AN: if there are any typos i apologize in advance bc i feel like i revised everything but at the same time i don't but whatever thank you for being patient and i hope u enjoy :D -ellena
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Luke was stuck in government class, a class that he has officially labeled as his least favorite. One would think that Luke would be ecstatic every time he walked through the door of Mrs. Morris' class because Sam was also in his period, but Luke couldn't be in any worse conditions.
Instead of listening to his teacher's lectures everyday, as a good student should be, he stares sadly to the other side of the room, where Sam and Ashton are either giggling at something on her phone together, or demonstrating eskimo kisses for the whole fucking class to see. It makes Luke want to throw up.
"Luke," Mrs. Morris called his name as she loomed over his desk, snapping her fingers in his face. Luke blinked and shook his head, dragging his eyes away from his love kissing his worst enemy.
"Y-yes?" he stuttered, sinking down in his seat. As smart as Luke is, Mrs. Morris absolutely despises him. No one knows why, but embarrassing Luke is the old woman's favorite thing to do.
"Pay attention," she snapped as she walked back to the white board. "I'm in the middle of a lesson."
Luke's jaw dropped and his hands jerked towards Ashton and Sam at the other side of the room, seeming to be loss for words. "Are you kidding?" he asked. He wasn't doing anything, unlike them.
"Luke, just shut up," Ashton scoffed. Luke watched from the corners of his eyes as he slung his arm around Sam's shoulders, smirking at him.
"But-"
"Listen to your peer, Luke," Mrs. Morris scolded. The rest of the class chuckled in response. "Thank you, Ashton."
She shot Ashton a grateful smile. Ashton only shrugged, that cocky look still plastered on his face. "Anytime." he grinned.
Luke rolled his eyes and sat back in his seat, his arms crossed firmly over his chest. If Luke could, he would say something, but he knew what would happen then. The moment class ends and Luke steps out into the hallway, Ashton would beat him to a pulp. That's why, in these situations, Ashton will always win. That, and because everyone agrees with him because they fucking worship him.
Luke always wonders if Ashton knows that he's in love with his girlfriend. Is that why Ashton seems to always throw himself at Sam whenever Luke's around? Is that why Ashton loves to bully him? Because he knows how much Luke loves Sam? Luke hopes not. If he did know, Luke would be even more of a failure to Ashton. And nothing is worst than being a complete failure in the eyes of the fucking king of the school.
Finally, government class ended and Luke was the first one out the door. He knew that if he wasn't quick enough Ashton would shove him up against a locker and give him a quick beating before heading off campus for lunch. Luke ran straight for the library because that's where he knew it was safe, and because that's always where he spends his lunch periods.
Luckily the library was just a quick jog across the quad. Luke gripped the straps of his backpack tight in his hands and stumbled through the courtyard, whimpering scared "sorry"s and "excuse me"s whenever he accidentally bumped into anyone. He was petrified of being seen by Ashton, Michael, or Calum...basically that whole group of preppy lacrosse players and cheerleaders. Even Sam.
Luke burst through the doors of the library and fortunately found an empty table for him to sit at. He dropped his bag to the floor and slid into a wooden chair that faced the window on the other side of the room. Sighing, he pulled out his binder and started on some homework. There was nothing better for him to do, anyways.
Luke quickly solved his first 10 calculus problems with ease. He loves the fact that he was absolutely gifted at mathematics, mainly because Ashton sucks at it. Luke secretly loves the feeling when he zips through an equation and gets a perfect answer because it makes him feel very accomplished.
Luke was so into his calc homework that he didn't even realize someone sliding into the seat across from him. It wasn't until his eyes caught hold of her bright, emerald eyes that Luke froze, so forcefully that he almost snapped his pencil in half.
Luke looked up and saw Samantha sitting there with her arms folded neatly over the table, a warm smile on her face. "Hey, Luke!" she said sweetly.
Luke was lost for words. How did she know he was here? How did she see him? How did she remember his name? What was he supposed to say? "I...hello," Luke stuttered and looked back down at his homework. "H-hi, Sam...Samantha- Sam."
