Am I Perfect Now?

Chapter 7

"How have you been Ka-" Luke began before his gaze landed on Aleisha. His jaw immediately dropped and he looked like he just saw a ghost.

"Hey Lucas." Aleisha said in a flirty voice, biting her bottom lip. I grimaced at the obvious flirting, hoping nobody saw it. This hope was given up when Ashton, Michael and Calum started laughing uncontrollably. Luke was too busy staring at Aleisha like she was an alien from outer space. There was however a hint of disgust.

"What the hell." I heard Luke mumble while his face started turning red with anger. "What's wrong Luke? Aren't you happy to see me again?" Aleisha asked innocently.

"No." Luke simply replies.

"Why not Luke? This should be a happy reunion." Aleisha tells him, still pretending to be all innocent.

Luke chuckled dryly and evily. "So when our band was starting out, you tell me that we will never make it and that I am just, quote, ' Some stupid nerd' and now that the band is big, you think you can just get me back as quickly as you left me? I'm a human with feelings. Not some toy you can use to boost your popularity." He shouted at Aleisha before stomping off.

I didn't want to deal with Aleisha's reaction so I followed him. Soon after I left, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned round to see Ashton, Calum and Michael following me, following Luke.

Once I finally catch up with him, he's sitting underneath a huge tree in the school field. His face is burried in his knees, which he is hugging to his chest. He's clearly crying which is obvious because of the way his body is shaking which is making his breathing just as shaky and becuase he is hickuping and sobbing.

I sit next to him and immediately feel uncomfortable. I have no idea how to calm him down. Usually I am the one being calmed down. The rest of the guys are nowhere to be seen so they probably lost us, or got stuck in the crowd of girls. Snapping back to the issue at hand, I try to think myself into his position. What would I want somebody to do if I was bawling my eyes out.

I awkwardly place my hand on just shoulder and whisper: "It's okay." To which he chuckles dryly.

"No. It's not okay. I know most of the people at this school. Just last year I went to school here, and I was being bullyed be these people. And now that I'm in a band that is getting big, they all pretend like we have always been best friends." He wipes his eyes and turns around so that he is looking at me.

"This is probably gonna sound really cocky but just because I'm in a band you could classify as famous, people think I'm all perfect and I have a perfect life. But I'm only human, and there's only so much humans can do. All humans have problems. They expect me to be a role model and be charming and sweet and outgoing but quiet at the same time. But that's not who I am." He pours his heart out.

"I know how you feel." Just as I was about to tell him my story, the doors of the school burst open and Ashton, Calum and Michael burst out of it, followed by a bunch of screaming girl, most not even from this school.

"Oh shoot." Luke mumbles as he stands up. I think he is going to leave me here to get trampled over by the crazy fans, but instead he grabs my arm and pulls me along with the rest of the boys.

Too scared to react, I keep my feet moving to keep up with him. Obviously he's sporty which makes him really fast, and the fact that he has legs as long as me isn't exactly helping.

When we finally reach what I'm guessing is their van, I finally realize what is going on. "Wait guys? I'm supposed to be at school..." I inform them, a bit worried. They all just smirk at me in response.

"Not today Kathleen." Calum responds. Wow. Missing the first day of school. I'm off to a good start.

All of them had grins on their faces, except Luke who was sitting next to me. He was frowning and looking out the tinted windows of the van.

"You okay Luke?" I whispered to him worriedly.

"Just splendid." He replied sarcastically with a sigh. Everybody else was looking at him with sympathetic eyes. Except Ashton. Well maybe but I wouldn't know since he was driving and I couldn't see his face.

"Anyway, where are we going?" I asked trying to lighten up the atmosphere a little.

"Well... I was thinking we go to your house to ask for permission to kidnap you for the day and then go trampolining." Michael suggested which made me snort.

"Good luck getting the permission from the parentals."

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"Of course she can go!" My mother cheered too excitedly. I gave here an 'are you serious look'.

"In America you rarely let me stay home and miss school when I was sick, and now you're letting me go to place you don't know with four guys who are in a punk rock band? Just like that?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes. Now get ready before I change my mind." With that I darted up the stairs into my room getting changed into a pair of black distressed shorts and a black Blink-182 t-shirt. I put on my all black converse and black raybans. Yes, I know, a lot of black. My wardrobe is basically all black... sad isn't it? I through my phone into my pocket and made my way downstairs.

Once all the guys' eyes landed on me I felt like curling up into a ball and let the earth swallow me, but it was too late. For the past few months, the only people I have been around were family members and doctors, so I felt sort of comfortable wearing clothes that showed more than my hands and maybe even my ankles. I was showing too much skin and I felt trashy and disgusting.

Get over it Kath. Live a little. A voice in my head was telling me, so I smiled, gave my mom a hug, and walked out the door with the guys.

"Black suits you Kathleen. Not many girls can pull it off." Michael states. It's only then that I realize that I'm wearing the shirt... The shirt.

*FLASHBACK*

"Hey little emo, how many tears have you shed today?" Stacy asks, when I was walking into the lunch room, making everybody laugh. She is referring to the time last week when I snapped and broke down in tears.

"Blink-182." Stacy's boyfriend Josh began, referring to my shirt. "What's that? Is that the number of times you cut every time somebody blinks?" That is probably the worst insult I've ever heard. It didn't even make sense but stll made everybody laugh.

"Aww, poor little suicidal Kath." Stacy's sidekick Roselyn says. For once I am completely shocked and speechless. I feel hot tears burning my eyes, waiting to depart. "I, and everybody else, hopes that today's suicide attempt will succeed." She adds, with a fake sympathetic tone in her voice. Roselyn used to be my best friends. We used to make fun of Stacy's groups together. We were inseperable. Until Stacy got to her head. The things Stacy can do to a person are fascinating. Believe it or not, I used to have a lot of friends and everybody liked me. That was less than two months ago. And now I was the school's outcast.

"Bye Kath, tell your little friends we say hi." Roselyn says while giggling innocently.

"Her only friends are her blades. Kathleen, please tell them that next time, they should cut deeper.

Then they left. What happened after that was a complete blur. All I remember is downing a bottle of some pills I don't know, and waking up in a hospital bed, with a white sheet over my face.

They thought I was dead.

*END FLASHBACK*

It's funny how a simple shirt can hold such a powerful memory.

"Kathleen! Are you okay? What's wrong?" Luke shouts worriedly, shaking my shoulders.

"Umm yeah w-why wouldn't I be?" I tried to make my fake smile look as believable as possible.

"You sorta just zoned out and you looked scared to death. Are you okay?" Ashton asked softly.

"Yeah. Just... memories."

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Okay... So there is something that I wanted to tell you.

THIS STORY GOT 100 ONE DAY!
Thank you all so much <3

-Lisa