english class | l.h.

chapter nine

Luke walked down the halls, his backpack was hung on one of his shoulders and his vans made a soft thud every time they came in contact with the ground. It was another Monday and Luke was late.

He had woken up from his mother yelling at him, she got angry at him because he was late, so he quickly had fixed his hair, put on some clothes and got in his car. His mind was just a full on tornado, everything was a total mess.

People had already forgotten what he had done, they just realized that Luke is the womanizer he has always been and forgot about it. Maxwell had let him be, and all his other friends weren't really sure how to act.

Calum had been giving him and Maxwell both the silent treatment, so Luke was sure Calum knew how Darcy had been doing. She hadn't been at school since the video got published, probably scared for people calling her names. The dean had done something about the video - Lola and Cara had been suspended for two weeks meaning they would not be back for another week.

Still, Darcy did not feel safe, and Luke totally understood. He was just sad because he wanted to be there for her. Darcy had ignored and blocked him ander after two days of trying to call her, she had blocked his number. He had forgotten about her, realizing she didn't want to be mend by him.

Luke walked around the corner to see Calum walking past him, not looking up from his phone. "Cal?" Luke said, hoping he'd react. He did, looking up to see Luke's face and raising his eyebrow. "I need to know, how is Darcy?" He asked, desperately.

"I don't know, last time I saw her was Monday evening, Ashton stopped talking to her and she has not come out of her room since." He said, biting his lip and walking away. Luke was happy at least somebody he cared about could still talk to him.

He was worried about Darcy, was she starving herself? He did not want her to do that, he still cared so much about her but he did not like to show it. Luke just hoped Darcy would realize she had to live a life, even if people did not want to be a part of it.

He was surprised to see her body sitting in a chair in the far back when he walked in to English. It was only her body, she was not there. You could see she was far away, she did not notice Luke walking in, she only noticed when he sat two seats away from him.

She looked up, their eyes locking for only a split second. Luke wanted to stay like this for forever but Darcy broke away the second she realized it was Luke.

Darcy has been a miserable mess, Luke could see it. Her hair was falling down, her usual curls not perfectly styled, she was wearing a black oversized hoodie, which Luke figured was Ashton's and a pair of black leggings. This girl looked totally broken in every way.

"Good morning class," Ms. Edgar began when she walked in, way too happy for a Monday Morning. "I decided we could watch a movie for the last thirty minutes of class so if you all pay attention now, you will be rewarded." She smiled, opening her book and beginning to talk about past tenses.

After twenty minutes, she started up her laptop for the movie and they eventually began to watch How To Kill A Mockingbird. And that as well felt like a lifetime for Luke. Every now and then he would sneakily look at Darcy, who would either lay with her head in her arms on the table or she would sit up straight staring right in to the empty wall.

When the bell rang, everybody grabbed their stuff and left the classroom. "Luke, Darcy, a word please." Ms. Edgar said before everybody had left the room, soft hollers coming from a few boys. Luke could see Darcy softly biting the insides of her cheeks.

"The dean has told me about the current-uh situation." She said, sitting down at the corner of her desk, staring at the two. Darcy was looking at the ground and Luke was just looking around. "The semester ends in two weeks, I am fine with the tutoring sessions stopping afterwards, but I can not just call quits on it now." Ms. Edgar spoke and looked mostly at the very vulnerable Darcy.

"Now I understand this is hard for you Darcy, but I will be worried that if you stop now your grade will drop." She said, Darcy did not react, she just stood there, staring at the ground. "Darcy?" She said, softly touching her arm. Darcy pulled it back the second it came in contact and she stared at her teacher. "I am sorry, I am not in the position where I can tutor him right now, you'll have to find somebody else." Darcy said and then ran out of the classroom.

Ms. Edgar sat there is silence, slightly pondering what to do. "Sorry." Luke said politely, and walked over to the door. "Luke?" Ms. Edgar said and Luke turned around, questionably looking at her.

"I notice your attitude change, don't give up, she does good things to you." She smiled, Luke nodded, thanking her. Little did she know he was doing the total opposite to Darcy.