Fall.

Chapter 8.

The next day at school was just awful for me. I still wasn't in the mood to talk to Luke, mostly because I felt guilty for being so rude to him the night before. He was just trying to help and I had let my worried self take control over me.

The night before, my mom had caught me walking in the door at just past 9:30 and soon figured out where I had actually been all day. Long story short, I was grounded for the next week. When thinking about it, a week wasn't even that bad. I was just mad at myself for getting caught in the first place.

We were at lunch now, and Luke and I were eating silently across the table from each other while Ashton and Michael carried on a conversation. I didn't even know why Luke decided to sit with us again today, when he knew that I was upset with him. I would think that he would be much more comfortable eating somewhere else, away from me.

"Stella, can we come over tonight?" Michael asked, breaking me away from my thoughts.

"What?" I snapped my head up in his direction. "Uh, no. I'm grounded."

"What did you do to get grounded? You were home sick all yesterday." Ashton asked, laughing slightly. He had one arm slung over the back of my chair and the other was used to prop his head up so he could get a better view of me. He looked absolutely flawless, like he always did.

Luke looked up at me and sent me a warning glance from his side of the table. "I was talking back to my mom." I lied. I decided that yesterday was to be kept a secret between Luke and I, which actually felt kind of nice. I liked the idea of having secrets with him.

"How long are you grounded for?" Ashton practically groaned. I knew he had been looking forward to spending some time with me this weekend, and he was disappointed that he wouldn't be getting to.

"Just until next Thursday." I shrugged. My grounding only consisted of not being able to leave the house or have people over, with the exception of having Luke over for our Saturday study sessions.

"That's funny, Stel. Because I'm grounded too." Luke finally spoke. He gave me an evil smile, begging me to go on and ask just what he did to get grounded.

"Oh, really?" I pretended to be surprised. "What for?"

"Well, there was this girl in my house last night-"

"YOU had a girl over?" Michael interrupted Luke. Luke shhed him and went on.

"And she was running around screaming at me because I forgot to wake her up on time-"

"Luke!" I yelled, shutting him up. I didn't understand why he couldn't just tell a little lie like I had. I thought that he would feel the same way about yesterday that I did.

"This girl is just so fucking crazy - but clearly I just can't seem to get enough of it - so when she ran outside in the cold I made myself go after her which made my mom get even more upset since she was already mad at me for having the girl over in the first place ." Luke finished, ignoring my protests.

"What does your grounding persist of?" Ashton asked when Luke was done talking. He sounded suspicious, and I was scared that he had figured me out.

"I'm not supposed to leave my house except for school and work and I have to make up all the work I missed yesterday by Monday or I'll get grounded for another week." Luke explained quickly. I knew that making up the work wouldn't be hard for him, so he didn't need to make a big deal.

"All because your mom caught you with some girl?" Michael laughed, obviously clueless to the fact that the girl was actually me.

"Yeah, my mom gets a bit...insane, sometimes." Luke shrugged. Even though he was upset he was acting much nicer towards Michael and Ashton, whether it was meant just to annoy me or not.

"That's weird." Michael shook his head, then winked at me. "Who's the girl?"

"You guys don't know her." Luke smirked.

"Why were you in charge of waking her up anyway?" Ashton scoffed, like it was unbelievable. "Why were you even sleeping with her?"

"You should ask her that." Luke said, discreetly raising an eyebrow at me.

"Who is this girl?" Michael asked. "She sounds feisty, I like her."

"Oh, trust me, you do not want to like her. And she doesn't go to this school." Luke sighed. "But Stel knows her. Right, Stel?"

"Sure." I answered quietly. I knew that I had been rude to Luke last night but he didn't have to be such a jerk to me about this. He know that I didn't want to let Michael and Ashton know about our day together yesterday and I thought that Luke didn't want that either. Apparently I was mistaken.

"So, you're basically on house arrest for the whole week?" Ashton changed the subject and turned back to me. His light green eyes flicked between Luke and I, waiting for Luke to butt in again.

"Yeah, except for Luke coming over on Saturday." I explained.

"Wait, that's not fair! Luke gets to come over and not us?" Michael shouted. He could be so obnoxious sometimes, I didn't even see why I was such good friends with him.

"That's different." Luke and I said at the same time.

"How so?" Michael asked, stroking his chin playfully.

"It's different because Stel and I aren't friends. I'm tutoring her in math and she's attempting to learn what I'm teaching her. The relationship between us is nothing more than that, it's not like we're going to have fun at her place. I'm tutoring her and that's it." Luke spat out, his words hitting me right in the face. I thought that Luke had genuinely changed and wanted to be my friend, but I guess not.

The table stayed silent, and after Luke looking back and forth between all of us for a few minutes he let out a very loud groan and got up. He pulled his backpack up with him and stormed out of the lunchroom.

"Well, something's definitely wrong with that kid." Michael said, looking shocked.

