Change My Mind // m.g.c

Chapter one

MICHAEL

"Mikey can you please come with me?"
"Nah man it's pretty lame. The chicks aren't even cute over there."
"Well I heard the guys are pretty hot..."
"Shut up Luke. I'm straight, remember."
"I thought we had something special!" Luke fake gasps.
"Luke, I'm straighter than the pole your mum danced on last night," I smirk
"That was rude I thought you liked my mum."
"Oh yeah Luke, she's amazing."
"That's disgusting," Luke scoffs.
"C'mon Luke I was just playing with you." I say to him.
"So why won't you come to Australia with me?" Luke changes the subject.
"I don't know Luke, maybe because I have better things to do." I tell him.
"Like getting with a different girl every night?" Luke raises an eyebrow.
"Luke," I sigh, "you know I'm not like that anymore," I remind him.
"You seemed to be like that when you were talking about my mum," he mumbles.
"Luke! Please stop. You know how embarrassed I am about my past."
"Whatever, Michael. If you come with me to Australia, I will buy you pizza for a week." Luke suggests and changes the subject again.
"I don't know. It's a long way away..."
"Mikey, it's only for a year and it's just student exchange so we will have a place to stay and you won't miss out on any school. Oh, and trust me, the girls there are pretty fine." Luke winks.
"Hmm I am getting a bit hungry," I smirk.
"I'll buy you pizza for two weeks," Luke rolls his eyes.
"Deal." Luke puts his headphones in his ears and lies down on the bed and I start watching Spiderman, my favourite movie. I know it's a bit childish but come on Spiderman is badass like he can climb walls and fly.

"Luke!" I exclaim about 10 minutes later.
"What now," he says grumpily, barely opening his eyes. He hates getting woken up.
Realisation hit me that the plane for Australia is leaving in two days. 2 DAYS. I have a girlfriend. She has no idea that in two days I will be leaving to Australia for a year. I can't do this to her. I will ruin my second chance with her.
"What about Jenna?" I ask
"What about her?" Luke asks back, sitting up and facing me, headphones still plugged in.
"I can't just leave her." I say in a 'duh' tone.
"Yes you can. You will be back."
"In a year!" I get up and start pacing around the room while Luke stares at me.
"I guess you're right," Luke sighs, "You'll have to break up with her."
"What the hell Luke! How can you say that so casually?"
"Well I didn't think you'd want to go through the whole long distance relationship thing again," Luke shrugs, "We all know how you and Chrissie turned out." I stop pacing and turn to face Luke.
"But, I love her," I say slowly.
"Do you?" Luke questions.
"I guess you're right. I'll go talk to her about the whole situation. Hopefully she'll understand." I nod and grab my phone and wallet and head out the door.
"Michael," Luke stops me. I turn around. "Good luck," he salutes me and I salute him back. It's our thing that we do when the other leaves.

