To Will’s relief, school was over for the day. After popping over to his locker to retrieve the books he’d need for homework, he made his way to the bus loading area to leave campus. It was less of a distance from his locker than the front entrance of the school and he wouldn’t have to deal with as much traffic coming and going.

With each day that passed in the school year, the overall environment of the bus loading area became less chaotic. The senior parking lot near the busses was no longer as jam-packed and disorderly as it was during the first week. Some of the seniors left school earlier in the day; some never came to school for the day to begin with.

Those who rode the bus to and from school no longer scrambled to get to theirs on time. And there were fewer students filling the busses after school; they’d be staying on/near campus for sports and extracurricular activities.

Speaking of which, Will should’ve been making his way to the athletic complex to help the booster club prepare for next Friday’s game. And he would’ve done so with reluctance. However, he recalled an email that was sent to him over the weekend:

to: moon.william85@aol.com
from: drewtastic1@hotmail.com
subject: pet project

Moon!
Couldn’t help but notice that you’ve been absent at the complex. And before/after the pep rally. And the game. I’m starting to think that you don’t want to be a part of our booster club.

Nope, pretty damn sure you don’t want to be. You have no idea how much that wounds me :(

Just giving you a hard time, lol. I know you were only there because Terrell told you to be. Fine by me. He may believe in you, but I don’t think you got the chops to help me realize my artistic visions.

But you have to come if/when I need you to make it look like you’re participating okay? Also, we got yearbook photos coming up. You gotta show up for that. Keep a lookout for future emails.

Once past the exit gate and on the sidewalk, Will looked to his left to the athletic complex. The email from Drew clearly stated that he didn’t have to show up. But it also said he was also required to be at Drew’s beck and call or run the risk of getting in trouble with Vice Principal Terrell. Now, he wondered to himself: was he set free? Or has he just been blackmailed into something worse than cleaning up the bleachers?

Will shook his head to clear his mind of those thoughts. There were other, more important things going on right now, namely getting over his fear of groups and becoming more social, and the situation between his friends, Ashley and Nathan, and the return of their nemesis.

He wanted to check up on Ashley before heading home for the day. He hadn’t seen or heard from her since lunch period. Nor has he seen or heard from Nathan; without him, he had no means of contacting Ashley. In the short time Will’s known her, he only knew of three possible places she could be right now: her house, the neighborhood park or Fate’s Hill.

Of the three options presented to him, Will only had time for one. He had but a few hours to complete his homework and push through dinner, and the unavoidable conversations about school that were sure to come along with it, if he wanted to catch the new episode of Monday Night RAW without distraction. While Will was one to show concern for his friends, to him, pro-wrestling always took priority over nearly everything.

The closest option to him at the moment was Fate’s Hill. After walking down Chisolm Road a bit, he’d make a left turn down an old road. The empty road ran behind some of the buildings on Chisolm and veered off to a path that ran parallel to a row of trees. After watching the fireworks a few nights before, Nathan and Ashley lead Will through this path from Fate’s Hill to get to The Royals. It would take him a few minutes along the path to get to the field.

Once there, Will walked across the fields of Fate’s Hill to the giant oak tree near the center. Once he was near the tree, he spotted Ashley sitting against its slump. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing that his first choice of locations was the correct one.

Ashley had one leg extended forward while her arms were wrapped around the knee of her other. Her backpack sat on the grass next to her. She looked to be so deep in thought that Will didn’t think she noticed him sitting next to her. He said nothing at first; he wanted to know if she even realized he was there.

“Something told me you’d be here,” he said to her after sitting.

With the sound of his voice, Ashley snapped from her trance-like state and responded, “Will!”

“You alright?” he asked.

Ashley wiped her eyes one more time and answered, “I am now. Thanks for asking.”

“No problem,” he said. He stretched out both of his legs and planted both of his hands to the ground nearby. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “hey. About Leslie…”

“Screw her,” Ashley interrupted as soon as she heard Leslie’s name. “I’m not letting her get to me anymore. What’s passed is past, right? Besides, at least I don’t have to see or deal with her as much.”

“What do you mean?”                          

“I don’t have any classes with her this semester.” Ashley breathed a sigh of relief, looked up towards the sky and continued with, “thank God for that.”

“Lucky you. She’s in my history class.”

“You’re kidding,” she responded in a shocked manner.

Will closed his eyes and casually responded with, “nope. And she sits right next to me too.”

“That’s just...awful.” Ashley said. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands trying to conceal her snickering. Her attempt was in vain; Will could hear a bit of laughter escape between her fingers. He opened his eyes, but only slightly and gave her a sarcastic look.

