Foreign Exchange // Punk Luke Hemmings

Invite

<Haylee's POV>

At around ten o'clock, Grace decided to go home. We had done homework at seven after eating dinner. Thankfully, Luke hadn't joined us tonight. For a moment, I wondered why before I remembered that I really didn't care.

The next day at school was a complete bore. Luke had arrived on Monday, and it was now Thursday. Four days with him and I already hated him almost more than anyone I'd ever met. Everyone, that is, except the Whore Herd, as the band calls them. We also call them the Hoe Herd for short.

Riley Byers, possibly the most popular girl in the school, is the leader of their little clique, and her right- and left-hand-girls are Ellie Mathews and Nadine Turkami. The three of them, along with the rest of the group, believed that they were better than any living, breathing thing on the planet. They terrorized underclassmen, spread horrible rumors about anyone they disliked, and made lists of who or what was cool or uncool.

In the third grade, Riley and I had been best friends, doing everything together. Then Nadine moved to our school and Riley ditched me, joining a new crowd which she would eventually be the queen of one day.

Come middle school, she and I were practically sworn enemies. There probably would've been a formal declaration of war between us except we refused to talk directly to one another. She told people awful things about me, most of which weren't true in the slightest, and I had no friends at all for several years. It wasn't until high school came around and a wave of new students arrived that I had people to talk to. That included all of my band mates, as well as most of my other friends.

The point is that I truly despise them. Even more so than Luke, which is more than I can say.

Today, I just had this gut feeling that Luke wouldn't be my biggest problem. I had a feeling that today would be filled with rumors and gossip and trash talk from the Herd.

As I walked into school, I was granted the privilege to witness the sinister smile of Queen Riley herself. She walked toward me with that grin and her designer clothes that would only see the light of day once before they were cast into the trash. I rolled my eyes, continuing on toward my locker. I heard Danny and Luke enter behind me and follow to Danny's locker, which was next to mine, considering our twin-hood.

"Aw, why aren't you and your boyfriend walking together?" Ellie asked as she gestured to Luke. "Isn't that what couples do? Or are you just that messed up couple who don't even hold hands?"

"Save it, Ellie. We aren't dating," I sighed, trying to stay calm and not react. Though on the inside I was seething. Who the hell had the audacity to say Luke and I were a thing?!

"Oh really?" Nadine sneered. "That's what everyone's talking about. The fact that you got that sexy Australian student. Are you saying its not true?" She flipped he chestnut hair back over her shoulder and placed a hand on her hip.

"Yes. I would never date Luke. Not in a million years," I laughed. I saw Danny and Luke stop a few feet away from the corner of my eye, and cringed. He was probably listening very intently.

"So that means he's single?" Ellie grinned, glancing at Luke.

"Unless he's magically acquired some poor slut, yes."

"Interesting," Riley said cooly. That single word, the smirk on her face as she looked Luke up and down with calculating eyes, made me erupt inside. But on the surface I kept a cold composure, not hinting at anything I was really feeling.

"Now if Your Highnesses will excuse me..." I said with a dramatic, very mocking curtsey. I put as much sarcasm into my voice as possible, then I shoved past them, the victorious smile on my face dropping once they were behind me.

I simply went to my locker, opened it, retrieved a few things, and shoved the rest inside before slamming it shut once more. I then made my way to one of the common areas, where a cluster of tables and chair were located.

Each of the four commons had its own group of people who congregated there. One had the jocks and popular kids, another contained the smart ones who always studied before tests they might have that day, another was all the trouble makers and PDA-ers, and the fourth and final one was all the "misfits". All the kids who were weird an artsy and different gathered here in the mornings and it was amazing. None of us judged one another, making it one of my favorite things about school. Not that there were many things I liked about it though...

I set down my books on one of the empty tables, pulling out a chair to sit on. I popped in my headphones and pulled out my phone, as there were still fifteen minutes until homeroom began. I had just started playing music when I noticed someone had come over to my table and was trying to talk to me. I yanked out my headphones, looking up.

"Hey Dax," I smiled as I saw who it was. "What was that?" I asked awkwardly.

"Oh, I was just saying that I was having a party tomorrow night at my house. Would you and the band wanna play?" he asked with a grin. Dax was known for his awesome parties, as he always played good music and had a fairly large house with a pool and everything.

"I think we would love that!" I grinned. People had recently started requesting the band to play at parties, mostly the weirder kids whom we associated ourselves with. But we would probably say no to anyone other than those people.

Playing at parties was always a different experience for us. Regular gigs were just a crowd of whomever was interested. That could mean we only knew ten people in the crowd. But at parties, we knew almost everyone and almost everyone knew us and our music. It was a more familiar crowd, even if the venue wasn't.

"That's awesome!" Dax swept his black hair from his bright green eyes. "I'm really looking forward to it. I already invited your brother and the Aussie, but I couldn't find you, and I didn't have your number. Sorry it's so last minute," he smiled apologetically.

"Pfft, we didn't have plans anyway!" I laughed. "We'll be there," I assured him.

And so would Luke, apparently.

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A/N:

Hey lovelies!! Okay chapter here. I kinda BSed it but at least it's an update.

Shots were fired here. Come on Haylee. Get your feelings about Luke together girl!! But hey, now Luke is gonna see Crushing Opals preform! ^-^

I had this all type up yesterday, but I had no time to upload it as I was a bit preoccupied (and without wifi) at the Fall Out Boy concert. I apologise for that, but at the same time not really cause hey. It's FOB..... hope you wonderful people understand. One thing I did learn, however, is that I am allergic to weed. I got this splitting headache because of all of the smoke in the air an I felt like I was gonna puke. But once Wiz was done a lot of the people smoking the weed left and I felt a little better, though my headache didn't go away until today. XD FOB were AMAZING!!!!!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR 1.5 K READS!!!!! YOU ALL MEAN SO MUCH TO ME AND I LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!! <3 Bai!

~CC