Attention Seeker // Luke Hemmings au

Chapter Eight // Ashton

"You sure you can go back to school after that?" 

I nod, staring out the window. "I'll be fine, mum. You don't have to worry about me." Tugging at the long sleeves of my jacket absentmindedly, I tell her goodbye and kiss her cheek. Then, I'm off. I head into school and go straight to my locker, avoiding all eye contact with anyone and everyone. 

I get to first period without a problem, and I start to think I'm in the clear. If I make it this far, the rest of the day can't be bad right? But then I hear it over the loud speaker--

"The following people report to the guidance office. Luke Hemmings, Diana Whitehorse, and Ashton Irwin. I repeat, Luke Hemmings, Diana Whitehorse, and Ashton Irwin please report to the guidance office." 

Great. Just great. At least Luke would be there. Diana... Well, although Diana Whitehorse had never directly done anything to me, I dislike her anyway. She is beautiful and popular and absolutely perfect. I can't stand it. Still, I wonder why she's being called to guidance. I assume the school had gotten word of our hospital visit over the weekend, but she obviously had nothing to do with it. So what was the point of her going?

Maybe one of her designer purses got paint on them during art, I think bitterly as I walk to guidance. Or some other stupid rich kid problems. Her great grandfather invented some genius thing like microwaved popcorn or something and they're loaded because of it. 

I meet Luke outside the guidance office, but we don't say a word. There's kind of an unspoken understanding between us, so there's no need to talk about what happened. He looks over my shoulder, so I look too. There's Diana Whitehorse in all her glory, standing in a pair of three inch heels and a lacy dark red dress, hand in hand with her boyfriend. His name's Darin or something, but I never really cared enough to learn his name. He was captain of the lacrosse team, I knew, but that was about it.

"Thanks," I hear her whisper in his ear before leaning up on her tippy-toes and kissing him on the cheek. "See you in Writing, yeah?" He nods and walks off, and I notice how dangerously tight his pants are. Weird.

Diana waltzes up to us, raises an eyebrow, and says, "Well, are you going to go in or what?" Her American accent rings in my ears, distracting me for a moment. She looks from me to Luke, but when we don't reply, she rolls her eyes and opens the door herself. To my surprise, she holds it open for us and lets us walk in first, then closes it behind her. 

"Ah, you're here to see Mrs. Lynnady, correct?" The woman at the desk asks. Diana nods, tucking a lock of strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. "Right through that door." She points to one of the many doors. Luke and I follow Diana inside, and for reasons unknown, I'm kind of mesmerized by her. I'm broken out of my daze by Mrs. Lynnady, who commands us to each sit down in one of the chairs around the circle table.

I take the safe choice of sitting between Luke and Mrs. Lynnady, leaving him to sit between Diana and I. I suppose it isn't really Diana that I dislike, it's the idea of her. She's hideously gorgeous with her pretty eyes that change from green to blue, strawberry blonde hair that reaches just below mid-back, perfect smile, and thin figure. It isn't normal to be that pretty. And not only is she pretty, but she's rich and popular and for some reason everyone likes her. I wish I didn't understand, but I do. Just being around her, it makes me like her. There's something about her that just makes me want to be her friend. 

Luke looks extremely uncomfortable sitting beside her, but there's nothing I can do. Mrs. Lynnady eyes us all with her sharp green eyes for a moment, and then speaks in a surprisingly soft voice. "Diana, sweetie, I heard about Ciel." 

Ciel? A vague image of a scrawny boy with icy white hair and sad puppy dog eyes flashes into my mind. Right, Ciel Winters. He sat behind me in Algebra I back in freshman year. What does she mean she "heard about Ciel"? What about him? 

"Ciel?" Diana says, her tone light. She sounds a bit confused at first, and her eyes flicker to me and Luke. "Oh, yes... He won't be returning to school. I wasn't sure if his parents informed the school board or not, but I suppose they did." Her smile never dimmed.

"Diana, please. I know you like to play hop-scotch around your problems, but you don't have to do that anymore. It's okay, honey. You're here to talk."

"I don't have any problems." This time, she speaks a bit more forcefully, but her smile doesn't fade. "Honest, Mrs. Lynnady. I'm fine." 

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

The two go back and forth for a few moments, Luke and I just looking between them. I don't quite comprehend what's going on. Why isn't Ciel coming back? Has he moved? Usually that isn't such a big deal, people move away all the time. 

"Diana Rose Whitehorse, you are not fine. Your best friend committed suicide just more than forty-eight hours ago."

The room falls into a dead silence, and it's so quiet, I'm afraid to even breathe. I catch Luke's eye, and I can see the panic. So that's why we're here? This is basically a suicide room.

Once Mrs. Lynnady sees Diana isn't budging, she looks at the two of us. "And you two. I'm very glad to see you're still here with us." She smiles serenely, and I nod. 

"It's good to be here," I hear Luke say quietly, staring down at the table. Vaguely, I wonder if ending up in the hospital scared him as much as it scared me. I was petrified laying in that all white room everyday, feeling worse and worse by the second. I'd hurt so many people when I did that, I could never do that again. Just the look on Calum's face was enough to convince me.

Diana doesn't look at us, instead staring down at the table. She still has the friendly smile on her lips, and she looks at peace with the world. 

"I don't think you mean that, Luke," Mrs. Lynnady says, but he just shrugs. She seems frustrated by our lack of opening up to her. "Okay, look: I was given orders to talk to you three. You're supposed to come here for the rest of the year, everyday. So if you don't open up today, there's always tomorrow. Or the next day. Until June. So fine, mope around, sit there quietly, sulk. I don't care. You're stuck with me." 

None of us say a word, so she sighs and leaves the room, slamming the door behind her in frustration. And then it's just the three of us: Diana, Luke, and I. For a second, we all make awkward eye-contact before finally, Diana speaks.

"My best friend committed suicide on Saturday. Why are you guys here?"

I look at Luke hesitantly, but he speaks first. "I tried to kill myself on Friday night.. or Saturday morning. I'm not sure. It might have been around midnight."

"One in the morning," I correct him. "I slit my wrist on Friday night, but I didn't want to kill myself... I just didn't want to feel numb anymore," I admit. "So I guess I didn't really attempt suicide, I just... ended up in the hospital." 

Diana raises an eyebrow at me, but doesn't say anything. None of us do after that. Instead, we sit there in silence until the bell rings.