Paralyzed ▹ Luke Hemmings

12

Luke walked up the front steps of his school that Monday morning, but it was different than usual. This time, instead of being absolutely terrified of everybody and tempted to run back home to his mom, Luke was fearless.

He walked with his head held high, his shoulders rolled back, and his teeth grinding behind his pursed lips. He was still beyond furious about what had happened Saturday night, and his rage was causing him to act like a completely different person. Luke didn't mind it, though; he let his anger take him down the halls without another thought about what he was about to do.

Luke narrowed eyes as he scanned the halls for Ashton. The bell was going to ring in only a few minutes, so he had to act quick. Luke had to find Ashton and get it over with. And this time, Luke was determined to win.

Luke went straight to Ashton's locker, which was all the way down the hall and just a few rows away from his own. And, sure enough, to Luke's luck, they were all standing there. Ashton, Michael, Calum, and a few other guys from the lacrosse team. But, to his dismay, Sa was standing there, too. With her shoulder rubbing against Ashton's, she made it obvious she was leaning into him and giggling at whatever he had said.

Luke could still see the bruises on her arms and the mark her cheek. Why was she hanging out with him? Why was she even around him? Luke doesn't know if Sam's set Ashton straight yet after what he did to her over the weekend, but just in case she didn't, Luke will do it for her.

As soon as Luke set his eyes straight on the back of Ashton's head, everything seemed to fall into slow motion. Luke's anger rose, his muscles tensed, and he slid his backpack off his shoulders. Everyone in Sam's group turned around, including Ashton, who came face to face with Luke right as he raised his fist into the air. All hell broke loose from there.

"What are you-" Ashton tried to say, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Luke didn't wait around to hear what Ashton had to say. He threw his fist forward and slammed it into Ashton's jaw, causing him to stumble backwards, with everyone around them gasping.

"Ow!" Ashton spat, holding his hands over the side of his face. "What the hell was that for?"

Again, Luke let his hands do all the talking. Taking another step forward, closing the gap between their bodies, Luke grabbed Ashton by the arm and shoved his back against the lockers, punching him in the face once more.

"Luke!" he heard Sam shouting behind him. Usually he drops dead whenever he hears Sam speak; but this time he didn't even flinch.

He nailed another punch into Ashton's jaw and threw him forward. Ashton stumbled off the lockers, spun around, and glared at Luke as he wiped the stream of blood from his lips.

"Alright," Ashton said, rolling his sleeves up. "Wanna go?"

"Yeah!" Luke snarled, balling his fists at his sides. "Come at me, pussy!"

Ashton pounced forward and grabbed Luke by the shoulders, forcing him down to the ground. By now everybody in the halls had made a circle around the to boys wrestling on the floor, while Sam grabbed and tugged at the both of them to break it up.

But Luke was so angry, he just couldn't stop. He's waiting years to finally push Ashton's buttons a little bit. And right now, he was doing a little bit more than just pushing. Although Luke was bruised and started to bleed, Ashton was the same way. Luke punched him in the eye, in the gut, scratched at his skin, and flailed his arms around to hurt him as much as possible. Luke's hatred for Ashton has been bottled up, slowly brewing inside of him since the 7th grade. I'm sure you can imagine how hard Luke was going at it right now.