I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said nothing. He took that as his cue to leave and walked off; leaving me watching the place that I last saw his body. I touched my lips; I could still feel the ghost of his kiss there. Running my tongue over my bottom lip, I could still taste him.
I forced myself to go downstairs to spend some time with my family. It was obvious they were worried about me. It took longer than I thought to assure my ape of a brother that I wasn’t forgiving Luke too fast, and that we weren’t back together. It took even longer to get him to agree not to shove his fist down Luke’s throat.
I made small talk with my parents about Zach’s tutoring schedule. Finally, after faking that I was okay for another half an hour, I excused myself to bed. As I curled in the sheets I could feel the sadness trying to creep over me again. As soon as I was in the darkness my mind drifted to Luke again. I willed myself to fall asleep quickly, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I cried for another half an hour before drifting into a shallow and uneasy slumber.
Chapter 11
When morning finally came I felt terrible because of barely sleeping. I was on auto-pilot as I dressed and trudged to Alex’s car. As we pulled into the parking lot of the school I spotted Luke sitting on the hood of his car, three spaces down. His friends were all hanging around him, talking, but he seemed a little distracted. When we pulled into the space he sprung away from his car and headed over, a smile stretching across his face. I watched the way his unbuttoned black shirt blew in the light wind, the white T-shirt stuck to his body showing off how sculpted he was from all the football he played. I watched the way the smile showed off his pearly white teeth and strong jaw. I sighed sadly. He still had an effect on my body; I was still incredibly attracted to him. The trouble was I also noticed how the other girls looked at him too. They had always looked, but before I’d been confident in his affections so them looking had never bothered me; I didn’t get jealous because I trusted him. Now though I felt a little sick with jealousy.
Alex said his goodbyes as he eyed up a group of girls who were standing off to one side. He was obviously choosing his weekly target. What with all the excitement yesterday and fighting with Zach, I guess he didn’t get to make a move on many girls.
Luke reached the car just as I closed my door. “Hey, baby,” he greeted. His hand moved to take mine so I shied away slightly which made his face fall. “Sorry,” he muttered, letting his hand drop to his side as he kicked his shoes on the ground.
“Morning,” I replied, trying to ignore the way he looked so sad.
“Morning.”
I laughed uncomfortably, and flicked my eyes around to see that everyone was watching us. Some people were discreetly watching but pretending to do something else, some people looked away quickly as I glanced in their direction, others were outright staring with their mouths open. “Well, this is awkward,” I muttered, chewing on my lip.
Luke smiled at me apologetically. “Shall I walk you in, or…?” he trailed off, looking at me hopefully.
I took a deep breath and forced a smile even though I felt like crying. “Sure. Oh, did you get your assignment done for English?” I asked, trying to change the subject. I was pretty sure he had an essay to hand in today.
He smiled at me gratefully, probably because I was making an effort to be friends. We talked a little awkwardly as he walked me into the building. I kept my hands firmly gripped onto the straps of my schoolbag because his hands were swinging dangerously close to mine. People were watching as we walked past and I tried my best not to see them - well, I tried to pretend like I didn’t see them anyway.
Whispers were starting as we walked down the hallway and all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and cry. I looked up the hallway and frowned. People were crowding near my locker; an excited murmur was rippling through the crowd. What on earth is that about?
Out of nowhere Charlotte grabbed my arm and yanked me to a stop. “Maisie! Oh my God. I’ve reported it to the janitor; they said they’ll get it sorted once everyone goes to class. It’s disgusting. I bet it was the witch that did it,” she hissed, her jaw tightening in anger.
“Huh?” The janitor will get what sorted?
Her eyes widened as her grip on my arm tightened to the point of pain. “You haven’t seen it?”
Luke stepped forward and looked at her curiously. “Seen what, Charlotte?” he asked, rolling his eyes.
Charlotte didn’t reply, just dragged me forward, shoving people out of the way. “Move it or lose it. Come on, people, get out of the way!” she ordered.
