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SEEING BLIND
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45| Maybe.
After hours upon hours of discussing and talking and Luke's grandad falling asleep then having to be woken up, the police decided they had enough evidence and that James was going to jail, for how long was undecided yet.
Nearer the end of this discussion and conference or whatever the hell it was, Luke and Annie had to be excused as the adults discussed.
James was in the hospital at the moment, getting stitches on his jaw apparently but Luke didn't care. He did care that it was way past his grandad's usual bedtime, and he kept falling asleep in a very important 'meeting'.
"Luke," the p.e teacher left everyone else earlier, he had no business in there and didn't want to cause any problems. "We should talk about your expelling."
Annie looked over at Luke, eyes wide and still slightly glossy. She had taken her glasses off hours ago, her and Luke hardly talking unless they needed to.
As annoyed as Annie was, she didn't want Luke to get expelled, especially because it was technically her fault. Ish, not the accident part, but the part where she didn't tell him who it was, or she didn't stop him when he was beating James to the floor.
Luke gulped, bowing his head as he slipped back in his chair. His eyes quickly looked at Annie, noticing how she was worriedly watching him, before slumping down further in his chair.
"Do we have to..." Luke muttered, pouting as he realised he might not be coming back here.
"Yes. C'mon, I assume you want to talk about it alone." The p.e teacher walked out of the room, waiting in the hallway for the boy to join him.
Luke sucked in a deep breath before standing up, smiling weakly and quickly at Annie before he left the room, head below his shoulders as he closed the door behind him.
"Look, what you did today was way beyond what any school allows," he started, crossing his arms as he stared Luke in eyes.
"I know, you have to understand though, sir," Luke pleaded, begging with his eyes as he listened to what his teacher had to say.
"And I do. That's why me and Principal Edwards have decided that you won't get expelled this time, but you will be suspended for a month," he paused, watching as Luke let out a long sigh of relief. "During this month you will go to anger management and take after school classes alone."
Luke and the p.e teacher agreed on these terms, Luke thanking him multiple times before going back into the room and sitting in the chair next to Annie.
"Well... are you expelled?" Annie gulped, her hand close to his as the both of theirs rested on the arm rests.
Luke shook his head, smiling along with Annie at the sudden relief. "I am suspended for a month though. I have to go to anger management and after school classes. It's going to suck but it was worth it."
"Why'd you do it?" She whispered, clenching her jaw as she looked at the side of his face. He turned to look at her, eyebrow raised as he gave her a questioning look.
"Why wouldn't I? I had no idea it was him, why didn't you tell me?" He asked back, licking his lips and shaking his head.
"I didn't think anything would happen about it. It was a long time ago, so I thought- I thought..." Annie shook her head, closing her eyes as she gulped thickly.
"Sorry if I upset you. I didn't mean to." He mumbled, his bruised and bloody hand twitching to move over hers. She twisted her hand around and intertwined their fingers, smiling weakly at him.
"You didn't. I'm sorry you got suspended." She sighed, watching as his hand twitched and seemed to sting as he pulled it away.
"It could be worse." A silence fell among the two, both of them staring awkwardly at the ground as they waited for something.
"Y'know..." Luke started, shuffling up in his seat as he turned his face to look at her. "You don't have to forgive me or anything, I don't expect that. I didn't do it so you'd take me back, even if that is what I want, I know you don't want anything to do with me."
Luke made himself look at her, he had to while he said this. She needed to understand that he didn't want anything from her.
"Luke I-" Annie started, licking her lips as she shuffled forward in her seat slightly.
"Annie, are you ready sweetie? Oh and Luke, your grandads ready too, he's just talking to the Principal he's a little confused." Victoria came into the room, putting her coat on as she wrapped an arm around Annie's shoulders.
Luke nodded, glancing at Annie before walking to where his grandad was, watching as he asked the principal multiple questions which will need minutes to be answered.
"Grandad? Hey, I'll explain on the way home ok? C'mon it's late." Luke smiled, holding his grandads' arm as he very slowly lead him outside to his car.
