teach me to be innocent, l.hemmings

#9: respect women

Sneaking into my house at 2:45AM in the morning was the reason behind my weekend grounding. Mum hadn't been too impressed, despite my very much sober state.

I spent all weekend finishing assignments that half the class had yet to start. I liked to be on top of my school work, and if that meant sitting at my computer for four hours instead of swimming in the pool, then I'd do it.

Katherine hadn't been very sympathetic towards my situation. She called up on Saturday afternoon and berated me for leaving her Friday night. She demanded to know what I had done after I dropped her off, and I didn't have the energy to go through another fight so I lied and claimed I went home.

Luke hadn't contacted me all weekend, not even to respond to the message I sent him on Saturday morning, thanking him for a nice night.

All in all, I think the grounding had been worth it. After Luke and I walked up and down the beach a few times, we found a circle of both our friends. It wasn't hard to fall into a comfortable banter, especially with Luke's hand resting on my lower back.

Come Monday morning I had forgotten all about Katherine being mad at me, until she texted me fifteen minutes before school to let me know she wouldn't be picking me up.

A sigh escaped the barriers of my lips. I couldn't say I was all that surprised by Katherine's childish behaviour. This is how she dealt with most things if she didn't get her way – she'd usually just ignore you until you apologised enough times.

I glanced down at my phone and saw that I had a text from Luke fifteen minutes ago. I was confused to why Luke would text me. It's not like we weren't going to see each other shortly in maths class.

Luke: You're almighty best friend has just arrived at school without you. You're either 1) catching the bus 2) miraculously gotten your license or 3) Katherine is being petty about Friday.

Me: ding ding we have a winner for #3

I grabbed my backpack and headed down the stairs. I was about to opt for option 1 and catch the bus. My parents left early for work and I knew better than to wake Phoenix up from his slumber.

I yanked the door open, only to let out a shriek.

"Luke?" I stumbled back, my eyes widening in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"I drove here after I sent my text. I was pretty sure that Katherine had bailed on your daily carpooling." He nodded with confidence.

"What if I was just sick?" I arched my eyebrow.

"You're Atlantis Starke." He scrunched his nose up. "You don't get sick, and if you do, you certainly don't take time off school for it."

"How would you know?" I muttered. "Didn't even respond to my text."

"I just came to save your butt from being tardy and you want to discuss how my phone was out of battery until last night?" Luke smirked. "I would've texted you but when it finally turned on at 11PM I figured you'd be asleep."