All I Need ✘ [Hemmings] (On Hold)

four: Can I Handle It?

For a reason unknown to mankind, I wake up at 6 AM, and for once in my life, I might not be late to school.

Despite this, I decide to unlock my phone and check my messages.

4:43AM — Luke: hello

me: hey ?

Luke: what's up ?

me: getting ready for school,, what time for the movie ?

Luke: you're still in school ?

me: yeah.

Luke: oh ok. and if you wouldn't mind stopping by before the movie at like 5 ?

me: sure.

Only a few seconds later, Luke texts me his street address. Then, I start getting ready. I've never understood how most girls take two hours to get ready when I can take half of that — max. So, it isn't a surprise when I finish right on schedule.

Without eating a bite for breakfast for the fear of feeling nauseous, I head downstairs and get in the car, not bothering to tell my mum goodbye. Instead, I put the keys in the ignition and head on my way, and when I come face-to-face with my locker, my friend Michelle is already there.

"What the hell!" she yells when she sees me. I turn my attention to her and shrug, urging her to tell me what's she so enraged about. 

Instead of giving me a proper response, she holds up her iPhone 6 Plus — the latest model. At first, I think she's rubbing it in my face, but that changes when I see what's on the screen.

Thankfully, all my suspicions are proven wrong when I see that it's only the coffee cup I posted yesterday.

"What the hell is this?" she repeats.

"Um, a cup? I got it from Panera Bread, they sell really good coffee — " I start, but she cuts me off.

"That's what I thought, too — at first," she pauses for a moment, typing at unimaginable speeds on her device, "but then I saw this!" 

My friend turns the phone back in my direction and I stand there awkwardly for a second, trying to find what I'm supposed to be looking at. However, my eyes widen when I see exactly it — the article all about Luke Hemmings and his new "Mystery Blonde".

I push the phone back in Michelle's hand when I'm done reading, gathering my books back in my hands before walking off. 

She follows me as I try desperately to get her to leave me alone. "Why didn't I hear anything about this?" she pouts.

I sigh, whipping around to face her. God, I love her, but sometimes I just want to strangle her. "Because it happened last night? Because it's not your business, it's mine? Because I'd kinda like to keep it on the down-low?"

Michelle only scoffs. "Well, that's not going to work out too well," she mumbles, beginning to turn away.

I shake my head and grab her wrist, forcing her to look at me. "Why not?"

Despite being agitated only seconds before, my friend looks at me with eyes of pity. "At least a third of the school has seen it," she admits.

I suppress a groan. The only thing I can think of is Luke and... "Are you sure?" I ask, sending out a silent prayer.

Michelle nods and pats me on the shoulder before turning in the opposite direction and heading for her class. I watch her figure disappear down the corner before I do the same.

I wouldn't say I was invisible at school before, but I wasn't one of the popular crowd. I had a few friends, which is all you really need. I mean, I was happy, and if I'm being perfectly honest, I would think it was better having only a few friends rather than almost everyone in the school wanting to be yours. But maybe sometimes being popular isn't so bad, that is, if it's for the right reasons.

Before this whole "Luke Situation", when I walked down the halls, no one batted an eye — which was fine by me. Now, it seems everyone is doing the complete opposite.

Trying to make it seem like everything doesn't phase me, I walk nonchalantly in my class and sit in the second to last row. It might not be where I usually sit, but frankly, I don't think it matters.

Luckily, only a few seconds later does Emeri come wandering into the classroom. She, thankfully, takes the only occupied seat next to me and offers me a smile. Plus, instead of pestering me about Luke like I thought she would, she takes out her pencil and math book.

"Hey," I greet her, playfully waving a hand in front of her face.

She turns her gaze to me — almost like she forgot I was there — and smiles. "Hey!"

Awkwardly enough, I can't think of anything to say, so I pull out my own textbook and pencil and stare at the board for any sort of sign on what we should be doing. When my eyes finally find it, I snort and turn to Emeri, gesturing to the board where our assignment is written down in messy expo-marker. She furrows her eyebrows when she reads it and turns to look at the rest of the people in the room. Much to our puzzlement, the rest of the students seem to be doing perfectly fine.

I shake my head. "We did not have homework last night."

Emeri's eyebrows continue scrunching together. "That's what I thought, too." She shrugs her shoulders and turns to the guy next to her, probably asking what the homework was. After a couple of seconds of looking around, Emeri turns to me and flips open her textbook, mumbling, "Pages 118 through 122."

Lucky for me, I open my textbook right to page 188. However, when I actually see what I'm supposed to do, I pound my fist lightly on the table.

Emeri nearly does the same. "Great, just great," she says, and then adds, "I hate math."

I nod my head in agreement at her statement before taking out my notebook and pencil and getting started. Once you get the hang of it, it's not that hard, actually.

"So," Emeri whispers, scooting her desk a little closer to mine, "what's all that stuff about you and Luke Hemmings? Did you meet him?"

I heave another sigh, having another internal debate with myself. "He also kind of gave me his phone number and invited me to the movies?" I admit, more of a question than anything. I end up telling her everything.

Emeri nearly falls out of her chair, which earns a few more glances in our direction. I try hard not to laugh. "Did he really?" she asks, like she doesn't believe me. Honestly, I don't blame her. I guess I wouldn't believe me, either.

Our math teacher turns in our direction and glares at Emeri and I, silencing us both for a couple minutes. Eventually, I turn back to her and nod my head, hoping she still remembers what she asked moments before.

She looks at me, wide eyes and mutters, "Jealous," before turning her full attention onto her last few problems.

"I don't know if it'll work out, though," I finally say, biting my lip and furrowing my eyebrows.

Thankfully, Emeri knows exactly what I mean. "It's best not to worry about it. "Everything happens for a reason", right? Plus, if you don't work out, you can still be friends," she comforts. I nod my head after a few moments, trying to assure myself that she's right.

Up until the end of class I'm trying to assure myself, all the while phrases like things don't ever turn out like we plan repeat in my head.

***

hi hello how are you,, this is also short asf

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