All I Need ✘ [Hemmings] (On Hold)

five: Surprise?

Much to my annoyance, the rest of the day isn't much better. Everywhere I go, there's people whispering about me. I don't know which is more irritating: the fact that people are getting angry at me for reasons I'm not sure on, or the fact that no one — but my friends — have came up and said anything to my face.

I thought about ditching school, but I knew my parents wouldn't be too keen on that idea, so I stayed and suffered through the rest of my classes until it was lunch time. And lucky for me, when I turn to sit down at my usual table, I find it cramped with a few random people here and there. Thankfully, Emeri, noticing my confusion and obvious annoyance, waves me over from the more vacant side of it. Thankful for an excuse to get away from the curious stares, I rush over to her side and set my tray down.

A couple minutes after I've finished my cheeseburger, my phone starts vibrating. The sound doesn't gather the attention of anyone but Emeri and Michelle, and they both shoot me curious stares. Furrowing my eyebrows, I fish it out of my pocket, giving them a look in return.

Incoming Call: Luke

I bite my lip and look at Emeri for help, but she quickly waves me off with the flick of her hand. I give her a wide grin before excusing myself out of the cafeteria and into the vacant halls.

"Hey," I greet, a grin finding its way onto my lips.

"Uh, hey," Luke responds. "What are you doing?"

I laugh. "Well, I'm still at school."

I hear Luke groan. "Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, I forgot about that. I can call you when you get out—"

"No," I cut him off, "It's okay, I'm at lunch."

He takes a second to respond, still sounding unsure, but I continue on.

"Um, how are things with you?" I get out, thinking back on what Michelle showed me this morning.

Luke sighs. "Okay, I guess. Did you see the article?"

"Yeah," I huff. "It seems a lot of people have."

Luke is silent for another moment. "Do you have a Twitter?" he finally asks.

I hesitate. "Uh, no?" I lie, freezing in the midst of my pacing. What's going on on Twitter?

"Oh, okay," he replies, seeming a little unconvinced.

I rack my brain for something to say. "So what are you doing then?" Good one!

"Do you want the truth?" he jokes.

I giggle. "I'm not too sure."

I can hear Luke's smile. "Smart move," he says.

The line goes silent. "I think I'm going to go," I tell him, glancing back in the lunchroom at the curious pairs of eyes that have accumulated. 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll see you tonight, then. Don't forget," he teases.

I snort. You have no idea. "I won't."

"Bye, Abby," he says, and before I can say anything in response, the line goes dead.

I smile to myself before shoving my phone in my back pocket and heading to the lunchroom where Emeri and Michelle wait.

"So?" they asks in unison.

I roll my eyes. "He asked me if I'd seen the article, that's it," I say. My friends share a look. "What?" I ask.

Emeri shrugs and turns back to her meal, shoveling some food into her mouth. Michelle turns to me and sighs. "That can't be all he said."

I feign confusion. "That's it."

"You were gone, like, 10 minutes, are you sure he didn't say anything else?" she pesters.

I set my fork down on my tray. "He asked me if I had a Twitter," I say.

"He did?" Emeri spits out, turning her attention back to me.

"I told him I didn't," I admit.

Michelle gasps and Emeri bugs her eyes at me. "Why?" Michelle shrieks.

I shrug. "I don't know, I wanted to see what was going on first."

Emeri shakes her head and Michelle groans. I need new friends. "Abby!" she shrieks. "He was probably going to warn you and tell you not to go on."

I give her a pointed look. Seriously, it's like they don't know me at all. "And I would have listened?"

Michelle raises her eyebrows in a questioning manner. "Really?" she asks, frowning slightly at my attitude.

"Yes," I say in response, shrugging again. I pick up my fork and steal some of Emeri's blueberries while Michelle glares at me. Thankfully, she doesn't say anything else and Emeri takes that as her cue to drop it as well.

After we're finished eating, we get up to throw away our trash. Michelle stays with her other friends.

"Did you finish the math homework?" Emeri asks, leading me out of the cafeteria and into the courtyard. We take a seat at one of the tables.

I nod. "Yeah, it wasn't all that bad."

Emeri nods, too, and then we both go quiet. Finally, she says what's on her mind. "Did you really mean what you said about you and Luke?"

I give her a weird look. "About wanting us to work out?" She nods. "Yeah," I answer, picking at my nails. Emeri nods her head and we sit in silence. Finally, I look up at her and sigh. "I really want to like Luke for him, like, I don't want to like the idea of him — the Luke I've known, but haven't really known, y'know?"

Emeri laughs. "That was really confusing."

I put my hands over my face and nod. "I know," I mumble, the words distorted by my hands.

A few seconds later, the bell rings and Emeri and I stand up and head for our Environmental Science class — all the while I'm thinking about the shit that's probably going down on Twitter.

***

this chapter is so short I'm so sorry asdfewjna