The Bet (Lashton)

Chapter 8

[made this cover for my "pop" playlist on Spotify. It's a lot of 5sos, ATL, and 1D so I figured this was fitting. I did my best.]

The second day of tutoring.

    Luke wasn't sure how the day was going to go today. Last time, they hadn't had much time left, so Mr Peralta kind of just walked Ashton through what was going to happen and what was expected of him. Ashton pretty much ignored him and glared at Luke the whole time.

    But during this last week, Ashton had been almost bipolar to him. One minute he was a bully, and then he was complimenting Luke. Yesterday he drove Luke to school and was nice to him almost the whole day.

    Today was very similar except not only was Ashton being nice to him, everyone else was leaving him alone too.

    Luke dreaded going to lunch because every time he stepped foot in the cafeteria, he ended up covered in someone's food, tossed in a trash can, or otherwise bothered.

    He wasn't able to hang out with Mr Peralta today during lunch, or Mr Styles because there was a faculty meeting that they both needed to attend, which left Luke with no safe space to hide in.

    Luke sat down at a small booth in the corner of the cafeteria, wishing he'd worn a big hoodie today. Unfortunately, the boy had worn a black spaghetti strap crop top with a plaid skirt and platform wedges, so there was nothing for him to hide in. He'd just have to hope he could remain inconspicuous and not draw any attention.

    He pulled out the brown paper bag his mom always put his lunch in and retrieved a turkey sandwich, apple, and a bag of potato chips. Even though he was 17, his mom still made his lunch. She actually refused to let him do it, she said she liked to do this for him. Luke thought it was because he's the baby of the family and the only child still home, and she wanted him to stay her baby forever.

    He didn't mind, since he wasn't very cooking-savvy, so it worked out well for him.

    Luke glanced around the room as he munched on his food. People were looking at him, but no one made a move to go over to him. It kind of freaked him out, because he was so used to having someone bother him constantly.

    He finished his food in peace.

    Maybe someone did something to my food, he thought after lunch had 5 minutes left and nothing happened. Maybe I'm being poisoned, and that's why no one did anything yet. They're waiting for me to keel over.

    Luke smelled the empty food bag, finding no traces of any foul play. Maybe he wasn't going to be poisoned, but that didn't mean he still wasn't going to get tortured.

    People started packing their stuff up in anticipation for the bell that meant lunch was over. Luke stayed in his seat, wondering what was going to happen. That had to mean they were planning something big, if it took the whole lunch period to organize. Was this going to be the end of him?

    The bell rang, and Luke waited for everyone to leave. He stood up once the last people had exited. He felt like he had to walk on egg shells, maybe when he walked out the door they were going to throw things at him. Or maybe--

    "Shit," a voice to his left hissed.

    Luke gasped, not realizing someone was still in there. He looked over toward the popular table and saw Ashton bending down to grab something off the floor.

    Why was Ashton still here? He'd been okay the past few days, but that could change in an instant. Maybe now he realized what had been happening, remembered how much he hated Luke and was going to unleash all of his wrath on him.