Part 4
luke's pov.
I shrugged my backpack onto my shoulder and waved goodbye to my mom. She had been blasting my band's demo EP the whole way to school and singing along with the windows down. The CD had been done for months but my mom's birthday was coming up so I burned one down for her.
"Am I picking you up later, rockstar?" she asked. She was blocking all the other cars on the curb by asking me this. I looked away avoiding her eyes and shook my head at the ground, "Nah, I'm catching a ride with Michael."
She laughed and honked her horn when I tried to walk away. "See you later then, blood!"
I fake a smile and ignored the eyes that were pointing and laughing at me. Soon, I was another face in the crowd.
"So, the gig's like in two weeks and I have a history paper due the day after." Calum groaned, sweeping up next to me as we walked to homeroom.
"So do it now?" I suggested, my mind wandering elsewhere and my eyes scanning for pretty girl.
Michael joined us in a line and laughed at my suggestion, "Calum is the last person to get anything done. He's on the football team and he's got the job at the servo and the band! Oh man." he continued to laugh at Calum's misery.
"Glad to know you keep up with me, babe." Calum grinned, sending a wink to Michael.
"What's up with you, Lukey? You look out of it." Michael commented.
"Um.. uh-- I"
"It's the pretty girl you saw at breakfast Friday, isn't it?" said Calum, with that sly smirk on his face.
I blushed and looked down again, practically agreeing without saying anything.
"And you're going to ask her out by..." Michael started, "giving her a mixtape!"
I raised my eyebrows, "How did you get that from my facial experession?"
Michael chuckled, "No! I was just hoping I'd guess right and you'd tell us what was up. I guess it worked."
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It was in the cafeteria that morning when I spotted her. She was already sitting down with her friends and laughing about something, who knows what, but I just felt lucky to see her laugh everyday. I was frozen in the doorway when Michael pushed me inside. "Move! People want to eat!"
She had heard what Michael said and turned her head in my direction. My face flushed so I looked down and followed Calum who was heading towards a table. When I sat down, he looked as if he wasn't paying attention either.
I waved my hand in front of his face, "Cal?"
"Yeah?" he responded, still concentrated on something.
"Are you okay, man?" I asked, turning my head around to see where he was looking and saw nothing but more people.
Calum snapped out of it and nodded, "Yeah, totally."
It was a short silence until Michael slammed his breakfast tray on the table, waking us all up. He chuckled out an "oops" and slid himself next to Calum. He noticed the awkward silence and raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "Am I missing something here, boys?" he laughed, easing the tension, "Did someone die?"
I cringed when I smelled what was steaming off his tray, "Only whatever is in that wrap you just bought."
"Yeah, that smells horrible." Calum agreed.
"Well, if you must know, it is actually kangaroo bacon." Michael grinned.
Calum and I scooted farther away from Michael, "What the--" Calum started, "Where the hell did you get that?"
"Yeah, apparently they serve it here as a substitute of the meat because it's healthier or something." Michael shrugged opening the foil. The steam had burst from the wrap and Michael took a giant whiff of it with a smile. "Now that, smells like Australia."
"Good God." Calum got up from the table, covering his nose and I followed him away from the table.
"It doesn't taste that bad, lads!" Michael shouted after us.
It was an hour later that Michael and half the school had the runs and were bolting towards the bathrooms.
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michael's pov.
Mr. Tessler was going on about something, probably Hitler, when five people stood up from their seats asking for the bathroom. He wasn't even mid-thought when two girls didn't care anymore and ran for the door, one grabbing the lavatory pass. The others shortly followed, darting in a sweaty panic.
I rolled my eyes when Mr. Tessler started to write them up for leaving without permission. He was muttering something to himself when he scratched his comb over to remember their names. Another three people stood up and ran for the door without an excuse but red faces and squeals. He scribbled their names down and furiously slammed the pad of paper back on his desk.
"So blah blah blah Hitler, blah blah blah Jews.." he continued, scratching his neck ever so often.
My stomach started to feel rumbly and my intestines felt like mash. I gripped it and gasped for air, "Shit." I muttered.
"What was that, Mr. Clifford?" Mr. Tessler asked with his hands on the hips which were holding his khaki pants in place.
