Puppets on a string

WHEN WE FIRST MET

Ashley's POV

I was running down the corridors in my college. I just started my Bachelors degree programme today and I am already late for the first class. 'Please give me side' I said pushing past the students talking in the corridor. Firstly, I woke up late in the morning on my first day of college and secondly, some stupid buttface senior showed me the wrong classroom just for fun. F**k! These seniors love to mess around with freshman.

'May I come in sir?' I stumbled in the classroom requesting the professor to let me in.

'I guess you are already inside the classroom Miss' Professor who was still unknown to me said with a little smile on his face.

Then I heard the laughter from the classroom and then I realized that I was already halfway inside the classroom. s**t ! Too much embarrassment for the first day.

I gave a nervous smile to everyone and found an empty seat next to a beautiful brunette who gave me a little smile. As soon as I sat next to her, she introduced herself to me.

'Hi, I am Vinnie Singh' Brunette said

'Hi, I am Ashley jenkins' I introduced myself

'Are you from San Diego too?' She asked me.

'Yes, I was born and raised here. What about you ?' I replied.

'I am from Texas. Everyone here is from California. I guess I am the only one who is from Texas.' She said.

Suddenly the teacher interrupted us.

'Ms. late would you like to introduce yourself to the class?'

'Sure, sir' I said.

First day of my class and I have already made an impression in front of the class and professor. Great!

After taking the introductions of all the students, professor went out of the classroom and everyone scattered around the classroom making new friends.

'So, what subjects are you taking this semester' Vinnie asked me.

' I am having major in Physics. Other than that Chemistry and Mathematics as other subjects.' I replied.

'OH! We only have chemistry together as I am having major in chemistry' Vinnie said smilingly.

'So, what class do you have now?' I asked Vinnie.

She fumbled with her schedule and told me that she had 1 hour free for now. Thank God, I also have an hour free for now. Vinnie suggested that we go to college canteen for now and I agreed. The more we talked the more we became close. The next thing I knew that we were already becoming best of friends.She became my first friend in college. Soon,we both exchanged our contact numbers too. Time passed with her easily and already 1 hour was over.

'I have Physics now ' I told Vinnie.

'Well, I have English now. After that I have Chemistry lab' Vinnie said.

'Me too. So, I will see you in the Chemistry lab' I said to Vinnie and we both parted ways.

.I made my way inside the classroom and found an empty seat. I am a very sociable person. I make friends very fast. But I never make the first move in making new friends. I only talk to people if they talk to me first. I guess I am afraid of rejection. Later a girl whom I also saw in chemistry class came and sat next to me. I already forgot her name.

'Hi, I am Vicky Skyler. I saw you in Chemistry class too. You are Ashley, right?' She said.

'Yes, that's me. I saw you in that class too' I said smiling.

As we were talking, the Physics professor entered the class and started the orientation and taking introductions of the students. In between the lecture, a handsome brunette boy entered the class without taking professor's permission. I have seen many handsome boys before but how can someone be cute and hot at the same time. He walked smugly in the classroom with a smirk on his face as if he owned the college. Maybe he is hot and all but he is equally arrogant.

'How rude' I said under my breath and he suddenly looked at me as if he heard me. Then he walked away sitting at the other corner of the class. Professor looked at him angrily but said nothing. Maybe he is habitual of dealing with these kind of arrogant jerks and realized that best way to deal with these kind of students is ignoring them.

Soon it was Mr. arrogant's turn to give introduction.

'Hey everyone, My name is Samuel Stark. I am 19 years old. I am from San Diego.'He said.

'Anything more you would like to say about you Mr. Stark?' Professor asked.

'No' he replied rudely and suddebly left the classroom without looking back once.

WTF? Who behaves like this especially with a professor. He truly is very arrogant. I looked at Professor, he just shook his head disapproving with Samuel's behavior but then continued with the class. Is this how students behave in college ?

Later on, Vicky introduced me with some of her friends some of whom were taking the same classes as me. This included Ralph Nelson, Jennie Russo, Sophie Jade and Hannah Wilson. I introduced them with Vinnie too and now we had our little friend circle. Ralph was a tall blonde man with a cute dimple smile. Every girl would fall for his charm but only problem he had was he curses alot. Everytime he opens his mouth, he curses.

Jennie was a cute and shy girl with long jet black hairs. Sophie was a very bold and slim girl. Nobody would ever dare to mess with her as she had a very sharp tongue.

After the college, we all were sitting in a cafetaria near the college campus having some snacks. We also were talking to some of our seniors as they were introducing us to the new college life. Soon, the conversation shifted to the freshers party.(Party organised by seniors for the welcome of freshers).

'How about having freshers party next weekend?' a senior asked who was also the president of student union of college.

'That would be fine with us' Ralph replied.

