Photograph | l.h.

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Luke

Luke ran down the halls the next day, fearing that he would be late for class again. He had been late to his gym class all week, and if he was late one more time, he would get a detention. Luke's mum would kill him if he got a detention.

Luke was almost to maths, with thirty seconds until the bell rang. He cursed under his breath, his legs still moving rapidly. He was just about to walk into the maths room, that is, until the bell startled him.

Shit. Luke thought.

Mrs. Conley was looking down at her desk as Luke walked in, so he went unnoticed. He walked over to his desk like nothing had even happened. With his breathing still heavy from all the running, Luke tried to concentrate on what his teacher had written on the board.

After class had ended, Luke and Lillian were the only people left in the room, just like before. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say. And because of his previous encounters with Lillian, he knew that she wasn't going to say anything either.

Right before Lillian walked out of the room, Mrs. Conley stopped her. "Lilli dear, can we talk?"

Stopping dead in her tracks, the blonde snappy girl turned around. "Don't call me Lilli, ever."

Luke watched them in confusion. Obviously these two knew each other from somewhere, because Lillian didn't seem like the type of girl to back talk a teacher. But, maybe Luke was wrong.

"Lillian," Mrs. Conley corrected herself. "Can we talk?"

"You've got two minutes." Lillian grunted.

Luke wasn't sure if the two had realized that he was still in the room. He tilted his head in confusion, still trying to figure out how these two knew each other. Were they related?

"Luke," Mrs. Conley spoke, taking Luke from his thoughts. He looked over at Lillian, who didn't seem too interested at the moment.

"Yes?" He nodded, giving his teacher a small smile. That was one thing his mum didn't forget to teach him, always respect adults. Sometimes he thought it was bullshit though, Luke would respect whoever respected him. But he knew Mrs. Conley was a decent person.

"So Lillian here, is having some trouble with math. I was wondering if - "

"That's just your nice way of saying that I suck. We both know that if he wasn't here, you wouldn't sugar coat it." Lillian interrupted with an eye roll.

Mrs. Conley sighed, ignoring Lillian's comment. "Anyways, Luke, I was wondering if you would want to be her tutor?"

The second those words left Mrs. Conley's mouth, an invisible light bulb went off in Luke's head. The kind people get when they have an idea. This was perfect, this opportunity. Luke figured that this would be the perfect way to get Lillian to befriend him. If he was to tutor her, then there's no way that she could avoid him.

So, that's why he was so quick to say yes.

"I'd be happy too," Luke grinned.

Mrs. Conley clapped, while Lillian groaned dramatically. Luke grinned in satisfaction, knowing that his little plan would work.

"Great, you two start tomorrow. Be here in this room before school, and we'll get started!"

-

So there Luke sat, in Mrs. Conley's maths room before school. They were waiting for Lillian to get to school, and she was definitely taking a long time to arrive. Luke's thoughts wandered all over the place; he was thinking about nothing and everything. One specific thought came to mind though, which made his curiosity take over.