Rejects // Punk Luke Hemmings

>Chapter Forty-Two<

<Kara's POV>

I stepped through the door to school the next morning, only to be swept into a pair of familiar, strong arms. Luke spun me around once, before placing me back on the floor in a small fit of giggles.

"Good to see you too," I said after I finally stopped laughing. He simply gave me a happy grin before he leaned down to kiss my nose. I wasn't sure if he was aware, but I absolutely loved when he did that...

"How was your girl day yesterday?" He asked curiously as he slung an arm across my shoulders. I leaned into his side and breathed him in for a moment, almost forgetting we were walking down the hall at school.

"Very nice. We went shopping and got ice cream and it was wonderful. How did your day go?" I inquired just as curiously. He had promised to give me whatever this surprise was today.

"Very well. I slept a bit then hung out with the guys. It was a day filled with testosterone and music and I really needed that." He chuckled and kissed my hair.

"You seem to be in a very happy mood today. It's really cute," I smiled and looked up at him.

"Well I do have that surprise to give you. But not until after school. It's not at my place either so you'll have to ride with me because I don't feel like giving you the directions," he winked and gave me a cheeky grin.

I rolled my eyes, playfully shrugging his arm off my shoulders as we reached my locker. "I never thought you were this lazy."

"That and I also like driving you places," he shrugged and pulled his lip ring between his teeth, an action that made me weak in the knees.

I could only smile as I opened my lock, retrieved my necessary books, and relocked it with by bag inside.

"I do actually have two surprises though. One isn't really an object, well technically they both aren't, but I do have something important to tell you," he said softly as I turned to face him.

My brain went into overdrive, wondering what he was about to say. "Yeah?" I cocked my head slightly.

"I, um... Well, when I was working on the main gift I got really stressed. And as you can probably guess, I don't usually handle my stress very well. So I went outside and I was planning on smoking a cigarette to calm me down..." He looked down at the floor at this point and I wondered where on earth he could be going with this.

"But as I was about to light it, I stopped. And I thought, What would Kara say? How would she respond to me doing this to myself?" At this, he looked back up at me with a smile. "So I threw it away." The last part was no more than a whisper that gave me chills.

"You threw the cigarette away?" I asked quietly, trying to clear my head.

He nodded, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. "Yeah. I mean, I remember how much you hate it and how you reacted to me smoking last time, so I decided I'd stop. For you."

I stood there for a moment, stunned. How did I have enough influence over someone that I could get them to give up an addiction? How much did I truly mean to this boy if he'd give up his stress reliever for me? Just to make me a little more comfortable around him?

"L-Luke... If that's your way of getting rid of your stress and as long as you try not to do it around me its okay..." I shook my head.

"Well if I'm gonna be in a band I probably shouldn't do it an-"

"You're in a band?" I cut him off suddenly. Blood flushed his cheeks as he chuckled softly.

"Well, yeah kinda. That was actually supposed to be part of the other surprise, actually. But now you know," he grinned.