Walking into school on Monday morning, there was almost a foreboding feeling to the air. As if some type of unseen tension was in the air. I ignored the looks given to me almost as soon as I walked through the doors. Instead, I just walked straight to my class.

My steps falter when I reach the classroom and see that Ashton is already seated at our table. However, his head doesn't shoot up when I enter the classroom like it usually does. I take a quick deep breath, square my shoulders and continue to walk to my seat.

There still isn't a reaction from him as I sit down. I open my backpack and take out my notebook for this class and a pencil. Glancing at the clock, I see that there is still about four minutes until class starts. I peek at Ashton through the corner of my eye and see that he's still writing in his notebook. An awkward silence blankets us.

I start doodling on the front of my notebook. The crinkling of paper cuts though the silence and I see a frustrated Ashton ball up the paper he was writing on. He starts writing on a new piece of paper.

Ignoring him, I go into my own world of doodling and daydreaming. Remembering a snide bit of a TV show I watched last night about Australia, I start imagining what it would be like to actually go there.

My thoughts are cut when the bell rings. Time went faster than I thought. Glancing at Ashton, I see that his balled up piece of paper has been joined by two other balled up pieces of paper.

"Alright class, please get out your notebooks. We need to start immediately, I have a lot of information to give to you..." I stop listening to Mr. Holland as I open my notebook to a new page. Sighing, I realize my hand is going to be extremely cramped by the end of this class.

I was right. By the time Mr. Holland is done talking, my hand had cramped up at least five times. Each time I took a break form writing, I would miss a slide of the notes, making me groan inwardly. Stretching my hand out, I revel in the satisfaction of not having to write anymore. I look at the clock and see that the bell was going to ring in about half a minute. I close my notebook, which has three new pages of notes front and back, and put it in my backpack.

Standing up, I hoist my backpack over my shoulders and walk towards the door where other students are also waiting to leave. Feeling an urge to turn around, I do and my eyes land on Ashton. His blue eyes stare into my green ones. The intense gaze is full of sorrow and regret, and possibly, just a little bit of hope.

I turn back to face the doorway. Glancing at the clock, I watch the red second hand tick towards it's goal. The bell rings and I head to math class.

I walk straight to math class, blocking my thoughts from everything except math. Despite my wanting to stay school related, my thoughts scatter around Ashton. A quick, sharp jolt of longing shoots through me and I stumble.

Glancing around, I notice that a couple of students noticed my stumble. They, two girls and a guy, watch me strangely, probably because I stumbled over nothing. I give them a small smile and continue on my way to math.

Entering math I'm surprised to see that I beat Josh here. I walk to my seat and set my backpack down. Taking out my math things, I continue to glance at the door waiting for Josh to come rushing in. He doesn't and the bell rings.

"Alright, let's get started-" Mrs. Flemington starts but is interrupted.

"Sorry. I got caught up talking to a teacher." Josh comes rushing into the classroom.

"Josh. How nice of you to show up." Mrs. Flemington says sarcastically.

He gives her a sheepish smile as he walks to his seat. I give him a smile as he sits down, but he doesn't look at me. I look at him curiously, a little offended that he didn't look at me. My suspicions are proved wrong when Josh looks at me and winks.

Mrs. Flemington starts class once again and begins going over our homework. I look over mine and see that I didn't do anything wrong this time.

"There's going to be a fire drill during next class." Josh suddenly whispers to me.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"A fire drill. During next class." Josh states again.

I sigh, "No, I heard you but how do you know?"

A small chuckle comes from him, "I just do."

I gape at him, "Josh. Don't set off the fire alarm."

He chuckles again, "I'm not."

"Evie." Mrs. Flemington's voice cuts through the classroom.

"Yes?"

"Can you tell me how to solve this problem?" She asks gesturing to the board.

I sneak a glance at Josh out of the corner of my eye and see that he is still smirking, "Sure. First you need to get the equation equal to zero. Then you have to factor it."

