Room 206 - Luke Hemmings

thirty-seven

"We definitely should not have dark colors," I said. "People will think we're emo."

"You are emo," Eleanor rolled her eyes at me as she clicked her pen against the table. I took a sip from my tea and glared at her.

"You know my emo phase ended in Year 7," I scoffed.

"Oh please, you still scream the words to Welcome to the Black Parade every time it comes on."

"It's part of the nostalgia."

"Or you'll just always be emo."

"Eleanor!" She bursted out laughing and I threw a crumb from my muffin at her. We'd been in this coffee place trying to plan our graduation party for over an hour and it had been going exactly like this the entire time.

"Okay, why don't we decide on snacks first?" I asked. "Everyone loves crackers, but we have to make sure we get a gluten free option for Eileen."

"Yes, and I'm sure there will be some vegan that will end up at our party too so we might as well plan for that also," she scribbled down on her notepad and I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Plan for what?" I looked up to see Alex standing above me smiling, sitting down in the booth next to me. I moved over to make more room for him so I wasn't sitting right up against him.

"Daisy and I are planning our graduation party," Eleanor informed him. She didn't seem too pleased with the fact that he was there.

"Well I better be invited," he smiled at me, leaning over and nudging my arm.

"You will be," I smiled back.

"Great. I would love to sit and listen to you guys chat about your girly party plans but I've got an ass load of homework to do, so I'll see you ladies around." I waved goodbye to Alex and Eleanor raised an eyebrow at me.

"What was that about?"

"We're friends," I shrugged. "He's alright I guess. I'm certainly not going to date him ever again, though, and I'm completely devoted to Luke--I mean Hemmings anyways."

"How are things with you guys by the way?" She asked.

"They're good," I said. "We still aren't officially together though."

Eleanor frowned. "I'm sorry, but it seems like he's happy with you?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'm trusting that he's just waiting for the right time to do it."

"I think so too," she said. "I don't think even a real asshole would tell you so much about himself and lead you on for this long."

Eleanor and I worked on planning for a while after that, then met up with Eileen and Blair, who wanted to go for a walk to catch up on each other's lives because we'd all been beyond busy.

"I still have no interest in a relationship because we'll probably break up after we graduate anyways," Eleanor said when Eileen asked if she even had an interest in someone.

"How are things with you and Karen?" I asked Blair.

"Oh," she turned a little pink. "Uh, we broke up a while ago."

"What?!" Eileen stopped and grabbed Blair's arm. "Why didn't you tell us?!"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But things just weren't working out anymore. I'm happier anyways."

"You have GOT to stop waiting so long to tell me these things!" Eileen scolded her, and we all laughed.

"And what about you and Hemmings?" Blair asked me, and I explained to them the same thing I'd explained to Eleanor earlier.

Hanging out with the girls was goofy and fun, as it always is. It was hard to believe we'd be graduating in a few months and we wouldn't be seeing each other everyday anymore.

On Sunday evening, I went in to Professor Irwin's classroom for some extra help with philosophy homework I didn't quite understand. I worked at the questions with him and he helped me through them, and before long it all made sense and I was breezing through it on my own.

"I think you've been working hard enough," Irwin said as I finished answering my last question. "If you've got nowhere to be, we can play a game of chess if you'd like."

"Oh, sure," I nodded. "It's been a while so I'll be a bit rusty but I'd certainly love to play."

Irwin set up the chess board and pieces while I packed my work away, then I sat down in front of him to play.

We chatted a bit while we played, though both of us were focused on the game a lot more. I surprised even myself when I managed to corner his king with no way out.

"Check mate." I smiled and he sat with his mouth wide open.

"How did you just do that?!" He seemed shocked at the fact that I'd just beat him at his own favorite game.

"Oh boy, what kind of trouble is Miss Williams causing this time?" My heart fluttered at a familiar voice and I turned around to see Luke walk in, holding a stack of papers and smiling at us both.

"Beating me at chess!" Irwin laughed, recovering from his shock.

"Really?" Luke set the stack of papers and smirked at me. "I'd like to see this for myself."

"Well I've got nowhere to be, if you'd like to play against her then you can," Irwin said as he approached the table and I reset the game board for us.

Sure enough, after a little while and a ton of concentration, I beat Luke as well and I laughed when I cornered his king very similar to how I cornered Irwin's.

"Check mate." I crossed my arms, pleased with myself and how well I still was after not playing for a while.

"Wow," he chuckled. "I'm very impressed."

"So am I," Irwin said from where he was sitting at his desk grading papers, somewhat watching our game as he did so.

"It's been a while since I've played too," I shrugged. "I guess I've just got a gift."

"You certainly do," Irwin smiled. "Although it is getting late and I would advise the gifted chess player to head to her dorm and get some sleep."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," I said. "Goodnight, professors."

I went to bed smirking, knowing that Luke was going to want revenge for me whooping his ass tomorrow.

-

A/N: FINALLY UPDATED I'm so sorry it took this long, I've been crazy busy and things have been so hectic lately. I will try to update again later if I can but if not there will be one hopefully this weekend sometime!

thanks for all the reads, comments and votes. they all mean so much! x