savior

twenty five

DAY NINETEEN; TWELVE DAYS TO GO

I wanted to ask why the school decided to feed us something that looked like it just crawled out of the trash and onto our trays, but when I reached the table, the only question that came to mind was why Luke was sitting at our table. When Ashton talked about him to me, he seemed very disappointed. I thought he'd probably feel very weird having his ex-best-friend join us for lunch, but Ashton didn't look uncomfortable sitting there chatting with him.

Michael, Anna, and Calum were sitting in their usual spots, eating their lunches without saying anything to one another. That's how it normally went. Michael looked so uncomfortable sitting there, watching the two of them flirt. I sort of felt bad for him; maybe he wanted a relationship like theirs.

The only available seat—to my luck—was in between Ashton and Luke. Michael wasn't the only uncomfortable one anymore. I didn't want to be rude, but I also didn't want to sit next to my ex boyfriend, who I clearly explained to that I didn't want to be friends. It would just be weird.

A smile plastered on Luke's face when I sat down to the right of him. In order to properly avoid him, I focused my attention on Anna and Calum, who were feeding each other their lunches. I dug into my meal, which looked a little like meatloaf, but I wasn't sure. Normally the school lunches didn't look this bad, but I think they had burnt mine today. It was not my day.

Anna turned her attention to me. "So, where were you guys yesterday? Everyone was here except you two," she said, pointing at Ashton and I.

"We were out," I told her nonchalantly, not caring if she acted suspicious. I was so tired this morning, and nothing had been going right for me all day. My earlier encounter with Death had scared the crap out of me, and seemed like the main reason my day was turning out to be terrible.

Anna looked excited. "You skipped together? That's so cute! What did you do?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me. I knew she was probably thinking about something crazy happening between Ashton and I.

Ashton gave me a look that clearly stated that he didn't know what to think about Anna. He had already told me he thought it was weird that she flipped out so much about the two of us. I let out a sigh. "We went on a train, Anna. We hung out, as friends. That's all we are."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Luke relax. On the other side of me, Ashton slumped back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. He had pushed his tray towards the middle of the circular table were sitting at.

"Whatever," she said, stuffing some salad in her mouth.

I was so tired of Anna just suspecting that Ashton and I were a couple, when he clearly wanted nothing to do with that. He was always so creeped out when Anna mentioned it. But I didn't know what to say to her about it. Of course, I wanted her to stop, but it would take a lot of convincing if I wanted her to give it up.

"I'll be right back," Ashton said, before getting up and heading towards the bathrooms.

When he was gone, I felt something behind my chair. Luke's arm was rested on it. I turned to glare at him, but he didn't seem fazed. He just smiled really big, like he had accomplished yet another something. Anna and Calum weren't paying any attention to anyone but themselves, and I noticed that Michael wasn't acting like his normally upbeat self. He had been so down lately, but he wouldn't tell anyone what was going on.

I turned to him, prepared to make a little conversation with him. "Hey, Michael. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Everything is okay," he said, not really looking at me. I didn't believe a word that he said. Michael kept his head down, not taking his eyes off of his empty tray.

Everything was awkward for the next few minutes. Ashton was still in the bathroom, Anna and Calum were looking at each other like they were the only two people in the room, and Luke decided to rest his hand on my back and draw circles onto the material of my clothing.

"Anna, I want to tell you something," Calum said, breaking the silence. My best friend perked up, clasping her hands together, and turning to face her boyfriend. "I know we've been in each other's lives for only a few months, and I also know that I've just recently grown the balls to ask you to be my girlfriend . . ."

Michael stood up from his chair. His facial expression resembled a mix of anger and sadness. He glared at Anna, turned on his heel, and stormed out of the cafeteria.

Anna picked herself up as well, telling Calum she'd be right back. She, too, ran off in the direction of the cafeteria doors, following Michael, who was already out of sight. I could hear her screaming his name as she took off.

"What just happened?" I asked, very confused. Everything was fine five minutes ago, as we all sat eating our lunches. It had just gotten weird.

Calum's eyebrows were raised. He turned his head in the direction that his girlfriend ran off in. "I don't have a clue. Should I go see what's going on?" He didn't wait for my answer. Instead, he got up, put away his, Anna's, and Michael's trays, and disappeared.

Luke looked at me. He removed his arm from the back of my chair, and placed his hands in his lap.

Everything that had just occured confused me a lot. I knew that Michael was uncomfortable, but it couldn't have been because of Anna and Calum. He told me he didn't like Anna at all. I was surprised when he said she could sit with us for lunch in the first place. Why was he sudden so stressed about her and her relationship with Calum? Nothing was making sense to me.

"Well, that was awkward," Luke muttered. He rubbed his hands together. "So, uh, can I ask you something?" I didn't answer him. At this point I couldn't care less what he did. I was still trying to figure out what occured before us just a few seconds ago. "Alright, I'll go for it, then. I want to—I would like to know your reason for dumping me."

"Luke, I—"

Ashton joined us at the table. I was thankful to have him interrupt the conversation. It was no where on my to-do list to explain to Luke that I simply got bored of our relationship. I knew he was sort of an emotional person, and it would probably hurt his feelings if I told him that.

"Where'd everyone go?" Ashton asked, pointing to the empty chairs. His face was a little red, and the tips of his hair were wet, like he had splashed himself in the face with water. Luke and I both shrugged.

I thought back to what Death had said to me this morning in the classroom: "Pay attention to your friends." Surely he couldn't have meant Anna, Calum, and Michael, right?