Sam giggled under her breath, flicking a few strands of hair out of her face. "Hey," she said again. "I'm so sorry for bothering you, but I need your help with something."
Luke laughed internally at the irony that Sam thought she was bothering him. As if Luke's time was too good for someone like her. That will never be the case.
"Okay," Luke swallowed hard and nodded his head, still refusing to meet her gaze. He glanced from side to side and he could tell she was noticing his struggle for eye contact. "What d-do you need h-help with?"
Sam flipped through her binder and pulled out a piece of paper. They haven't spoken since they're first tutoring session last week. "Well, I just had a quick question about what we're learning right now," she said, somewhat shyly. She slid the piece of notebook paper across the table and pointed at a random chemical formula. "For the compound's name, why is there a roman numeral next to copper?"
Luke still couldn't believe that Sam had taken time out of her lunch period, leaving her friends and her boyfriend, to walk all the way across campus to ask him something that could wait until this afternoon. He didn't even answer her right away. Sam must've figured that Luke just wasn't understanding her question, but it was really because he was so nervous.
"Like...you know what I mean? There's a roman numeral two next to copper," she said, a hopeful look in her eyes. Luke nodded and ran his hand through his hair. He could feel his armpits starting to sweat.
"Uh- yeah. It's because you can give copper any charge, p-pretty much. Because it's...it's in the D block of the periodic t-table..."
Luke trailed off because he had to take a deep breath before he passes out. He couldn't tell by the look in Sam's eyes if she was concerned, or just really uncomfortable. "So the r-roman numeral two is to indicate that copper has a charge of positive two for this specific compound."
Sam leaned back in her seat and held the paper up to her eyes, scanning over it carefully. "Oh..." her voice dragged on and she nodded her head. "Okay, okay. Cool. I think that makes sense...sorry, I know you're coming over today but I wanted to ask you this now because it comes up a lot in my homework. I didn't want to waste time trying to figuring out later because we only have an hour...you know?"
Luke almost forgot that they're supposed to meet today. It's already Thursday, and Luke was just as nervous as last week. "Right," he gulped, looking off at the wall behind her head. "Thursday."
A humored smile spread across Sam's face. "Yup," she laughed. "Thursday."
She stood up and stepped away from the table, slinging her purse of her shoulder and grabbing her binder. "Well, it's Thursday. So I will be seeing you after school, yeah?"
When Luke forced himself to nod, she kept going. "I'm gonna head back to my friends," she stated. "Meet me at my car after sixth period. The same spot as last time."
"Okay," Luke said as he looked down at his homework. "Let's d-do that."
Sam smiled as she turned towards the way she came in, looking at Luke over her shoulder. "Awesome. See you then, Luke!"
And then she was gone, scampering out of the library and letting the heavy door close behind her. Luke looked around frantically, in search of Ashton, who would surely rip Luke's head off if he saw him with his girlfriend. Luckily neither Ashton, Calum, nor Michael were around. Luke didn't see why they would spend their time here, anyways.
He finished his math homework before lunch was even close to being over. Shoving his binder back into his bag, Luke sat back and pulled his phone out. He flipped through his instagram feed for the rest of the lunch period, stalking Sam's account for was probably the 100th time this week. In reality, it was hard to look through all of her pictures because half of them were of her and Ashton, but sometimes Luke secretly loves to torture himself with this kind of stuff.
There was one particular picture of Ashton and Sam that Luke hated the most, and he found himself scrolling down to look at it right now. It was a picture of them at the county fair last summer, kissing at the top of the ferris wheel. Her hands were cupped softly on Ashton's cheeks and his arm was securely wrapped around her waist. In the background was the perfect scenery of the ocean and the sun dipping beneath the surface. The sky was colored perfectly and Sam's choice of a filter only made it look better. And, of course, the whole 234 comments on the picture were from practically every person in the school telling them how precious they are. It makes Luke sick. Yet he can't stop staring at it.
Luke lost himself in time while he stared at Sam's instagram. The bell eventually rang and it scared the shit out of him. He looked around and watched people getting up and heading off to their next class. He stood up from his seat with a heavy sigh, somewhat dreading his time with Sam after school. If he fucks up like last week, Luke doesn't know what he'll do. He'll probably have to quit, if all he's going to do in her presence is make a fool of himself.
