Eighteen.

Chapter 4

A/N: okay I just want to start this by saying thank you guys for ten votes... I know, it doesn't really seem like a lot, but there's only four parts to this story and it just kind of seems surreal to me that people would like it.

Thank you so much for reading my drivel. I didn't think anybody would, and small amounts of readers mean I can love you all even more :3

Thank you again, 

Meghan xoxoxo

______________________________________________________________

Aimee could have cried with relief as she approached the campus of CSU, the rattly bus that had picked her up from the train station crowded with other people just like her- scared freshmen. She knew that a lot of the students here were local, and therefore that they'd have their own friends. The train station had been getting floods of students from all around Australia, and she realized that this was probably going to be the most diverse place she ever saw.

Aside from the everyday people Aimee was surrounded by, there were three people on phones, sobbing. Whether to a boyfriend or relative, she hadn't been able to tell, but it vaguely irritated her that they didn't know how to start college alone.

She glanced down at her own phone, pressing the lock button to make it glow faintly. The picture was one of her and her cousin, taken a few months before they'd moved. Aimee loved how happy they both looked, lying on beach towels. The beach had been overcrowded, the result of a then-rare sunny day, and they'd barely had space to breathe.

She had no notifications, but she didn't mind. The radiant glow of her and her cousin's happiness was enough for her- she felt loved and secure as the bus finally creaked its way to the main office. The intercom crackled unsurely with the driver's voice, and Aimee mused that the whole bus sounded like it was about to fall apart.

"Main office is on your left once you leave the bus. Pick up your welcome packages. Induction, I'd say, will be in about three hours, once everyone has shown up. Please don't forget any of your personal belongings, and the cases will be unloaded for you and lined up beside the bus. Please wait patiently."

Once his voice clicked off, eager students began to stand and walk from the bus, crashing into one another. Aimee decided to wait until the seats behind her were empty to leave, rather than being crushed in a crowd of people who would have to wait for their bags, anyway.

The bus was almost empty as Aimee stepped down from her seat, slipping slightly and catching herself on the side of the opposite row. She made her way more carefully down the narrow walkway. The bus was empty, aside from a mop of messy blonde hair about three rows ahead of where she was walking. 

Absently, she wondered why the boy hadn't left yet, but didn't put much thought into it. He was probably gathering his stuff or something.

Aimee felt his eyes bore into her as she passed his seat, and risked a quick glance. His red-rimmed blue eyes were, in fact, directed at her, and she saw a self-satisfied smirk light up half his face. 

Feeling unsettled, she rushed out of the bus.

Walking into the heart of the crowd of people waiting for suitcases, she felt slightly better. The boy's face slowly disappeared from her mind as she focused on the here and now, looking for her two grey cases.

She didn't look for the blonde boy again.

However, if she had, she would have seen him leaning cockily up against the bus, one foot bent against it. And maybe, if she'd looked, she would have seen that he was still staring at her, his eyebrows crinkled in a confusion that she wouldn't have been able to decipher.

His black lip ring moved steadily as he bit his lip lightly, turning the pale pink colour white with pressure. Nobody was looking at him as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up slowly. Had Aimee even glanced in his direction, she might have thought that this habit was the reason for his red-rimmed eyes.

His black t-shirt and dark jeans would have attracted the hot Australian sun, had he not been leaning against the bus in its shadowed shade. He brought the cigarette to his lips and inhaled deeply, his eyes closing slowly. He exhaled a stream of smoke that was too far away from any of the crowd for them to choke on it.

Finishing his cigarette, after taking the time to savour every drag, the blonde made his way to the collection of luggage and grabbed his two bags, his cocky smirk still in place.

This time, however, people noticed him.

They glanced at him, and immediately down to read the name tag hanging loosely from his suitcase.

Property of:

Luke Hemmings.