All About You / Luke Hemmings

Five: Library

a/n: Ailaina's name at the beginning of every chapter will make sense later on, trust me.
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AILAINA

Tuesday afternoon, fourth period, spare. I'm glad I share a spare with Ashton otherwise I would be alone. We literally only talk to each other. Sometimes Jack and Alex skip class to hang out with us. Their third period is a spare that they share with Calum and Michael so if they ever begin to feel unmotivated to go back to class, they would hang out with us. Both of them have enough credits to graduate so they don't really care if they miss too many classes.
Ashton and I have been walking around the school and we ended up in the library trying to find somewhere to sit. The chairs in the commons are not comfy enough to sit in throughout an 80 minute period.

"How about there?" I ask, pointing to a three-seater couch next to the window. Our library is set on the second floor of our school so we get a ton of light in here.

Ashton sets his bag down in front of the couch and collapses onto the edge seat. "Ahhh, finally. Feels good to sit down."

I drop my bag next to his and sit down on the opposite end of the couch, putting my legs on it so I could face him.

"So," he begins as he crosses his legs, "writing any exams this sem?"

"Yeah, just pre-cal. I have a final project for art, though, so I'll be working on that soon," I say. "What about you?"

"English. Ugh, I hate English. Or, well, the English exam that is. I mean, come on. Four days just for once subject? That's insane!"

"Oh yeah I know right? Like, why couldn't they just shorten it to just an essay or just a reading package?" I agree.

Ashton scoffs. "Exactly! It's completely pointless if you ask me."

"Is English all you have?"

"Nah, I also have a woods project but we're not starting that until later on. We still have to finish the rocking chairs we've started." Ashton's really good at carpentry. He has a part-time job at this construction site and I think it's pretty cool. Michael is great at mechanics so he helps his uncle at the shop with fixing cars. Calum's got the brains which means a ton of awards and honour roll. Me on the other hand, I'm just me.
"I feel real bad for Calum," Ashton adds.

I raise an eyebrow at him. "Why?"

Ashton points with his chin, motioning towards the library entrance. I look over and see Luke Hemmings walking through the door. "That's why."

Luke makes his way to one of the computers at the centre of the room and takes a seat. Ashton and I watch him as he takes a cord out of his leather jacket and plugs his phone into the computer.

"God," I say as I rub my nose, "you can smell the smoke from all the way over here."

"I don't understand that guy. Why is he still here? I mean he clearly doesn't care about school anyway."

I shrug in response. "Poor Calum."

"Yeah, being stuck with that kid for a project? Good luck."

I turn my focus back to Ashton. "Why does Jack and Alex hang out with him? Like, what do they see in him? He's obviously not that amazing."

Ashton readjusts his position and rests on of his arms on the back edge of the couch. "They don't really like him," he confirms. "He's kind of just there."

"What do you mean?"

"They don't really talk to Luke. It was only that one time. Other than that, those boys couldn't give a damn about the kid."

"Ohhh. Well that would make sense." I turn to look back at Luke to see what he's doing. Luke freezes for a second and looks back, making eye contact with me for a second or two. Wiggling his black metal lip ring with his tongue, he smiles then winks. I twist my head back to face Ashton again. "Oh my god!"

Ash looks up from his phone. "What?"

I make a sound of disgust. "Let's get out of here."

Ash nods and grabs his bag without hesitation. Once we exit the room, he immediately asks, "What happened in there?"

"Ugh," I say, rolling my eyes. "I made eye contact with Luke and he winked at me."

A disgusted expression forms on Ashton's face as he grabs onto the straps of his backpack. "I'm telling you, Laina. That kid is no good."

"Like I didn't already know," I say sarcastically.

"I mean it," he says with a rather more concerned tone. "He's got a real history with girls."

My eyes dart to him, slightly offended. "What are you trying to say, Ash?"

He shrugs. "Nothing, really. Just watch out okay? I don't want him targeting you, that's all."

I raise my eyebrows. "Target huh?"

"You know what I mean. I just don't want you to end up falling for him. He's a maniac."

"Okay, thanks for all your concern, but I'm not stupid. There's no way in hell I'm going to be getting involved with anything that boy does, believe me." And I meant it. I don't get why everyone keeps warning me about Luke. It's like they don't understand how much I want nothing to do with him. I know you can't really say that about someone you don't know, but trust me when I say I already know too much. Just hearing his name makes me nauseous.

"Good, because you're smarter than that. I care about you, Lains. You're one of my best friends."

Brrrring!

"End of the day already?" Ashton says aloud while looking up to the ceiling, listening to the ringing of the final bell.

"Well that was fast."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go to my locker now. See-ya tomorrow?"

"For sure!" I lean in to give Ash a hug. "See you then."