Angel [L.H. short story]

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~ one year later ~

~ Monday ~

Luke still wears the same long sleeve shirt.

Still runs off the bus everyday.

Him and I don't talk much. Only a quick "hello" as we pass through the hall, or a flustered "sorry" after I accidentally bump into him.

I sit on the bus and wait until we arrive at school so I can get this day over with. The bus makes a quick stop and Luke slowly boards the bus.

He looks gloomy and the dark circles under his eyes are very noticeable.

I wait for him to walk past me to go join his friends in the back of the bus, but he doesn't. He sits on the seat in front of me and my mind fills with questions, but I ignore them.

I pull out my journal and start to draw.

We arrive to school and I follow Luke off the bus after I quickly stuff my journal into my bag.

I continue to slowly follow behind Luke as we walk to our first period together.

I take my seat in the very back. He takes the seat next to me and I give him a small smile. His eyes brighten slightly and he gives me a half smile.

He pulls out his things for class and huffs under his breath.

"Need a pencil?" I ask.

"Oh, yeah," he nods.

"Here," I hand him one of my new pencils and he nods to say thanks.

Class starts but I find myself distracted by whatever it is that Luke does.

Whether he's playing with the ends of his long sleeve shirt, yawning, scratching the back of his neck, itching his arm, coughing, rubbing his eyes, sniffling, cracking his knuckles...

No matter what he does, I'm interested.

His head slowly moves towards me and our eyes lock.

"Pay attention." he mouths to me, pointing at the board.

I quickly move my head down and stare at my hands. But, from the corner of my eye, I see him still looking at me.

I turn my head to look at him again.

"You pay attention." I mouth to him.

We both smirk at one another and move our eyes to the teacher.

Even though my eyes are locked on the teacher, my attention remains on Luke.

The bell rings and Luke exits the class. The expression on his face is unreadable.

Sad? Lonely? Bored? Tired? Annoyed? Maybe all of the above?

I grab my bag and run after him.

"Luke!" I call out and he turns around.

"Um, hey?" he says as if it's a question.

His 'friends' whisper rude jokes and they all laugh at me.

"A-Are you okay?" I stutter.

"What's that suppose to mean?" he asks plainly.

"I don't know..." I trail off.

"Well when you know, let me know." he says, shrugging and walking away, behind his group of friends.

I stand there. Motionless.

~~~

The rest of the school day was normal. I get on the bus and sit in my usual seat. I glance out the window and see Luke, staring right at me.

I can't help but wonder if he'll walk to the back of the bus like usual, or sit in front of me, like he did this morning.

His friends enter the bus first, not paying any notice to me.

Luke slowly walks up the few stairs at the entrance of the bus and sits in front of me. I can't help the smile that tugs onto my face.

We stop in front of Luke's usual stop and I wait for him to jump to his feet and run off the bus.

But he doesn't.

He slowly rises to his feet a walks off the bus. I watch him slowly walk down the sidewalk of his neighborhood and turn to walk into a house.

Everyone in the bus stares out the window, watching him.

~~~

The bus finally stops in front of my street and I walk off the bus. I don't say 'thank you' to the bus driver like I usually do. My mind is buzzing and I need to know what is up with Luke.

Next thing I know, I'm walking back towards Luke's house.

~~~

After walking for about thirty minutes, I arrive at the front door of, the Luke Hemmings.