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The LAHS Auditorium, for school wide assemblies, concerts, performances, and plays!

Ash walked into the Auditorium, breathing out steadily. He wasn't really one for being on stage, he wasn't the one to be the main part of attention. He closed his eyes, starting up the stairs. He stopped though on the final one to the top. He looked down to the long board that would lead him into the center of the stage, a light shining down where he would stand. He would have to do this. This was part of his therapy, to get out more.

He closed his eyes again, stepping up one next time, looking down onto his arm, he was running out of time, and he didn't know what that would do for him. If it were to be true, then he had to get this done. He wouldn't want to put her into a painful relationship, even though it would be. Any relationship with him had to be, he had to much of a terrible past.

He started walking again, looking up into the center. He faced forward on the stage, breathing in quickly, his breath hitching. He walked forward on it, starting to mutter things to himself, song lyrics. Someone elses, My Chemical Romance. "Teenagers scare the livin' shit out of me.... They could care less as long as someone will bleed." He turned away from the chairs to the back of the darkened stage.

Nicole walked into the auditorium. She just finished her classes. She couldn't go anywhere because Alexis had her car. So she was going to hang out here. She wasn't expecting anyone to be in there when she walked in but there was. She sad down in the middle of all the seats and began to watch the guy on stage.

Ash didn't do anything interesting, just sat down on the stage, his back to the audience, closing his eyes. He didn't think there was anyone in the room at that time as he started saying the words, "So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose. Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me." He stood up once again, his cheeks on fire. He thought this was stupid as he turned around to find a girl looking up at him. He quickly turned away again though, now he was a brighter shade of red.

He knew she probably had seen him look at her, so he couldn't just sit there ignoring her. He turned to the stage stairs and walked down. "Sorry." He said to her, "You can have the stage if you need it." He bit his lip roughly, feeling like a total idiot.

"No its fine." she said. "That was good." she said shyly and moved closer to the front. "Hi I'm Nicole but people call me Nikki." she said up to him. She seen how he looked like he got nervous or has stage fright.

Ash shrugged it off, "I was just talking." He said, moving his weight back and forth, crossing his arms over his chest, clawing lightly into one of his already scarred arms. He wore his jacket, hood up like usual. He never took it off to show off his beautiful scars. He gulped slightly, "I'm Ash." He said waving a bit at her, pulling his hand away from his arm.

"Why are you wearing a hood?" she asked. She was standing right in front of the stage. She has never seen him around school. She thought she has seen everyone at school but she was wrong. She looked up at him thinking of reasons why he would wear a hood inside. But she couldn't think of at reasons. So she just waited for an answer.

Ash shrugged, "It's just my style." He said moving it farther up his head, it felt as if it was going to fall off at any moment. He shrugged it off, "I like it up." He said pushing some hair away from his only uncovered eye. The other one, his left side, was completely covered with his soft naturally black hair.

"What if someone wanted to know what you loooked like?" she asked sweetly. She hoped up on the stage and walked closer to him "Would you show someone what you looked like?" she asked softy

((kk))

Ash shook his head, blushing worse as he looked down, hiding his face now. He didn't want her to actually see the red dusting on his cheeks. "I don't show people what I look like." He said softly. I'm a monster, no one would want to see something like me. He thought to himself. Of course, he needed to stop thinking that way, counselor's orders.

"Oh come on you can't look that bad." she said softly "Its not about the looks anyway. Its about what is on the inside." she looked at him. She wasn't going to give up until she got to see what he looked like."I'm not going to judge you by your looks." she smiled at him. "I'm not like that, I don't judge people." she said softly.

Ash looked away, people could be really good at hiding what they really felt, just like with his first girlfriend. He thought his watch was just off and he had meet his girl, her watch was already out. But that was because of the other guy she had wrapped around her finger.

He shook his head, "What if I'm not comfortable with showing people?" he asked right after, raising one of his eyebrows. "Because I'm not."

