Eccedentesiast || l.r.h.

Chapter 2 - Names

I blinked. I was positive he was talking to me. But I wasn't really sure if he got the right person.

"Uhh what?" I said. "Your accent is cute," Michael chuckled. Who is he, talking about cute accents? I literally only had a normal American accent and people here have such an accent.
"What?" I asked again. I was literally so confused. "Your name is Luke right?" He asked. "Umm no? Wait yes, wait no...... Uhh kind of?" By now the raven haired boy and Luke were staring at me. At least it wasn't the whole class. Well, I spoke too soon. Everyone was staring. Arzaylea wasn't here, thank god. We never have classes together.

"What do you mean?" This time Luke asked. "Uhh, my middle name is Luke," I told him. "Woah, that's cool," this time Raven haired boy spoke. "What's your full name?"

"Azalea Luke Rodriguez," I answered. "Woah are you serious?" Luke answered, fascinated. "Yeah... But people call me Azalea."

"Really? Well we're calling you Luke," Michael said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Who's we?" I asked. "Me, Luke, Calum and uh Ashton isn't here but yeah," Michael said. "Oh and Luke, I need some help with homework," Michael winked and from that day on, we've been pretty close friends.

Throughout the days that came after that, we started to talk. One of the days, it was only me and Michael walking through the corridor. Michael asked, "What did you say your name was?" "Azalea Luke Rodriguez."

"Are you related to Arzaylea or something?" He asked. I smiled. He was pretty bright. "Don't tell anyone," I said. "Okay," he replied, pleased with himself.

Just 3 months in school and Arzaylea started skipping school. Mom would send us to school, then she'd run off with some friends and come back just in time for mom to fetch us from school. And guess what's the best part. She never gets called in, not even once. I got called in for just accidentally spilling milk onto a girl's skirt and shoes. It was an accident.

Believe or not, it's almost everyone's forgotten about her. Why? Because she ran away from home. Yeah, she did. I never believed the guts she had. But I was sure she wasn't alone. But it wasn't major. She comes back home every few days for money and food. Sometimes even a fresh pair of clothes. To be honest, I never really wanted her to come home. But oh well, we were bonded by blood. Some days I even can't help but feel worried about her. Wondering what she's up to. Then I kept reminding myself, She isn't completely gone. What a shame.

Luke also couldn't shut up about his worries. He's always asking rhetorical questions such as 'Is she okay?' 'Where is she now?' 'Maybe she'll come back home soon?'. It was rhetorical because we; me, Michael, Calum and Ashton never answer. He was being so annoying one day I actually shouted 'Why do you even bother?'. Luke and I went on for days without talking to each other, at all. We made up of course, but we didn't talk as much as we usually do. I missed it. I missed having random discussions with him about bananas and penguins. But I lived on with it. I guess I was the closest with Mikey and most distant with Luke.

Also my hair started to give a little natural wave slowly turning to curls but I decided to let it stay because since Arzaylea was gone, the hair could stay. But the thing was, people often confused me for Arzaylea, especially her friends. One time, one of them even called me an Arzaylea wannabe. Excuse me, you know nothing, I wanted to spit.

Today, me and the boys decided to stay back in school to hangout in the band room. Basically our second home. I hadn't adapted any musical abilities before transferring to Australia but after hanging out with boys, I played a little guitar. Yeah, the boys play, said that they want to start a band. A good one. For now I could only give them luck and support.

-Luke's POV-
We promised Luke we'd meet at the band room. Yeah, it's weird referring to her as Luke. It was like talking to yourself in first-person or is it second-person, or maybe even third? Ah, that didn't matter. What mattered was the damn girl and Michael wasn't there yet. Those two were always seen together. Then there were loud noises from the band room that caught me off guard. And giggling. That sounded just like Luke. Calum stopped in front of the door of the band room and said, "That's one hell of a racket." "Yeah, who was the last one to teach her how to play the guitar?" Ashton asked.

I stepped forward and opened the door. "Luke you're going to make our ears bleed," I said. "Luke?" Said Calum. A girl that resembled Luke from the back was playing an untuned acoustic guitar terribly.

"Arzaylea," Said a female voice that we knew so well from behind.