"Does he have, like, anger issues or something?" Ashton asked. I knew that Ashton didn't mean to be rude by asking but I also knew that Luke didn't deserve to be talked about like that. He had a lot going on in his life, not to mention that fact that he already has trouble opening up and becoming friends with people. It's not his fault that he reacts rashly like that sometimes. Luke may not consider me a friend anymore but I still considered him one, and like it or not I care about him.

"There's nothing wrong with him. He has a lot of shit going on in his life, it's not his fault." I quickly stood up from my chair, making Ashton flinch.

"Why are you standing up for him?" Michael asked, "I thought you guys weren't even friends anymore?"

I didn't answer Michael. Instead I let out a big sigh and picked up my backpack off the floor, before running out to find Luke.

It didn't take much to find Luke, as he was still right outside of the lunchroom. He sat on the floor in front of one of the many floor to ceiling windows in the hallway. His knees pulled up tightly to his chest, Luke looked like a puppy that had just been kicked in the face. And suddenly I felt very bad.

I silently sat down next to Luke, not saying anything just yet. He acknowledged that I was there by quietly nodding his head at me but didn't say anything either. Slowly, Luke turned around so his back was pressed up against the cool window. He removed his legs from his chest and shifted positions a few times, trying to get comfortable.

"My pants are too tight and I can't cross my legs." Luke's lips formed into the tiniest smile ever before he just laid his legs out flat on the floor.

"What was that back there?" I asked, getting straight to the point, no messing around.

"Back there? Or back at my house?" Luke asked, looking straight at me with his pale blue eyes.

I thought about it for a moment. "Both."

"Well back at my house you were a total bitch to me for something I couldn't control and you got me in even more trouble than I was going to be in. You acted like this was all my fault when if you had just set a damn alarm in the first place none of this would have happened!" Luke rubbed his face with his hands.

"You fell asleep, you weren't supposed to fall asleep!" I yelled back.

"Oh, shit! I didn't realize it was such a crime to sleep! I hadn't slept all week, Stel! It was hard not to!" Luke used his hands to push himself away from me a little.

"Fine, I'm sorry." I said finally, defeated. I genuinely was sorry, I felt really bad for treating Luke the way I did last night. Like I said, he didn't deserve any of that. I was too worried about getting in trouble to think about how Luke was feeling, and I felt awful for doing so.

"Good," Luke snapped, "you should be."

"Now what happened back in the lunchroom?" I asked, ignoring Luke's previous comment.

Luke stayed completely silent for a second, I wasn't even sure if he was breathing. "I panicked."

"You panicked?" I repeated, unsure of what he really meant.

"I was mad at you and you were mad at me and I went and acted like a dick by telling Michael and Ashton the reason why I was grounded even though I knew that you didn't want them to know and I started feeling bad about it so I panicked." Luke explained.

"So by panicking you decided that we weren't going to be friends anymore?" I asked. I was slightly scared about how this may turn out.

Luke sighed. "Jesus, Stel. I didn't mean it."

"Well then what did you mean?" I asked, my voice raising.

"What was I supposed to say, the truth? Because truth is I'm so fucking thankful that your mom is still letting me come over, that she's allowing me to escape my mom for a few hours. Was I supposed to say that I'm glad that we've actually became friends and that I'm happy - I'm actually happy for once, Stel - that you want to be friends with me too? Because I don't think a couple of asshole guys would really appreciate me saying that, especially when one is your best friend and the other is your...boyfriend." Luke stood up, spitting out the last word like it was a bad taste in his mouth.

"Luke!" I stood up as well, ready to chase Luke down the hall again if he tried to leave.

"Jesus, you make me want to hate you so bad." Luke let out a pained laugh. He stepped forward, coming closer to me.

After a minute or two of us staring at each other I said, "I'm glad that we're friends too."

"I-I'm-I'm sorry if I overreact sometimes." Luke stammered. He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair.

"It's fine. I get it, you have a lot going on." I shrugged. Luke took another step closer before finally closing the gap between us and wrapping his arms around me, pulling me in for a hug.

Even though Luke and I shared the same bed yesterday, this was the closest we've ever consciously been to each other. I could not explain how Luke made me feel when he touched me, but I did know that I felt good. He towered over me because of his height, engulfing me in his arms. I buried my face into Luke's chest and he rested his chin on the top of my head, the two of out bodies fitting together almost perfectly. Luke's arms were tightly wound together over my shoulders and my arms rested right around his waist, bring the two of us as close as we could possibly be.

Luke slowly moved so his face was now burying itself into the crook of my neck, his lips gently grazing against my skin and leaving a tingling feeling. He whispered, "I'm so sorry for all the shit I put us through."

I pulled away from Luke but kept my hands resting on his upper arms and he kept his arms around my waist.

"It's alright." I said, my voice cracking.

