"My little girlfriend"

by Sonicfan287

Chapter 9: Ashley returns

It was an intense moment and the pressure all fell on me... sometimes I wondered why I even bothered getting up in the morning.

"Well, take your shot" he said.

"I'm thinking..." I muttered, exercising incredible concentration as I lined up the shot. It had to be perfect, because even the slightest miscalculation could cause certain doom. I flexed my wrist and shot.

"Damn it!" John cried, surrendering the final goal. "That's 8 in a row!"

"9 in a row" I laughed, notching another score counter. One thing the game of foosball was good for, besides being a helluva lot of fun, was relieving stress, and that's something I definitely needed.

I did feel more than a tad guilty for enjoying myself so much while my poor girlfriend remained crammed in my pocket. I could feel her back pressed against my thighs through the pocket material, all the while hoping that she was comfortable.

Before I could place the ball on the table to start another game, I heard a meager squeak.

"Hey, wasn't your class starting like 10 minutes ago?" Jen asked.

I dropped the ball, realizing she was right.

"Hey did you hear something?" John asked, luckily too busy trying to change the radio station in the background to comprehend Jen's voice.

"Uh, nothing" I said, "but I gotta go, I have class"

"Ah... didn't that start like 10 minutes ago?" John asked, thus reiterating Jen's earlier question.

"Yeah, so I heard" I said, shuffling out of the student center quickly, before whispering, "hey, hope you're alright down there"

"Yeah...fine" she said, although I could hear some hesitation in her voice as she was struggling to get comfortable in my shifting pockets. I knew too well what that felt like at this point.

I get to class and try to slide the door open slowly, so I don't make a big commotion walking in. I slide in and sit into one of the seats in the back, my usual seat, ironically enough and begin to hide myself by ducking and gathering my notes and things.

When I pick my head back up and begin writing, I see a familiar face in front of me. It was Ashley, and she was turned around, having sat in the desk in front of me. She had a sort of meek smile on her face, as if she were nervous about something, but I was starting to suspect that was just her mannerism.

"oh hey" I said, kind of giving her a half wave. I didn't want to be as friendly as I had been the other day with her, with Jen literally just feet away from me. I could only imagine her facial expression at this point.

"Mr. Gaines?" I heard a voice. Ashley abruptly turned around, leaving me exposed to our teacher, Mr. Ashton. "Perhaps you could contribute to this conversation"

"Uh... what?" I blurted out, unable to think of anything else to say in the situation. I then began to feel the familiar embarassment sink in.

"Well since you seem to like coming to class LATE, Mr. Gaines..." Mr. Ashton rambled, "perhaps you've used that extra time to gain some insight on native american culture"

I simply stared back blankly for several moments, unable to speak.

"I thought not" he sighed, and continued talking.

After further time passed, Ashley gave me an embarassed look and turned around again.

"I'm so sorry" she chuckled, "I really didn't mean to..."

"It's okay, just pay attention" I sighed, turning her away. I had nothing against Ashley -- in fact I barely knew anything about her -- but the fact that Jen was so close by, coupled with the fact that I had already been repremanded once, made me a lot less willing to engage with her at the moment.

Finally, class ended, putting an end to my feelings of awkrardness and whatnot. Ashley got up around the same time I did and began talking with me again.

"So hey, I didn't get much of a chance to talk to you after the other day" Ashley said, "I hope I didn't cause too much trouble, you seemed a little upset"

"No, I'm fine" I said, forcing a smile and trying to end the conversation as fast as possible, already making a hasty getaway as I spoke. Ashley pulled me back, a move I didn't expect from her.

"It's just that..." she said nervously, "I was hoping we could do something sometime... yknow alone?"

"Alone..." I said, giving her a weird look, "Ashley, I don't really know you..."

"...it's just that..." she said, interuppting me, "I'm still new here and you're really the only one I've talked to that's..."

