gone ✧*｡ luke a.u.

41: october 13 2011

LUKE

MONDAY, 13TH OCTOBER, 2011

Luke was going to die. He was sure of it.

They were going to kill him.

He wondered how they'd do it. Maybe they'd get Ben to poison his dinner. Or suffocate him with his pillow as he slept - but no, that would be too painless. His parents would want him to suffer for this, really suffer.

He'd only got 24 questions right out of 30 on his physics practice paper.

It was a disaster. His first exam was less than a month away, a looming threat, and his grades were - dropping?

He stared at the practice exam, marked and returned, and now sitting tauntingly in front of him, a big red 80% stamped on the front page. He hadn't scored so lowly in months.

"What'd you get?" Calum said from beside Luke, peering over his shoulder. Luke jerked away before he could see the result. Calum rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sure it wasn't that bad, Luke. Show me."

"No. It's dreadful. I'm going to fail high school."

"You're not."

"I am! I can't show Mum this! She'll kill me!"

"No, she won't."

"Have you met my mother, Calum Hood?" Luke was almost in hysterics.

"Okay, Luke, how about this," said Calum, clearly suppressing a laugh. "I'll tell you what I scored, and if you did better than me, you have to tell me."

"Well, are you happy with your grade?" Luke asked.

"Yes."

"Then I did worse than you."

"Oh my God, you're ridiculous," Calum said, shaking his head. "Sometimes I'm not sure whether you're a grown man or a princess."

"I'd prefer to be a princess. I doubt they have to go through exam stress."

Calum wasn't listening; he was rifling through the physics papers on his desk. Around them, most other students were doing the same, checking their results and comparing them to other people's, scanning their textbooks to double check the formulae. Their teacher was in the front of the room, writing general areas of improvement on the board - as well as the date of their next test. No one else seemed to be experiencing nearly as much misery as Luke.

Tests and practice exams were all Luke was receiving, at this point. Most of his final assessment pieces were already finished, drafted and handed in, and now all that remained were his end-of-year exams. The last things he would ever do as a high school student were only a matter of weeks away. His final grades hinged on his results - and his parents weren't exactly easing the pressure off him, either.

"I got seventy percent," Calum said, sliding his exam paper over to Luke. "So, nine questions wrong. I think that makes it a . . . B?"

"B-plus," Luke mumbled, already knowing the grade boundaries off by heart. "Good job."

"Thanks. So what about you? What did you get?"

Reluctantly, Luke said, "Twenty-four."

"Wow," Calum said sarcastically, sending a dry glare in Luke's direction, "what an awful grade. How I'd hate to get an A. What a complete and utter disaster."

"Oh, shut up," Luke snapped. "I got at the very bottom of the A band. One mark less and I'd have -"

"A B-plus. Oh no. How could you live with yourself?" It was clear Calum was doing nothing but mocking him.