Mute | Luke Hemmings &' Ashton Irwin (Lashton/5SOS)

Chapter 5

The locker room fell silent. The aftershock of Michael's statement seemed to take a toll on Luke as the silence around us stilled. He seemed hurt, flustered, even broken at the spoken words, almost as if they set something off in him, like a ripple effect within, and I couldn't understand why.

I wanted more than anything to, but I just couldn't understand why he was clutching his stomach for dear life, with sorrow in his eyes as he shook his head violently back and forth, all because of Michael's spoken words that had hatred and hurt etched into them.

Standing in between the two, Michael slowly got up, mumbling things to himself before addressing me and walking toward the door, removing his intense stare on a scared Luke.

"Shouldn't you get home to group?" Michael says like it's the funniest thing in the world. "Wouldn't your caretaker worry? Surely it's past curfew, Irwin," he mocks from afar before I walk him back against a wall.

Michael has no right to comment on my living arrangements. He has no right to pick apart my lifestyle that's been forced upon me, that he has no knowledge of, for his own entertainment.

"Yeah, I do know," he retorts, laughing and answering my shocked-filled expression. "Relax. No one else knows, but we can just add this to the list of things I have against you. So, if I were you, I would get the fuck off me. Now," he demands loud enough for Luke to hear and shake at the volume and tone of his voice.

"How?" I questioned in angry shock at the fact he actually knows and decides to use it against me now of all times, and in front of Luke of all people.

I know how I ended up in group. It was a weak point in my life and I was a scared freshman before I got transferred here because of it and I didn't know any better at the time. I just wanted to please my family, but nothing I ever did was enough. Nothing I ever do is enough.

"Bet you had to do some bad shit to end up there, huh?" he presses, like he knows the actual truth. I did nothing wrong. Well, that's what everyone keeps telling me, so that's what I keep believing.

Before Michael can continue talking, he gets cut off as we hear a gasp off the far end of the locker room where Luke was sitting against a row of blue lockers.

The two of us look at him worried, Michael speaking vaguely, trying to hid his once shown emotion. "He's having an attack, just hold him. It'll calm him down. He needs to know everything's okay and calm around him," he says, pushing me off me and turning toward the door.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know him," Michael states before leaving the locker room as I make my way to Luke.

Sitting on the floor, I bring the tall child-like boy into my lap, holding him protectively and rocking a little back and forth to calm him down.

Luke gripped onto me hard, assuring himself I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't. I wasn't just going to leave no matter how late I am for curfew.

"You're okay, alright?" I whisper into his ear. "I'm sorry you had to see me that angry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just got carried away a bit," I said honestly. My anger always gets the best of me.

He nods in what I hope is understandment while wiping at his face and sitting upright in my lap.

"Um, how do you and Michael, you know? Wait, you know what, don't answer that. You don't have to if you don't feel comfortable, I'm sorry," I say timidly and a bit flustered under him as he shakes his head sadly.

Luke snuggled further into my lap, wrapping his arms hesitantly but boldly around my waist as I tightened my hold around him, keeping him still with his head on my chest as I leaned my back against the lockers. Silence fills all around us. The only sound heard is Luke's small breathing.