All About You / Luke Hemmings

Two: Soup

AILAINA

Calum smiles from excitement. We both head downstairs into the school commons and find a good spot in line.

"Why are you so happy?" I laugh. Seeing Calum smile this much makes me happy. His smile is contagious.

"The caf ladies made cream of mushroom soup as their soup of the day and I'm so excited to indulge it," he says as he tiptoes to see if they still have enough.

I let out a chuckle. Of course, only Cal would be that excited to have soup. After all, it is his favourite kind. They only serve it once a month.

We are now seated at a table, Calum already almost done his soup. "Whoa, relax! You're going to end up choking of something," I say as I eat my fries.

Calum lets out a laugh and wipes his mouth with a napkin. "So Datzkiw has already been talking about our final project for this sem."

I take another bite. "Already? Why so soon?"

"He's putting us into the Science Bowl which is three days before the last day of this semester and he wants us to have a lot of time to work on it."

"Oh wow, that's big! Nervous?" I ask, then take a sip of my drink.

Calum shrugs. "Nah, not at all."

"I've figured," I laugh.

"Actually," Calum says, scrunching his nose. "Yeah. Yeah, I kind of am."

My eyes widen. "Really? That's different..." It's unlike Calum to be nervous over a big assignment. He's usually - or always - confident.

He lifts one foot into his chair and hugs his knee. "Eh, sort of. It's just that Datzkiw is assigning our partners on Monday and I don't want to be partnered up with someone who doesn't really give a damn, you know?"

"Oh yeah, I know what you mean. I'm sure you'll be fine, though. I mean, what are the odds that you'll get a crappy partner, am I right?" I say, trying to reassure him.

Calum laughs, "Yeah, I guess so."

The both of us finish up our lunches and chat for a while until our friends, Ashton and Michael, come and join us. They're a part of the small group of friends I was talking about earlier. We don't talk to them as much as we used to ever since Jack and Alex, these two seniors, started hanging out with them this year. Jack and Alex had formed their own punk-rock band called All Time Low which had influenced Ashton into constantly wearing bandanas, and Michael into dying his hair bright colours.

"So is Thailand and Taiwan two different places?" asked Michael. We all laugh.

"Mike! We had this talk already!" Ashton exclaims, pounding his fist onto the table surface.

"Yeah, I know, but I just want to be sure."

"This is why I told you to Google it," Ashton says annoyed.

Calum snorts. "Yes, Mikey. They are two different places. There are Thai and Taiwanese people." We all laugh.

"Okay, then what about Hawaiian people?" Michael asks.

"What about them?" I ask back, confused as to where he was going.

"Are Hawaiian people considered Asians? I mean, they sort of look Asian."

"Oh my god," we all laugh, simultaneously.

"Hey, boys," a voice says from behind me. I turn around to see Alex standing before me along with Jack. "Mind to keep watch?"

"Right now?" asks Michael. There is this dollar store located across the street from the school. A ton of kids hide behind it to drink or do drugs. In this case, they'll be drinking. Jack and Alex don't do any drugs and Michael and Ashton neither drink nor do drugs. They stand look-out for the other two in case strangers or even teachers happen to be near by.

"Well, yeah!" Jack shouts, throwing his hands into the air. "Why not? It's never a bad time to drink."

"And don't worry," Alex reassures. "We won't drink too much."

"Where are you even going to get some?" asks Ashton as he fold his hands together on top of the table.

Jack laughs, "We've got hook-ups."

"Yeah? Like who?" Michael asks.

"Luke."

"Hemmings?" I ask, butting into the conversation. Luke Hemmings is another Gallagher High senior student. He's the too-cool-for-school type of people and I mean it when I say it. He's got a sleeve of tattoos on his left arm, a lip ring, and cuts class to smoke. Typical rebel; the kinds you'd only see in movies. Except, this was real life and it's not as hot as you'd think it would be. It's actually quite disgusting. He's everything I don't like in a person.

"Yeah, Hemmings," says Alex.

I turn back to Calum who rolls his eyes at me. Calum doesn't like him either.

Ashton and Michael collect their things. "Alright, let's go," says Ash. "But limits! I don't want us to end up going down with you guys if you two get caught acting weird in class."

Jack slaps Ash on his bum. "You gotta live life, Ashy!"

"See ya later, dudes!" Alex says, waving then joining the guys who were already exiting the building. Calum and I smile and nod in response.

"I don't like how they hang out with that kid. Doesn't he reek of smoke?" I scoff.

Calum shrugs and plays with his phone in his hands. "They don't really consider him a friend. They only talk to him because of what he can benefit them with."

I guess he's right. He's always got his ways with getting the things he wants or needs.

Brrrring!

There goes the bell again. That means there's only 10 minutes until third period begins.

"Let's go?" Calum asks. "I still have to stop by my locker before I get to class and that's across the school."

I nod. We both gather our bags and throw away our trash.

"Could you imagine?" I ask, not looking away from the direction I'm heading. "What if you got partnered up with Luke for you Science Bowl project?"

Cal groans. "Ugh, don't even say that! I forgot he was in my class."

"Sorry!" I laugh, "It's not like you would anyway. I mean, there are almost thirty of you in your class. What are the odds that you'd get stuck with him, right?"

"Don't jinx it now, Lains."