"Look, Ashley" I said, feeling bad for saying what I was about to say - god knoWS I had been on the other side of this before, "You're a nice girl, really, but I just think you need to relax a little... there's plenty of cool guys here"

"I know, but..." she stuttered. This was getting sad. Suddenly I was struck with an idea.

"Ashley..." I said, "what if I found you someone to hang out with tonight? Someone nice? Someone funny?"

"Well I..." she started, but was suddenly called into the other room.

"Ms. Tremorton..." Mr. Ashton said "could I see you for a moment? I'd like to discuss the results of the exam with you from the other day"

"Uh ok" she said nervously and walked away from me, turning back really briefly to say "hey will you wait for me?"

I didn't answer.

Instead I left the room altogether and headed down to the student center, letting out a sigh of relief. For once, Mr. Ashton had helped me.

"Wow, what was her deal?" Jen scoffed from inside my pocket.

"Eh, she's new" I sighed, "I've been there before"

"Yeah, but she's obviously hitting on you" Jen said.

"You think so?" I asked, perking up a bit.

"Bobby..." Jen growled.

"I mean, bad, bad Ashley..." I sighed, "don't worry, I'll take care of it, I have an idea..."

"Oh yeah? Who are you gonna get to hang out with her?" Jen asked.

"I've got just the guy" I smiled.

"You want me to what?!" John asked, "man, I don't know this girl..."

"She's nice" I said, "a little shy, but nice..."

"I don't know" he sighed, "I mean, I was probably gonna have plans tonight"

"John, what plans?" I sighed, "these are your plans, sitting here, playing pool with Sarah..."

"Sarah's not here" John said, promptly cutting me off.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I don't know, she didn't come today or something" he said.

"That's weird, she's always here on Fridays..." I muttered, thinking out loud as I looked around and realized the student center was more or less vacant. Where could Sarah be?

"Yeah, well who knows where she is? All I know, I was gonna go home soon and then probably go out and..." John started.

"Bobby, there you are!" Ashley said, running in as if she was out of breath, "I really think we need to talk..."

"Uh yes we do" I said, "Ashley, meet my friend, John"

"Uh hi" he stuttered.

"Alright, well I see you 2 are hitting it off" I said, giving them a wave goodbye as I slipped out the entrance quickly, hearing Ashley shout my name one more time.

"So now where to?" Jen asked, still scrunched up in my pocket.

"Anywhere but here" I chuckled, making a hasty retreat to my car. I pulled open the door and slid in, waiting for Jen to crawl out of my pocket, before setting her down in my cup holder. I fastened my seat belt and looked in my rear view mirror. To my relief, she hadn't followed me outside.

I backed out and was out of the parking lot, finally feeling as if I was home free.

"Damn, this has been a weird week, huh?" I asked, "it's been crazy"

"Yeah..." Jen said, "Bobby, I hope you don't think I'm being too paranoid"

"What do you mean?" I asked, turning down my car radio so I could hear her better.

"Well I mean, if you want to see her, you can" Jen said, "I wanted you to trust me with Jack, it's not really fair to forbid you from seeing her"

"Honestly, Jen, I don't even know if I want to see her now" I said, "She's kind of crazy, at least today she was... and besides, today's our day, just our day. Besides, by throwing her off on John, we solve a couple problems... now we only need to worry about avoiding Sarah, assuming she's anywhere to be seen"

"That is weird that we didn't see her" Jen said, "it's not like her to skip class"

"...Or to miss a chance to see one of us shrink" I added with a laugh.

"Yeah, that too..." Jen said, staring off into space a bit as she added, "I wonder where she could be"

"It's hard to say" I said, "but now that my school week's officially over, what do you say we have some fun? We have the whole day ahead of us"

"Yeah we do" Jen said, perking up and attempting to stand up, which was difficult while the car was moving. Instead, she's simply thrust back and nearly loses her balance, which I oddly found adorable.

"So, let's start out by going to the mall for a bit" I smiled.

"Whatever you say" Jen said, returning my smile.

Yep, this was how things were SUPPOSED to work.