The Bad boy, the baby and Me

8. Suspicions, suspicions

“Millie, look who’s here for you!” my mom yelled from downstairs.

I sighed, while quickly putting on my clothes. She couldn’t just tell me the name of the visitor; she had to keep me in suspense.

I quickly tied my hair in a ponytail, yanked my school bag from my bed and ran downstairs.

My feet however halted at the last step when I saw who was actually waiting for me.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at Ashton.

“What is he doing here?” I directed the question at my mom.

I had practically just left his room, an hour ago and was still in a sour mood because I had to go to school. Life couldn’t just give me a break; instead it gave me annoying bad boys, unknown pissers, mysterious babies and babyeaters (oops! I mean babysitters.)

My mom gasped at me, then, gave me a pointed look, “I didn’t raise you up to be rude, Millie.”

Ashton jumped in. “It’s okay Mrs. Blaire. I am used to it by now,” he said, making a despaired face, which my mom totally fell for.

“Is she always like this with you, Ashton dear?” my mom asked him, sweetly.

Ashton nodded, while his lips tugged down. “I would say, not just me. Ask my friends. She has always had it against us since we started practicing for the fest.”

“That’s because you disturb my sleep. You have already converted me into a half- zombie.” I yelled in frustration.

“Millie!” my mom chided, “is this any way to talk to your neighbor who also happens to be your friend and project partner?”

My what?

I glanced at Ashton, who gave me a devilish smirk and winked at me.

A loud gasp escaped my mouth. He was totally playing my mom. “Mom, don’t believe a word he says. He’s a devil incarnation. He totally winked at me, right in front of you.”

My mom turned to Ashton who quickly morphed his features into that of innocence. “It’s okay, Mrs. Blaire. I should leave now. Millie will never get over her hatred for me. My ears won’t be able to handle any more lies or insults.”

With that, he turned around for his much dramatic ‘exit’. But, of course, my mom stopped him.

“Ashton, wait, son.”

He turned around and blinked innocently at my mom.

“Mom-” I started but my mom cut me off.

“Millie, do not speak any more. I can’t believe, I was this ignorant of your behavior until now. Ashton is such a sweet boy. His mother, Jenna is a good friend of mine. I was the one who suggested her to move into the neighboring house, when it was up for sale. What will she think of me, of us, when she comes to know of your behavior?”

I couldn’t believe it! Actually, I couldn’t believe many things: 1) my mom was joining the dark side by choosing Ashton over me. 2) She was the main culprit behind my sleepless nights, like, who told her to ask Sylvesters to move next door? 3) Ashton was turning my own mom against me, but what else could be expected from him?

I childishly stomped my foot and quickly made a beeline for the door, before my mother could stop me. Not seconds after, Ashton was beside me, matching my footsteps.

“Don’t even start with me, right now, Ashton.” I warned him, without sparing him a glance.

“Geez. What got your panties in a twist?”

I stopped and turned to face him “You know what.”

He raised his hands defensively, “I came to your house in peace. You were the one who started throwing a temper tantrum. I just took it on from there. You seriously need to keep your anger issues under control.”

I squinted at him to see whether he was serious or joking. He appeared to be serious for the most part, only his eyes were glinting with mild amusement.

Okay, so he was right. I have had it bad, especially since yesterday. Everything was happening so fast that I didn’t even get the time to come to terms with reality. (Heck, I never get time to even sleep, but, that’s a story for another time).

Everything was slowly but surely taking its toll on me and I was unconsciously or consciously, taking out my frustration on wrong sources.

“You are right,” I sighed, “it was my fault.”

Ashton gave me a look of disbelief as if he couldn’t believe his ears. “Are you okay?” he asked, slowly as if I would break.

I rolled my eyes. “Peachy.” I replied.

“What were you doing in my house, anyway?” I asked.

Ashton quickly recovered from his shock. “Oh, yeah, that. I thought we could go to school together.” He shrugged.

I raised a highly skeptical eyebrow at him. “And, why is that?”

It was Ashton’s turn to roll his eyes, “because we are neighbors and project partners now.”

“What project?”

“Project Stella, crazy. Now, stop with the interrogation and get in the car.” He gestured towards his car which was parked in his driveway.

I crossed my arms over my chest, “why can’t we take the bus instead?”

Ashton gave me a deadpanned look. “Yes, why not? Let’s announce to those gossipers how we are stuck with a baby and then, let the rumor mill do its work and then, let the unknown pisser-”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” I cut him off and sprinted towards the car.

***

The atmosphere inside Ashton’s car was quiet, which he broke now and then, with his trademark smirks. (How is that even possible?)

I was itching to say a lot of things but, kept mum.

Suddenly, a baby’s cry filled the car and Ashton and I both jumped in our seats. The car swerved a little and Ashton cursed under his breath.

The sound vanished as soon as it had appeared. I realized what it was. It was a fricking message tone. My message tone.

I quickly fished out my phone from my pocket. “This must be Blake’s doing.” I muttered, referring to the message tone. Blake might have repaired my phone but it didn’t come without it perks (mote the sarcasm). He made sure to leave his touch behind.

“It’s the unknown pisser.” I told Ashton after checking the id.

Ashton sweared even more at hearing this.

“He says we shouldn’t go to the fest which starts tomorrow.” I informed Ashton after reading the message.

I was suddenly, painfully jerked sideways in my seat when the car came to a screeching halt.

“NO FRICKIN’ CHANCE!” Ashton snarled.

“Calm down, dude! Are you trying to kill me?” I exclaimed, placing a hand on my wildly beating heart.

Ashton ran a hand through his hair, “how dare him? He cant frickin’ control our lives! And, this fest! There’s no way, I won’t go. My months of hard work will go to waste.”

“What are you gonna do about it? In a way, he is the one controlling our lives. We can’t jeopardize everything just for a fest. And, come to think about it, bringing Stella to the fest will be a difficult task and no babyeat- I mean, babysitter will keep her for two days.” I reasoned.

“Why is he even trying to stop us? I am sure there is some danger to his identity in this whole thing.” Ashton said, deep in thought.

Hmm…I didn’t give that a thought. Ashton might be right.

“But, still, how are we gonna pull it off under the pisser’s nose?” I asked.

Ashton turned to me with a look of determination on his face. “Leave that to me.”

I didn’t say anything after that but I had a strong suspicion, that there was more to this than Ashton was letting on. Why was he getting all riled up over a fest?

I couldn’t help but wonder what was Ashton Sylvester hiding and how was he going to get us through the fest safely?

***

As soon as we reached school, I made a dash for my locker because I didn’t want any unnecessary attention that came with Ashton.

As I was taking out my books, I saw Madison making her way down the corridors and something akin to suspicion passed through me. Her altered behavior from the previous day flitted across my mind. Wasn’t it a strange coincidence?

Before I could give more thought to the subject though, I was turned around by a very pissed off Hailey.

Shit! What was I going to do with her?

“You have a lot of explaining to do, missy.” She stated, her posture stubborn.

I looked around for an escape route.

“Don’t even think about running away.” Hailey interrupted my plans.

That’s when I spotted Blake standing a few feet away from us, in front of his locker. I glanced at Hailey and an evil plan began forming in my mind.

Time to pay for messing with me, Blake!