half a heart. // lh

3 - "Oh Calamity!"

Luke's POV

No matter how long it's been since I was fully recovered, I don't think I'll ever be whole again. Even though I'm better than I was before, Golden Creek, nor any other ward, could ever fix me. I didn't need a therapist or a tiny little pill to save me, I didn't even know what I needed until it was gone.

                "So, what did you think?" I asked. Jacey didn't forget, here we were in the same spot by the door, 24 hours later. To be honest, I thought she wouldn't show. And I definitely didn't think she would listen to the song. But today, at 9:14 a.m., she approached me, all excited and giddy about it.

                "Honestly," her hesitation made me nervous that she didn't like it and she was mad that I even made her listen to it. "I think I have a new favorite band, Hemmings," she smirked up at me. Our height difference was amazing to me.

                "You really liked it? I mean I guess that's what you were implying, but how do you consider them your favorite after that one song?" I messed up my wording yet again. She didn't have a problem with it still, because she smiled at me. She did that a lot, smiling, and I liked it.

                "I think it was after the sixth song I listened to when I considered them my favorite," she says. "Although I don't think I had a favorite band before that, so I guess they didn't have much competition," How could she not have a favorite band? Did she even like music, I wondered. I definitely had a lot of questions for her that I don't think could be answered in the few minutes we shared between classes.

                "Sixth? But I only told you to listen to one,"

                "And I liked it, so I wanted to hear if I liked anything else, which I did," I should have guessed that was her reasoning.

                "So what is your favorite song by this new, and only, favorite band?"

                Jacey opened her mouth to give me an answer, but before any words were formed, her name was being called from behind us. It was, of course, no other than Mindy Hayes trying to get her attention. She motioned Jacey to her, and away from me. Jacey looked back at me and dismissed herself.

                "I'm sorry, I'll see you around,"

Jacey's POV

                "Hey, who were you talking to after 1st period today?" Mindy asked as we sat down in our usual spots at lunch.

                "Oh, just Luke Hemmings," she gave me the look meaning to explain further. "We met at Colton's party last week, remember? He's the one I told you I thought -"

                "No, Jace, I know who he is, I want to know why you were talking to him," she said this like a concerned mother would if she just caught her daughter talking to a stranger in a white van.

                "We were just talking about a band, we aren't like friends or anything,"

It was true. Luke and I were barely even acquaintances; he didn't even know my first name until yesterday. Mindy gave a look like I had said something wrong, so I asked her what her problem was.

"Don't talk to Luke Hemmings," she began.

"Why? He's just -"

"You really don't need to know why, Jacey. Just don't hang around him long enough to figure out why," Mindy was usually the first to tell me if she knew juicy information about someone, but she was being really weird about this. It obviously wasn't a big deal if she wouldn't tell me, especially because she is the most dramatic person I have ever met. Luke probably stepped on a mouse once and now Mindy thinks he's a brutal murderer. I just rolled my eyes and changed the subject.

She was in the middle of telling a story about a fight with her dad, when I remembered that Luke asked me a question earlier and I never even answered. Nodding my head to show Mindy that I was still listening, I opened my bag to find a random piece of paper. I scribbled down the title to my favorite All Time Low song, which is what Luke asked me earlier.

After lunch, I was walking to my next class until I saw Luke in the hallway. I got right beside him and slipped my piece of paper into his hand. He stopped to read it, and I watched him. His face of confusion slowly turned into a grin when he read it, 'Oh, Calamity!'

-

The next day, at exactly 9:14 a.m., I made my way to where I hoped Luke would be waiting for me. Outside of this classroom was the only place we ever talked, and I guess it was only because it was the only time we ever could talk. Just like I planned, he was standing there awkwardly, looking slightly anxious.

"Hemmings,"

"Jacey Rae," I guess this was his nickname for me now, although my name and the song title were spelled differently. "I didn't know if I was supposed to be here, because we usually meet here but you know, you didn't really have a reason to meet me here today. But I guess you did because here you are, and -". I had to interrupt again, or he would have gone on all day with his word vomit.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a dork?" I smiled to show that I was kidding.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I've heard that a few times,"

"So I was wondering," I didn't have enough time between these classes to just discuss his dorkiness. "You know my favorite band and song but you never told me your favorite band. And I'm rather curious to hear what it is since you acted to be so offended by my musical oblivion,"

"That's easy. Blink-182," he said it as though he gets asked that question every day. But one thing I'd noticed about Luke is that he didn't really talk to a lot of other people. Of course, I'd only known for three days that he even went to our school. Either way, he just seemed rather stand offish. Other than our 9:14 a.m. conversations, I've only seen him say a couple things to Calum every now and then.

"Seriously, Hemmings, are you a hipster, tumblr girl wannabee?"

"No, I - what does that even mean? They have been my favorite since I was like, 10."

Why did I feel like I should have known Luke wouldn't get it?

"Never mind. I was messing with you,"

9:18 a.m. The bell rings, meaning two things: Get to Calculus, and say goodbye to Luke for another 24 hours.

Luke gave me a casual goodbye, but before he was swallowed by the crowd of students I called out.

"Oh yeah, Hemmings," he turned and raised an eyebrow for me to continue, "come back tomorrow and don't second guess yourself this time,"

(a/n okieee so this was short bc it was just a filler but there was one little important piece in here. I know it seems like im rushing this but just wait. I really do want to make this as good as possible so please tell me if I'm doing something wrong or you don't understand something bc I am very good at making things extremely vague)