"Why sent you comfortable showing people what you look like?" she asked softly "Please show me. I'm the only other person here with you. No one else will see but me. And I'm not gonna tell any one or judge you on how you look. Please?" she asked. She took a step back away from him. She wasn't going to give up. Once she has her mind set on something, she dose it. Her mind was se on finding out what he looked like and she was not giving up.

Ash moved his hood higher on his head, not going to give up either. "Listen, I'm not showing anyone." He said. There was only one person that knew, well, three, four.... But one was in prison. The other three were Drayven and his new adopted parents. Along with other bastards that thought it would be nice to steal his jacket.

He started turning away from her, "You're not going to see me." He started for the stairs to the stage, pursing his lips. He wasn't going to do it.... Six years of abuse was written on his body, no one needed to see it.

"Please?" she walked with him. "Please let me see." she asked softly. She wasn't going to let it go. "Please let me see." she said softly again. She bit her bottom lip. She really really wanted to see what he looked like. "Ok since its so bad can you tell me what happened?" she asked as they walked down the stage steps.

Ash turned to look up at her, "The story is worse than what I look like." He said. He looked down at his body, not in a certain spot, but if he looked anywhere, there was a scar that went along with it. He looked back up at her, "Take this from me, you don't want to know what has happened to me. You don't want to know my past. I would scare you if you knew."

"Please tell me." she stood in front of him so he couldn't walk. "Please?" she asked sadly. She anted to know what he looked like or his past. She hated not knowing things she really wanted to know. She begged him to tell or show her. She really wanted to know but didn't know how to get it out if him.

Ash narrowed his eyes, grabbing the pole that was to his side, throwing himself over it. His body was very agile because of his life in Detroit. "You don't want to know." He said firmly. He wasn't going to budge. His grey eyes though, couldn't hold the pain that was filling his heart as someone was trying to pry his past open and throw it in his face again. He tried so hard to keep it bottled up inside. He didn't want it to come out. His eyes told the story of a broken boy, who wasn't trusting to anyone because of how much pain he had to suffer through.

"I just want yo know. To make a new friend." she sighed "Why wont you tell me? Obviously I want to know or I would have given up already and walked away. But no, I'm still her trying to get to know you and why you wear a hood all the time." she stated. She looked at him still trying to come up with reasons why he wore a hood all the time and wouldn't show anyone. "Please just tell me. You can trust me." she said softly.

"That's what the last one said!" He fired back, his past going into his eyes, threatening to flow out with tears. He didn't want to cry though, not in front of her. Not in front of anyone. He didn't want to cry anymore. "I don't care if you want to know, okay? I don't want to go back. And you don't need to know someone's past, or why they wear something to be friends with them."

"Ok I'm sorry. Don't tell me." she walked back on stage. She sat down on the edge of the stage and dangled her feet off of stage. "So if you don't want me to know that about you, what do you want me to know about you then?" she asked and looked over at him. "Tell me things I can know about you." she said loud enough so he could hear her.

Ash shrugged, "I don't know. I'm a boring person." He muttered, "I guess.... I play the guitar and some drums...." He pursed his lips, "And I er- am adopted?" He didn't really know what would be safe to say that wouldn't spark to many questions about his past.

"What happened to your real parents? Or am I not aloud to know that?" she asked looking up at him. She wasn't trying to be smart. She was just asking if she could know or not. She probably wasn't going to be able to know what happened to his real parents.

He shook his head, "Don't ask." He said at the parents thing. He didn't wasn't about to tell her their tragic stories. It only lead back to him. He started pacing the area, "I'm an artist." He added, but not going to tell her most of his art was, in fact, illegal to do.

"What kind of art do you do?" she asked "It am I'm aloud to know that?" she asked. She was an artist also. She did some graffiti every now and then. She want to know what he dis first. "I'm an artist too. I do some graffiti every now and then
" she mumbled the last part.

"Stuff that takes a lot of paint and practice." He answered, not putting anything really into it. He went over and sat down on one of the chairs, pulling his legs up slightly, wrapping his arms around his knees. He wondered how interesting he actually was.... people seemed to do what he did all the time. He sighed quietly, hating the fact he didn't have one original thing about himself.