I stand out the front of Jenna's apartment, trying to bring up the courage to knock on the door. I bring my hand up and the door opens, giving me a fright.
"Jen," I awkwardly laugh, "you beat me to it," I say referring to the door knob.
"Michael, I was just about to go to cheer practice. Can you come back a bit later?" she asks and I curse under my breath. Only just noticing she has her cheerleading uniform on.
"Shit, I forgot you have that tonight. Um, this will only take a minute," I say. I'm so nervous. My hands are shaking and I'm shifting my weight from one foot to the other. Jenna looks at her watch and sighs. She opens the door wide, gesturing for me to come in. I go in and sit on her couch and she sits next to me.
"So please explain to me what's so important that I have to miss the start of cheer practice for." She says impatiently and I can tell this isn't going to end well. I feel my palms getting sweaty and I take a deep breath.
"Um, you know Luke right? I mean Luke my best friend the one I've known since 1st gr-" I nervously ramble before Jenna cuts me off.
"Just cut to the chase Michael, I'm late." She looks at her watch again and taps her foot."
"Luke and I are going to Australia," I say quickly. Jenna just stares and I'm not completely sure whether she understood or not.
"Oh my God when?!" she asks excitedly. "You better send me a postcard and bring me back a kangaroo teddy... no a koala teddy, no a kiwi bird teddy!" I don't know whether I'm more shocked by the fact she's so happy or the fact she thinks a kiwi is Australian.
"Jen, baby, I don't think you understand..." I say and move closer to her and put my arm around her shoulder.
"What do you mean I don't understand?" she asks confused.
"Luke and I, we are going to be there for a year." I say slowly, scared of how she will react. I pull her closer.
"Oh," she whispers and looks at her feet, "when are you leaving?" she looks at me with tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
"Two days," I whisper so soft, she probably couldn't hear.
"What?" her voice cracks. "What about us?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." I look up at her. I'm sitting on the couch still and she's standing in front of me. I slowly move my hands to hers and interlock our fingers. "I think we should break up," I say and she nods in agreement, tears trickling down her pale cheek. I stand up and wipe them away with my thumb. "But when I get back, we can try things again. Only if we are both ok with that." I say and she nods.
"I would like that," she says quietly.
"I love you Jenna," I say tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear.
"I love you," she says back. That's what pushes me over. I have tears now, matching hers. I lean in and brush my lips over her soft pink ones for possibly the last time. She kisses me back. The kiss is slow and lasts only around five seconds before she pulls away and wipes her tears
"Now get the hell out of here. I'm late for practice," she giggles. I'm glad she's not too upset about this.
"See you in a year?" I ask.
"See you in a year," she hugs me one last time before she pushes me out and she rushes to her car and drives off, waving at me.

I'm sure as hell going to miss her.

---

We are about to board our plane and it suddenly comes to my head that this is a 15 hour trip. I let out a loud groan and turn to Luke.
"Why did I agree to this again?" I ask him.
"The pizza," he says simply, "And the guys."
"Luke I'm not gay!" I shout and get some unwanted attention, as the people in front of us turn around. Luke rolls his eyes and we board the plane. I take my seat next to Luke and I can't help but notice that the flight attendant is quite attractive. On the other side of Luke, an Asian looking guy around our age sits down and doesn't seem interested in us. I can't help but notice that Luke is staring at him, obviously interested in him. I would be too if I was gay. He has beautiful brown hair with a blonde streak at the front, chocolate brown eyes and plump lips that would be very kissable. He looks the exact opposite to Luke who has blonde hair, blue eyes and thin lips with a lip ring.
"I'm Luke Hemmings." he says quickly and holds out his hand for the guy to shake. I chuckle at how keen Luke is to get to know him. The guy scoffs and folds his arms across his chest.
"I'm Michael," I say, helping Luke out a little. "Are you from Australia?" I ask him and he nods.
"Yeah my family and I went on a holiday to the states and now we're coming home." He mumbles, making it clear he doesn't want to talk to us.
"Luke and I are going on a student exchange program in Sydney," I say and Luke nods, biting his lip ring. I can tell he already has a thing for him.
"So?" he asks.
"We were just wondering if you wanted to show us around a bit because this is our first time going to another country," Luke says, full of hope.
"Well, how do you even know where going to be in the same place?" Asian guy asks, eyebrows raised. Luke looks at me.
"Riverstone?" Luke asks him.
"Shit," he mumbles, "Well I am going to see enough of you two so I'm going to sleep," he says and turns to look the other way.
"Wait we didn't get you name," I say and he looks around.
"Calum," he says and turns back around.
"Well this is going to be a long trip so I'm going to sleep," I say to Luke and roll over and close my eyes.

---

When I wake up it's dark. I look over to check on Luke and he and Calum are asleep cuddling. It looks like they bonded while I was asleep, which is weird because Calum seems like the asshole straight guy type. Luke was always able to get girls and guys, even straight ones. It's the lip ring. Everyone loves the lip ring. The hot flight attendant announces that we will be landing soon and I watch as the sun rises out the window over the place I will call home for the next year. Australia.

Hi
So this is the first chapter. Enjoy.