He Was P(L)uke

22

"Uh, I will try." Stacy gulped. She left the tray of tea on the ground, and ran away. Calum entered the backyard and glared at Michael.

"What did you do now?" Calum asked angrily. Michael shrugged, sitting beside me again. The dog began wailing his tail from side to side. As Ashton saw that, he stood up and began playing with the dog. It was an old dog. An old brown dog, with bright eyes that seemed to hide his age and wisdom. Mom said they bought me and old dog, since I'd be leaving soon, and it'd be easier to take care of it. I agreed, not exactly understanding the reason but whatever.

Calum cleared his throat and turned to Michael. "Don't go breaking her heart. Please don't."

"But what can I do?" He asked.

"Just get away from my family. You'll get in huge trouble if you keep being around." Calum added. Michael shook his head, and spoke again.

"You don't understand. I have to be there-" Jesus Christ. Do you remember Ashley Moore? She was the school's slut. She was Ashton's side hoe, Calum's friend for a day, and Luke's girlfriend for a complete year. Well she walked into Ashton's backyard, like it was her own house. She was shaking like a leave, cheeks red, and puffy eyes.

"You." She pointed at Michael. "You... You have eaten the last hamburger at McDonalds. They don't have hamburgers any more. You should die."

"Hit him!" Calum yelled with a grin. The girl got close to Michael and slapped his head.

"I'm joking." She breathed out. "You know what I'm here for." Michael shook his head with fear, me and Calum staring at them confused. "You know. There's this rumor going around that Luke is not the father of the babies-"

"Unfortunately, they proved that wrong." I responded. She shushed me, squatting down to our eye level.

"Rumor has it that you-" she placed her slender finger on Michael's chest "-are the father of those kids." Shots were fired for the second time on this year. The sound of babies crying could be heard. Even my dog who by the time was named Clark Kent fell down on his side. Michael stood up just as Ashley did the same, and without thinking it much, he slapped her across the face. And ran away screaming "If you believe her, you are all complete idiots!"

"Dude what the fuck?" Ashton asked worried, looking between the dog and the actual scene.

"I know?" Ashley said in her preppy voice. "I thought Michael was a girl." And with that, she jogged away; her fake ass almost juggling out of her pants. We all turned around, me with a big shocked face, and Calum with wide eyes that could pop in whatever moment.

Ashton brought us back to the moment by yelling "THE DOG IS NOT BREATHING!" And in that moment I knew we were fucked.

-/-

"What did you do to the dog?" Dad asked worried, sitting beside me on the veterinary's waiting room. "He has only been with us for like two or three days and you already killed him?"

"She did nothing, Uncle Harry." Ashton defended me, while I sat there with wide eyes. Something always happens when I get surprised. Be it me puking, grandma dying, or the dog having a heart attack. Ashton gave me a piece of gum, and sat there silently beside me.

After some painful minutes, Stacy and Luke came running down the hall. Luke pushed her to the side, her face colliding with the wall. As revenge, she did the same, Luke's head hitting the cold wall. Time seemed to slow down as they kept jogging and hitting each other aimlessly, until they reached us.

As soon as Luke was in front of me, I stood up, grabbed his arm by force, and pulled him to a more private place. "So you lied to me." I remembered him. "I'm really confused right now. Are you or no the father of those kids?" His breath hitched, eyes closing instantly. "Is Michael even involved in all this shit?"

"No, I know..." The silence was unbearable. He finally opened his eyes again, facing me with tears in his eyes. "I don't know. I can't remember." I nodded, avoiding his eyes.

"Anything else you would like to say?" I asked, hoping to the stars above there was nothing else. But he nodded, and my heart broke again.

"My favorite color is black." He whispered. I raised an eyebrow, and walked away. And as I faced my family again, the door to Clark Kent's room opened up, revealing a very strained doctor.

He cleared up his throat, pushing the strays of white hair to the back. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but your dog died. You were expecting this, weren't you?" We all shook our heads.

"The dog is only 7 years old, doctor." Ashton cleared up. His brows furrowed, and he shook his head.

"They lied to you. This old boy is 14 years old. It was time."

-/-

"Ugh I hate Michael." Stacy cried into Calum's shoulder, him nuzzling his head closer to hers. "I don't wanna know anything about him."

"I'm still not understanding though." Ashton intervened, me nodding. "Is Luke the father?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "He is the father."

Ashton glared at her and spoke again. "Explain to me then why this girl came saying that Mike is the father, explain it."

"I don't know." She shrugged, sniffling her pain away. "There's proof in that tests that were done awhile ago."

"Stacy you're wrong." Calum blabbered, eating his ice cream. "Stop covering your sister's mistakes."

She shook her head, cleaning her tears. She sat up on her bed, looking at all of us with a confused face. This was the first time I had seen her so vulnerable. She had cried an ocean, her eyes were already red of all tears she had loss. And she was pale, oh so pale. She normally has tinted cheeks, tanned skin, and lively eyes. But that day she wasn't. She became a living ghost. Which was funny since she gets really scared of ghosts and had a panic attack at school when they played a horror movie with ghosts in it.

You should've seen her face that day. She pooped her pants, and Calum had to call a counselor to help her, since she could not breathe. And the thing with my school's counselor and teachers is that they exaggerate everything way too much. Not just the day they called Ashton's parents and told them he was part of a satanic cult. It was also the day Ashley Moore fell down the stairs, and accused an exchange student of wanting to kill her. Oh and the day I threw up on the school's pool. They called my parents and told them I wanted badly to poison every kid that ever entered the pool. And although that was never my plan, it sounds pretty convincing.

Back to the point. When we were watching the movie, Stacy had a panic attack. The teachers that were with us called her parents. And here comes trouble. They told her mom she was not sleeping enough, she didn't ate much, and she was skipping classes. They all assumed she was dealing drugs, and that the movie spoke to her in such a spiritual level she could not breathe. And that was school for us.

Well we drifted away. Stacy was sick, and all due to Michael. But she still defended her sister.

"It's true, guys!" She groaned. "We all know those twins are going to come out blonde with blue eyes. Or probably have brown hair and golden eyes like Kiera does." We stood there quietly. I wanted to cry so badly, but there was not point in it. I had mourn all week. I had to stop. I was about to leave when suddenly Ashton intervened.

"Stacy, then why do they blame Michael of being the father of the babies?" He questioned. She gulped mysteriously. "You know something we don't."

"Stop trying to give Charlie hopes!" She yelled. I bit my lip nervously. She was my freaking best friend. Why the heck would she do that? I had hoped, yeah. I had loved, sure. And it was then when I realized I stopped caring. "Michael is not the father. There's enough DNA proof to-"

I left.