‘ And, that makes 20 of them who want to get outside of this messy place.’

This was what Ash was thinking the entire time in the Cafeteria. This was what he would do in the cafeteria ever since he joined high school. He would take his lunch, go to any chair that isn’t taken, and observe other students while silently munching on his food.

Not that he wanted to, that is.

His real name was Asher, but his parents would call him Ash. No one at high school did though, and he didn’t want anyone to do so either. 

He was forced to go to the Local High School by his older sister. ‘What an insolence’, he would always hear his parents talk about her like this.

And he didn’t know why.

The only thing he knew was that his sister had a fight with his parents and ended up living alone in a nearby city. And there wasn’t anything wrong with that, but his parents would always end up whining why she would always control Ash.

Ash didn’t care, he just agreed with her suggestion because he wanted her to stop explaining, ‘Why this is the best high school for you’ and ‘You should study here because of this and this reason’.

‘What were the reasons again?’, Ash thought while holding back a yawn. 

His train of thoughts were cut off when a slightly childish yet male voice asked, carrying his food tray packed with all sorts of food, while also pointing to the seat next to him, “Hey Asher, if you don’t mind, Can I sit here?”

“Sure.” Ash replied while looking at his food.

‘Jason, eh? I bet he came here to tell me how much he loves the food here.’ Ash thought while eating.

Jason was a classmate of his. Black hair in a bowl-cut, black round eyes, and an aura with vibrant colors. He had a childish voice, and Ash would always seem to think, ‘Does he actually have a voice like this or does he pretend that?’

But he would always come to a dead end.

He was again interrupted by Jason’s voice, “ Fried rice and juice? That’s all you’re gonna eat?”

Ash looked at him, Jason was bending over his food and asking with a concerned expression, “Yeah”, he replied with a bored voice.

“You know you should taste the new item here in the cafe. You might not guess it, but they’re introducing sushi here! Can you believe it? I mean it might be okay for a japanese school but here? In America?” Jason started the convo, with what he was the best at, food.

“I’ll think about it.” Ash said while sipping the juice with the straw.

Then Jason blabbed about the food in the cafe and how much healthy food is served here, and on and on.

But Ash was looking at him. ‘He has his feet pointing towards that table, or more specifically, towards Lucas. Jason fiddles with his index finger when he finds something disgusting. He also tends to ruffle his hair when he tells a fact. But he has a bowl-cut, and there isn’t much hair to ruffle. Wait, is he insecure about his hair?’

Ash was now finished eating but was sitting there because Jason was still spilling out facts. One thing Ash knew about himself was that he was a good listener. A Really good one.

He would not waver until the other person had stopped talking.

A huge laughter erupted through the cafe.

And Ash knew the source.

“Don’t tell me that it’s true! You actually got caught while pranking your own lil bro?! W-When?!” A boy on the other side of the cafe was standing on his chair, laughing hysterically, and pointing towards a boy sitting across from him.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

‘Lucas’. Ash heaved a long sigh.

Lucas was the topper of their class. He had really dishevelled dark-brown hair, and brown eyes.

Such curious eyes of his were the reason every teacher liked him. He would always ask weird and absurd questions during classes, but the teachers didn’t mind.

Well, some of them didn’t.

On the other hand, Ash was a top-scorer too, he was always placed third or fourth in the exams, not that he wanted to achieve more than what he already was.

Ash couldn’t help but think about everything he knew about Lucas, ’He always is placed first in every class, whether it’s sports, academics, or music. He has a bright aura but I feel like something is missing in him. Like he is hiding something, or maybe I’m overthinking?He always wears his uniform without a tie, and his shoes are un-polished and dirty from all the running classes before lunch. I think he doesn’t care about impressions, huh’.

His observation was again interrupted when the bell rang, indicating the end of lunch break.

Ash stood up, picked his empty food-tray, and made his way to the cafe-counter to hand it back.

He would always walk slowly but steadily, like every step of his was measured, precise and calculated.

His day would be planned, and he liked it that way.

