Another Life (Sequel to Toxic) - Luke Hemmings

Chapter 4

After what happened between Luke and Michael last night, Sophie wouldn't take no for an answer when she asked if she could sleep in my room. I wanted to be alone, and even though she knew that, she still knew it was better for me not to be. The worst part about waking up was the fact that I had my 8 am lecture with Luke to go to first.

Sophie didn't have a class until 9:30, so I tried not to wake her up as I got ready to go. With another sweatshirt on and sweatpants, I left my room feeling like death. I hadn't gotten good sleep last night because I kept jolting awake, and a half hour before my alarm went off I woke up again and couldn't fall back asleep.

I stayed in bed for an extra 20 minutes on top of that, so I couldn't even grab coffee before class. I just went straight to the elevator so I wouldn't end up being late. The blizzard from yesterday was thankfully gone by now, and all the sidewalks were neatly plowed so I didn't have to trudge through inches of snow again.

I was frozen and exhausted by the time I got up to the lecture hall, and before I stepped in I took a deep breath in case Luke was already in there. Good thing that I did, too, since he was sitting on the other end of the row I usually sat in. When I saw him, he had bruising all over his cheek bones, and then he lifted his hand up to push his hair back so I could see the scrapes on his knuckles.

He hadn't seen me yet, so I quietly took a seat as far away from him as possible. I left my usual chair behind and found one against the wall. I sat with my legs pulled up to my chest until the professor walked in, not even daring to look around the room. I fought the urge to glance over at Luke all class, and by the end of it I had succeeded.

Our professor sent us off and I packed my stuff up to head off to pathology with Val. The only issue was that Luke found his way over to me before I could get out of the room, and when I picked my head up after throwing my bag on we just watched each other for a moment.

"Hope it was worth it." I said quietly, pushing my way past where he was standing on the stairs.

"Last night wasn't my fault." He followed after me until we were out in the hall, where I felt more comfortable laying into him.

"I don't care whose fault it was. You ripped us all part, that's on you." I turned around and snapped at him, making him pause for a second.

"I didn't even get the chance to fix us, Izz." He said. I had to hold back a laugh, though.

"There's nothing you could have done to fix us." I said, turning back around to keep walking to my next class.

"Stop, Izz!" He grabbed my shoulder to get me to stop walking, but I ripped away from him. Feeling his touch again sent a shiver down my spine, and all I wanted to do was get away from him. "We need to talk about it."

"I'm not doing this." I shook my head and looked away so I could keep walking.

"You're going to have to!" He chased after me but this time didn't try to stop me again.

"I won't have to, actually! I have nothing to say to you!" I raised my voice in hopes it would solidify my point, but when he wouldn't give up I started storming down the stairs.

"I have everything to say! Just hear me out!" He said right as we made it to the floor my class was on. I just turned the corner and ignored him this time. Val was waiting outside the classroom when I got there, and she took one look at the guy following me and raised her eyebrows.

"So, this is the cheater?" She asked sarcastically, shooting me a look. I didn't dare look back at Luke, but I could tell he was pissed when I heard him exhale sharply.

"I'm not letting this go." He said quietly, leaning over my shoulder as if it'd help Val to not hear. She did though, and when he finally walked away she gave me a questioning stare.