"Thank you Evie." Mrs. Flemington says as she turns back to the board to show what I just said.

With her back turned, I whisper to Josh, "How do you know-"

"Shh Evie, I'm trying to do math." Josh whispers with a big smirk on his face.

"Jerk." I mutter. Unsurprisingly, Josh decides to hear that and he turns to playfully glare at me.

Josh conveniently ignores the rest of my attempts to find out more about the 'fire drill'. I try whispering to him, poking him with my pencil, throwing bits of paper at him, and even kicking the side of his leg. The latter received a glare. Eventually, I just accepted the 'fire drill' and hoped that it wasn't long. I liked my next class a lot.

The bell rang and I still new nothing about the 'fire drill'. Packing up my stuff, I kept glancing at Josh hoping he would tell me something else. He only looked at me and winked.

"So I found that last problem a little tougher than the rest." Josh says conversationally.

"I didn't. I find a different problem tougher than the rest." I respond giving him a pointed look.

Josh playfully glares at me, "Well, I only found that last problem hard."

I decide to not respond as we walk out of the classroom. We head down the hall in the direction of my next class.

Josh suddenly stops and glances behind him, "Hey Evie, I got to meet someone for a project."

"Okay?" I respond slowly.

Josh starts walking down the way we came, "Remember what I told you."

"Okay." I respond again, although Josh is halfway down the hall and can't hear me.

I start walking to my next class. Reaching the door, I see that Katherine is already here.

"Evie," Katherine calls to me, "Mr. Johnston graded our scene. We did fantastic!"

I reach for the grading sheet as soon as am at my seat. Mr. Johnston's neat handwriting is written all over our turned in script and rubric. His comments are nothing but nice and he gave us some helpful tips for the future. I look up at our score and see that we've aced the assignment.

A smile graces my face as I look back at Katherine, "Nice job boss."

She returns my smile, "Thanks."

"Hey don't take all the credit." I respond.

"I take most of it. Who do you think whipped you all into shape?" Katherine retorts.

Knowing the answer, I only stick out my tongue. She smirks at me, knowing that I know what the answer is.

"Thought so." She says with a smile.

The bell rings as a couple students rush into class, just making it. Mr. Johnston gives then a disapproving look, but then smiles. He doesn't take tardy's too seriously.

"Alright class, if you haven't heard from Katherine yet," he gives her a pointed look and she smiles sheepishly, "I graded your scenes and handed them back to someone in your group. I'm happy to say that everyone did very well and I enjoyed watching all of them."

At that moment, the wailing of the fire drill goes off. I jump, the loud sound scaring me slightly, and sigh, knowing that Josh had something to do with it. Voices fill the classroom as people calm their frantic heart beats down. The class files out and joins with other students who are walking down the hall to the nearest exit.

Students surround me as we walk out. Feeling a little claustrophobic, I edge my way to the side of the wave of students. Walking along the side, I notice that I lost Katherine as we were walking out.

I sigh, but it turns into a squeak as two arms grab me from behind and pull me into a classroom. The arms stay around me once we're in the classroom. Panicking, I bend my arm and elbow whoever's holding me in the stomach.

A masculine groan sounds behind me and the arms loosen. I immediately turn around to give a piece of my mind to whoever grabbed me.

"Ashton?"

"I don't appreciate being elbowed so harshly." He says a little breathlessly, but I can still hear a hint of sarcasm.

My confusion disappears and annoyance instead fills the gap, "Oh, please. You were the one who scared the crap out of me by grabbing and dragging me into a classroom."

He smirks, "Well, I thought you saw me."

"We both know that's a lie," I retort, "bye Ashton." I turn around and take a step towards the door, but arms wrap around me again.

"Hear me out Evie," Ashton starts.

"No." I struggle against his hold.

"Just listen for a second," He continues.

