Drowning In Color | ✔️

Chapter Fourteen

My jaws dropped as I turned to him. "Luka, you sure?" I whispered. I always thought he wanted to remain in the shadows, unnoticed by anyone. But I guess I was wrong. He ignored my words and stood up so that he could project his deep voice further.

"This poem is called..." Damn, he even named it already. The class sat in silence as we listened to him. The meaning of it was obvious. And his intent? To make me feel bad.

I sank deeper into my seat, partly guilty. Mostly embarrassed, even though I'm pretty sure no one else in the room knew what it was really about. When he was done reading, the class applauded, both at his performance and at the fact that he actually chose to volunteer for once. He handed looked at me and handed me the poem, telling me that it's because he did say he wanted to give them to me.

Does that mean that he actually still cares about me?

Mr Johnson carried on with the lesson, instructing us to refer to the poem on page 52. As usual, I was only partially paying attention to him. My mind was too busy being focused on Luka. I wrote down on a page in my notebook, "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. You still mad?" and I slid it over to him on his table.

I listened to the flickering noise of the paper, followed by the clicking of a pen and impact against the table. He was definitely writing something. Not long after, he poked my neck with the corner of the folded paper. I grabbed it and opened to read his reply.

"Pay attention to class. You need to pull your grades up."

"Wow. Thanks a lot, Luka," I thought sarcastically in my head, not daring to actually say it out loud. In a way, he wasn't wrong, but dang, he's harsh.

I looked back to the poem I wrote. It was stupid and random as compared to his. Good thing he saved me from having to read out this garbage. I pressed the paper in between the palms of my hands and crushed it into a ball, making sure to compress it so that it could fit nicely into the bin.

When the lunch bell rang, I rushed immediately out of class and to the cafeteria. After I bought lunch, my usual spot was taken up by a bunch of skater guys. Of course, now that I had nobody to help me reserve a table. With the tray in my hand, I looked around for people willing to share a seat with me, but nobody seemed willing to do so.

Just when I thought I'd have to eat on the floor, I spotted Luka from afar, having his lunch on his own as always. I was pulled back from the shame of having to beg from him, but I sucked up my pride and strode over to him.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" I asked, trying to be polite. And he was listening to music, with a book in one hand, and a burger in the other. Obviously. Thanks a lot, miscellaneous objects, for being his shield from me.

I sat down anyway. If he's gonna ignore me, might as well be an asshole right back at him, am I right? He jumped and looked at me, shocked at my sheer presence. Damn, déjà vu, much? I ignored him back. I'm only here for the table, as if that's something I really need to constantly remind myself of.

I dug into my fries, trying not to get my sleeves into the cheese. Luka mocked that if I was having such difficulty in eating, I shouldn't even be trying to dress like him. I glared intensely at him. He followed suit. My attempted intimidation couldn't beat that eyeliner of his, that I once thought was sexy and mysterious.

Tired of having to see me, he shifted himself to face away from the table. Real mature there. "Dude, what is your damn problem?"I asked, slamming my fist on the table. "I said I'm sorry. What I said last night was just to get my dad off my back. Why can't you understand?"

He said nothing. Of course. I couldn't even be sure if he heard me behind those thick earmuffs of his. Before I could get the chance to speak up again, he left. God, this guy pisses me off so much.