The Marriage and Baby Project » Luke Hemmings

Chapter 1 » Julie

J u l i e

I looked across the lockers and there he stood, alone, with no one to talk to. 

I would feel bad but. . .  I honestly cannot stand him that much.

I rolled my eyes at him and turned towards one of my best friends, Sarah.

“Hey, Jules, did you do your homework for health?”

“Crap, I totally forgot. What did we have to do again?”

“Ask our parents for their blood types, they want it for the new project.” I grimaced; I knew what this project was.

The marriage and baby project.

“Why the hell do they need our parent’s blood types? That’s bullshit.” I cussed out while I slammed my locker door, sneaking another peak at Luke before walking the other way.

“Why can’t you just admit it?” Sarah asked, looking down at her phone.

“Admit what?” I asked, stopping outside of our classroom.

“That you’re in love with Luke and have been for years.” She stated, not even looking at me.

That conversation turned quickly.

“I am not. I absolutely hate him.” I responded quickly.

“Liar.”

“I’m not lying.” I insisted.

“Believe what you want. I still think you’re in love with Luke.” I rolled my eyes and walked into the health classroom. 

And there was Luke, sitting there scrolling through his phone.

Right, I have to sit by him. My day just keeps getting better and better.

When I sat down in my seat and put my stuff down, he looked up and smiled a quick smile at me, not enough to show his teeth but to show he acknowledged that I was here.

I sighed, pulling out a pencil and pen and putting them down by my notebook.

"You know- why do you hate me so much?" Luke asked, putting his phone in his pocket. I looked at him questioningly. 

"Because you hate me?" I kind of asked him, kind of stated.

"Dammit Julie, I don't hate you." He cussed out. "I thought you hated me."

"Well I do." I told him, opening my notebook. The teacher started writing notes on the board. 

"Then why are we even having this conversation?" Luke whispered sharply.

"You brought it up." 

"Well sorry for wanting to know why you've been hating me for years on end." He hissed out.

"Shh." I told him, frantically putting notes into my notebook.

 -

"You all have the notes down right?" My teacher yelled, making me jump. We all kind of made a groan of agreement. "Okay, we're going to start our next project." She started and I rolled my eyes. "You all know what this is, right?" We all kind of nodded and my teacher looked at Luke. "Luke, can you tell me that the project is?" 

"Um... T-the ma-marriage and b-baby project." He stuttered out. 

He gets shy in front of teachers. And the teachers know that, that's why they do it. To embarrass him.

"Right, and you are going to be working with the person sitting next to you." 

My eyes widened and I looked at Luke and he had a similar look on his face.

"Shit." We both whispered.

"Excuse me, Miss?" Okay, I maybe forgot our teacher’s name. "I can't work with him." 

"And I can't work with her." Luke replied, jamming his thumb in my direction.

"And that's exactly why I assigned you two together. You need to learn to get along." 

"But I don't wanna get along with him. There are much cuter and nicer guys in the class." I practically shouted.

I'm not doing this project with him.

“You’re doing this unless you want to fail sophomore year.” My teacher argued back and I sighed. 

“I know.” I sat down. 

“We’ll make this work. I’ll do the project and you can put your name on it.” Luke whispered to me.

“You’re not getting rid of me that quickly. I’m gonna do this project.” I whispered back as the teacher was figuring out the other pairings for the class since some girls were sitting next to girls and guys were sitting next to guys.

“Fine, come over after school and we’ll figure this out. You remember where I live, right?” He smirked quietly to himself.

“Yes Luke, I remember where you live.” 

-

“So. . . you and Luke are partners. . .” Sarah told me, wiggling her eyebrows, making me roll my eyes. 

“This project is gonna be the death of me.” I groaned out, walking towards my car. 

“But secretly you love that you get to spend time with Luke.” She insisted. 

“When are you gonna let that go, I do not like Luke and that’s that.” 

“When are you gonna admit that you love him?” 

“Are we really still on this topic?” 

“Not until you admit you’re hopelessly in love with Luke Hemmings.” She pushes me too far sometimes. 

“Fine. I’m hopelessly and irrevocably in love with Luke Hemmings.” I said sarcastically.

“What did you just say?” I heard a voice come up behind me. 

Luke.

“It’s not like that. Sarah wouldn’t shut up un-“

“It’s okay if you’re in love with me, Julie, I know I’m irresistible.” 

“Yeah, sure.” I scoffed. 

“You’ve loved me before.” My eyes widened and I looked at Sarah who had an amused expression on her face. 

“I never loved you.” I spat out and I saw a look of hurt flash across his face before he put on a cocky smile again. 

“Good, cuz I never even liked you.” 

Ouch.

“I’ll see you later.” I said, and walked into my car. I quickly turned on the heat and the radio and I let a tear slide down my cheek. 

That hurt.

I don’t even know why. He and I broke up freshman year. 

I haven’t even spoken to him about that in years and then he just goes and tells Sarah. Sarah, of all people.

She can’t keep her mouth shut.

I slammed on the gas pedal and sped as fast as I could to my house. 

I’ll go to Luke’s. But I need to do something first. 

I ran into the house and took out my phone. I quickly dialed my best friend, Ashton’s number and let it ring. 

“Ash, I know you hate me and all right now but. . . I don’t even know why I called. Just forget I ever called and I’ll see you around. . . I guess.” 

God, I’ve fucked up my life big time. 

I grabbed a pillow and put my face into it, screaming. 

Why me? 

I’m sure everybody asks that, but I honestly hate it. 

I hate that I messed up my life.

I hate that I lost my best friend. 

And I hate that I lost the boy I loved. Luke.