"No." I continue to struggle. His arms loosen a fraction and I take my escape. I wrench his arms from me and break for the door. An exasperated sigh that comes from behind me is my only warning. Hands grip my wrists and I'm turned around. My back hits the door as Ashton holds my arms above my head.

Ashton's eyes bore into mine, "Just listen."

Anger courses through my veins, "Why the hell should I listen-" Ashton lips silence me. The anger drains out of me as a feeling of butterflies fill my stomach. Tingles spread throughout my body starting from where his lips touch mine. Short and sweet, the kiss does what it was meant to do.

"Now shush," Ashton says with a playful glint in his eyes, "or I'll do it again."

I wisely keep my mouth closed.

Ashton smirks, "Thank you," I roll my eyes instead of responding.

Seriousness covers his face, "Now, please hear me out Evie," his blue eyes stare into my green ones and don't find it in me to turn away, "I really like you. I've liked you for awhile now."

"I wouldn't have guessed-" He kisses away my protest again.

"I know, and I will forever be sorry for that. And I mean it, I am so sorry. You didn't deserve any of that and," a frustrated sigh leaves his lips, "I wish I could explain it but I can't. And you deserve so much more than what I can give you. But I'm asking for a second chance."

Ashton stops talking and looks at me expectantly.

"I already gave you a second chance, Ashton, and look what happened," I respond forcefully and Ashton winces, "you treated me like I was some slut ready to do anything, and I'm not."

He winces again, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kiss you like that. I wanted to kiss you again after the first one and I couldn't control myself."

"Well learn to." I retort.

Ashton gives me a half smile but his eyes still stay regretful, "I'm trying to," he says quietly, "I am trying so hard to control myself. It keeps getting tougher, especially when I'm around you."

"That doesn't make any sense." I say hesitantly.

He smiles again, "I know."

"So why are you telling me this?"

It was his turn to hesitate, "I-" he pauses and closes his eyes. His face shows his conflicting emotion as they run through his mind. A look of longing crosses his face and his eyes open. They betray his emotions.

"Please, Evie. I asked for this once before and now I'm asking again. I want to get to know you, and I know you have your own opinion of me, and I plan to change that. Please, give me that chance."

I pause, "I already gave you that chance, and look what happened." I realize that I just repeated what I said a couple minutes ago, but my feelings haven't changed.

He sighs and his hands loosen from my wrists. They've loosen enough for me to easily rip my wrists free of his hands, but I don't.

Ashton gives a short laugh, "You have no idea how crazy I am about you."

"That's creepy." I respond meekly.

"I know," A grim look passes through Ashton's face, "but it's absolutely true. I am utterly crazy about you Evie." He says the last part quietly. His hands shift my wrists so they're being held by one of his hands. His other hand trails down my face and cups my cheek. As if on instinct, my head leans into his palm. A sigh leaves my mouth without my permission.

I feel my cheeks and neck heat up and I quickly turn my head so Ashton's hand is no longer cupping my cheek. My gaze drops to the floor, unable to look at him anymore. I hear him sigh, like he was expecting something but didn't get it. His hand drops from where my face was and his other hand let's go of my wrists.

Muffled voices come from outside the classroom, signaling that the 'fire drill' is over. Without saying anything, I turn around and turn the knob to leave, but I hesitate.

A million thoughts race through my brain. It feels as if I'm pulled in two ways: yes or no. The emotional side of my brain begs me to agree to one more chance. My brain conjures up images of us together, going on dates, hanging out, kissing. But the logical side of my brain reminds me why I have to say no. My memory pulls up those times when he hurt me, from the first day to the first date.

Kristin and Josh both come to my mind. The conversations with both of them run through my brain and I realize they both were trying to tell me the same thing: take a chance.

I look back at Ashton and the emotional side begs me to say yes. The same hopeful look comes into his eyes, just like when he asked me out the first time. I know this could change everything, yet there's a pull in me that wants that change.

"Yes."