Ashton and I quietly giggled amongst ourselves as our chemistry teacher rambled on for the two hour period. For the last term we were placed in alphabetical order according to our first names and we were sat right next to each other.
We had just been going on about our funny spring break stories even though Ashton's were more interesting. He had gone to the beach and had a few good run ins with college kids. Very drunk college kids to be exact.
He was just in the middle of telling me a story, which I could barely hear since he was whispering and giggling at the same time, about some girl throwing herself at him when his name was called by our teacher.
"Irwin," The teacher called out, seeming very irritated.
"Um, sir?" He answered as he pulled back from me. I watched as his eyes widened from slight fear. The only time he got in actual trouble was with me and it was never anything major.
"The answer?" Our teacher questioned back.
It was evident that Ashton had no clue what he was even talking about and I was lucky enough to zone in on the past 5 minutes of the lesson.
"Hund's rule." I whispered, still keeping my eyes on the teacher.
"Hund's rule." Ashton answered quickly. He received a reluctant nod from him and slumped into his chair a second after. "Thanks, Ands." He whispered again.
I scrunched my nose up at him and left him without a reply. This happened more than often and it surprised me that he had a higher grade than me in the class. Even though it was only by two points, it was still surprising.
I sighed and leaned my chin into my hand, scribbling down the endless amount of notes on the board. The rest of the class dragged on as expected, the highlights being Ashton kicking at my legs underneath the table to bother me.
We were now at 5 minutes left of class and the sound of back unzipping and loose paper being crumpled was heard. I glanced around at the other 15 kids behind us then back to Ashton who had the same tired expression as I did. If there was anything to wear you out more it would be two hours in AP Chemistry.
The bell rang in the middle of our teacher's sentence and I started gathering my things. Since I was in first lunch, I headed straight to the cafeteria with Ashton to meet up with Calum.
"So," Ashton began, catching my attention. "How are things with that Luke kid?" He asked rather randomly.
"I said he was cute, not that I wanted to mother his children." I joked, tossing my back pack over my shoulders.
"Well I mean, like, have you seen him around or anything?" He shrugged as we headed out of the classroom.
"He's gone to our school for three years and I haven't seen him once except in ISS." I sighed.
"You've actually been here for a year." He pointed a finger at me, or at least tried to since his hands were tangled in his headphones he pulled out of his pockets.
"That's true, but technically-"
"Andy." He groaned. We had been through this at least a hundred times and I lost the argument of it every time.
"Okay, sorry, but has Calum talked to Michael about him?" We turned the corner of the crowed hallway and made our way down to the cafeteria.
"Not that I know of." He shrugged again and I peered down to the ground, watching my feet scuff the old tile.
"You guys are useless." I laughed as we stepped into the lunch room.
Ashton went on about something that would defend him and I drowned him out as we walked towards our usual table that we sat at. Calum was already there waving us over and I joined him, sitting down across from him.
"How has your day been, Andy?" Calum gave me a wide smile as he leaned back into his chair.
"I'm at school," I said, glaring at him.
"So am I." He nodded.
"What do you think?" I joked, watching as Ashton pulled out the chair next to me.
"By the sounds of it, not too fun." Calum raised an eyebrow at me as I sighed.
"How has your day been?" I asked him as I rummaged through my bag to pull out my lunch.
"Good." He shortly said, pushing aside the bag of chips he had.
"Life of a senior," I said. "I can't wait to graduate." I sighed again and opened the can of soda I brought.
"I talked to Michael today," Calum spoke up as he leaned forward on his elbows. "Kind of." He ran his fingers through his hair.
"Kind of?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow at him.
He nodded once and I looked over to Ashton who had his nose in his phone. I stared back to Calum as I waited for the upcoming story I was about to be told.
"First of all, he's actually nice. I thought he would kick my ass just for speaking to me." He began.
"Go on." I told him, motioning my hands forward.
"Okay, well I asked if he was friends with Luke and obviously he said yes so I asked if Luke had ever brought you up and-"
"Calum!" I nearly yelled, upset that he brought up the actual topic of me.
"I didn't use your name!" He put up his hands in defense and scooted his chair closer to the table. He sighed, "He said he knows you anyways."
"Michael knows me?" I shook my head at the information, not expecting it.
"That's a little scary." Ashton muttered, causing me to roll my eyes.
"So he said that Luke had just broke it off with some girl on the other side of the town and has been MIA except for school." Calum continued.
"And?" I asked.
"And he said he has first lunch with us and we're welcome to sit by him unless we're assholes." Calum finished his story and we both changed our focus to Ashton.
