I'm starting this new story. I hope you guys like it. I haven't really had many reviews... I'm trying to make this pretty long, so the updates might take a while, not to mention that my spacebar is retarded. But ANYWAYZ... onto the story...

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Boarding school?!?

"BOARDING SCHOOL?!?" I shrieked. I was just about to cry "bloody murder"!

My mother shushed me. "Ashley! Do you really want to wake up the whole neighbourhood?"

I rolled my eyes. "But Muum! Boarding school? ARE YOU INSANE?!?"

She gave me a stern look. "You're going and that's final."

I gave my father a pleading look. He was sitting in his favourite chair, reading the newspaper. He didn't notice. "Daad!"

He lifted his glasses off his nose. "Yes, dear?"

"ARGH!" I sighed in frustration. I ran upstairs and slammed my door. I was fuming. Boarding school? Why the hell would they want to send me to boarding school?!? I reached for the phone, dialing a familiar number.

Alex picked up the third ring. "Hello?"

"My parents want to send me to a freaking BOARDING SCHOOL!!!"

He laughed. "Hi to you too, Ashley."

I took a deep breath. "Sorry. But can you believe it? Boarding school!"

"What's the big deal, Ash?"

"What's the big deal?" I repeated. "The big deal?!? ARGH!" I was frustrated. Even my best friend didn't understand what the consequences of this would be.

"I mean, I'm going."

"The big deal is that I'll be− What?!? You're going?"

"Mmhhmm..." he murmured.

"WILLINGLY?"

"Only if you're going." I could here the smile in his voice.

"You sooo want to go don't you!" I accused.

"I'm not complaining." He paused. "Unlike some people," he muttered.

"I heard that!" I yelled through the phone.

"Geez Ash. Chill for a second, ok?"

I sighed. "Can you just come over?"

"Of course," he said resignedly.

I leapt from my bed when I heard my mum. "Honey! Alex is here."

"'Lo!"

"Hey Lex."

"So..."

"Are you seriously ok with going?"

"Come on Ash. It'll be fun."

I looked at him incredulously. "FUN?!?"

He laughed. "Sure... like an extended sleepover."

"You sleepover with friends idiot," I retorted.

"Ash, seriously. You're acting like it's the end of the world!"

"And isn't it?" I smiled sarcastically.

"You," he said, fingering me in the chest, "are impossible."

I stuck my hand out, as if to greet him. "Hi, I'm Impossible. Nice to meet you."

He flopped down on my bed. "That is sooo lame! What happened to the fiesty you I've gotten so used to."

I sat down next to him. "Gone, gone, gone! Gone with the wonderful announcement that I'm going to boarding school," I said wryly.

"Well, I'm going."

"You what?!?"

"Yeah... I thought that I'd give it a go."

"But...?"

"But what Ash? It's a perfectly good opportunity. I don't know what you find so horrible about it."

I didn't say anything. I was just trying to process what he was saying to me. It was like he didn't care about anything.

"Lex?"

"Mmmhhmmm?"

"Do you reckon that we'll still be best buds there?"

He sat up. "'Course." He gave me a questioning look. "Why'd you say that?"

I shrugged and leaned on his shoulder. "I dunno... just that sometimes people grow up... drift apart." I looked over to him. "You know what I mean."

"No, Ash. I don't."

"You know what they say about friends and all that. About how childhood friendships don't work because you grow up and all that."

"Yeah... What's your point Ash?"

"My point is that if I'm gonna go so that we can have 'fun' is you so quaintly put it−" Alex rolled his eyes. "−then I want to make sure that I'm not going to go there so that you ditch me when the first blonde-haired blue-eyed beauty walks your way."

"ASH! Why would I do that?"

"Oh... because that's what happened when our families shipped us here."

He groaned. "Did you have to bring up Hailie?"

I grinned. "But you told me you loved her," I cooed.

He swatted me on the arm. "I gotta go. I'll come by tomorrow?"