I followed behind her helplessly, weaving through the gathered students, wondering what was going on. The crowd parted, people turned to look at me, and the murmur got even more excited as people regarded me with wide eyes, obviously waiting for my reaction to whatever it was. Sandy smirked at me and my hand clenched into a fist as Zach’s words from yesterday echoed in my head, ‘You need to punch that hoe in the face’. I wanted to, I really did, but I forced myself to look away from her taunting smile.
Charlotte stopped and I looked up at whatever was so urgent, only to see that someone had vandalised my locker. One big bold word had been spray painted on the yellow door of it, large red letters, the paint thick and angry looking.
‘Bitch’
“What the heck?” I cried, frowning at it angrily. Why on earth would someone write that on my locker? That’s just stupid because I’m not a bitch at all!
“I know, it’s disgusting!” Charlotte growled, shaking her head angrily. “It should be gone by lunchtime apparently.”
I felt my face flush with embarrassment because everyone was staring at me. I hated to be the centre of attention, and it looked like every gaze in the hallway was locked onto me in that second. Why would someone even write that, who wrote it?
“What the hell is that?”
I turned to see Luke had pushed his way through the crowd and had stopped at my back. His eyes were glued to my locker as his jaw twitched angrily. My mind was whirling, trying to think of someone that would want to write that on my locker. I got along with everyone; I was well liked - just not popular. I guess the popular girls had never really liked me because I was dating the quarterback, but none of them would resent me that much, would they? Maybe Sandy…
In the back of my mind I could hear Luke ranting loudly, asking who did it, if anyone saw anything. He was incredibly angry by the sound of it. My eyes flicked to Sandy again. She was giggling behind her hand, whispering conspiratorially to her friend.
“Did you do that?” I asked her, pointing at it angrily. I couldn’t think of a single other person in the school that would have a problem with me like she did.
She raised one eyebrow looking at me incredulously. “No. But the person who wrote it obviously has your number though huh? You certainly are a bitch,” she replied, straightening her shoulders as people turned to watch the exchange.
Anger made my stomach shake as I glared at her. “Sandy, what’s your problem? What have I ever done to you? So I went out with someone that you wanted, so what? Does that mean that you have to hate me forever and make snide remarks about me all the time?” I growled.
She snorted and looked at me distastefully. “Well you’re not dating him now though, are you? He saw how ridiculous he was being and came to me eventually,” she replied, shrugging and smiling at me wickedly.
I stepped forward to make an angry comment back, but Luke was quicker and pulled me behind him as he glared at her. “You don’t talk shit about her. She’s worth a million of you; for one thing she’s not a nasty skank. There’s a reason I fell in love with her and not you, she’s not a fake bimbo whore who’s up herself. You were a drunken mistake, nothing more than that, so don’t flatter yourself,” he hissed angrily.
Her mouth dropped open in shock as her cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment. “Well you weren’t exactly that good in bed, Luke Hannigan! Total waste of a condom if you ask me!” she retorted.
Lu
ke’s body stiffened but he didn’t reply. She turned on her heel, flicking her perfectly straightened, natural blonde hair over her shoulder as she stomped off, with her girls following behind her like little lapdogs following their master. Luke turned back to me and shook his head, frowning. I could feel my eyes filling with tears and I willed them not to fall. People were still staring at me and I didn’t want anyone to see me cry.
Why was this all happening to me? I had a great life before this all happened. Everything was perfect, I had the perfect boyfriend, great friends, everything was planned out and exciting. But then everything fell to pieces around me.
Luke frowned and turned to the side. “Everyone just get lost. Just go to class or something, seriously, just leave!” he ordered. Because he was still Luke Hannigan, most popular jock in school, everyone seemed to move as one as they whispered and dispersed quickly.
I glanced up to see Zach leaning against the wall opposite me, his arms folded over his chest, he was watching me intently. His eyes locked onto mine. I gulped at the intensity I saw there before he tightened his jaw and walked off too.
“Baby, you okay?”
