Arms||Cake AU||

Chapter 11

Calum hadn't spoken to Luke since the lunchtime under the tree, but he had seen him around school. He'd never noticed him sitting at the back of his Maths class before, his large frame swamped by an even larger hoodie in an attempt to make himself appear smaller. He'd never noticed the resident asshole himself, Jake Peters occasionally lean over and scribble on Luke's jotter. And he had certainly  never noticed him hanging back after class, fumbling as he tried to pick up his folders before.

"Need a hand?" Calum asked at the end of Maths on a bright Tuesday afternoon. Luke's cheeks flushed red as Calum approached him, holding his hand out to help.

"N-no, I'm good." Luke stuttered. Just as Luke finished speaking, his folder fell from his shaking arms and onto the floor, sending his notes across the classroom. "Shit."

Luke crouched down and started collecting his notes up, but in his flustered scramble, he kept dropping the pages he had already picked up.

"Do you want some help there?" Calum asked, suppressing a chuckle at Luke's flustered state. Luke nodded, his cheeks burning a brighter red than they already were. Calum also crouched down and between them, they picked up all of the paper in no time.

"There you go." Calum smiled, handing Luke the pile of paper in his hands. Luke took it from him, shooting him a small smile.

"Shit, they're all muddled up." Luke mumbled to himself, looking through the pages in his hand. "Oh well, I'll reorganise them later." He shoved them in his folder and turned to face Calum.

"Thank you, for helping me." Luke said. Calum shrugged, his hands deep in his pockets.

"It's no big deal. Do you want me to carry that?" Calum said, pointing to the folder Luke was carrying. Luke shook his head, pulling the folder closer to his chest.

"I'll manage."

"Are you sure?" Calum asked, watching Luke struggle to keep his folders in his arms. "You look like you're struggling there."

"No, I'm fine." Luke told him, as they walked along the Maths corridor. Calum shrugged and shoved his hands back in his pockets. "Thanks anyway."

"No problem Luke."
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Calum stood outside waiting on Michael to get down from whatever class he'd been held back in, when he noticed someone limping past, with their hood up to cover their face. It could have been anyone, but Calum was sure he had seen the folder in their arms before. The limping person turned around to check for cars as he crossed the road and Calum caught a glimpse of two bright blue eyes.

Luke.

It didn't take long for Calum to figure out why he was limping. Without hesitating, Calum ran over to Luke, who was almost out of the school gates.

"Why are you limping?"

Luke flinched, jumping backwards onto Calum's foot in shock. He spun round quickly, his eyes wide and the hand not holding a folder raised in defence.

"Oh, it's you." Luke muttered, lowering his hand. "You scared me."

"Sorry." Calum smiled sheepishly. "I was just wondering why you were limping. You were fine earlier."

"It's nothing." Luke said quickly, turning away from Calum's gaze. "Sometimes my leg does that."

"I'm guessing sometimes your eyes just bruises as well."

Luke sighed and looked at Calum, his bright blue eyes blinking down at him from behind the hood. Around his left eye, light bruises were beginning to form, a faint mixture of blue and green.

"Like I said it's nothing."

"Don't lie to me Luke. You've been punched." Calum exclaimed, frowning as he took in Luke's appearance.

"I don't know why you're so horrified, I've seen you inflict worse damage on someone. Now excuse me, I need to get home." Luke stated, pushing last Calum as he started walking again.

"Who did it? It was Jake wasn't it?" Calum demanded, grabbing onto Luke's sleeve.

"What are you going to do if I tell you?Beat them up? That's not at all hypocritical." Luke spat, wrenching his arm out of Calum's grasp.

"I never said I was going to do anything." Calum argued, making Luke roll his eyes.

"You didn't need to Calum." Luke said as he began to walk away. Calum watched him, biting his lip to prevent himself from saying something he'd regret. If it had been anyone else, Calum wouldn't have bothered restraining himself but for some reason Luke was different.

"Who was that?" Michael asked, appearing by Calum's side, clutching his chest as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Some kid in my Maths class." Calum replied, dragging his attention away from Luke's retreating back.

"Oh, okay." Michael said. "We better get going, my mum's already started cooking the Macaroni and I don't want to miss it."

Calum followed Michael to his car, glancing back occasionally to see Luke, but he was only a dark blue dot now, indistinguishable from the distance.

He'll be better off staying that far away from you.