the hating game ; lrh

twenty-three

Calum seems to sense my worry from across the bench (as he typically does — we'd always put it down to twin telepathy) and moves to sit by me. Silently, he plucks the test from my hands and begins going through it himself.

"Your spelling is way better than before," he compliments me without looking up. I know exactly what he's trying to do, but regardless his kindness warms my heart. Calum always knows what to say to make me feel better. "All the accents are in the right places. It's just your sentence structure and vocabulary that needs the most work."

I spare a glance across at Luke who, for the first time, appears to be feeling slightly guilty. However, when we make eye contact this expression vanishes. When Calum slides the paper back to me, I pick it up and stand from my seat at the bench.

"Where are you going?" Luke's brows knot together as he looks up at me from his own papers.

I gesture toward the stairs. "Upstairs."

"What? We're not done," he shakes his head at me, nodding for me to resume my seat. "We've still got exercises to go through."

I gnaw at my lip, brushing a few strands of hair behind my ear. "Can we do it another day?" I ask, causing him to stare back quizzically. "I've got college stuff to do."

Although it's not entirely a lie — I do have about a million and one things to do in preparation for my impending college applications, not to mention planning Calum and I's trip to Yale in a few weeks — it's also not exactly the entire reason why I was itching to escape our lesson. I knew that he was only trying to play the part for Calum, but I also didn't particularly enjoy sitting through all of his many insults. Luke and I's relationship was extremely different now, sure, but there remains a part of me that wonders whether there was some truth behind his words. I mean, it wasn't dissimilar to the things he was saying before we became involved, right?

Luke's face gives away that he doesn't believe me for a second, but he nods regardless, presumably due to Calum's presence. "Okay."

I don't know what else to do but nod stiffly in response and quickly ascend the stairs, flying up and into my room in a matter of seconds. I lay face-down on my bed for a few moments, contemplating my life and the complete mess that I had gotten myself into with Luke, before letting out a loud groan and turning over to face the world. Just as I am reaching for my laptop, I hear a light knock at the door.

I already know who is standing on the other side, but I utter a light, "Come in!" regardless.

A moment later, Luke steps inside my room, pushing the door quietly shut behind him. He approaches me warily and sets a few papers down on my bedside table — presumably Spanish exercises that he had told Calum I needed as an excuse to come up here alone.

"Are you okay?" He asks, voice soft and gentle — the polar opposite of what it had been only moments ago in the kitchen. For the umpteenth time, I am bewildered by this boy's ability to change between moods.

"Fine," I respond, though my tone gives me away almost instantly. I pull my laptop onto my legs and open the screen, pulling up Safari for something to do to defuse the tension in the room.

I don't look up, but I feel the mattress sink down next to me as Luke takes a seat on it. "Please tell me what's wrong," he presses, tugging at my heart as he does so, though I try not to let it show.

"I'm just..." I begin, but quickly trail off when I discover that I don't quite know what I want to say. More accurately, I don't quite know how to communicate to Luke what I'm feeling. For so long I'd become accustomed to Luke chastising me and either retaliating or simply storming away in an angry mess — never had I even considered telling him why I was upset.