How Many Heroes

4- Trash

Since Luke had arrived, Ms. Bower's math class had become bearable. Though I still wasn't in love with Algebra 2, having him next to me helped me a lot. I was especially glad to have him today, when Ms. Bower handed back the test we took Monday.

"I'm sure you did fine," Luke assured me for the seventh time.

"Easy f-for you t-to say," I said. As far as I knew, he had received perfect scores on everything since he came to Ambrose High. He did get a sixty on a pop quiz once, but I had a sneaking suspicion he got it on purpose to make me feel better.

"Beth, you've studied for weeks. I know you passed," Luke said, but I didn't miss how he nervously eyed the Ms. Bower as she circled closer to our desk.

"My dad's g-gonna kill me," I groaned, putting my head in my hands.

"No one's gonna- ah, thank you Ms. Bower," Luke said as my teacher dropped three test papers face down on our desk.

"Hey," Luke said, nudging me gently. "Bethany, we'll look at the same time. No one is going to be mad at you no matter what you get. It's just one grade."

"One grade worth a quarter if our average," I muttered, but I picked up my test anyway, holding it parallel to the desk.

Luke smiled. "Okay. One, two three,"

We flipped them over at the same time. I got an eighty. Sinking into my chair with relief, I let myself smile. "I passed," I said.

I looked at Luke's paper. "How did you get a hundred and five? I didn't see any extra credit."

"You passed!" he exclaimed, completely ignoring my question. He was far more excited about my grade then his own. Luke was happiest when the people around him were happy.

When Algebra ended, Luke walked me to my next class. Everywhere he went, he attracted stares. One girl named Ashley rammed against his shoulder as she walked by. "Watch where you're going," she snapped, throwing a disgusted glare at him, then me. Luke did not reply, only watched her with his trademark unreadable expression.

I guessed that it had something to do with the most recent kidnapping. While no one aside from my friends knew it was me that was almost kidnapped, word had traveled that Luke was a part of it. Of course everyone took that in the worst way; they assumed that he was a part of the gang that had been terrorizing Greendale for the past year. I didn't think it possible for the student body to hate someone more than they did Jesse, but I was starting to change my mind.

Still, I felt oddly safe when I was around him. Maybe it was because he had saved me. Maybe it was because despite all the whispers that surrounded him, no one dared touch him- well almost no one.

At lunch, Maria, Luke, and I sat at our table while Hathaway and Jesse went in the lunch line.

"What are you eating?" Maria asked, glancing at Luke's brown paper bag.

"Just a sandwich." Luke said. He unloaded a soggy grilled cheese and a rusty thermos of water. "You?"

"Rice...you wanna trade half for half?" she said. I figured she didn't really want grilled cheese, but Luke's lunch looked so pitiful that she felt obliged to trade.

"Nah, it's fine." he said, smiling.

Jesse came from the lunch line and sat across from me, looking at Maria in disbelief. "So you'll give Luke your food, but not me?"

"Luke doesn't piss me off every five seconds...so yes. Yes I will."

I wasn't really paying attention to them. Across from us, the infamous Amy Hadlow walked by. Half of her popularity came from her mystery. At the end of last year, she became the first new arrival to Greendale in fifty years. Supposedly, she lived in a huge house in the fancier division of town, but everyone knew she'd sooner spend the night at her boyfriend's, Vaughn, house. The other half of her popularity came from her looks. Her size-zero waistline was coveted by almost every girl in school. Straight blonde hair and icy blue eyes gave her a sense of beauty, but to me she was ugly. Perhaps it was the sneer that deformed her mouth, or the cold fear and hatred of her that had taken root in me after she openly attacked my only friends. It was the kind of ugly that ripped from the inside, until faint tears began to show on the skin.