A Touch of Luke

5

"I heard Luke got kicked out of his old school. Do you think that's true?"

I was hardly paying attention as I typed out my essay on my laptop but Remy caught my attention. "Where did you hear that?"

"There's a lot of rumours going around," she answered, shrugging a little. "Some people are saying he was a drug dealer, others are saying he punched a teacher."

I narrowed my eyes in disbelief. It all sounded like bullshit rumours to me. "You think Luke is capable of that?"

"You tell me."

"What does that mean?" I pushed my laptop to the side of the cafeteria table and was now fully interested in this conversation.

Remy shrugged, grinning mischievously. "Come on, Mar. He's always all over you in class and when you didn't give into his teasing, he literally stopped coming around because he thought you really didn't like him."

I scoffed. Now Remy was the one saying bullshit. "That is not true. That's just how Luke is."

Remy shook her head in disagreement, "If that's what you want to see, Mar."

"So he got kicked out?" I cleared my throat and pulled my laptop closer to me, changing the conversation.

Remy blew air out into her cheeks, "I'm not sure what I believe but that's what everyone seems to be saying."

"What are we talking about?" Jamie appeared, taking a seat across from us.

"Whether or not Luke really got kicked out of his old school." Remy told her.

Jamie's eyes went wide with excitement, loving talking about drama. "Oh! I heard it was because he had s*x on the bleachers."

I scrunched up my noes, "Okay, gross."

Jamie shrugged, grinning, "You jealous?"

I blinked. Was she being serious? "Jesus, what is wrong with both of you?!"

Jamie started laughing, "Oh come on, the s****l tension couldn't be cut with a hot knife."

I sputtered, my eyes going wide. "What s****l tension are you talking about!?" I felt like my head was spinning.

Wherever they got this idea from was wildly ridiculous.

Luke and I were hardly even friends.

"The bickering and teasing and taunting, all of it. You guys clearly can't wait to get an empty room together," Remy smirked, enjoying this way too much.

I looked between the two of them wide utter bewilderment, "I literally have no idea what you guys are talking about." '

"Sure," Remy scoffed. "Stay in-denial."

"In-denial about what?" And of course, Mario appears with the devil himself, Luke.

"Nothing!" I exclaimed, slamming my laptop shut as if I were hiding the nuclear codes. I don't know where that defensiveness came out from but the only thing that would be gained from Luke finding out what we were just talking about was a larger ego.

Luke smirked as he slid into the seat beside mine, "Were you talking about me, love?"

"No," I muttered, shifting my seat away from him and avoiding his gaze. "We have much better topics to discuss."

"Really?" Mario smirked, raising his eyebrows. "Like what?" My brother knew what he was doing and he was evil.

Remy and Jamie only laughed, clearly having fun watching me in misery.

"Like the game tomorrow!" I excused, quickly changing the subject. "You guys ready for that?"

"Are we ready?" Mario scoffed. "Real question is, are you ready?"

My eyebrows pulled together, "What does that mean?"

"You didn't hear?" Mario sounded confused. "We're playing against Heith-Stone."

I blinked.

I wasn't hearing this right.

"I thought you knew," Remy went serious, her eyes filling with concern as she looked at me.

"Uh, what's the deal with Heith-Stone?" Luke leaned forward, not understanding why we all went serious.

"Nothing good," Mario mumbled, shaking his head.

"Rival school but it get's more personal than that," Jamie looked at me cautiously as she spoke, not wanting to say too much to Luke.

"What does that mean?" Luke was still confused about the deal with Heith-Stone.

I shifted uncomfortably, feeling a nauseous feeling stir up in my stomach. I don't know how I didn't know that the team we were playing against was Heith-Stone.

They're our rival school but with our friend group, there was much more involved.

Let's just say we didn't exactly have a very good history with the players on that team. More specifically, I didn't have a very good history with them.

"We just don't get along with them," I excused, not wanting to tell Luke any more details that would show him what a mess I am. He saw me as a normal person, unlike everyone else, he didn't know about all the baggage I carried which was a new and refreshing change for me.

Luke nodded slowly but didn't seem to buy it completely. Thankfully though, he let it go and didn't ask further questions.

At the end of lunch, Luke stood up and the same time as me and leaned over so his lips were right by my ear, "For the record, I know it was me you were talking about. Got to say I'm a little flattered, love."

He shot me a grin before walking off, leaving me frozen in spot.