Once he made his way back to class, he sat down at his desk, and looked at it.

‘Clean and tidy.’ Ash thought as he internally praised himself for his manners.

He looked around, ‘Jason is now blabbing about food to William, another foodie, and Lucas is…nowhere to be found here. Great.’ Ash sighed while thinking of the scolding he and his classmates would’ve to suffer because of Ash bunking classes.

Yeah, Lucas may be a topper, but he was more like a care-free boy. He would bunk classes, go to the Arcade with his friends during school, and still would get great results. That’s why teachers didn’t find a reason to scold him but the other students.

The school passed by quickly after that. The teacher scolded them, sure, but it was over now.

Ash was waiting for the bus when he heard a familiar voice.

‘Sis’. Ash looked over to her sister making her way through the crowd while apologizing for the rush.

That’s right, his family was famous for their good manners, of course, he was taught them at a young age too.

He was taught to say ‘Sorry’ when he bumps into someone, if someone is irritated at him, if someone is staring at him or the other way around.

Likewise, ‘Thank you’ was meant to be said when someone helps him, someone listens to him, or someone asks him how he is.

Lily was her older sister’s name. ‘She is nothing like a lily, she isn’t soft-hearted. She always has a razor-sharp tongue, eyes like a predator and an aura of a manipulator. I wonder, was she always like this or did something happen to her?’ Ash thought, as he didn’t live with her for longer than a year.

He was just 5 years old when Lily left the home.

He didn’t remember the details, and his parents didn’t talk about the matter.

All he remembered was someone screaming at the top of her lungs, someone crying and someone shouting.

“ASH!”

Ash startled for a bit and then saw Lily shaking him from the shoulders and then quickly bombarded with tons of questions.

“Are you okay?”

“Were you just spacing out?”

“Did you eat lunch today?”

“Were you just about to go home?”

“Yes.” Ash replied while slightly pushing Lily’s hands away from him.

“Eh? And ‘Yes’ is the answer of which question exactly?” Lily crossed her arms.

But then Lily started to drag him along and the next thing Ash knew, he was sitting in an amber-themed cafe and Lily was sitting across from him.

“Why are we here?” Ash asked with a bit of annoyance.

“Because I wanted to spend some quality time with my lil bro, that’s why!” Lily almost shouted and began to ruffle Ash’s hair, which added more to Ash’s annoyance.

“I want to go home, Mom will be worried.” Ash pushed Lily’s hand away.

“You’re worried about her, she still controls you huh?” Lily said, her expression changing abruptly.

“No, I just want to go home. It was a long day.” Ash said remembering the teacher’s scolding.

“Okay man, but still, I just wanted to know, Is dad behaving…okay?” Lily asked, with a concerned voice.

“Yeah, what about him?” Ash suddenly became curious.

“Oh, nothing, just tell me if he behaves…differently than usual, ‘kay?” Lily said.

“No, tell me if something is wrong.” Ash leaned closer to Lily.

“I…just don’t want dad to control you, that’s all. You know, he is a really cruel man. He threw me out of the house bag and baggage. He is only like the way he is, because he wants you to obey him. He is going to….shut you down if you disrespect him.” Lily said in a low voice, her brown hair shadowing her eyes.

“You are wrong. He doesn’t control me, he just….asks me the way things would work better, that’s all.” Ash replied, his hand placed on the table trembled a bit, but Lily didn’t notice.

‘Why is Lily talking about dad? He doesn’t behave the way she is saying. What is she up to?’ Ash thought.

“Asher, you don’t know him the way I do, he is going to probably throw you out of the house when you’re of no use to him.” Lily’s hand made its way to Ash’s.

‘Is something going on between these two?’ Ash thought, his heart beating way faster than usual.

“Did something happen? Why did dad throw you out of the house when I was five?” Ash asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

“No, nothing happened. The time will come when you’ll know about what happened between us. Ash, just tell me if he behaves differently towards you, you think you can do that for me?” Lily squeezed his hand tightly.