Toxic - Luke Hemmings

Chapter 37

Izzy's POV

The rest of the weekend went by with me staying in my room. I told Sophie that I wanted time to myself after not having any for the last couple weeks, so she left me alone. I got my back pack together on Monday, getting ahead of schedule for the first time in as long as I can remember. I was using the one that Michael got me for Christmas, and it felt so much better walking out of dorm knowing I wasn't lugging around a bag that was barely staying stitched together.

On the first day of class I was anal about actually getting ready. I didn't want to walk in looking like a mess, so I put leggings and a flannel on and put my hair into a bun, leaving two strands down on either side of my face. It wasn't much, but it was better than throwing a sweatshirt on and calling it a day. I slid my Vans on and headed out the door, wanting to get to my first class on time.

I only had one class today, which was at 9:30 so I didn't have to wake up early. The group chat was going berserk the entire time I was in the classroom, and when I checked it after I was dismissed, it was about meeting for lunch. I already knew that Luke still had another class right after that one, so I texted back saying I was on my way to meet whoever was actually able to go.

I guess Mike had another class, too, so I sat with Sophie, Ashton, and Calum for an hour in the dining hall. It felt like we never even left, me sitting with my one box of sushi and Ashton fighting Sophie for a bite of her sandwich. At least it was back to normal, even if it was the normal where Luke and I couldn't get along.

"Has Luke talked to?" Sophie asked after not hearing from me for two days. I didn't really want to talk about it, but if I didn't give her something she wouldn't stop asking.

"No." I saw Calum and Ashton looking at me with frowns, but I tried to brush it off like I wasn't bothered.

"Has he talked to any of you about it?" She turned to the guys and started prying at them. I was honestly glad to have her in my corner. If she wanted something she went and got it, and this time it was any information regarding where Luke stood in all of this. Ash and Cal just looked at each other, probably deciding if they should say anything at all.

"He hasn't directly. I think he's just getting over it still." Ashton said. I called bullshit immediately. He was already over it with Mike, it was only me that he had a problem with.

"He doesn't seem to have a problem with Mike anymore." I mumbled, looking down at my phone to scroll through Facebook.

"I don't know why he's acting like this. You didn't do anything wrong, Mike told us everything the night we got back to school. Luke didn't even have a comment to make about it. He just told Mike it was fine." Calum said, giving me a sympathetic look. It just wasn't fair; this entire situation wasn't fair.

"If he doesn't want to be with me I don't even care anymore. I'm perfectly fine going back to how things were." I was lying, but I desperately wanted that to be true. I just had to fake it until I actually felt that way. As long as I kept my distance and didn't let him get under my skin, I'd be fine.

"You know that's not true, Izz." Sophie put her hand on my shoulder, trying to be as careful as possible. I knew I told her how hard this was for me, but if I just kept telling everyone I was okay, maybe I would be.

"I'm tired of fighting him. I would rather be alone than keep going in circles like this. I'm just exhausted." I leaned my elbows on the table, running my hands through my hair as I thought about how tired I really was.

"We can try to talk to him for you. We won't tell him you know." Ash was only trying to help, but I wanted to forget about it and move on. Things weren't going to change, Luke wasn't going to change.