On the way home Luke answered everything his grandad had to ask. When they arrived home Luke's parents were sat in the living room watching TV.
Luke tried not to let it faze him how they weren't worried at all about why the school needed them. Instead he helped his grandad to the kitchen where he could have his night medicines.
Then Luke sat down on the chair next to the couch and explained everything to them. They were actually extremely mad at Luke, which he wouldn't have expected.
Sure he didn't think they'd be over the moon, but he thought they would have understood why he did what he did. But instead they yelled at him for getting suspended, and for nearly killing a kid.
Even after Luke told them what James did, they still shouted at him endlessly.
They finally went to bed however, leaving Luke to sleep on the couch as they made him tell his granddad to stay over in his bed. Instead of sleeping, he debated on texting Annie or not. He decided, fuck it, what else could go wrong today?
He pressed on her contact and called her, biting his lip nervously as the phone rang. After three rings he was about to hang up from nerves, but Annie answered, her small voice sounding through his living room.
"Hi," she spoke, she was lying in her own bed, staring at her window as she silently hoped Luke would be throwing sticks at it.
"Hi," he responded, tugging the blanket up to his chin as he laid on his back, resting the phone on his shoulder.
"Were your parents upset?" She asked, not bothering to ask him why he was calling her. She didn't want to know, she didn't want to make this awkward she just wanted to talk to him normally again.
"Yeah, they're so pissed, making me sleep on the couch and I doubt they'll take me to these anger management classes as well as the after schools... I don't care though, I'll just get it over with and hopefully be back to school next month." Luke rambled, eyes closing as he just listened to her breath and her voice.
"They're making you sleep on the couch?" She whispered, biting her lip as she felt sorry for him. She wanted to invite him round so he could sleep in her bed, but it wasn't the right time, they weren't that close again yet.
"Yeah, my grandads in my bed anyway." He shrugged as if she was here. He wished she were here.
"He seemed nice, he was funny." She giggled, smiling as she thought about the relationship between Luke and his grandad. He was probably closer to his grandad than Annie was to her own dad.
"Yeah, he's here a lot, he means a lot to me." Luke whispered, smiling as he thought about his grandad.
They talked for two more hours, laughing way too loudly at the stories they were telling one another. Luke's dad even came down and told him to be quiet, that it was too late for him to be laughing this loud.
Luke mumbled an apology before whispering to Annie that he had to go, that she should probably get some sleep as she had school in the morning. She agreed reluctantly, hanging up with a small goodbye which left Luke's insides fluttering.
-
The first two weeks were torture, the stupid anger management classes he had to go to were every day and they were an hour and a half away from his home. The therapist there was always offering him tea and a notebook to write his feelings in.
He didn't want that. Luke wasn't an angry person he just didn't like James, but whenever he told the therapist this he just gave him a shake of his head as if he thought Luke was lying.
During the third week though, Luke's grandad was rushed to the hospital, he had a sudden heart attack while he was grocery shopping, the staff at the place having to call an ambulance as they had no idea how to help.
He stayed in the hospital for a few days before his heart stopped.
Luke didn't want to believe it, he couldn't believe it. This was his grandad, his grandad who was always there for him. He couldn't imagine a life without him anymore.
The funeral was the day Luke was supposed to go back to school. He didn't, obviously, and he didn't the rest of that week, his mum contacting school and telling them about the sad news.
It was the week after that which Luke decided he should probably go back to school, not that he wanted to. He hadn't spoken to Annie since the night they talked on the phone and she was still hanging out with Andre.
Luke was annoyed at Andre, if he knew what James did then why didn't he say or do anything? He never did anything, and Luke was beyond pissed off at this.
Walking into school late, Luke ignored the whispers and stares he got from the other students, going straight to his locker and gather his books for the day.
At lunch he had a lousy bag with a cheese sandwich, which he hated. His mum made it him since she was worried he wouldn't eat it, but she must have forgotten that Luke didn't like cheese sandwiches. He wasn't going to complain, it was a stupid thing to complain about, but he just wanted things to go back to normal.
