Begin Again - A.I

seventeen.

"Pssst."

"Pssssssst."

"PSST!"

I roll my eyes and after the hundredth sound Luke makes in that single minute I finally turn and face him. "What."

He's sitting there tapping his pencil against his desk, hand supporting his head. He looks at me with childlike eyes. "G'day."

I groan and look back at my work.

"Nah, nah. I actually want to ask you something."

"What?" I repeat, my tone lacking enthusiasm.

"Have you spoken to Ashton recently?"

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, turning back to look at him. "What do you mean? I was with him this morning."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Luke, what the fuck?"

"Did he say anything about me?"

"What? No? I don't know?"

"You don't know?"

"Am I supposed to know?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't know."

"Okay, did he say anything about me and Kristen?" He's biting his lip now, pulling his lip ring in and out of his mouth.

I eye him carefully. "No?" Ashton and I aren't really the deep conversation kind of people, especially in the mornings. We eat breakfast, get dressed, and then drive to school. He'll talk sometimes, but I rarely pay attention because it's just about the band or about getting high or something. But I think I would've remembered if he had mentioned Luke and Kristen.

"Okay." He breathes out a sigh of relief. "Good. I think. Wait. Fuck."

"What is there to say?" I really don't care, but he's going on about it so much that I kinda have to.

He starts to get all fidgety, tapping his pen even more than he was before and jumping his knee about, knocking the underside of his desk. He looks around the room, eyes all shifty and shit, and then he looks back at me. "Okay, you have to promise to not tell anyone."

My eyes widen. He was coming to me with a secret? I barely even knew the guy and he was trusting me with his soul? I didn't have anyone to tell anyway, maybe that's why. "Yeah, whatever. What is it?"

He looks around again, like he's trying to see who's watching. I don't know why, because the entire class is occupied with their own work. He leans in closer to me and I have to fight the urge to pull away.

"I slept with Kristen."

I almost fall off my chair. "WHAT?"

People turn to look at us and Luke shoots me a look. "Keep it down!" He hisses. He clears his throat. "You have to promise me you won't tell anyone. Especially Ashton. He'll go mental. Have you seen those arms? I don't ever want to be on the end of those."

I shake my head, struggling to grasp what the fuck is going on. "You slept with Kristen?" I repeat. "When? How?"

"How? Geez, Ella. You can't be that daft."

I roll my eyes, ignoring his comment. "When?"

"Okay, okay, okay. It wasn't my fault. Well, it was."

I raise an eyebrow.

He flails his hands around madly, shifting his eyes around the room. He looks like a damn right babbling idiot. "It just kind of happened. You know?"