"Cool. Well you seem annoyed by me so I will leave you alone." she simply said. She hopped off the stage and walked past him "See ya around Ash." she walked slowly towards the door to make sure he didn't want her to stay. She walked slowly to see if he said anything back or if he was really annoyed by her.

Ash watched her walk passed him, not really saying anything. He wasn't going to stop her, but he didn't want her to think he was some kind of jerk. He didn't need that kind of rumors going around. He already had enough. "See you around. Sorry if I'm closed off.... I have a lot of secrets." He said plainly. "I don't talk to people." He whispered.

"You should. It helps alot." she said and turned around. "It will make you feel alot better. Trust me. I use to keep everything a secret but once I told someone I felt alot better and that someone became my best friend." she simply and stood the awkwardly.

Ash shook his head, "Didn't help when I talked to mine." He muttered, "Or to my family." He looked up at her, "You see, there are certain things that can't be fixed with just talking." He frowned, "Some things can't be fixed or helped."

"Well maybe you just need to talk to someone new. I'm here if toilet need to talk. She sat down in the back row. She puled out her phone and played on it. She hopped he wanted to talk but he probably wouldn't want to.

He sighed, guessing she didn't get what he was getting at. Why would she? People never understood, then when they found out, they never wanted to ask. He didn't talk about it or respond to what she just said. All she wanted was her curiosity fixed, and he wasn't going to say it. Curiosity killed the cat, and he would be the cat.

"Well I understand you don't want to talk and honestly I don't care about it anymore. You don't want to tell me so I don't care." she simply said and sat there playing on her phone "How Cam we be friends and I can know anything about you?" she asked, just to ask not to me mean or smart.

Ash didn't respond to her again, not wanting to respond. She was pissed at him, and he could tell. He stood up, turning to one of the doors and started walking, "Why be friends with me then?" He asked starting to push the door open, "I'm not as open as you want. So who cares? Like you said." With that, he walked out.

"Ash!" she ran after him "I want to be your friend." she said. She didn't honestly care if he told her it not. He seemed nice once you got to know him. "I just want to be friends." she said softly and looked at him. "I honestly don't care if you want to tell me about your past or not."

"You're sure making a big deal out of it." Ash fired back, not getting what was up with her. "You keep talking like you want to make me feel bad or something for things I won't tell you." He put his hands above his head. "I don't usually raise my voice but.... Come on.... If someone doesn't tell you something, don't force them and keep saying how much you don't care."

"Ok I'm sorry. If you don't want to be my friend then just say so." she said closing the door behind her. She looked at him raise his hands above his head. She wondered what he was doing but didn't ask.

Ash shut his eyes, turning away from her, starting to walk away, "Stop reading into things you don't understand." He muttered shoving his hands into his pockets. He was sick of people doing this to him. He didn't want to be pushed around anymore....

"So can we be friends?" she asked as he walked away. She wasn't trying to push him around. She was just trying to make friends, which she wasn't every good at. She looked at him as he walked away waiting for him to answer her. She was horrible at making friends.

"Yeah, whatever...." Ash said waving over his shoulder, head hunched over. He knew he should just stay in places no one would walk in. He was stupid to try and get over his shyness and quietness. It was never going to fix.

She walked out to her car and sat in it. She didn't know how to make. friends. She was horrible at it. She really didn't have many friend at all. Just mainly Alexis and Cameron. That was it.

He breathed slowly as his feet padded across the stage to the dark object pushed out on stage right. His fingers fiddled absently, the sight of the treasured piano he loved to play, bringing a soft smile to his lips. After each session he had with his doctor, it was growing harder and harder to concentrate and try to be normal. No one really knew of his condition and he refused to talk about it anyone, even William. But here, with his feet planted on the soft wood in front of the mess of seats, he could play for an invisible audience. He could scream and yell all he had felt over the years without actually revealing any secrets that he wished to keep silent to anyone.

