Just Watching// l.h.

Chapter 4

Aleigha P.O.V.

It was odd being in someone's arms. Especially the ones that I actually hated the most. He was smiling at me, watching me once again with his blue eyes. I cleared my throat and he soon realized the position we were in. He brought me back to my feet, removing his hands from my waist. I frowned at the loss but let go of him too.

"Sorry," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "Um, I thought you were hanging with Mariah?" I was processing how he was actually talking to me.

"I was," I quietly say. I didn't trust him at all. I was less confident around him then any of the others.

"And?" He wondered.

"I had to go back to my locker," I mumble a bit. "I-I thought you were with..." I didn't want to mention any of them.

"They wanted to skip," he says. "I didn't." I raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why," I ask, fully interested.

"Want the truth or the lie to impress you," he asks.

"Impress me?" I frown a little.

"Yeah..." he hesitates. I scoff a bit.

"Nice try, Hemmings," I walk past him.

"Wait, what," he replies. I hear his footsteps behind me.

"I know how this works," I say, speeding up.

"How what works," he comes in front of me and stops my path. His blue eyes looked sincere but I couldn't trust them. I always saw blackness in his eyes when he watched them hurt me. Now they were bright as ever.

"You're trying to lure me into your trap and it's not going to work," I say, trying to pass him. He stops me by blocking my every move.

"Trap?" He says. "You think this is a trap?"

"What else would it be?" I cross my arms, tapping my foot in impatience.

"Maybe a way to actually want to be your friend," he states. I laugh.

"Not happening," I say, obviously growing confidence. "People like you and people like me don't go together."

"People like me?" He asks.

"Gosh, you ask a lot of questions," I say.

"Stop stalling," he grows impatient. "What do you mean by 'People like you and people like me?'"

"The sweet, smart girl like me, who deserves none of the bullying she gets," I frown. "And the arrogant, punk idiot who just stands there and let's it happen." His eyes drift to sadness. "Now let me through, Luke."

"Aleigha-"

"Let me through," I yell. Tears brimmed my eyes. Without hesitation, he moves over and I walk right past him. Tears silently fell down as I walked. I decided to turn around to see if he was still there. He was. His eyes were closed and his hands were in his hair. "Luke?" His blue eyes open to see my tearful ones. "Please just stay away from me." Then I left. I didn't want to see the sadness plastered on his face. I didn't want to see the hurt I caused him. I didn't want to see Luke Hemmings because I knew he was going to do everything to make me forgive him.

Luke P.O.V.

Two things I learned about Aleigha. 1. I hurt her. And 2. She could hurt me back. I was an idiot. I was arrogant. I was everything she said to me. Nothing more. It killed me to know that I was the cause of those tears that were on her face. It killed me that I never did anything to stop it. I was truly the monster. I heard footsteps cross the corner and turn to face them. Mariah stood there.

"Hemmings," she nods. She looks around and frowns. "Where are the boys?"

"Ditched," I answer, still upset.

"Why didn't you go with them," she asks, raising an eyebrow. I just shrug. "Luke...?"

"I stayed cause I wanted to make my parents proud for once," I lie. "And not disappointed." In reality, I just wanted to see her smile and me be the cause of it. I just wanted to have her brown eyes closed, while I held her in my arms. It finally hit me what I wanted. I wanted her.

"Oh," she says. "Have you seen Aleigha? We're kinda missing class right now. Not that I mind, but I know our teacher will." I flinch at her name.
"She just passed by," I say. "I think she was going to her locker or something." I frown again.

"Is there something wrong," she asks. I shake my head.

"No," I say. "I'm okay. Just a long day." Lies once again.

"Okay," she says, letting it go. "I'll see you later." She starts to walk past me.

"Hey, Mariah," I turn to stop her. She does and faces me. "Please talk to Michael. He misses you." She smiles a bit, turning around and crossing the corner.

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When school ended, not long after, I walked outside and saw her. Her brown hair fell in front of her glasses again. She was sitting at a picnic table with a boy, smiling the biggest smile ever. The boy had brown hair and green eyes, but didn't look like the kind of guy to be talking to Aleigha. He was more like the popular type, a theatre kid.

"Hey, Lucas," I hear someone yell. I turn and see all the boys sitting in Michael's convertible. Calum had yelled. "Get in loser, we're going shopping." I laugh at the quote but look back at the table. Her eyes met mine. She looked away. "Seriously, Luke. We're going shopping." I turn from her and jog to the car. I jump in, from the side and smile at the boys.

"Hey, boys," I say. "Sad to say, I missed ya."

"Love you too, Hemmings," Michael says. Michael starts the car but a voice stops him.

"Hey, wait up," we all turn and Mariah is there, running towards the car. "Do I still get a ride?" Michael looked at her with pure adoration. I wanted that.

"Absolutely," he said and she smiled, opening the car door. I jumped from the passenger seat to the back with Calum and Ashton. When we began to drive away, I saw Aleighas eyes on mine once again. The boy was looking at me too. This time she didn't look away.