mr. hemmings // l.h.

20 • madeline

I was confused when Luke wasn't in class that Monday. We had just spoke on the phone the night before, and I was confident I'd be seeing him.

"Where's Mr. Hemmings?" I asked Mrs. Reynolds, shamelessly.

"He insisted I teach today." She said, nonchalantly. "He seemed to have a lot to get done."

That didn't sound right. I nodded anyway, taking my seat.

I could barely sit through her lesson beginning the Protestant Reformation. It was almost painful. I missed Luke. I subtly sent him a text, under my desk.

to: luke
hey.... where are you?

from: luke
sorry... really busy today. I taught the first half of the day.

to: luke
you didn't want to see me?

No answer.
I was getting angry.

He wasn't really my boyfriend or anything, but still. I was annoyed with him.

I suffered through her lesson, got some bookwork done, and dreadfully accepted the two whole hours of homework she assigned the class. Stuffing it all into my backpack, I snuck out of class as soon as the last bell rang. Everyone made their way downstairs to leave the school, but I was headed the opposite direction. To the History Office.

Just as I suspected, Luke was there. Alone. Hunched over a textbook.
He looked up slowly. His face was drooping.

"Jesus." I breathed. "What happened to you?"

He sighed in defeat. "How'd you know I'd be here?"

"Lucky guess."

"I had a rough night." He explained. "I should've been studying. I have a huge test tomorrow, and I'm not prepared at all."

"You look so stressed." I frowned. "Why did you have a rough night?"

He put his head in his hands, and sighed. I slowly made my way towards him.
I sat beside him at the small table, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong, Luke?"

Finally, he looked at me. "I have to tell you something."

"Okay." I croaked. I was getting nervous now.

"Last night," he began slowly, "an ex-girlfriend stopped by and-"

I jumped up, out of the chair.
"Luke!" I exclaimed, "what did you do!"

He got up after me, grabbing me by both arms.

"Shh!" He said, "Calm down, calm down! Nothing happened! I didn't do anything, I swear!"

"Then why are you acting so weird?" I asked, not fully convinced.

"Because," He sighed, "I have an awful past with her."

I stopped talking for a minute.
"Promise me nothing happened between you two."

"I promise," He said softly, running his soft hands down my face, "please, please relax. I promise nothing happened."

I let out a long breath.
"Tell me about the past, then. Tell me everything. What did she say? Why was she there?"

"One question at a time." He stopped me with a weak laugh.

"Well, I want to know everything." I persisted.

He let out a long breath. We both sat back down.
"Her name is Nora. We dated for three years, and we broke up six months ago."

I gulped. Three whole years?

"We met when I first moved here, to America, I mean. We had a science class together. And we hit it off. One thing led to another, and we got pretty serious."

I felt nauseas listening to him talk about another girl. He looked like he felt just as sick as me.

"But," He said slowly, "I quickly learned that she wasn't who I thought she was. She was, well, horrible to me, to say the least. She was manipulative in many ways. She has a way of making me feel inferior to her, and like I'm not good enough. And that's not even the worst of it. She hit me all of the time, pushed me into walls, threw things at me. Vases, cell phones, textbooks, you name it. She was explosive when she was angry. And toxic. She hurt me a lot, but the emotional pain was the worst. And then, I found out she cheated on me. And even worse I forgave her. But then it happened again, and again, and again. And I just couldn't put myself through the same things. I was making myself miserable."

"I'm so sorry." I barely whispered.

He gave me a small smile, "Oh, don't be. She taught me a lot of things. She showed me what I don't want in a relationship. And she showed me what love isn't."

I nodded, not having much else to say.

"And," he continued, "unfortunately, I'm still a little fucked up over it. I mean don't get me wrong, I don't miss her. I need you to know that I don't miss her. She didn't give me much to miss. It's just, I have trouble, with relationships now. I'm afraid to commit, because I'm afraid to get hurt. But you make me feel better. I feel secure with you. That's why I wish you'd just relax and understand that I'm not going anywhere."

I sighed, "It's hard, Luke. I don't know what you're thinking. I can't read your mind. Especially now that there's Nora, and she's your age, and you have history with her, and-"

"Would you get back together with Travis?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Of course I wouldn't." I said defensively.

"Okay, and I wouldn't get back together with Nora. Travis didn't treat you right. Nora didn't treat me right, either. We have a lot more in common than you know, sweet girl." He said, softly.

I nodded, slowly. "I guess you're right. But why did she come see you?"

"To get in my head." He said. "Or, to see if she still could. She asked if I was seeing anyone."

"And you said?"

He smiled, "someone very special to me."

Ha. Suck it, Nora.

I smiled. He put a hand under my chin.

"Don't forget that you're my girl."

I smiled again, "I like the sound of that."

He pressed both hands to my face, and pulled me into him, kissing me softly. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and melted into him more and more. His hands made their way from my face to my hips, pulling me closer by my skirt. The kiss got more and more heated, but when we heard the door knob turn we jumped apart.
Mr. Grayson, another history teacher walked in.

"And that is how Bohr's model of hydrogen calculates the energies of electrons in the shell." He explained immediately, referring to the chemistry textbook in front of him. "Does the equation make sense now?"

I nodded, catching on.
"Yup. Thanks, Mr. Hemmings."

I smiled innocently at Luke, and then at Mr. Grayson, who obliviously smiled back and continued gathering his lesson plans.
Without another word, I picked up my book bag and made my way out.