His dark eyes caught onto the figure hobbling down to his side of the stage. He normally might have scowled or glared at the girl for interrupting him at the therapeutic measure he used to calm his mind, his piano. "Is that what you're doing?" He asked the figure, watching her intently as she moved onto the stage in front of her. He could automatically say she was pretty, no gorgeous. But he also assumed she was told that she was a lot. "Breaking the rules to be down here?" His comments were not meant to be sarcastic, merely only observations he made by standing in front of the blonde locked girl, a few feet away from his beloved piano.

He nearly bristled at her comments, but chose not to act rashly. She was interesting to him but also had found a way to annoy him. He always came to the auditorium at this time on this day, and she was never here. Why today? With the way his nights were going, he was having a terrible week and definitely didn't want this girl ruining his time alone with the piano. He had already set up the music he wished to play and the piece he was in the middle of writing. "Hide? Oh, I don't think so. It's you who is out of place here." Nicholas shrugged his shoulders, watching her at the center of the stage. As long as she didn't speak, he could play.

He took a brief moment to respond, ignoring her words as he trailed over to the piano. He pulled out the seat in front of the musical instrument, taking comfort in being seated in front of such a beautiful object. "I go to this school." He muttered quietly. He hadn't had the chance to even play, and this girl threatened to kick him out. If she was going to, the least he could do before going was rile her up as well. "What are you even going to do here? In an auditorium?" Nicholas inquired, craning his neck slightly over his shoulder. She didn't seem like one for the arts. "Sing? Dance? Scream? Cry?" He listed, tapping the keys on each word, going down in notes.

A smirk grew on his lips as she retorted quickly in response to his apparently unsatisfactory observations. He raised an eyebrow, taking his hands off the piano keys as she joined him by the instrument. "Why? Does it annoy you?" Nicholas questioned, innocently glancing up at her. He pressed down on the last key of the instrument again before swiping his hand across the keyboard, the change of notes moving quickly as his fingers pressured each key. "Why would someone like you want to be alone here?"

He purposely pressed down harder and louder on the white keys, making the sound reverberate around the wide auditorium. He sent her a cheeky grin, a dimple deepening in his right cheek. "I can play something good. I was just trying annoy you." He tilted his head, trying to make eye contact with her. She was averting her eyes however. Despite his issues, he decided he could be outgoing for once and speak up to her in a friendly way instead of trying to get rid of her. "When it's good music, it can be quite relaxing. You should try it sometime." He grinned. "That is...relaxing."

He laughed at her threats, unfazed by the angry looks he was given by her. He knew he had seen her around before at school, most likely her being on the cheer leading squad. It seemed to appear all the pretty girls at school where on the squad or they were evil bitches. Perhaps since this one was away from her flock, she was less annoying and bitchy towards others. "Just try it, will you?" Nicholas offered, abruptly. He didn't know what had influenced him into trying to get her to calm down from her moody self. He had friends but apparently being in the crowd that wasn't popular or unpopular was not enough for a cheerleader like her to know him. "I can play something actually good for you."

He felt satisfaction at the fact that he had won their argument, the stage now only his. But the guilty feelings that came along with it was unpreventable. He was generally a guy with a lot of emotions. He felt everything probably ten times more than any average guy. Knowing the average guys at his school, it was saying that at least he knew how to feel. "Wait! What's your name?" Nicholas felt the need to at least know the name of the face that would most likely be haunting his dreams tonight. After any confrontations with anyone, he discovered that his night terrors were filled with those specific people. And now that he had met her, he wanted to know.

He narrowed his eyes at her, scanning her face as she turned back around. She seemed to take pride in what she had done, vandalizing the school. Why would she do such a thing? He didn't know why people acted out like that. Perhaps it had to do with issues back home or relationships. He found that most of his classmates were in moods like these because of either of those two issues. "Not likely. I'm sure my friends would be horrified by it instead." Nicholas scowled, all guilty feelings leaving him. He didn't like the way she spoke to him, belittling him with every syllable.