“Well I’m glad my suffering can bring you joy.”

With her action exposed, Ashley brought her hands back down and smiled at Will. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you; I’m just soaking the irony of it all. Nathan’s got a class with her, English Lit. I think.”

“Why do you suppose she’s at Washington?” Will asked. “You think that she got kicked out of that private school?”

“Kicked out? Pfft. They’d be fools to kick the one and only Leslie Taylor out. If they wanted to, her parents could buy that school a thousand times over, demolish it completely, turn the vacant lot into, I don’t know, like a Pizza Dome or something, and think nothing about it ever again. And they probably threw enough money at that place to let her get away with literal murder. Probably threw a nice chunk of change Washington’s way too. God knows we need it.”

“Think some of that money will go towards more paint for art class?”

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you. That money goes straight into the pockets of the administration.”

“What?”

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t know about the Lakehills Initiative.”

“What’s that?”

Ashley explained, “it’s some really screwed up program set up by all those rich parents up in the Lakehills. Every semester, they ‘donate’ a few thousand dollars to the schools that their kids attend, doesn’t matter if it’s public or private. On paper, it’s supposed to ensure that their children have the best educational experience possible and the other students are supposed to benefit from the extra funding as well. But in reality, the supposed improvements to the school never see the light of day. The school’s top brass squirrel away that money for themselves. It’s common knowledge too; even the Lakehills parents know they do it. But they don’t care; all that matters to the them is that their kids are treated better than everyone else, both inside and outside the classroom.”

“So, what you’re saying is, Leslie’s going to have carte blanche on campus.”

“Let me put it to you this way. With a snap of her finger, those boys that dragged Nathan out of that gymnasium beat him up so badly, he lied in a hospital unconscious for two days. The vice-principal was there the whole time too. But all he could do is watch. Had he stepped in to do his job, to stop those boys from carrying out her order, Leslie could’ve and probably would’ve seen to it that he was fired and never allowed to come near another school in the state, let alone run one ever again. The boys didn’t even see a single day in detention because it was Leslie who gave the order.”

“C’mon, Ash. You got to be joking. No one’s that untouchable,” Will rebutted in a serious tone.

Ashley stood up and walked a few steps to be directly in front of Will. “Oh? You don’t think so?” she asked him. “Then, tell me. Whose name has top billing on that brand-new football stadium? Whose name is on that plaque at that elegant park in our lovely neighborhood? Whose name is on your dad’s paychecks; the one’s that affords you those nice new shoes? Whose name is on the exclusive pharmaceutical contract at the practice your mom works at; the one that’s currently on its last legs as it is. And tell me, whose name is on the realtor that sold the house to your family?”

“How do you know about my mom’s...”

Obviously ignoring the question, Ashley hunched down to Will a bit and asked again, “whose name, Will?”

“Taylor,” Will answered.

She stood straight up straight again and said, “exactly. And even though it isn’t Leslie Taylor’s name on those things, it’s nothing for her to go crying to daddy if and when you cross her in any way. And daddy will do anything to put a smile back on his princess’ face; if she can’t crush your soul, he’ll, at the very least, ruin your life, and that of your immediate family too.”

“So, what do we do? What can we do?” Will asked.

“Nothing,” Ashley answered bluntly. “Look, if she stays at Washington, she’s going to be the undisputed queen bee by the end of sophomore year. There’s no denying it, and there’s no preventing it. As long as we stay from out of each other’s crosshairs, she won’t waste a moment on us peons; we can have a somewhat peaceful four years of high school. It’s really all we can ask for now.”

“Still doesn’t answer why she’s there in the first place.”

Ashley crossed her arms and looked down and to her left in defeat. She gave Will a dismissive response. “Yeah well, don’t go digging for answers. You know me; I want to know everything. And while I can’t predict the future, I can see a losing battle from a mile away. Why she’s here doesn’t matter. What doe is that she is here. After spending twenty or so minutes in the bathroom crying during lunch, I’ve accepted that; and you should to.”

Will sighed and conceded. “Okay. I’ll drop it.”

“Good. Look, it’s getting late; I should head home. Gonna spend the rest of the evening staring at lines of code, drowning my anguish in blueberry muffins and forgetting today ever happened.”

Will stood up and noticed Ashley’s bag still on the ground where she left it. He picked it up and handed it to her.

 “I’ll walk with you,” he said.

The two headed back to the trail to the small park.

Next Chapter: 8: A Lesson In Connections