I lay back on my bed and waved him away. "Yeah whatever. Didn't really want you here anyway."

He rolled his eyes and picked up the closest thing to him, a long forgotten teddy bear, and chucked it at me.

"ARGH! Alex Nordern!"

He laughed. "Night Ash."

"Night."

"Ashley Mary O'Connors! Do you know what the time is?"

I groaned and rolled over onto my stomach so I could get a better look at my clock. 8:20. I shrieked. "Has Lil left yet?" I yelled down to my mother.

"She left ten minutes ago!"

I ran downstairs. "Mum," I began sweetly.

Mum waved me away. "Any other day and I would have Ash."

I groaned. "Can you at least write me a note?"

She laughed. "Saying what? Dear Mrs. Crane. Please excuse Ashley's tardiness as she slept in this morning, after spending last night playing games on the computer."

"Muum!" I whined. I usually wasn't one for whining, but Mrs. Crane was a psychotic bitch when it came to tardiness.

"What?" she laughed at me.

I plonked myself down at the kitchen table. "Well, in that case, and seeing as you and the Norderns are planning to ship us off to boarding school, there really is no point in my going to Altford today is there?"

She put down the drying cloth in frustration. "Ok. Come on. Get your things."

I smiled in delight. My mum had always been one for perfect attendance at school, no matter what the circumstance. In my whole ten years of going to school, I had only been away for 3 days, and that was when I had the measles and was basically on quarantine.

I picked up my school bad and headed out to the car. I got in, just as Mum was starting the car.

"So," I said casually, "when do we start at Kennedy Senior School?"

Mum sighed. "I don't want to get into an argument about that again."

"Mum, I'm genuinely interested."

She was surprised. "Why the change of heart, may I ask?" She paused to think, and before I could say anything, "Ahh... It was Alex wasn't it?"

I noticed a twinkle in her eye. "Muum! You convinced him to convince me to go!"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "You wouldn't have gone otherwise."

I grinned. "You know what Mum?"

"Mmmhhmm?"

"You amaze me. You are way to scheming for your own good."

"Yes Mum."

I laughed.

We turned into a side street next to Altford.

I leaned over to kiss my mum on the cheek. "Thanks Mum," I said, as I hopped out of the car.

I ran up to D11, roll call. [A/N: Homeroom for your Americans.] I entered the room breathless..

Mrs. Crane lowered her glasses. "Ah. Miss O'Connors. Nice of you to join us."

A couple of kids sniggered.

"Sorry, Miss. I was held up in traffic," I replied, a fake smile plastered on my face.

She nodded her head and I took my seat next to Alex.

"Close one there Ash," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah, one that I hope never to repeat again."

The bell rang, signaling the end of roll call.

"I'll see ya period two, yeah?"

I nodded and watched as Alex weaved his way through the throng of people that were emerging from D block.

"Ashley?"

I was expertly moving through the crowd when I felt a hand on my arm. I turned around, trying to find the person.

"Madisun?"

Madisun had been my best friend before Alex, but she had moved away with her mother when her parents had gotten divorced.

"You're back?" I was still in shock.

"Yup!" she grinned.

"Why... how...?"

"My parents are sort of back together now. Dad's been going to AA and he's going to counselling sessions with Mum."

I gave her a hug. "That's great! When did you come back?"

"I've been back for a month−"

"A MONTH?!? I shrieked. Thinking about it, I had been doing a lot of shrieking lately.

"Why didn't you−"

Mads interrupted me. "Mum was home schooling me for a while, but now her and Dad have been..." She made a face.

"Ew! I sooo did not need that image in my head!"

"Sorry!"

"So... Look, we're gonna be late for class. How about you come up and join us at the field at lunch."

"Sure thing."

I turned around and headed over to B block and English with Mr. Paisley.

Ok. So there's the story. What do you think? Should I alter the POVs, or just keep it in Ashley's? I'm thinking keeping it in Ashley's POV and then doing a third person bit when it comes to everyone else's opinions? But does that make it too confusing?