'Can we all join you too?' a boy whom I saw in my Physics class asked us with a polite smile on his face. He was not so tall but was hella cute. He also had a man bun on his head which gave him a sexy look. He was accompanied by 3 other boys including Mr. Arrogant. But my focus was on the boy with bun. I immediately found myself attracting to him.

'Yeah, sure' Ralph said and introducing himself.

'Hi, I am Vincent Douglas' he said suddenly sitting next to me.

'Hi, I am Ashley' I replied shyly.

That Samuel guy was sitting opposite me but kept his distance. I found him glancing at me a couple of times but I ignored him and continued my conversation with Vincent. I also talked with Samuel but kept it to minimum. After his rude behavior with professor, I was trying to keep my distance with him. Soon we all exchanged numbers and made a group chat too. We all said goodbye to each other and went to our homes.

Later that night

I was about to go to sleep but suddenly my phone beeped.

Vincent sent you a message

I smiled a little reading that.

'Hi Ash. Are you asleep?'

'Hi Vin. Not yet.'

'Why? Are you thinking about me? ;)' He texted.

'Haha. As if.' I replied

Maybe he was not wrong on that. I was thinking about him but one face was also not going out of my mind. Samuel. Why was I thinking about that rude arrogant jerk.

My phone pinged again taking me out of my thoughts.

'But I was thinking about you' Vincent texted.

I blushed reading that message. I didn't know how to reply to that message but I kept my composure and replied.

'See you tomorrow Vin. Good night.'

I was thinking of flirting back with him but I didn't want to look so easy.

My phone pinged again and when I looked at my phone, my smile vanished. It was Paul. My ex-boyfriend. We broke up 6 months ago. He is messaging me since then trying to get me back. But how can I go back to the man who asked my best friend to be his girlfriend while being with me. Yes, my ex boyfriend asked my childhood best friend Pamela knight to be his girlfriend when we were still in a relationship. We dated for 4 months only. He was my first boyfriend and my first kiss. After the breakup I realized that I never loved him. It was just a high school infatuation and when he made that mistake, I didn't think twice before breaking up with him. But he has been texting me since then, asking for forgiveness. But I keep ignoring him. I have blocked a lot of his numbers but he keeps texting me with new contact numbers. Sometimes he uses his friend's phones to text me. Later on I got tired of blocking numbers and just started ignoring them. God! I need to get a new number. After that, I went to sleep.

NEXT MORNING IN COLLEGE

I was sitting in college canteen with my friends when our seniors joined us. I was sitting between Vincent and Samuel. As I got to know everyone I realized that Samuel was not so rude. He was actually a very funny guy who always cracked some jokes to make the conversation going. I kinda liked that about him.

'Just like crocodiles tears are not true, just like that f*****g ass don't make the child brew' Samuel joked. It was disgusting yet funny at the same time. Everybody laughed. We again were talking about the freshers party and how excited we are about it.

'Hey Ash, have you brought the dress for the party yet?' I heard a rough voice from my right. When I looked up, Samuel was staring at me.

'Not yet, I will go shopping today' I replied suddenly wondering why Samuel was interested in my freshers dress.

'Well you don't need to buy anything. You will look beautiful even in a potato sack' he whispered in my ear. Then I realized how close he is sitting to me. And did he just call me beautiful. I blushed a little and gave him a small smile. Ahh! Don't give me compliments. I get all giddy and nervous whenever someone compliments me. I am not used to compliments. I am a very average girl with average looks. I don't have a slim toned body. I never had any boys running after me or complimenting me. I was always invisible to boys. Paul was one of the few boys who ever showed any kind of interest in me. Whenever boys approach me, most of the times they are trying to get me introduce them to my friends. So, you see, I have very less self confidence when it come to boys.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder.

'Hey, you okay?' Vincent asked

'Yes, just thinking about some stuff' I shrugged. Vincent looks like a very caring person just the type of person I needed in my life, I thought.

In Physics class that day, Samuel came and sat next to me. We exchanged mutual Heys and I started taking notes while Samuel was busy in his phone. In between I felt like someone was staring at me, as I looked up, Samuel was looking at me.

'What?' I gave him a questioning look.

'Do you know that you pout whenever you are concentrating hard on something?' he said suddenly. I have heard this alot from my family and friends. Whenever I am thinking hard and concentrating hard on something, my lips automatically starts pouting. How did he notice it in just 1 day.

'Hehe. Yes, I have heard this alot' I said looking at him

'You look cute when you pout' he replied making me blush again. I looked down shyly without replying. Then I heard a laugh from him. I looked at him with questioning eyes giving him the 'what' look. He noticed and said ,'You don't take compliments well too. You always blush when someone compliments you '. I looked down embarrassed. How can he notice me this much when he has not even known me for 24 hours.

'Hey, don't be embarrassed. I find it really cute.' He said making me blush again which he replied with a smile.

'He has pretty smile' I thought to myself and then busied myself in taking the notes again. Maybe Samuel is not that bad.