"alright class, split into two even teams!" mr. hopkins yelled before his students spilt up evenly. luke stood awkwardly on the side, not knowing which team to join as he wasn't friends with anyone in his class. "hemmings! join clifford's team." michael's team groaned.
"do we really have to have the crybaby on our team?" michael whined.
"suck it up clifford and get on the field."
michael rolled his eyes and jogged onto the field, his team following closely behind, luke walking even further behind. the two teams stood at opposite ends, spread out evenly on their sides.
"alright, basic soccer rules.. and NO tackling this time, i'm looking at you, josh." mr. hopkins blew his whistle and the teams began to play.
luke was dribbling the ball down the field, watching his feet and not paying any attention to his surroundings. next thing he knew he had slammed into someones chest and was pushed to the ground. mr. hopkins blew his whistle and all of the students stopped playing. luke was laying on the grass holding his head.
"ow, fuck," he heard michael groan. "watch where you're fucking going."
luke looked over to see michael sitting on the grass with his hand over his mouth.
"what happened?" luke said
"you ran straight into my mouth. you're lucky you're short otherwise it would've been my nose."
"what an idiot." he heard someone whisper.
"is he blind or something?"
"nah he probably couldn't see through his crybaby tears."
tears started forming in luke's blue eyes as he looked around to see all of his classmates looking down at him. the were all whispering mean things and laughing at him. luke couldn't hold the tears in any longer. he got up and ran to the locker room. tears flowed down his face when he heard the enter class laughing at him. "hemmings, get back here!" his teacher yelled but luke just ignored it.
luke made his way into the locker room and sat down on one of the benches. he pulled his knees up to his chest and sobbed into them. people were so mean to him. yeah, luke cried easy but that shouldn't be a reason to hate him.
++
about 40 minutes later, luke heard someone enter the locker room. he hid behind a locker incase it was someone coming to make fun of him. he peaked his head around the corner and saw a familiar head of dark blonde hair. michael opened his locker and pulled out a new t-shirt since the one he was currently wearing was covered in grass stains. he peeled off his shirt and luke's eyes widened. dark purple and green markings were scattered around michaels entire abdomen. some of them were big, some were small. what had happened to michael? who would do this to him?
luke decided to confront michael. he knew it wouldn't end well but he was too curious not to ask. he came out from his hiding spot and walked up behind michael. he tapped him on his pale shoulder and softly said "michael?" michael jumped and turned around quickly and tried to cover up his body.
"jesus christ luke!" he yelled, "don't ever do that again. when did you even get in here?"
"sorry.. i was in here ages ago. i heard someone come in so i came to see who it was," luke lied, "i just wanted to ask you something."
"it better not be 'why are you so mean to me?' because i'm not going to answer that."
"no, it's not."
"well then, hurry up and ask me." michael said as he leaned against his locker and crossed his arms.
"wh-what happened to you?"
"what do you mean?" michael said in a i-know-what-you-mean-but-i-dont-want-to-tell-you tone.
"your bruises. did someone hurt you?"
"i-um.." michael trailed off. his friends entered to locker room loudly "back off luke, i dont need to tell you shit!" michael yelled as he shoved luke.
"sorry.. i was just trying to help." luke said quietly.
"maybe you should help yourself stop crying before you help others." calum said, earning a high five from his friend. luke just walked passed the group of boys crowding around the exit and walked to the cafeteria since there was only 5 minutes until lunch.
luke wanted to help michael but he knew michael would never let him.
