Music Camp { A Short Luke Hemmings Novel }

E i g h t

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After along morning and afternoon of practicing you're all practically exhausted. You decide to get some food from the cafeteria and return to the studio after. You want to eat all together and discuss some of the final points about the performance before you finally go on tonight.

After practicing the song a lot of times it finally went well without any mistakes, and you're positive that it will be good tonight. You hope you'll win, but those odds are very, very small.

Luke smiles at you and you feel somewhat guilty again, for pushing him away while you like him. You were positive that you were doing the right thing Thursday, but were you really? Now you're not so sure anymore. His blue eyes can't seem to leave your mind, and you can't forget about his caring self as well. He really showed you his affection, even though you met not too long ago. Doesn't that mean something? It must mean he's really into you, right?

Then why did you push him away? He may be your only chance, and if you let him walk away you might never find someone like him again. He sees past your flaws, the real you. You've told him things you only tell close friends and he's been with you more than any boy so far.

Writing this song with him and the others was an amazing experience, and the thought of not seeing them after camp is killing you. Maybe accepting Luke into your life will be a way of seeing him again after Sunday. You won't have to say goodbye if you just let him in. Maybe that's something to think about.

You can't keep your eyes off Ashton and Bethany laughing at some lame joke Ashton made. They're perfectly made for each other, anyone can see hit. Now he threw that douchebag attitude off of him, the real Ashton appeared: a really cute and caring guy that's also really adorable with his giggle. He brought the part of Bethany no one ever sees above the surface: the giggly and bubbly girl with some real sarcastic humor. It's something Luke does with you as well. You show him side you usually don't let anyone see. He's a special boy, you know that now.

''Are y'all excited for tonight?'' Michael, who suddenly storms in with Calum, says. You all get a bit startled but immediately reply. ''Yeah, of course,'' you say. ''I can't wait to perform our song, I think it worked out pretty well,'' the boys nod understandingly.

''Well, we're ready as well. I'm pretty confident about our song, what about you Cal?'' Michael asks his friend. ''Me too, I'm excited,'' he says as he throws his fist in the air. You still want to find out about Calum's special girl. Even though he lied to you about it, it's pretty interesting to find out.

Maybe she's one of the girls in his band. You've noticed two pretty girls in his band, maybe one of them caught his attention, and does she like him back? That's a question to be asked later, not now. ''Shall we dinner together tonight? With our bands, I mean,'' Calum asks, and you look at the others before nodding.

''Sure, do your band members want to hang out with us as well?'' Ashton asks the boys, who eagerly nod. ''Yeah, they did,'' Michael says. ''They really wanted to meet our friends,'' friends, you liked that word. Friends sounds like a nice thing, and it is. You take a large bite from your muffin without stuffing too much into your mouth and quickly chew it away since you still took too much.

''You okay?'' Bethany asks you with a slight chuckle, and now you notice everyone looking at you. Your cheeks must've heated up when you notice you bit off too much, and now everyone's noticed it... Great.

''Yeah,'' you say with a sheepish grin for taking a small bite from the leftovers of the muffin. Luke smiles at you once more before taking a bite of his sandwich and staring at the guitar in the stand.

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Later that day you're all sat in the cafeteria, together with Calum and Michael's band. They're two really nice girls, and from the moment you saw her you immediately noticed that the once called Dana was the girl of Calum's ''secret'' crush. Whenever she smiled he smiled, and he was trying to impress her die hard by making lame jokes and even combing his hair.

''Tonight's going to be awesome, I'm curious about your song,'' Bethany tells the boys and girls of the other band. You haven't heard theirs once, and you're all really excited to be honest. You keep wishing each other the best luck, and you hope that at least one of the two bands will win, but then again... The odds are still pretty small because all the other bands are probably really good as well.

You heard that there's one band that hasn't even finished their song yet. They kept on fighting and fighting and now they're left with almost nothing. You want to feel sorry for them, but it's their own fault. If they don't even try to make it work, it won't work.

You already heard one of the bands play their song in their studio yesterday, it sounded really good and you're quite scared of them. Mainly because it was Valery's band. If she wins you're all officially dead. She will rub it in until there's nothing left of you, not a really nice thought. She has barely talked to you in the cabin, the same goes for Ashley. You still don't really care because you weren't planning on becoming friends with them anyway.

The rumor of Bethany trying to kiss Ashton luckily didn't really spread since Ashton told everyone the truth... Well, a little bit more than that, he also told anyone that he's kinda into her. But you feel happy for them, they should've found each other, and they have. All you can do is hope that it will last, and that they'll officially get together as a couple. They're definitely into each other, that much is understood.

Michael sends you a curious smile while looking at you and Luke. You quizzically raise your eyebrows and he wiggles his. You-and-luke? He mouths at you, and you heavily shake your head. He-doesn't-even-like-me, you mouth back at him, after which he heavily shakes his head. He-definitely-likes-you, he mouths back at you and your cheeks heat up. Okay, maybe he's right since Luke basically admitted it to you, but how does Michael know?

Do-you-like-him? He mouths at you, and you feel your cheeks heat up more. Maybe, you mouth at him. A humongous smile appears on his face as he looks at Luke again. Lucky-him, he mouths before fully turning his attention to Ashton's story, you doing the same. You sure do hope Michael won't tell Luke, you want to do that yourself. You don't know how though.

How will he respond after you've basically rejected him? You're sure he doesn't even want you anymore, sadly.