I snapped out of the little haze I seemed to be trapped in, and looked up at Luke. He was watching me with a concerned look on his face. I nodded and stepped forward into his body, just needing a little comfort. Instantly, his arms wrapped around me, enveloping me in his beautiful smell. I pressed my face against his chest and tried my hardest not to cry as I wrapped my arms around his waist, clamping myself to him.
“This will all get easier. I’m sorry,” he whispered, kissing the side of my head softly as he stroked my back.
I sniffed and pulled away. “I know.” I turned back to my locker and the awful red writing again. “I better get my books and stuff and get to class.” I smiled at Charlotte who was just looking at me sympathetically. “Someone’s gonna clean this off, right? I don’t need to do anything?”
She nodded. “They’ll sort it out, don’t worry.”
Sighing, I forced myself to punch in my combination and open it, grabbing my books for the morning class. Inside I was dreading Alex seeing this, I hoped they got it removed before he did because he would be crazy mad about it. I wouldn’t be able to stop him hearing about it, but seeing it would make his ‘protective big brother’ instincts even worse. When I had everything, Luke walked me to class and Charlotte headed off in the other direction for hers.
“Want to eat lunch together?” Luke asked, cocking his head to the side, smiling hopefully.
I shrugged but nodded at the same time. “Sure.”
My morning was spent with people asking me constantly about my locker. I had repeated myself over and over again so much that even I was bored of the sound of my own answers. Sandy had ignored me completely in first period. We sat at opposite ends of the classroom and as soon as the bell sounded, I packed up and practically ran out of the room. I hated this attention; it was like everyone was watching me, waiting for me to blow a gasket or something.
At lunchtime I headed back to my locker, only to see that the ugly writing had gone. In its place was a freshly scrubbed clean patch of silver. I cringed because the rest of the locker was yellow apart from that patch. It was glaringly obvious that something had been written there and scrubbed off. People were watching me discreetly, so I forced myself to put on a brave face and store my books, grab my purse and slam the door shut. I was going for the unconcerned approach, but I was pretty sure I didn’t pull it off very well.
“Hi.” I jumped and turned to see Zach leaning against the locker next to mine. One of his jeaned legs was crossed over the other, his arms folded over his chest. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He nodded towards my locker. “So, who did that?”
I shrugged, but again my mind flicked to that blonde witch. I couldn’t think of anyone else. “My best guess is the man stealing cheerleader,” I replied, leaning against my locker next to him.
“Maybe.” He nodded, pursing his lips as if he was thinking about something really hard. “Anyway, change of subject. Want to get food? I’m starving,” he said, rubbing his flat stomach in little circles.
I winced. “Um, I agreed to eat with Luke.”
He frowned looking at me like I was stupid. “You two got back together last night?”
I shook my head quickly. “No. We’re just being friends. We’re seeing how it goes,” I corrected.
He smiled then. “Good, because you deserve better than him. I can’t see your story ending up like that, you won’t end up with a cheating jerk,” he commented.
I laughed quietly. “Oh yeah? And how will my story end? Who will I end up with?” I asked, rolling my eyes at how silly he was.
His arm slung around my shoulder as he winked at me. “You’ll end up with the bad boy,” he replied, grinning wickedly.
I snorted and slapped my hand into his stomach which made him laugh and his arm drop off of my shoulder as we walked down the hallway towards the lunchroom. “Bad boys don’t do it for me.” I shrugged teasingly. Wait, am I flirting with him again? I didn’t even know if this could be classed as flirting, if it was classed as that then I had no idea I was doing it at all. I didn’t mean to if I was.
“Everyone loves a bad boy,” he countered, winking at me teasingly.
“Nah, the bad boy will be expelled before the end of the year anyway, so that’s not how it’ll happen.” I smirked at him and he just laughed.
“Let’s hope that’s not true or I’ll need to find myself a real job in a few months,” he said, frowning distastefully. We talked easily for the rest of the short journey to the lunchroom.
As we stepped in, Luke pushed himself away from the wall where he usually met me. He frowned at Zach hatefully before looking at me. “Ready?” he asked, seeming to completely ignore Zach’s presence.