Keeping a sharp eye out for Ashton, Luke sulked out of the library and headed to his next class.
-
"Okay, after you told me that stuff at lunch, everything makes so much sense." Sam chuckled as she polished off another problem on her chemistry homework, moving onto the next. It was one of the more easier questions, but Luke was still surprised to see a noticeable amount of improvement since last week.
It was their second session of chemistry tutoring, and Luke still couldn't believe he was in this position. He couldn't believe he was sitting in a massive kitchen with the love of his entire life. He couldn't believe that Sam had come up to him during lunch and asked him for advice. Although he was still as silent as a rock around her, on the inside he was in heaven at the moment.
The car ride over here was still awkward like last time, there was definitely no improvement in Luke's shy behavior. He gets choked up and loses his train of thought whenever Sam talks to him; she's the most beautiful, popular girl in his school and Luke is absolutely nothing compared to her. And, not to mention, he's literally in love with the girl.
Luke nodded and tucked his hands under his thighs, rocking back and fourth in his seat. "That's g-good," he stuttered. "I'm glad you're understanding it."
"Yeah..." Sam trailed off and she returned to her homework. Luke sat quietly and watched her every move. His eyes started at the top of her dirty blonde hair and traveled down the side of her face. He's never seen someone as pretty as she, especially with that adorable look on concentration on her face. Luke wishes he could just talk to her, as any normal person should, but he wouldn't know what to say. Every short conversation they have is started by Sam, and then ended by Sam.
She looked up and met Luke's gaze. She probably sensed him staring at her, so he looked away. "Can you help me with this one please?" she asked.
Luke peeked down at her paper and nervously fidgeted around with the pencil in his hands. He gulped and nodded. After explaining what she needed to do in order to get the right answer, Sam let out a long "oh" and wrote it down.
She also wrote a few notes off to the side on the margin. "Just to help me remember what you said," she shrugged. "You're really good at explaining things."
Luke looked away, staring out the french doors that led to her huge backyard. He could feel that he was blushing. "Thanks."
They remained silent as Sam continued to pick away at her chemistry homework. Luke sat timidly and looked around her kitchen. He squinted his eyes to look at the pictures on her fridge across the room. It was hard to tell, but he could see images of Sam and her family in some, as well as pictures of what looked like her siblings in others.
"Do you have siblings?" Luke blurted out, wanting to spark up a conversation. Sam looked up from her paper and followed Luke's gaze to her refrigerator.
"No. Those are my little cousins," she chuckled. Luke nodded slowly. He didn't see what was so bad in that, right? He was showing interest in her family and he just assumed her cousins were her brothers and sisters. There was nothing to be embarrassed about, he reminded himself.
Luke spotted another picture on the fridge, held down by a red, circular magnet. It was a picture of her and Ashton, of fucking course.
Luke snorted before he could stop himself. And as soon has he did, his eyes went wide and he looked away, hoping Sam didn't hear. "You alright?" she laughed.
Luke nervously cleared his throat. "Yeah, sorry," he said. "I must've been choking on air or something."
Samantha nodded and went back to her work, humming softly under her breath. Luke tried to pry his eyes away from that picture, but every time he found himself staring at it longer than before. It was a picture of Sam and Ashton at what looked like a concert or something. Although most of the background was pitch black, Luke could see other people crowded around them. Sam had her arms wrapped around his waist and he had his arm draped over her shoulders. Luke couldn't believe how happy they both looked. Even Ashton, who Luke mostly sees frowns from whenever he's getting beat up by him.
Sam's parents must really like Ashton if they put a picture of him and their daughter on their refrigerator. Luke couldn't understand why. He can't be the only one who thinks Ashton's the spawn of Satan, right?
"Where was that picture taken?" Luke asked, breaking the silence. He pointed at the photo of Sam and her boyfriend because deep down, he actually wanted to hear about their stupid, glorified relationship.
Sam smiled to herself when she looked up. "I actually don't really remember," she giggled. "Some concert, I just didn't care for who it was. One of Ashton's bands."
