A Work of Art ＊ Muke AU

Chapter Eighteen

Luke couldn't believe his eyes.

Michael was sitting by a different locker, with three other boys. He recognized one of them slightly, but he didn't look too familiar. The other two boys both looked all too familiar to Luke, and it was pretty unfortunate that Luke could recognize him right away.

Luke shuddered and turned to Ashton.

"We need to go," Luke whispered.

Ashton nodded his head and led Luke to his locker.

"What happened? Did you know any of those guys?" Ashton asked.

Luke nodded.

"Well, you and Michael are familiar with each other, obviously. I know that for a fact, but I also know that there was something going on between you and one of the other guys who was sitting with him," Ashton said.

Luke was shocked. Ashton knew? Who would have told him?

"How do you know?" Luke asked.

"I can tell," Ashton answered.

Luke sighed.

"So am I right or not?" Ashton asked.

"Yeah, you're right, Ash," Luke answered.

Ashton smiled and a "I'm always right about everything" look appeared on his face, making Luke roll his eyes.

"How exactly do you know these guys, if you don't mind me asking?" Ashton asked.

Luke looked at the ground, not responding to Ashton.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Luke," Ashton said.

"It's fine," Luke replied, "A few years ago, a guy named James bullied me at school for a few years. I didn't handle it very well, but I didn't want to do something that I would possibly regret later on in time. So I just drew whenever I felt like crap because of what James said and did to me. The only good thing that came out of this is that I got better at drawing. I saw James during detention and he tried to patch things up between me and him. I accepted his apology even though I knew he didn't really mean it. I've known Tristan for as long as I can remember, but he's been giving me the silent treatment ever since I started hanging out with Michael at lunch. I had no idea that he had something to do with James or Michael."

Luke tried to refrain himself from crying, but he just couldn't help it.

"I'm so sorry, Luke. You don't deserve any of that," Ashton told him.

Before Luke could say another word, Ashton immediately hugged him. He hugged back.

＊

A few more periods passed by and art class was about to begin. This was the first time Luke had thought this for quite some time now, but he absolutely dreaded it. He didn't want to talk to Michael. He didn't want to see Michael. Heck, he didn't even want to be in the same room as Michael for all he cared. He just knew Michael would try to get his attention once again and he would much rather be left alone now than in any other moment in time.

Michael, on the other hand, couldn't wait for the class. Yes, he wanted to see Luke, but it was more than that. He wanted to make sure Luke was okay. He wanted to know why Luke didn't show up at his locker during lunch. He wanted to know what was going on with Luke.

The itinerary for the whole period was that everyone was supposed to work on the project that was due on the following Monday.

Michael was extremely happy about that, because his plan of getting to patch things up with Luke was going to happen. Luke's plan of completely ignoring Michael on purpose, well, that pretty much was about to backfire.