Strung Together ~ Lrh

Chapter Four ~ August

“Uggghh,” I moaned. “I am so full right now it is ridiculous.” Calum and Michael were groaning along with me. The check came and we each contributed eighteen dollars. “We should get going,” I said. “I don’t want to be late, and I have to drop by my house to grab my stuff.” Michael nodded and got up. “Go on without me!” Calum shouted laying across the booth. “I can’t get up!”

Michael groaned and grabbed Calum’s hand to drag him off the seat. I took his other hand and yanked until he fell on his ass. We all burst out laughing and walked out the door. It was 6:50 and the sun had just finished setting. Golden rays of light peaked over the skyscrapers. I loved getting up early every once in a while just to see the city wake up. Every morning was a chance to start over.

“We should hurry up a little, your boyfriend is probably waiting for you at school” Calum said winking at me. “Chris Pine is at our school?!” I gasped. “You know who I mean.” Calum said rolling his eyes playfully. I shoved him a little and smiled. “Will you two hurry up?” We looked up and saw Michael already at the front of apartment building. “Oh shit,” Calum muttered. “Coming dad!” Calum called out sarcastically. His sass was real.

“Wanna race?” I dared. He glanced at me and sprinted off. I knew he was gonna beat me but it was always fun to be stupid with your friends. It must be a teenage thing. We finally caught up to Michael who was waiting  rather impatiently. “Did you call me dad?” MIchael questioned in a confused tone. “No…” Calum said staring at his shoes. Michael chuckled and motioned for us to follow him. We all ran up the stairs and I grabbed my backpack and guitar. We all took the subway to school together. The subway was crowded as hell because everyone was trying to get to work or school.

We got to school at 7:30, about 10 minutes early. “I’ll see you guys later.” I called out walking away from them to put my guitar away. They didn’t really notice and continued walking.The hallways weren’t crowded as I made my way to the practice room to drop off my guitar. I hummed to myself as I twisted the door knob. When I walked in, there was another guitar sitting on the chair Luke sat on. It was a beautiful acoustic guitar with creme colored wood. I placed my guitar on the stand next to it and left.

The first two periods of the day were always a bore, I had honors geometry and AP bio. I sat there anxiously, waiting for third hour where I would see Luke in the practice room. Finally, the bell rang setting all of us free. Standing up, I hugged my books to my chest and speed walked to the practice room. Luke sat there waiting for me, he was dressed in a Nirvana shirt, skinny jeans, and black vans. I tried to stop myself from smiling when I saw him. “Hi.” I grinned. “Hi.” He said grinning back. I was about to take my guitar out of it’s case when he stopped me. “No, no.” He interjected mischievously, “I had something different in mind for today.” I raised my eyebrow at him and gestured for him to continue.

“We should ditch this boring ass school.” Luke decided. “I don’t know…” I countered warily. I never ditched school before, Calum and Michael invited me to before but never went. “C’mon,” Luke pleaded, “You could show me around Boston. I don’t know where anything is.” I considered how this would play out. I’m like the most awkward person on the planet. Luke would not want to spend a day with me. I don’t even want to spend the day with me.

“If you don’t show me around, I might get lost….and die!” Luke exclaimed dramatically. “Okay, let’s go.” I complied, unsure of my decision. There was a door at the end of the practice hall that seniors normally use to go out to lunch. The seniors at our school always got more privileges, that included being able to go out of the school for lunch. We left our stuff in the practice room, no one would find it or anything. No one has been in that practice room for the past three years except Mr. Quinn, me, and more recently, Luke.