I ached and grunted, "Shit." I repeated.
"Care to repeat that again, I didn't quite hear you." he cleared his throat, losing his patience and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Shit!" I ran from my seat and out the door, heading towards the bathrooms.
They were crowded and reeked of farts, including outside the girls' bathroom. One of the stalls was open and I fled towards it as if my life depended on it, because it did. I sat down and sighed as my farts accompanied the shit symphony of everyone else's.
After ten minutes or so, I felt relieved and exited the stall to wash my hands. In the reflection of the mirror, I saw two guys squatting over a urinal avoiding each others' eyes. One of them found my eyes staring at them in the mirror and retorted with, "Do you mind?!"
I left as quickly as I entered and came face to face with a blue head of hair. It was bluer than the last time I saw it. Our eyes met and a deep blush filled her cheeks. I smiled not because I was being polite but because I was fond of her blush.
"In my defense, I needed to go for a piss and the bathroom stinks like the devil's lair." she giggled.
I nodded, "Well, in my defense, I had the kangaroo bacon this morning." I held my hands up in surrender.
She laughed and looked at me more closely, with a squint. "Do I know you?"
I shrugged, "Do I know you?"
She smiled and furrowed her eyebrows, "Were you at the drug store like Saturday?" she asked, "The one by the supermarket?"
I started to nod and smiled, "You bought the blue hair dye. You were the one that stared at me when I was walking in."
Again, a deep blush coursed over her cheeks and she looked down. "Oh. Well, um, I have to go. It was nice seeing you again." she turned the corner and started to walk to class.
I was still in the same spot and watched her walk away, "My name's Michael."
She was still walking but shouted back, "Natalie."
I smiled as someone ran past me into the bathroom. The door flung open and I could smell farts again.
Natalie.
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luke's pov.
I gripped the CD in my sad, sweaty hands and watched her leave the library after school that day. She was holding a new book and had slipped it into her bag as she hugged her friend goodbye.
"See you tomorrow, bitch!" she waved.
Her friend flicked her off and headed towards her car. I took this as my chance and got up from my spot on the pavement to walk towards her. Instantly she recognized me and pointed a finger.
"I know you." she smirked, "You're the cute boy that's been staring me down at breakfast lately."
I guffawed and smiled, looking away. "Yeah, um, I just uh"
She looked down at my hands, "Is that?" she questioned, "Is that for me?"
I cleared my throat and took at look at it again. "Yeah?"
"Are you sure?" she giggled.
I nodded slowly then increasingly faster, "Yes, yeah. Totally." I handed it out to her and she smiled reading the title.
"Perks of Being a Pretty Girl for a Pretty Girl." she turned her head to read it aloud. I had run out of space and curved the title a bit. "Nice title, but a bit lengthy." she laughed. I mentally facepalmed. "But I like it." Okay, undo mental facepalm and mentally party.
"By giving this to me, are you calling me pretty?" she smiled, raising her eyebrows.
Again, I freaked out and rubbed the back of my neck, stuttering and mumbling incoherent words and phrases. She giggled at my babbling.
"Well, thank you very much. Not much guys do this kind of thing anymore."
"Well, I'm not much of a guy." I tried to pull it off but she raised her eyebrows and I shook my head, "No, that's not what I meant." I ran a hand through my hair.
She giggled again, "You're so cute. What's your name?"
"Hemmings. Err.. Luke Hemmings."
"Well, Hemmings. I'm--" she started to say but a car horn went off. We turned our heads in the direction of a revving silver Toyota on the curb. The window rolled down and a girl with blue hair was wearing sunglasses in the driver's seat.
"Hurry up! I have to go home and finish shit!" she yelled from inside the car.
Pretty girl groaned and turned back to me, "Sorry, my sister's a freak. I have to go." she started walking towards the car. Again the blue haired sister honked her horn. "Hurry up! Don't wear heals if you can't do anything in them!"
"Sorry! I'll see you tomorrow, Luke!" Pretty girl yelled, sliding into the passenger seat.
I waved them off and was alone again at school. I was caught in a daze until I remembered that I still didn't know her name.
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omg i'm sorry that is the grossest description I've ever written i am so sorry idk what happened but it all turned to shit hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha jeez pls never ask me to write your eulogy.