The Boyfriend Algorithm

Chapter 3 - Luke

Hey everyone who's been reading my book!

        I'm very drastically sorry about not being able to update recently... my computer kinda got dropped and I had to get it fixed by my dad (Thanks Dad! You're the best!) and I actually went to Vegas this weekend for a robotics competition and my cellular data wasn't letting me use Wattpad for some odd reason... anyway, again sorry for the long wait! D:

        I hope you guys like the chapter!

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        As I walked back to the rest of the people from my school that were going on the trip, I noticed that my science teacher and my math teacher had their eyes wide open and their mouths gaping open as if they just saw me save someone's life. That must have been the first time that they've seen me talk to a person my age in a public setting--especially a boy. They knew that I was not interested in boys at all and I would rather be swapping spit with a book than a boy any day. If anyone was near me for too long, they could see that. Everyone except for that boy that I just met. Instead of screaming "loser" in my face and shoving something nasty onto my clothes and running with a wicked expression on their faces, he actually treated me like I was respectable human being.

        As I got closer to the group, I saw all the expressions that seemed chiseled across each of my classmates' faces. Each of the girls' faces were cold and looked like they were made of stone with their pupils dilated, and the boys had their mouths shaped like Os. As soon as they started snapping out of their statue-like state, a boy with broad shoulders and a prize winning smile came up to me with a curious expression.

        “So... loser, did you finally get someone to like you who is actually at your level? Or was he just trying to tell you to back off like all the other guys you’ve liked?” the boy, Luke, said dripping with pure wickedness, but with a slight but almost unnoticeable catch in his voice at the end of his sentence. I knew what was his weaknesses almost too well, and I intended on using my knowledge to try to make a come back for him.

        “You know, just because you aren’t over me and you chose to break my heart, it doesn’t mean that you get to call all the shots in my love life. You may have affected my past, but you are not in any control of my future,” I said and I tried my very hardest to try to hurt him as much as he hurt me earlier. My classmates heard what Luke and I were talking about and heads started to turn slowly but steadily.

        “Ouch. You really think that I would like a loser like you who doesn’t know a fraction of what the word fun means?”

        “Do you think a girl with my 2400 SAT score and my impeccable GPA shows that I don’t know what the simple three letter word means?”

        “Yes,” Luke said with a curious gleam in his eye. Challenge accepted, Luke, challenge accepted. 

        “It is something that provides jollity or amusement." 

        "That's actually not bad, really. However Ms. perfect SAT score, you could have been more concise and said something that I, Clary Montgomery, am not."

        "Go away Luke! You may share the same name as my favorite jedi from The Republic in Star Wars, but I'm not okay with you putting down this innocent girl just because you can't get over her and she doesn't want to get back together with you!" Brandon, one of the more nerdy boys in my grade that I sometimes studied with, said before the teachers came to see what the raucous was about.

        "Okay, boys and girls, we need you all to grab all of your belongings and head over to the loading dock and we will be making a head count!" my science teacher that everyone feared yelled to everyone. As soon as everyone grabbed their belongings, Mr. Sanchez, the science teacher that everyone was scared of, pulled me aside. To be honest, I was scared. The few times that Mr. Sanchez did pull students aside is to give them hard lectures on how to behave in class or to give students referrals or detentions.

        "Ms. Montgomery, you know you can relax right? You are not in any kind of trouble today Missy. I just want to tell you to not listen to your peers for a second if it regards you not being good enough or anything of that sort. I know they seem mean... but that's high school for you. There will always be jealous kids trying to bring you down like there's no tomorrow so then they can make themselves feel better. I know that you've probably heard that a lot, but trust me. I've gone through what you are going though right now. I know your relationship with Luke probably ended badly from just seeing how you snap at him like he doesn't matter. Listen, your heart is probably either in repair or just plain old broken right now. Just remember, sometimes even though you're broken, it's good to love again. It brings these "good feeling" chemicals into your blood stream and makes you totally hormonal--" Mr. Sanchez lectured with just the right amount of enthusiasm like with his teaching style.

        "Okay, no need for you to become the science nerd all of a sudden with this life lesson stuff, okay Mr. Sanchez?" I said trying to lighten up the mood of the conversation as I heard him laugh.

        "Alright. Ms. Montgomery, I hope you are on your best behavior for the trip okay? I saw what you did with your parents when they dropped you off. Don't be so hard on them. Parents... are well... parents. They're overprotective sometimes, but give them a break... actually I forgot who I was talking to. Clarissa, you're usually really good with your parents. I know this trip was probably not in your best interests because your English teacher has been raving about how great and easy of a English student you are and how you only want to write and read and study and do homework, but you should maybe call your parents and tell them how thankful you are maybe once you're in the groove of having fun. Anyway, go. Make some new friends, but right now we are running late on getting to the boarding dock."

        As we walked to the dock my classmates gave me the usual stares that they usually gave me when I came out of talking to a teacher. 

        "So, Clary, why don't you date one of the losers back at school, or better yet your homework. At least on a one night stand, you won't be rejected," Luke whispered into my ear as I unknowingly approached him.

        "Why don't you date your homework? At least you can dump your girls every night without feeling guilty about it," I replied without a care in the world for what he had to say or think. Immediately I felt thousands of my nerve endings scream in agony as Luke punched me in the stomach as I fell onto the hard damp ground. 

        "Hey, you there! The guy with the blonde hair and broadish looking shoulders who just punched the lovely girl with brunette hair, you better stop this rashness. She would never hurt a soul and you only provoked her to provoke you to make you want to punch her, and you did nothing to try to jar your anger. Shame on you! You're a coward for not trying to hold it in, you know, like most guys do," a voice called from afar that could only possibly be Derrick. What was he doing? Luke would kill three million men if they got in his way and he would never give up and he would not think twice about it. He was ruthless and violent, and Derrick intervening would not help one single bit, in fact it would probably make it worse. 

        "Come over here and see if I care. I've known her for longer, and I know her as a selfish, heartless, desperate girl. Is that really what you want? I mean look at her, she's not even that pretty!" Luke said and within the next second as I turned away, too scared to see what Luke would do next, I heard Luke screaming and begging for Derrick to stop. I was hopeful that Derrick made Luke stop for once and that Luke wasn't the winner of this fight. However a few seconds later, Derrick fell and landed next to me with a blood running down his nose in a small stream. He noticed where he landed and inched his way toward me and hugged me. Blood and everything in that moment, I thought that I finally found my superman.