Arms||Cake AU||

Chapter 36

11k holy shit.

Luke's promise had pushed Calum's guilt to the back of his mind, but even having Luke by his side couldn't stop the wave of shame hitting him as Jake passed him in the corridor. His left eye was puffed up and swollen so severely that he could barely see. Three stitches crisscrossed the bridge of his nose and he was walking gingerly. Calum could feel the daggers stabbing into him even after they had walked away.

"Holy shit," Michael whispered, earning a glare from Luke, who had been watching Calum closely with a concerned frown. He reached out for Calum's shaking hand and squeezed gently. He expected him to pull away, but to his surprise Calum laced their fingers together and gripped tightly.

Luke glanced over at him, unable to hide his shock. Calum, who kept his eyes down, simply shrugged while nervously biting his lip.

"I wasn't expecting to see him here so soon," Calum mumbled.

"That's a good thing," Michael replied cautiously, "because it means you didn't hurt him as badly as you thought you did. If you'd done any serious damage he would have taken longer than three days to recover."

"I didn't realise I'd broken his nose, and he's walking as though his got broken ribs. Fucking hell." Luke could see the panic rising in Calum's eyes and gave his hand another gentle squeeze to grab his attention.

"Cal," he said, "You need to calm down. You can't show Jake a weakness or he'll use it against you."

"I've already shown him my fucking weakness Blondie," Calum snapped, wrenching his hand out of Luke's grip. "I've defended you three times around him and I fucking attacked him because he was talking shit about you. If he hasn't caught on yet he's more of a fucking idiot than I thought."

As Calum stormed off down the corridor, a smirk spread across Michael's face. It grew wider as he spotted Luke's bewildered expression.

"What the fuck just happened?" Luke asked him. "Why are you smirking?"

"Calum just admitted what his weakness is. Let's hope Jake is as oblivious as you are."

"What does that mean?" Michael only smiled and tapped his nose smugly.

"Michael."
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Unfortunately, Jake was not as oblivious as Luke was and cornered Luke while he was on his own at lunch. Calum was in his first counselling session after putting up a fight for the first half of lunch and Michael, who was supposed to be with Luke at all times, had been distracted by Kayleigh Roberts starting a conversation and promised to catch up with him outside.

"Well, well, well," Jake sneered, advancing on a terrified Luke. "If it isn't everyone's favourite faggot. Where's your boyfriend today Lukey?"

"You know, I find it strange that you only bully me when I'm on my own," Luke said as confidently as he could. "It's as if you're scared of Calum. Is little Jakey scared of big bad Calum and his tattoos?"

"Listen here Hemmings," Jake snapped, drawing a pen knife from his pocket. "I suggest you hold your tongue before some horrible accident happens. We wouldn't want that would we." Luke swallowed nervously, eyeing the knife cautiously. Jake chuckled maliciously, watching terror fill Luke's eyes.

"Is little Lukey scared of a tiny knife?" He taunted. "What would Calum say if his precious little boyfriend showed up with a cut on his cheek?" Luke tried to move away from the knife which was getting far too close to his face. Jake was grinning like a maniac as he pressed the cold metal against Luke's cheek. Luke stopped struggling and silently prayed that someone would walk along the corridor.

"Do you think he might actually kill me, like he tried to on Friday? I'm surprised  he's still walking these halls. He's obviously dangerous."

"You literally have a knife to my face but no, Calum's the dangerous one." The sentence spilled out of Luke's mouth before he could stop himself. Jake's smile fell from his face as he swiped the blade down Luke's cheek quickly. Tears mixed with blood as he let Luke crumple onto the floor.

"This is a scratch. Tell anyone any differently and you will be sorry, understood?" Luke was in too much pain to fight back and nodded, pressing his hand to his cheek. Jake spat on the floor next to his feet before walking away, leaving Luke to cry on his own.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting on the floor when Michael found him. The giddy smile on his face quickly fell when he spotted Luke's trembling figure and his blood soaked hand.

"Oh shit." Michael crouched down beside the blond and gently pulled his hand away from his cheek. It was not a deep cut, but it was bleeding profusely.

"Fucking hell Luke, what happened?"

"It's just a scratch," Luke replied weakly. He was struggling to keep his head up and his face had drained of all colour. Instead of arguing with the blatant lie, Michael helped him to his feet.

"You need medical attention."

"No Michael, I'm fine," Luke argued as he tried to walk away. As soon as he took a step, he swayed and had to lean against Michael for support. "I'm not fine."

"Didn't think so," Michael muttered.
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Mr Jones, the school nurse, almost fainted in shock when Michael walked into the medical room supporting an almost blacked out Luke. With the little strength he has left, Luke was trying to put pressure on his wound but his energy was fading fast. All he was succeeding to do was stop the blood from ruining his shirt.

"What happened here then?" He asked as he raked around in his supply cupboard.

"He's says it's just a scratch," Michael said. "But I'm not convinced."

"Hmm." Luke let out a loud hiss as Mr Jones cleaned the blood from around the wound. With the excess blood gone, it was easier to tell how deep the cut was.

"Will it scar Mr Jones?" Luke whispered, running his finger across the edge of the cut gingerly.

"I don't know Luke, but I do know that you won't need stitches. However, you will need wound closure strips to keep the wound shut and encourage healing. You've had a lucky escape. Any deeper and I would have been forced to send you to hospital."

Twenty minutes later, Luke left the medical room with his wound sealed. Michael walked beside him, holding back a torrent of questions he knew Luke wouldn't give a straight answer to.

"What is Mum going to say when she sees this?" Luke groaned, catching his reflection in the window.

"You have to deal with Calum first," Michael replied. "And I know for a fact that that bullshit you told me about it being a scratch won't go down well with him."

"It's not bullshit," Luke mumbled.

"Yeah, and I'm Mother Theresa."

"Okay so it's not a scratch but I'm not telling you here. Someone might overhear and I'll end up in more trouble."

"Fucking hell Luke, you're talking like you're involved in some gang shit."

I'm really sorry about the lack of updates recently, I've been working long hours temporarily and I've literally just caught up with sleep.