"Oh," Luke nodded his head. "That's cool."
Sam looked back down at her homework and bit back a smile. Luke could tell how much she probably wanted to talk about Ashton right now, and it tore him apart. "Yeah..." she said softly.
"Your parents must really like him."
"Oh my God," Sam broke out in laughter. "He and my mom are like, best friends."
Luke only side smiled, though on the inside he wanted to die. That should be him. Luke should be best friends with her mom, not anybody else. He doesn't understand how someone as kind and caring as Samantha can love a guy as horrible as Ashton.
Suddenly, Luke felt very uncomfortable. He shifted around in his seat and stuck his nose towards Sam's chemistry homework. "Uh..h-how's is coming?"
"Pretty good," Sam replied, tearing her eyes away from the picture on her refrigerator. She picked her pencil back up and examined the next question on her worksheet. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you're here. If I didn't have you as a tutor I would probably b stuck with some old, boring dude from Craig's List."
Sam chuckled. "Man," she sighed, shaking her head. "I really need to pass this class."
"Just pass?" Luke wondered out loud. "Why not shoot for an A?"
Sam replied with a curt shrug. "Eh. I couldn't care less, really," she said. "I want to spend as little time on this damn class as possible. I don't want to be cooped up inside of my house all year just studying this dumb shit that no one even cares about. As long as I can pass the class and stay away from spending my whole senior year as a total loser, I'll be golden."
Luke sat back and stared down at his bouncing left knee. "Oh," he gulped. What Samantha just explained - with a completely condescending tone to her voice - was exactly how Luke was spending his senior year. It was only October, but so far Luke has done absolutely nothing but study and lack a social life. "That's cool, I guess."
"Yeah..." Sam trailed off and finished off another equation. "Can you check this for me, please?"
Luke nodded and slid her paper over so it sat in front of him. He scanned over her work as she continued on with the conversation. "So what about you? We don't hear much about you," Sam remarked. "How's your senior year going?"
"Good."
"What have you been doing?"
Luke stopped and turned his head to the right so Sam wouldn't catch him blushing. He set his pencil down and nervously scratched the back of his neck. "Uh- everything you just talked shit about."
An awkward moment of silence fell over the room as Sam sat back against her chair, her arms folded over her chest. Luke didn't dare make eye contact with her, that would probably only make it worse. Dammit, he thought. Why do I make everything so uncomfortable?
"Oh," Sam swallowed hard. "My bad. I'm sorry, Luke."
He gave his head a quick shake, as if to stop himself from blurting anything else out. "It's fine," he shrugged, fumbling around his mechanical pencil. He noticed an error in Sam's work and erased it hastily. "You forgot to carry the charges over."
"Wait a minute," Sam waved her hands around and then slapped one down on her homework, taking the attention off of chemistry for a moment. "I didn't mean that in a bad way. I'm really sorry if I offended you."
Luke shyly met her gaze and then looked away again. "It's fine," he repeated. "Let's just drop it."
He could see the concern on her face out of the corners of his eyes. "You look uncomfortable." she stated.
Luke bopped one shoulder up and then pulled at his collar. He was starting to sweat under her piercing green stare. "Well yeah," he replied, his voice practically mute. "I don't like talking about how I don't have any friends."
Dammit! Luke cringed once the words left his mouth. The last thing he wanted to do right now was talk about the fact that Luke's a loner freak in front of the biggest crush he's ever had, who also just so happens to be the most popular girl in school. His cheeks grew hot and his left leg wouldn't stop nervously hopping around under the table. He was embarrassed.
Luke shakily gave Sam her worksheet back and ran his fingers through his hair. "Just fix that problem, please," he squeaked. "It's important stuff."
He stared forward until his eyes caught hold of that stupid (yet adorable) picture of Samantha and Ashton on her refrigerator. He wanted to get up, snatch it off, and then set it on fire. He was so pissed off at the moment; Luke absolutely hates talking about himself. It sets him bad moods, such as the one he had right now.