"It's snowing." Luke said quietly, finally breaking the stare between us. He grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the window. Snowflakes were quickly falling from the sky, and there was even more snow covering the ground.

"Well, it is December." I said, watching Luke as he pressed his forehead against the window to get a better look at the freshly fallen snow.

"Wow." Luke breathed out, making the glass fog up.

"Do you like snow?" I laughed at Luke's fascination with it.

"Do you want the truth?" Luke asked, looking back at me. He wore a silly smirk on his face, like he was already amused with what his answer was going to be.

"Yes." I sighed.

"If you weren't..you, I would have said that I hate snow, but I actually really love it." Luke tried to bite his lip to hold back his laughter.

"Oh, so there are a few things that you do like." I noted. Luke rolled his eyes at me and dropped my hand, which I hadn't even noticed he was holding.

"Come on." Luke started walking down the hall, gesturing for me to follow him. I walked quickly after him, amazed at how fast his long legs could move him across the hallway.

"Where are we going?" I asked, still not used to Luke taking me to these random places.

"Out." Luke smirked, and suddenly opened a door that lead out of the school. I had never noticed the door before but I was very clearly marked as an emergency exit, right in the middle of all the windows.

"We'll get caught." I groaned, not in the mood to get into any more trouble with my mom.

"No we won't." Luke laughed, and the corners of his eyes crinkling up as he did so. He exited the door, stepping out into the cold. A cool wind blew inside the school, and I winced at the coldness.

Luke took off his own sweatshirt and threw it at me, leaving him in only a thin long sleeved shirt. I caught his sweatshirt, still unsure if I should actually put it on and go outside or not.

"Stel, come on!" Luke yelled, already running away from the door.

I took one step out the door and stood there, crossing my arms over my chest. "I'm out. Now let's go back inside."

"Why is it that whenever I want to do something fun you're not in the mood?" Luke asked, kicking around the snow with his feet.

"I just don't want to get in trouble!" I yelled out to him. Luke crouched down and picked up a pile of snow, before forming it into a ball and throwing it at me. The snowball hit me on the leg, stinging my skin through my jeans. "Okay, that's it!"

I ran over to Luke and picked up my own snowball. I threw it at his back as he tried to run away from me. I let out a laugh, seeing the snow splatter all over his back.

We continued to have a snowball fight with each other for who knows how long. When we finally got too tired and too covered in snow, we stopped. Luke's shirt was almost soaked through with all the snow and I couldn't even imagine how cold he must be. I wasn't much better, since I only had Luke's sweatshirt over my T-shirt.

Luke laid down on the snow, looking up at the sky as more snowflakes continued to fall. I silent laid next to him. I was still worn out from all that running around. The two of us laid next to each other, both breathing heavily an shivering at the same time.

"I think I won that snowball fight." Luke said, still staring up.

"I beg to differ." I smirked.

"We can have a rematch later, okay? I'm too tired now." Luke sighed. He leaned over a little more and pointed up at the sky. "That cloud looks like a elephant."

"No it doesn't." I argued. The cloud that he was pointing at looked more like a frog than anything else.

"Yes it does, see the trunk?" Luke even used his finger to trace the cloud, but I still saw a frog.

"We should get back inside now." I said, sitting up. Luckily in the midst of all our snow throwing we hadn't traveled very far away from the school, and the door we came out of was still propped open.

"Fine, you ruin all the fun." Luke sighed. He stood up and held out his hand for me, pulling me up off the ground.

We slowly made our way back to the door, kicking at the snow on the ground as we walked. Luke nudged me with his shoulder, sending me almost flying into the outside wall of the school.

When we made it to the door Luke stuck his head in first, checking if the coast is clear. He nodded his head, grabbing my arm and pulling me in with him. We looked around, again making sure that no one was around.

"That was fun, but now I'm freezing." Luke laughed. He jumped up and down in attempt to keep himself warm.

"So am I." I said, looking down at the sweatshirt that Luke let me borrow. "Thanks for letting me use this."

"I knew you wouldn't come out if I didn't." Luke shrugged, still shivering.

"Here, I'll give it back so you won't be so cold." I began to pull Luke's sweatshirt over my head to give it back to him, but a booming voice stopped me.

"Were you two just outside?"

"I was, she wasn't." Luke quickly answered.

I looked up to see an unfamiliar man staring back at us. I had never seen him before, but I knew that he worked here at the school by the way he looked at us with such authority.

"You were outside?" The man asked Luke, who nodded in response.

"I-" I tried to protest, but Luke stopped me.

"She just opened the door for me, she never went out." He spoke so fast it was hard to understand his words.

"What's your name, young man? I'm going to have to call your parents and inform them that you were ditching class." The man asked Luke.

"Ashton Irwin." Luke turned around and winked at me, which made me feel like my heart was going to pop right out of my chest from beating so hard.

I hated to admit it, but Michael had been right. It was December, and I was falling for Luke.