Don't Give Up On Me ✔

Chapter 29 ~ Why should I waste my time

Hayden's POV

Sleep didn't come easy to me last night. I look at my clock. It's only four-thirty. There are still a few more hours until we have to be at school. I take a quick shower before throwing on some jeans and a black t-shirt. I grab my hoodie to put on later and walk downstairs to make breakfast for everyone.

Our so-called slumber party was a nice distraction from what was posted about me on the school social media yesterday. Isaac, Nick and I each slept in our own rooms. Luke let Killian sleep in the guest room while he slept downstairs on the couch. Isabelle shared her room with Emma and Isla shared her room with Sofia.

The house is still quiet meaning I am the only one awake. I walk into the kitchen and have my life scared out of me. I wasn't expecting to find Luke sitting at the counter drinking a coffee this early in the morning. I rarely ever expect to see him in the morning because he's not a morning person.

"Damn, dude, you scared me. Why are you awake?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I haven't been sleeping much lately. You?"

I rake my hand through my hair. "Just nervous about today, I guess. For the first time I'm going to walk into school, and everyone is going to know that I don't have a family. To make matters worse, they're going to think I killed my family."

"Firstly, you have a family. You have Isla, Nick, Isabelle and Isaac. Beth still loves you. I'm pretty sure Killian and Sofia aren't going anywhere either. And hopefully you still think of me as family. Not only were you my best friend, but you were also a brother to me."

"Thanks, man," I say as I give him a side hug. "You're right, Luke. I do have a family. It's the people in this house, and that includes you." Luke seems so relieved by me calling him family. "You know, you're not alone either. We all still care about you, even Nick. You made a mistake, and you don't deserve to keep being brought down for it."

Luke's eyes tear up. "Thanks. That means more than you will ever know to me."

"Want to help me make breakfast? I'm sure everyone is going to be waking up soon, and they're going to be hungry." I ask.

Luke walks over to the fridge. "French toast or pancakes?"

I check the cabinets to see what we have before deciding on French toast. As I work on the French toast, Luke fries the bacon and makes scramble eggs. Once I am finished with the French toast, I slice some bananas to put on it.

"Breakfast!" Luke and I yell at the same time. Everyone quickly comes downstairs. Isla and Sofia are already dressed and ready for school like me and Luke while everyone else is still in their sleeping attire.

Isla surprises me by hugging me. "Thanks for making breakfast."

"You're welcome, Love, but Luke helped me too."

Isla runs over to Luke and hugs him too. "Thanks for helping with breakfast." I'm not going to lie; I felt a pang of jealousy when she hugged him.

He lightly kisses her on the forehead. "Anything to help out, Sunshine." Luke's is a good guy and I'm glad that our friendship is returning to normal, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to hand Isla over to him. I'm in love with her, and I am determined to make her mine.

After breakfast, once everyone is ready, we leave for school. Sofia rides with Isla and they drop the three younger ones off. Nick, Luke, and I ride with Killian in his truck promising the girls that we will wait for them at school before going in.

Killian is driving with me in the passenger seat while Luke and Nick are sitting in the back seat. Killian's truck may be old, but he's taken good care of it. It's a four-door, so it fits the four of us with ease. We could probably even squeeze a fifth person in it if we really had too. The car ride is awkward, to say the least. With Chelsea exposing my life yesterday, everyone else is nervous on who she will target today. Killian breaks the silence. "Don't worry too much about what other people say at school today. You have all of us on your side."