometimes wish it would be me, but who cares right? It's just some dumb little dream that will NEVER come true... I thought.

As the day progressed, everyone kept the buzz about him going. Some said he brought it because his old guitar needed new strings, others kept to the whole "girl-crush" idea. I just ignored them with a simple flip of my bangs to one side and kept walking. There's only two people in the whole school who could know what was racing through Ashton's mind, himself and his best friend, Draven Pyke.

I had Art class with both Ashton and Draven that day and when Ashton went on his normal "get-the-guitar-from-the-front-desk" trip, I moved over near Draven and asked him what was going on.

"I'm not too sure. He said it was for a girl, but he didn't specifically give me any names. He said that it was 'going to be a shocker'. I have no idea what he means by that." he shrugged. Not even his best friend knew?

"Thanks Draven, that so helped clear things up." I playfully hit him in his shoulder and walked back to me seat just as Ashton came back in the classroom. I looked in their general direction and saw what looked like a questioning glance towards Draven about what happened, which got a shrug in response.

As the bell rang and we gathered our stuff, I bumped into Ashton who gave me this dazzling smile that could solve all world issues. Dear god, why was this boy so dreamy? The minutes ticked by as seconds after my close encounter with Ashton. I couldn't wait to be able to hear his voice singing to whomever it was.

Finally, the 12:30 bell rang- my lunch time. I went through the first of the three lines, got what I usually ate- mozzarella sticks, Dorito's, Mountain Dew, and a cookie- and sat down at the two-person table in the furthest corner near all the windows. I plugged my headphones into my iPod and tried to zone out from the world until Pheonix's lunch bell rang. I hadn't even started to eat before I had gotten my headphones pulled out of my ears and heard Pheonix almost yell into my ear that Ashton just came into the lunchroom.

I paused my music and responded with a flip of my bangs and commenced eating. Before I had time to start eating my third mozzarella stick, I heard Ashton's melodic voice begin singing "How to Save a Life" by The Fray to a girl named Kristyn.

"Step one, you say we need to talk..." he began, "he walks. You say 'sit down it's just a talk.'" While I watched Ashton's lips form every word, I began to drift off into another world again. I had hardly paid any attention to my food until Pheonix grabbed my attention by hitting me on the side of the head.

"Ow... That hurt! What was that for anyways?" I said, rubbing my temple where I had been hit.

"He's walking over here! Look!" She grabbed my lower jaw and turned my head to face his direction. His eyes were locked on me, or so I thought.

Ashton was 20 feet from our table when out of nowhere, Kiana Woods jumps in front of him and pulls him off to her table. He politely looked at her and her friends and gave them a sincere smile that meant he was too busy to stay for awhile and he returned to walking in my direction.

I quickly looked down at the ground and within seconds, Draven was sitting next to Pheonix and I felt a soft hand touch my shoulder. I barely raised my head and see his beautiful eyes looking into mine.

"Hey Varity, would you mind if I played you my favorite song?" He started to blush, gosh he's so adorable!

I began to stutter, "Uh.. G-go ah-ahead..." I looked up at him and he flashed another heart-warming smile. He got down on one knee and began singing both his and my own favorite song, Hummingbird by NeverShoutNever.

"I like you. Girl you don't have a thing to prove to me. I know that times have been rough for the both of us, but I'll pray for change.." I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as he sung. "You see, this world has lots to offer but in time it will go dark and if this love is what we say it is, I'm sure we will go far. And with a girl as sweet as you, there's not much else I can do but fall for you." And as he said this last verse, I began to cry.

He handed his guitar to Draven, stood up, and held his arms out to me. I, being the sucker for hugs that I am, nearly jumped into his arms and held on tight. I nuzzled my head into his neck and he lowered his head near my ear and said, "Varity, would you care to be my girlfriend?" I nodded and raised my head up. He put his thumbs beneath both of my eyes and softly wiped the tears (and running eyeliner) away. That day couldn't have been more perfect.

Not-Too-Shabby Authors

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