Ash

Ash’s current roommate and only lasting childhood friend leaned against the desk Ash was working at, interrupting the studying he was, rather unsuccessfully, trying to concentrate on. If he wanted his title back, he had to work even harder for it, that was evident. Whether Kai realized it or not, as soon as he had walked away with his simple explanation of "studying", the battle for Top Student had commenced.

“What?” Ash snapped, finally looking up. He was terribly irritable today, not that his best friend cared much. In fact, it was Elliot who usually irritated him the most. He did it so much, in fact, that it was easy for him to tell when it was his own actions or words or if it was something else getting under Ash's skin. This was one such scenario. It was as plain as a solid colored t-shirt that something was bothering Ash, and that knowledge piqued his curiosity like a puppy being told "no" before they understood what the word meant.

Elliot unconsciously raised an eyebrow and fidgeted with a pen on Ash's desk, his amusement blatantly showing. He loved knowing that Ash’s feathers could indeed be ruffled, despite his usually cool and collected demeanor. There was also the fact that most of the time, it was Elliot's own ways that brought Ash out from behind his masks. After all, it took someone who knew Ash very well and knew all the right buttons to push to get him to snap like this. “Your sister called me saying that no one can get ahold of you. I let them know that you’re studying. I didn’t expect to be right.”

“Ugh,” Ash groaned at his friend, already prepared to ignore the smirk in his tone and even his words altogether. He was looking back at his notes before the meaning behind Elliot's words registered. It was only a second or two after that things started to click and connect. “Wait! Did you say my sister called you?” He grabbed his phone from where it sat silently on the desk and looked at the bright screen. It was on silent. 13 missed calls in all. 3 from each of his parents, and 7 from his sister. Yet not a single text message. No texts meant that this was important, probably important enough to not end well. Especially not after ignoring all of those calls.

Elliot plopped down onto his own bed, chuckling to himself as Ash immediately called his sister. Very rarely was he involved in the family drama, though he knew all about what went on behind the curtains. Not to mention the fact that Ash's immediate family seemed to quite liked him and his influence on Ash, well, when that influence didn't lead to being picked up by the police.

Ash went straight into calling his sister. She would be the easiest to get information out of. "Ash, you better come home right now," she picked up on the second ring, no greeting in sight. He didn't bother to respond as he ended the call. Syl was a lot like Elliot. They both were insufferable when they had information, making you work to get it out of them. They also refrained from being serious as much as they could. The fact that she hadn't greeted him or teased him or anything was extremely worrisome. He stood from his desk and grabbed the keys hidden in the back of his top dresser drawer. Elliot kept his own in his desk.

Ash knew had to get home immediately. Anything could be going on, but by the tone in his sister's voice and the lack of text messages, something extremely serious was going on. Something serious enough to require he drive home on a school night. He wasn't too worried about the school-night thing. Occasionally his mother would ask if he'd be willing to help out with volunteer work into late evening. It was only a half hour drive between his home and the university, but Ash didn't drive often as he never really needed nor wanted to. However, it was times like these that he was rather grateful he was allowed to have his own car on campus so he didn't have to wait for a chauffeur. They may have made travel more enjoyable, but they never earned any points when it came to speed.

He pushed the speed limit the entire way home. Well, actually, he did more than just push it. He was at least careful enough to not speed too much. He didn't want to get in a wreck or cause problems for someone else. The thought of accidentally injuring someone because he was driving recklessly by going over the speed limit made him slow down. But if his presence was needed this badly at home, then something had to be going on. What could make them interrupt his schooling? Especially when he would be free after noon tomorrow? What was going on and why?

“Mom? Dad? Syl?” Ash called out as he entered his parents’ house. There was no response, but he knew he could usually find someone in the kitchen or dining room, whether it be a family member or a housekeeper of some sort, so to the kitchen he went. Luckily, he found his family in the dining room, silently sitting around the table. Oddly enough, he discovered that it wasn't just his parents and older sister, though. Sitting next to each other as they had been doing for years were his grandparents. They hardly ever visited, though, so why had they decided to come over? What was going on?

“Is everything alright?" Ash carefully walked into the tense room, "I came over as soon as I could.”

“You missed all of our calls,” his mother’s voice was colder than normal. It was the voice she used when she had to deal with a particularly irritating situation, or her in-laws.

“Sorry, I was studying,” he sat in the only free seat at the table: across from his sister and next to his grandmother. He liked the old woman well enough, but she could be a handful, especially for the more down-to-earth members of his family, like his mother. His grandmother was far too proud to let herself, or anyone in her presence, relax. As a result, his own rather relaxed family was not particularly close with his grandparents, despite the public's beliefs that they were quite the tight-knit family.