"I don't think we're assholes." Ashton shrugged. Calum and I both mumbled something about agreeing with him then turned back to each other.
"So they both have first lunch?" I questioned, wanting to clarify even though we weren't planning on sitting together. The three of us were an odd mix already.
"Yeah, but they mostly skip and go smoke at the corner gas station." He informed me.
"Sketchy." Ashton and I both said at the same time, laughing shortly after.
We changed the topic after a short silence, mostly it being about school and complaining about wanting summer already. Calum was moving about 30 miles north of where we were now for college and Ashton and I had already promised to visit him once a month.
We were caught up in small talk when we heard the bell rang, signaling us back to our classroom as other people were already piling in for second lunch.
I gather my things back up, throwing my lunch away and tagging along at Ashton and Calum's sides where I was in the middle.
"I'm telling you, Ashton," I began as I pushed through crowds of people. "She likes you, she just doesn't know how to approach it." I explained.
A girl he had met over spring break actually happened to live the next city over which wasn't very far at all. He said that they hadn't actually done anything and that basically every night the would sit and talk on the beach while everyone else around them was partying. It seemed a bit cliche to me, but it was cute and seeing him talk about her was even cuter.
"I think that you should-"
"Emerson!" Someone shouted, causing me to look around rather frantically until I saw Luke himself leaning on the wall in front of me.
I looked between the two boys next to me and walked towards Luke.
"Uh, hey." I said, turning to Calum and Ashton who were now behind me. "You guys can go, I'll catch up." I insisted. They nodded at me and headed back to class.
I turned back to Luke, looking him up and down once as I took in a short breath. His arms were crossed loosely on his chest and had a pair of black ray-bans dangling from his finger tips.
"You're not catching up with them." He chuckled as he stood up right. I furrowed my eyebrows at him as a smirk grew on his lips.
"What?"
"You're coming with me." He stated as if it was common knowledge.
"And where exactly am I going?" I asked. He started walking backwards to the exit, people glancing over at us as they tried to pile in the cafeteria.
"Well, I have a car and we're in a big city so why don't we take a drive?" He suggested even though I'm sure he planned this all along.
"Luke, I barely know you." I replied, forcing out a laugh through my words.
"You spelt a whole day in ISS with me, I think that's good enough." He slid on his sunglasses, hiding his bright eyes.
"You don't even know my first name." I said.
"What's your first name?" He asked, recrossing his arms over his chest and looked me up and down as I had done just minutes before.
"Andy." I told him without hesitation.
"Okay, Andy," My name rolled off his tongue with ease. His smile grew bigger as he opened the exit door.
"Now I know your first name. Come on before we get caught." He opened the exit door and held it open as he waited for me to come. I looked behind me then back to Luke, hurrying out the door with him.
He fidgeted around in his pocket as he closed the door.
"Do you smoke?" He suddenly asked as we stepped off the curb.
"Why?" I tried to hide my glare from his lack of remembrance from our conversation in ISS, but it didn't really matter . He rolled his eyes, flicking open the top of the package of cigarettes he pulled from his pocket.
"Do you smoke?" He asked me again, stopping in the middle of the parking lot.
I narrowed my eyes at him then at the single cigarette sticking out of the full package. I grabbed it and took it between my lips, rummaging around in my bag for a lighter in which I was out of luck.
"Do you have a lighter?" I questioned as we approached his car.
"That's what Michael's for." He muttered. I was about to ask what he was talking about when Michael had popped out from the other side of Luke's car with a lighter in hand.
"Andy Emerson." Michael smoothly said, walking towards me and giving me the red plastic lighter.
"That's me." I answered, lighting my end and passing it over to Luke who gave me a similar odd look before heading back to the driver's side.
"It's nice to actually meet you. I've heard a lot." He nodded at me as I grew more curious as to how he claimed he knew me.
"Hopefully nothing too bad." I laughed, trying to kick my intimidation aside.
"Nothing that I don't like." He said over the sound of Luke's engine starting. I let out a short laugh as we opened our doors to sit inside, both of them being polite enough to let me sit up front.
"So exactly where are we going?" I asked Luke, glancing over to Michael to see if he had an answer.
"I told you Andy," He blew smoke out his window as he backed out of his spot. "We have a car and a big city so I have no idea." He chuckled, taking another drag of his cigarette.
I gave him a thin smile as I tapped my ashes off out the window, leaning back into my chair and I watched as our school's sign pass my window and drove further downtown.
-
A/N:
HEY HERE'S AN UPDATE
i'm trying not to rush things between them so a few more short chapters then yes
i hope you like dis