Dare (Lashton)

3

We were sitting in geography, and the teacher was talking about our upcoming project.

"I'm going to pair you up, since last time you chose partners it didn't go too well." He sighed.

I rolled my eyes. Working in partners wasn't exactly the best idea for me, as nobody really liked me and I didn't really like anybody.

He began to call out the pairs as I sighed, looking at the requirements sheet and grading rubric he gave us before he began his lecture. 

"Ashton?" I looked up when the teacher said my name.

"You're going to be paired with Luke." He decided.

I was honestly kind of relieved to be working with him. If I was going to he forced to do the project with anybody, it might as well be my crush.

Luke gathered his things and walked to the desk next to mine, plopping down.

"Hey." He greeted me with a smile.

I forced myself to smile back, and waved once.

"Okay. Um, you should just come over after school. And we can start the project and stuff." He suggested.

I nodded.

"Okay."

It wasn't as hard to talk to him as it was with other people, and it wasn't as hard to force smiles and laughs.

I even cracked a real smile twice before the bell rang.

When I got home, I texted Luke to check what time he wanted me to come over. 

***

I pulled up to Luke's house and examined it for a moment. It was nice. 

"Hey, Ash." He smiled when he opened the front door. 

"Hey." I responded, following him inside. 

He led me up the stairs and into his bedroom. The walls were decorated in band posters and a few quotes, and his bed was quite large. He had a computer on a desk  the corner by his closet, along with a comfortable-looking office chair. 

We sat down on his bed, which was very comfortable, and I grabbed my laptop from my backpack. He grabbed his laptop and opened it, quickly logging in. 

"Okay, what exactly do we have to do?" He questioned after both of our laptops had loaded. 

"We have to pick a country and make a powerpoint on it, about the weather and stuff. And we have to have at least one slide about the neighboring countries and the similarities." I explained. 

He nodded, opening up Microsoft PowerPoint. 

He shared the presentation with me before we discussed anything. 

"What country do you want?" He asked. 

"Australia." I responded. 

He smiled and typed the title. 

"Why Australia?" He wondered as I played around with the themes and color combinations. 

"Oh, I'm from there." I answered. 

"Really? You don't have an accent." He commented, looking back at his laptop. 

"I was kind of young. I was nine." I replied. 

"And how old are you now?" 

"I'm seventeen." I informed him. He nodded. 

"What about you?" I wondered. 

"I'm eighteen." He replied. He was nine days less than a year older than me. 

His phone started to ring, and he rushed to answer it after he checked who it was. 

"Cal? Are you okay?... H- he what?... Oh?... Do it... Okay... Yeah, of course... Okay, bye." He hung up. 

"Is everything alright?" I worried, and he nodded.

"Calum is coming over." He informed me. I nodded. 

"Should I leave?" I offered. 

"No, you're good." He smiled. I nodded again, returning to the title slide I was designing. 

***

Calum burst into Luke's bedroom, and I noticed that he was crying.

"Calum, come with me." Luke sighed, and Cal followed him out of the room. 

The room became silent and lonely very fast. Of course, it didn't really bother me; I was used to it. 

I added the first slide and titled it "facts". 

After opening a new tab, I googled fun facts about Australia. I didn't know everything about it anymore, as I hadn't lived there in eight years. 

I included the date it had become an independent country, the population, the basic things like that. 

When Luke returned, he seemed stressed.

"Is everything okay?" I worried. 

"Yeah, he's having problems with Michael." He sighed. 

"What's up with Michael?" 

"I guess he got a girlfriend, and Cal has a huge crush on him. But you can't tell people I told you." He informed me. 

"I won't." 

I didn't have anybody to tell. 

-Luke's POV- 

After Ashton left, I took a quick shower before ordering a pizza. 

I remembered the new challenge that Calum had given me while he was at my house earlier. 

He dared me to ask Ashton out. That part wasn't what bothered me so much, though. 

He also included a very difficult part; I had to keep the relationship with him for one month if he accepted. 

I really doubted that I could keep a relationship up with that freak for even a day, let alone an entire month.