“Maisie said I could eat with you guys. That’s alright with you, right, quarterback?” Zach said, smiling politely.
Luke’s hands tightened into fists as he seemed to struggle with his jealousy. I shot Zach a warning look. He obviously couldn’t resist pushing Luke’s buttons.
I sighed as they seemed to have some kind of unspoken conversation. “I’m going to eat with Char and Beth,” I muttered, walking off and heading to the line to get my food. I grabbed a sandwich and drink and paid before they had even moved from the spot where I left them. Their conversation wasn’t a silent one now. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but judging by the angry looks on their faces and the gesturing hands, it didn’t look like friendly chat about sports.
As soon as I sat down, Alex came bounding over. His hand gripped my shoulder as he looked at me angrily. “Why didn’t you call me and tell me about your locker?” he asked, shaking his head forcefully.
I brushed his hand off and smiled reassuringly. “It was no big deal. It’s gone now so don’t worry about it,” I suggested. I had enough to deal with already; I didn’t really need him going all protective caveman on me.
He raked a hand through his hair as he spoke, “You still should have called me, Maze-daze.”
“Just leave it, Alex. Everything’s fine,” I assured him.
He sighed and nodded. “Fine. But call me in future,” he instructed. He turned and walked off. Luke was coming in the other direction, carrying a tray of food towards my table. As they passed each other, Alex purposefully slammed his shoulder into Luke’s. I closed my eyes as the tray clattered to the floor and Alex laughed. “Sorry, Hannigan. Didn’t see you there.”
“Alex!” I warned, shaking my head as I opened my eyes. Luke was obviously trying not to react; his teeth were grinding together while my twin just smirked challengingly in his direction.
Luke wouldn’t start a fight with my brother; for one thing he knew that Alex was doing it on my behalf so he probably felt he deserved it. Another reason he wouldn’t start a fight with my brother was that Alex would kick Luke’s butt, and they both knew it. He was a serious badass at thi
ngs like that; he actually wanted to be a professional kickboxer and was already champion of the junior league.
“I’ll go buy something else,” Luke muttered, turning and walking off without even acknowledging what had happened. I shot Alex a dark look, but he just shrugged unashamedly as he walked off.
“Your brother is hot when he’s all rough like that,” Charlotte whispered, giggling.
I laughed and shook my head. Zach was walking up the aisle then, heading in my direction. I cringed inwardly at how awkward this lunch was going to be if both him and Luke were going to sit with us, but thankfully he caught my eye and nodded towards my where my brother was sitting. I smiled gratefully and he did a cheesy handshake-bump thing with Alex before setting his tray down and sitting with him.
When I looked away from Zach, Charlotte and Beth were still talking about how fine my twin was. I just started on my sandwich and let them get on with it; I was used to talk about my ‘hottie brother’.
Luke plopped down next to me, but the girls didn’t even acknowledge his presence as they carried on talking amongst themselves. “Hey. Sorry about that,” I muttered, smiling apologetically at him.
He shrugged easily. “No worries. It’s not like I don’t deserve it, so don’t apologise.” He put a blueberry muffin down in front of me. “Got you this.”
I sighed and felt my heart stutter because he was always sweet like that. “Thanks.”
The rest of lunch was fairly quiet. I just ate my food, trying to pretend that everyone wasn’t watching mine and Luke’s every move. The rumour mill seemed to be waiting with baited breath for the gossip.
My next two classes were fun. I had them both with Zach, and he really was a funny guy. I did a little more unintentional flirting, but it was harmless really because he knew I was still hung up on Luke, and he’d already said he didn’t date. Both of us knew it wouldn’t go anywhere, so I just let myself be myself and have fun for a change. I even enjoyed my gym class because he chose me to partner him and we were practicing kicking a football. I was terrible as I expected, but much to his obvious efforts, it turned out that Zach couldn’t kick to save his life either. Both of us were in hysterics as we missed the goal posts time and time again. It was nice to laugh and I didn’t once think about Luke or my locker.
Free Falling Page 13
