Rookie (Luke Brooks)

c h a p t e r 3

I felt firm hands nudge me until I opened my eyes to see my dad waking me up.

"Get up for school! You'll be late!" I got up and noticed the time. I had 10 minutes to get ready!

I rushed to my bathroom, throwing on my uniform which was now a morning ritual. I braided my hair to the side and put a coat of mascara on. I brushed my teeth and ran downstairs, grabbing a granola bar.

"I won't be home after school! Heading to Jai's for dinner!"

"You're friends now?" Mum asked me surprisingly.

"Apparently. Bye mum, I'm late! Bye dad!"

"Bye!" Mum and dad said in-sync.

When I arrived to school, I met my friends at our usual spot, a little bench in the courtyard.

"Hey Mallory, guess what!"

'What is it?"

"So Jai texted me before I went to bed, and he told me not to forget to introduce you two!" I moved y eyebrows up and down as she screeched like a little girl.

The bell rung and we all walked together to our lockers. I was to busy scrolling through my twitter on my phone when I then bumped into someone.

"Fuck" their voice sounded familiar. "Two days in a row, B." I rolled my eyes as he actually bent down to grab my books.

"Took my advice this time and actually helped?" He handed me my books.

(Just realized I made a mistake here, but it's been fixed for those who were a bit confused by this part!)

"Yeah, yeah. Let's not make this an everyday thing, alright?" He told me while smirking. I blushed and walked past him to return to my friends.

"Did he really just pick up your books?" Katie asked me with a surprised tone.

"Apparently." I told her, laughing.

"Hey Madz" A familiar voice said. Mallory turned her head to looked over at me, her face was bright red. I hadn't known why until I saw Jai walking towards us.

"Hey Jai. This is Katie" I said, pointing to Katie. "And this is Mallory." I said, moving over for them to talk.

"I've heard a lot about you." He said to Mallory, referring to me. Once Mallory got her stuff from her locker, he walked her to class. I smiled, Mallory finally got her wish.

"I'll see you later, yeah?" Katie smiled and walked off. The bell rung and I realized I was going to be late to class. In a matter of seconds, the hallways cleared. I turned around, walking rapidly to catch up to my class.

"Skipping?" I jumped and turned around before realizing it was Luke Brooks. He was like a plague.

"As if!" I yelled back towards him, walking faster. I could hear his footsteps as he was trying to catch up to me.

"Why are you so afraid of me?" he asked, his voice lowering.

"Afraid? Of you? Ha" I said, walking faster to get to my class. Now that I thought about it, I was always uncomfortable around him, my heart always raced because I was afraid I would say something that'd make me look stupid.

"I can tell. You always do that thing with your eyebrows when you're so deep in thought. It's funny." I stopped walking and faced him.

"Any reason you're observing my face?" I tried to make myself sound confident, but I could feel myself blushing.

"N-no, it's just some stupid thing I noticed." He stuttered, which was weird.

"Good, so don't look at me anymore." I joked as I walked away, leaving him standing there.