Smart // Luke Hemmings

Chapter 1 // The New Neighbors

Chapter 1 // The New Neighbors 

"Honey! Come down here please!" My mom called. I push myself up with my hands from my comfortable position on my bed. I make sure to close my laptop so my brother doesn't sneak through my personal things. I stand up quickly, making myself dizzy. I grasp my small dresser to support my weight. The second I feel better, I continue to walk downstairs. The stairs creak at the presence of my medium-sized feet. The trip downstairs is somewhat short. "Look there she is!" My mom exclaimed. "Melanie, this is my daughter Daniela. Dani, this is Melanie Hemmings. She just moved here a couple days ago, and guess what, she's living in the house right in front of us!” I shook Melanie's hand. Melanie was around my mom's age, maybe even a year or two younger. Melanie's smile was very warm and welcoming. She had medium length hair and blue eyes. She wasn't that tall but her height made her look even more elegant. 

"Nice to meet you Dani. I have a son around your age. My two other boys are already in college." Melanie said. I smiled.
"Does he live with you?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation alive. Melanie nodded. "He's going to your school, Dani." My mom said. She came in from the kitchen with some homemade cookies and placed them on the table. Melanie sat down on the couch while sipping a little of her tea. "He's supposed to be coming here about now. But-" 

"Who's supposed to come now?" My head snapped in the direction to where the deep voice came from. There stood a tall male figure. He had blue eyes and his blonde hair was brushed upwards, forming the perfect quiff-like hairstyle. He also has a lip ring on the left side of his lip.
"There you are! Luke, I want you to meet Katherine and Daniela Gray." Melanie said, standing next to her son. Melanie was about half of Luke's height. "Nice to meet you." Luke said. He extended his hand for my mom to shake. "What a lovely home you have, Ms. Gray." This comment, made my mom giggle like a teenager. People around her age shouldn't giggle like that. It's weird. "Oh please Luke, call me Katherine." Luke nodded then turned to me. "Nice to meet you Daniela." He smiled. His smile was so perfect.
"Call me Dani." I was about to giggle just like my mom did but I stopped myself. He released his grip on my hand then turned to his mom.
"Sweetie go upstairs to you room with Luke. Also, send Sammy back down." My mom said. I nodded then turned to Luke. I motioned him to follow me, which he did. I walked up the stairs, hearing double creaks on each step.
"So this is it." I said sarcastically. My room is nothing special. My walls are a white, kind of a cream, color. My bed sheets are dark blue while my curtains and dresser are white. "Wait here, I'm going to go get my brother." He nodded, while taking a look around my room. I walked across the hall to my little brother's room. "Sammy, mom wants you." I said. He was playing his video game on his iPad. He said ‘okay’ without taking his eyes away from the screen. I returned to my room, only to see Luke lying down on my bed with my picture frame in his hands. "Don't touch that please." I tried to get it out of his hands but failed. "Rude much?" He replied.
"Can I please have that back?"
"Who's that?" He completely ignored my question. He pointed to the two guys next to me in the picture. I snatched the picture out his hands. "None of your business." I placed the frame gently on my night table. He got up, to explore my room even more. "Please don't touch anything."
"Do you know what you need? You need to stop being so uptight." Luke stated.
"Uptight? I'm uptight? How am I up-"
"Exactly." He shrugged as if he proved his point.
"So how old are you?" I asked trying to clear the awkward silence between us.
"Why do you need to know?" 

"Well, our moms' are friends now, you do live in front of me, and we do go to the same school." I said matter-of-factly. He made his way over to the wall covered with all of my pictures. "Where is this?" He pointed to the picture of my mom and I at the carnival. "The carnival." 

"The Shore Carnival right?" He asked. I nodded. "I used to go there a lot."
"Lucky. I haven't gone there since I was younger." I said a little bit to quickly. He only nodded then carried on to his adventure around my room. "You haven't answered my question."
"Age? 17 turning 18 soon."
"So are you excited to be going to school?" I asked.
"Ha. You're funny I'm excited to leave school, but not excited to go to school." Luke chuckled.
"Well at least you know one person at-"
"I know many people. So don't think of me as a friend Gray." Luke cut me off. I looked down at my fingers while I heard his footsteps get closer and closer towards me. He ended up right in front of me. He put his hands on my knees, while lowering himself to my size. I couldn't show any fear. I'm not afraid of a cocky guy. "So we're not friends?" I asked.
"We could be acquaintances, we could be classmates, or even peers. But friends? That's a big no-no. You wouldn't want all those girls from our year to talk bad behind your back, to make up rumors about you, or to give you those huge deadly glares in the halls, would you?” He smirked. I shook my head. "Exactly."
"So I guess we're like frienemies?" I suggested.
"I guess Gray. Think of it as a favor. I just saved your life from drama." Luke said eyeing me up and down.
"We're on a last name basis now?" I muttered.
"What was that Gray?"
"We're on a last name basis now?" I said a bit louder.
"It describes our relationship. We hate each others guts so much, we can't say each others first names,” He smirked, "aw did I offend the poor girl?" Luke cooed. His hand reached for my chin but I swatted it away.
"At least you got my gender right." I blurted out.
Great comeback Dani..
"Oh look it fights back!" Luke exclaimed sarcastically.
"Why the sudden mood change?" I retorted. He continued to rest his hands on my knees. "Listen Gray, we're only 'friends' because of our moms. SO I only have to put the act on when that mom audience is present. Think about it as theatre" He glared at me. His light blue eyes changed to dark blue. His now dark blue eyes were filled with hatred towards me. What did I do to deserve this?
"Such a shame, I thought we could be good friends." I spat.
Luke chuckled a bit. Before he could say anything else, we both heard Melanie say, "Luke! Come down here!"
"Such a shame this bonding time has to end." Luke mocked me. He pushed himself up from my knees. He made his way to the door, and then turned around to face me. "See you in school, Gray." He smirked then walked out of my room.
I lay back on my bed, looking at my ceiling. Why me? What did I do to deserve this hatred from the new neighbor? And at that moment, I found out that Luke Hemmings is the perfect example of a bad boy.