He noticed that Sam's mouth had formed an obvious frown as she stared at him. She gently took her homework back and glanced at it for a only a few moments, before tucking it into the pocket of her binder and pushing it away. "Luke-"
"I think it's time to go," Luke suddenly stood up and checked the time on his phone. Luckily for him, it was actually only 5 minutes shy of six o'clock. "I should go home now."
"Wait, Luke. Hold on," Sam stood up as well, just as Luke stumbled away from the kitchen table and grabbed his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. "I didn't mean to-"
"To call me a loser? It's fine, I get it," Luke spat, his fingers nervously playing with the hems of his t-shirt. "I didn't know it wasn't 'cool' anymore to want to go to college and get good grades. My bad."
He was surprised at everything that was currently coming out of his mouth. A week ago (and even an hour ago, for that matter), Luke couldn't even get himself to say a full sentence to this girl. But now that they were on this topic, a topic that Luke has been insecure about for years, he was both too scared and too ticked off to remember how shy he get's around Sam.
Her facial features all fell and drooped until she resembled a sad, lost puppy. "You're not a loser-" she tried to say.
"I don't have any friends!" Luke blurted out, his body growing tense. "Not only do I just want good grades...heck, I don't even need to study to do that...but I also never have anybody to do anything with anyways! So I just sit inside every night because I don't have a single friend on this whole fucking planet!"
An eerie silence fell over the massive kitchen. A few crows sqwaked from outside and the clock above the TV tick'd and tock'd over and over again. Sam stared at Luke but Luke couldn't get himself to do the same. He looked down at his shuffling feet and shook his head. "Sorry," he sighed, shutting his eyes in remorse. "I'm not really sure where that came from."
"It's...it's fine," Sam squeaked, grabbing her car keys off the counter. "You're right, our session is over anyways. I can take you home now."
"You don't have to do that-"
"It would be my pleasure," she said. She turned and nodded towards her front door, waiting for Luke to follow. "Come on."
He sulked after her with his head hung low and hands stuffed into his front pockets. Luke promised himself he wouldn't mess up this week, but look at him now. He completely blew up at her for no reason, all because he gets insecure whenever someone mentions that he's a complete loner. Luke realized then that Sam didn't necessarily mean anything with what she said, rather it was Luke who just took it the wrong way. So, of course, it's him who's fucking up and ruining the moment.
He slumped down into the passenger seat of her fancy white car and Sam pulled out of the driveway. They sat in an awkward silence all the way down her street, down the hill, and across the neighborhood until they were nearing Luke's place. He spent the entire ride staring out his window and wishing he was anywhere else but there.
Luke didn't even realize they had reached his house until the car came to a complete stop in his driveway and Sam let out a quiet sigh. "Okie dokie, we're here."
He blinked and looked out the front windshield And sure enough, his garage door was staring back at him. "Oh," he said, pushing the car door open. He grabbed his back pack and stepped out onto his driveway, shivering against the bitter, October air. "Okay. Thanks for the ride."
"No problem," Sam replied, her lips tugging up in a small smile. "Thanks for the chemistry help."
Luke wanted to apologize for blowing up at her back there. But the more they stood there, awkwardly nodding their heads because no one could think of anything else to say, he decided against it. It would just make things worse, he figured.
"Well...I'll see you around, Luke." his heart sank as Sam gave him a small, uneasy wave. He nodded his head and took a step away from her car.
Luke averted his eyes to the ground and found it hard to speak up. "Right," he stammered. "I'll see you later."
He closed the car door and watched her tires as Sam pulled out of his driveway. He waited until she was completely gone, speeding down his street, and then Luke bolted inside of his house. He crashed into the front door and shoved it open, throwing his backpack to the floor.
"Luke?" Liz's voice came from the kitchen.
Luke didn't respond. He slammed the front door shut and sprinted to the stairs to get to the bedroom. When he was halfway up Liz came running into the living room, a confused look on her face.
"Luke, what are you-"
"I'm going to bed!" Luke yelled in frustration, storming across the upstairs hallway. He barged into his bedroom and slammed the door so hard that a few of his favorite band posters fell off the wall.
He ran to his bed and flopped down onto the mattress with a loud thump. Luke buried his face into his pillow, closed his eyes, and began to cry.