BAD OMENS ✬ luke hemmings

5.2 | your girl

"Why are your nails pink?" Calum asks after noticing how his best friend's nails have been stained a light shade; both stand in front of one of the many whiteboards of their English class, trying to write out a timeline of one of the assigned texts they've studied over the past two years.

The activity is supposed to help them prepare for the exam, but only time will tell.

Jodie Harris, their lovely English teacher, has walked off to lord knows where and has been gone for the past ten minutes; she'll come back, no one knows when, but she'll return – sooner than later, probably to 'challenge' their brains and elicit discussions from her students.

Luke's eyebrows pinch together at the question before he glances at his nails, now chipped because of his constant picking at the polish – a habit he unknowingly picked up from the girl who painted them. "Oh," he says, "because I painted them."

"Uh-huh," Calum nods, his attention briefly darting to the oddly familiar crystal bracelet on Luke's wrist – Calum isn't sure where he's seen it before or who he's seen it on, but he is convinced he's seen it. He points to the light blue crystal bracelet – larimar, from her collection – with his marker, "And what about that?"

The blond takes another glance, this time at the bracelet, "What about it?" He asks, deflecting the question, keeping most of his attention on writing down the plot of a book he read last year– the same book that caused him a black eye early this school year.

"Where'd you get it from?" Calum continues, thinking of Luke's vague responses as a reason to pursue the topic further. "I thought you didn't care about jewelry or crystals, and I've never seen you wear them before." But he knows of a girl who does.

Aria stands across the room with Chiedza, creating a messy timeline describing the Handmaid's Tale. The same style of crystal bracelets adorning her wrists– no one else wears them; they're her thing. So, for Luke to show up wearing a similar one, understandably, promotes skepticism. Not to mention, the chipped nails don't help the blond's case either.

Even if Calum now remembers who the bracelet used to belong to, how he remembers staring at it amongst the pile of other colours that decorate her wrists.

Still, the coincidence could be a coincidence.

"I found it." That is all Luke says.

"You found it?" He echoes. Any justification Luke could have had has flown out the window. The blond's continuous dodging of questions and clipped answers confirms Calum's initial theory, which has been forming over the past few weeks. "Where?" He says, leaning against the whiteboard, "On Aria's desk? Or did you pry it from her wrists?"

Luke's head sharply turns to meet Calum's unamused stare, "What?"

Contrary to popular belief, the guy isn't dumb. Calum spends enough time around Luke and Aria to notice the subtle – yet painfully obvious – differences in their odd little relationship. The arguments and aggressive comments have lost their bite and are painfully over-dramatic – fake, even – and the two barely talk to each other.

Usually, Calum would get an earful of rants from Luke – talking about how much the blond hated her, how annoying she is, how she thinks she's better than him – and now, not a word. There is not a single rant or peep about the girl. There is not even an eye roll or groan from Luke whenever Calum brings her up.

And knowing Aria, she would not have let Luke come to her party. She would have shut down the entire idea and not shown up if Luke were there. How Calum is the only one who realizes he doesn't know– Michael hasn't even questioned it.