What Now ⇔ Muke ✓

[2] Basketball

LUKE

"Luke! Luke! Luke!"

The voice chants in my head before my mind is even functioning, and I groggily wipe my eyes, which were still shut. I have a strange sense of not knowing where the hell I am, or why there is someone chanting my name.

"Luke! Luke! Luke!" the voice continues to sing, except now my mind has snapped awake and I can hear that someone is right next to me. I pry open my eyes and blink few times to rid of the black spots in my vision. I roll my eyes forward to find a familiar face with a huge mess of curly hair jumping up and down on my bed, chanting my name loudly in a high voice.

"Ashton?" I groan, my voice a bit raspy from sleep. My bed stops moving when Ashton stops jumping and he breathes exaggeratedly in a heavy sigh. I sigh as well, and push myself up enough to lean back on the wall behind me, flexing my stiff muscles.

"Finally, you're awake." Ashton whines, and scoots off the bed. I see him dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans as he circles the bed to kneel by my face. "Has anyone told you you're hard to wake up?"

"Yes." I grumble, before ripping off the sheets clinging to my body and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. Ashton moves out of the way as I stand up, stretching.

"Today is your first day of high school here, so get up!" Ashton instructs. "My mom made breakfast downstairs, so after you get ready come down to eat." Ashton quickly leaves the room, leaving me digging through my suitcase, slightly disoriented. I silently regret not unpacking last night. I finally grab a sleeveless t-shirt that says: Destroy Yourself See Who Gives a Fuck. As I put it on, I wonder if they care about swearing but decide to ignore it. I squeeze into a pair ripped jeans and black shoes.

I walk over to the mirror and slide in my black lip ring and start working on my hair. After what seems like a while, I am finally able to style my hair into its quiff and hurry down the stairs. I make my way into the kitchen, where the smell of bacon fills the air.

Inside, I see Ashton stuffing his face with pancakes, his little sister and brother next to him, nibbling on their breakfast. They all look up at me with a bright smile on their faces.

"Hi, Luke!" Lauren smiles at me before pushing her plate away and grabbing her backpack, which sits in the corner of the room. I immediately cross my arms over my shirt, forgetting that Ashton has younger siblings. Harry sits in the corner and just sort of nods before following his sister out of the house with his bag. Ashton giggles a little when the door closes. I fidget uncomfortably.

"You can uncross your arms, now." Ashton laughs and crunches on a strip of bacon. I tentatively loosen my arms to my sides, and Ms. Irwin leaned over to see what Ashton was talking about. Her eyes widen slightly at the phrase but she just sort of shrugs and turns away.

"Nice shirt, Luke." she jokes, peeking at me over her should to give me a teasing smile. I nervously fiddled with the hem of the shirt, wondering if I should change. Will there be little kids around the high school? Will I be a bad influence?

"Grab a bite to eat, Luke," my aunt continues. "There should be plenty left." She unties her apron and slips it off, shoving the fabric into a corner cupboard. There is still plenty of food, like she said.

"I'm okay, but thank you." I politely decline, my appetite drained from nerves about starting high school here. "I'm not very hungry." Ashton gives me an odd look before getting up from his seat at the table and moving toward the door.

"That's not something you hear over at this house." Ms. Irwin laughs and gives us a small wave before scooping up all the dirty dishes and dumping them into the sink. "Have fun at school, you two! Good luck, Luke."