Off Limits [PREVIEW]

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

I snatched my bag from the back seat, hiding my head in case I'd managed to smudge my make-up. "Thanks for the lift, you really didn't have to wait around."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, really. It'll all seem normal pretty soon, I guess." I highly doubted that. I wanted to live with my dad and not be stuck in the house with the whore that had made this all happen, but it was impossible. My dad didn't even know if he'd got anywhere to stay, yet. He hadn't really got any friends and he didn't work to have any colleagues. His family lived out of the country. If he ended up on the streets I'd never forgive my mum.

"Try not to be too harsh on your mum, I'm sure she's upset, too."

I raised my head and shot her a harsh glare. "Please don't sympathise with her, I really can't deal with it right now."

Phoebe opened her mouth to try and argue, even looking to Luke for help, but coming up with nothing. "You could tutor Luke tonight, if you wanted. It might help get your mind off things."

I wanted to snap that she was being ridiculously selfish, but had to admit that she was right. Putting my mind to work coming up with snarky comebacks would probably be a very good distraction. "Sure. May as well get it over and done with."

"You're sure? You really don't have to," Luke actually sounded quite uncomfortable about the whole thing. I couldn't blame him for worrying that I might break down and he'd have to deal with it.

I slammed the door and called over my shoulder that I was positive. Luke was forced to scramble to catch up with me. My mum was waiting just inside the door, but I strode past her and straight up the stairs, expecting Luke to follow. "Carmen!" She called after me. "I need to talk to you. Who is this? I don't want you upstairs alone with a boy. Keep the door open."

I slammed the door, not feeling the need to explain that this was Phoebe's boyfriend, the notorious Luke she already hated through hearsay. I'd let her stew on it for a while. Maybe I could convince him to bash my bed into the wall for a while and see what happened.

"So. German. Are you really that bad? Because I'm not that great myself."

My room was tiny: a single bed pushed against one wall, my desk cramped into the other side and a tiny walkway to get from one to the other. Luke took an awkward seat perched on the end of my bed. For once, he looked like he had no idea what to say to me. "I got a load of E's, how bad do you think I am?"

Grimacing, I took a seat on my desk chair. "I guess I'll be able to manage if I start at the basics. How are you even going to get home? I'm going to have to drive you," I made a noise of discontent. "This was all such an awful idea."

Luke chuckled, making himself comfortable on my bed just to annoy me. My bum was already starting to go numb from my hard chair. "I have to agree. But, I really do need to get a better grade to get into the uni I want, so hopefully you're not completely hopeless."

"You're the hopeless one, so shut up and listen to what I'm saying. I'm the one passing here. Please actually concentrate, I want this to be as quick as possible."

Luke smirked and watched smugly as I attempted to figure out the best way to teach him the vocabulary. It was embarrassing, more than anything, staring at my notes and wondering how to teach the guy who was a prodigy at everything else in the world. Eventually, I sucked it up and got on with it and Luke was nice enough to keep any sarcastic comments to himself.