outlines ✰ l.h.

chapter four

My thought was broken by Michael coming out of his room and standing in to doorway, swinging a red bra around on his finger.

"Hey, is this Katherine's?" He smirked, now clutched one of the straps in his hand. I felt my face warm up slightly from the awkward tension between all three of us, except for Michael who apparently had no boundaries.

"Shut up." Luke grumbled, walking over to Michael and snatching the bra from his hands, throwing it into his room and shutting his door. "Kat and I broke up for a reason so please don't bring her up." His tone was annoyed and Michael simply brushed it off, walking towards me with a smile.

"Kat's a bitch." He whispered.

"You don't need to whisper, Clifford. I know she's a bitch." Luke replied, getting both of us to laugh, but at the same time it only made me wonder what had happened between Luke and Kat. I felt it would be too personal to ask Luke, so I let my curiosity wonder and suggested she was actually just a plain bitch and that Luke broke up with her.

Michael and I immediately clicked, making an instant start to our friendship. As for Luke and I, there was just some tension since I had seen more of his bad side than good. But in the end, it was something that could easily be fixed and I knew that from the second I skipped class with them, I'd be stuck with these two kids for the rest of the year and probably longer.

"School ends in an a little over an hour. Is it even worth it to go back?" Michael asked as we went back down the stairs. Luke and I looked between each other then back at Michael.

"Probably not." I spoke, glancing back to Luke who was toying with the ring in his lip that I'm pretty sure violated the school's dress code.

"I have a forensics test I have to take." Luke told him, running his hands through his hair and he fixed it in a mirror handing on the wall next to him.

Michael rolled his eyes, "It's always the smart kid who messes the fun up." I forced back a smile from his statement as Luke looked beyond annoyed.

"I'm not even that smart, I'm just good at memorization." He sighed, searching for his car keys on the multiple tables around one of the living rooms we were in. Michael and Luke went back and forth as they were back in the car, going on about a pointless subject as I zoned out.

Michael had let his walls down very easily and with his reputation, it was very surprising to me. I had expected him to be tough and witty say things that Chuck Bass would say, when in reality he was just normal. Sure he got in a little trouble, but he reminded me of myself in a way. I'm not really intimidating and bad ass, I just have the vibe that I am. As for Luke, he had the first impressions and reputations that seemed to match his personality. But I kept thinking back to our day in ISS and how different it had been when it was just me and him.

Eventually after Michael and Luke stopped fighting, we decided to head back to school with an hour left of class. Luckily for Luke he wouldn't miss his test while Michael and I groaned on about having to spend it in study hall doing nothing. Luke had stopped our annoying complaining by taking us to a drive-thru and ordering milkshakes, but Michael still managed to throw in a complaint or two as Luke sped back towards school.

We pulled into the parking lot, getting back to Luke's spot and getting out of the car.

"Alright," Luke started. "Since we definitely did not just skip school together, we're going to go through-"

"Different doors so it looks like we weren't together." Michael finished his sentence for him, receiving a glare from Luke. "You give the same speech every time." He pushed Luke's shoulder and he swatted his hand away.