Once he stepped through the canteen doors all eyes were on him, even the staff. It was like they were scared of him. He didn't blame them, he still dreamt about when he beat James to the ground. It scared him slightly that he could do that, almost kill a man in a matter of minutes.
His old "friends"- excluding James- were sat in their usual seats, Luke's normal one unoccupied and he wondered if they'd still let him sit there.
Annie was sat opposite Andre, the rest of the group also there as everyone waited for what Luke was going to do.
Instead of sitting with his old friends or with Annie, he sat himself at the end of an empty table, digging out his phone and putting his headphones in as he decided to drown out the world around him.
His sandwich was gross, which he expected, and he didn't even have a drink to wash it away. He was bored and lonely and he missed his grandad and there was nothing he could do about it.
Annie sat herself opposite him, her food in front of her as she continued eating at her tuna sandwich. Luke looked up at her with raised eyebrows, confused as to what she was doing.
Annie was looking down at her food, her foot tapping as people at the other end of the table kept looking at them. At Luke mostly, but still at her too.
Luke took one of his headphones out and cleared his throat, reaching her eyes as she finally looked up at him.
She held out her other sandwich to him, noticing that he didn't eat his own. He gratefully took it from her, eating it quickly in his hunger as he removed his headphones altogether.
"I thought you were going to come say hi at some point today... or at least call again." She spoke, wiping her hands on a napkin as she watched him.
"I was going to. I was, but that stupid anger management thing was taking up all my day as well as the after schools and then... my Uh... my grandad..." Luke swallowed, looking down as he blinked away the pain in his eyes.
"What happened? Is he ok?" She questioned, her head tilted with concern.
"Uh, he passed away, a few weeks ago... the funeral was last week." He bowed his head, shaking it as he thought back to the gloomy day.
Annie's mouth closed as she sympathetically stared at Luke. "Can I give you a hug?" She asked, not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable.
"What with everyone watching? They might think I'll attack you or something." He grumbled, rolling his eyes as he looked around at some of the lingering stares.
Annie stood up and moved around the table, waiting for Luke to stand up to. He did and as soon as he did Annie wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her face against his chest as she squeezed.
He rested his head on hers, sighing out a shaky breath as he held her close.
"I'm not actually allowed to touch you for this long." Luke muttered, pulling back as he saw the p.e teacher giving him wary eyes.
"I don't care Luke, I'm just glad your back." She smiled, hugging him again as she forgave him. For everything.
"Luke?" She asked, her voice muffled against his clothes.
"Yeah?"
"Please take me back," She whispered, looking up at him as her chin rested on his chest, "I'm sorry."
Luke picked her up, a major red flag for his actions but he didn't care, he squeezed her tightly before letting her down again, pressing his lips to hers like he used to.
Annie kissed him back and he knew it was real. He knew she was back, and everything was going to be ok, maybe seeing again wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be.
The others came over too, his real friends, the ones who were actually there for him. They all crowded around him, having a massive group hug as everyone forgave.
Luke forgave Andre and Andre forgave Luke, they apologised and hugged it out like real men, before Luke shoved playfully at Andre to show that he wasn't afraid to beat him if he ever made a move on Annie again.
Maybe everything was going to be ok after all.
Maybe he could love Annie the right way this time.
Maybe this was just the start.
THE END.
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I can't believe it!
I've been writing this for most of this year and honestly I had no idea how I wanted it to end but I think this is a good place.
Their will be an epilogue after this and that's it my friends.
This is my most read book yet and I'm so thankful for every one of you for reading and commenting and voting!
I love talking to you guys and seeing you guys interact with my books, it makes me so excited to write new chapters for you and I can't wait to write this new book.
I think it's going to be THERAPY (which I'm calling HANDLE WITH CARE) as I've had a few comments suggesting that one and I also have many ideas for it to!
Thank you for reading SEEING BLIND
Please vote and COMMENT
lotta love
A xx