Invisible

Chapter 26: True colors

Rachel's POV

"What do we do when she's here?"

I looked at Luke. He was freaking out over seeing Blair this morning. He had done anything possible to make sure Blair would be happy, for example: he made her pancakes, he made her lunch, he made the table (in nice colors)... It was actually sweet to see.

"Babe, you're good. She'll love this." I smiled at him.

He smiled at me. "I hope so." Slowly, he went to sit down at the table.

That's when Blair entered, she looked normal. Her usual self. The one that put up a cover, I'm sure of that now.

"Hey Blair." Luke smiled awkwardly.

Blair sat down, she looked at me, confused. She must wonder what was going on here... "What's all this?"

"That's for you."

"It's his apology." I added, making Blair look at Luke, interested. Hey, he needed to apologize to her anyway. And he couldn't tell her the real reason...

"Yes," Luke said, looking from me to Blair. He smiled a little. "I'm sorry for not being there for you. I know you must've felt like I abandoned you."

Blair looked from him to her plate. "You made pancakes." she said, changing the subject. I wondered why she did that, she could've made him sweat a little...

Luke nodded. "I know you love them."

Blair smiled a little. "Thanks." She took her fork and knife, and slowly started eating. We both watched her closely. I think we both wanted to make sure she'd be ok. And I was wondering about her cuts, were they healed a little? How were they doing?

"So, what are your plans today?" Luke asked, as we all ate breakfast. "With Willow." He added.

Blair looked down. "I think she left me."

I looked at Luke, motioning him to do something. He seemed to understand and got up, walking to Blair. "I'm sorry to hear that, Blair." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "We're here for you."

She looked up a little. "Thank you."

"Of course." I smiled at her.

Suddenly she got up. "Let's go to school."

"Yes," Luke walked to the front door, already walking to his car. We followed behind.

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Luke's POV

As soon as we arrived at school, we all got out and entered the school building. We walked to our lockers. 

"I'll see you during lunch?" 

Both me and Rachel looked up, seeing Blair give us a small smile. "Yes," Rachel said, immediately going in for a hug. "Text me, I'll wait for you outside the cafeteria."

Blair nodded and then looked at me. "Bye Luke."

"Yeah."

And so Blair left.

Rachel looked at me. "That's all?"

"What?"

She sighed, shaking her head. She closed her locker, and started making her way to her class.

"Rach," I hurried after her. "I'm sorry." I said as I caught up to her.

"Will you ever change, Luke?"

I looked down. She was right, I knew she was. It's just difficult for me. I don't want to lose Blair, but I also don't want to lose my friends... Why can't they be friends? Why does it have to be so hard? "I'm trying."

She huffed. "Not enough."

"Then what should I do?"

She stopped, looking at me dumbfounded. "Really?"

I gulped, slowly nodding.

She shook her head no, and left. Leaving me all alone in the hallway.

________________________________

"Hey Lukey boy." Nick wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Hey Nick." I smiled a little.

Our group arrived and we made our way to the cafeteria. We went to sit down at our table, and ate our lunch.

"So," Nick started, making us all look at him. "How's Rachel?"

I swallowed the food and then looked at him. I smiled, he was showing interest in me. "She's good, we're good." I lied.

He nodded, smiling. The whole table followed his example. "And Blair?" He smirked.

I looked down.

"Well?" He nudged me. "Did something happen to her again?"

I remained silent.

"Well Lukey boy," At this, the table started chuckling silently. "I bet something's wrong again, as always. She's just trouble."

"Enough Nick!" I stood up, facing him. Rachel was right, I needed to protect my sister against him. I like Nick, he's a great friend, but he can't make fun of my sister like that.

He seemed surprised to see me stand up for Blair. But really, what did he expect?

"I don't want you to say stuff like that about Blair, she's still my sister. She's going through a rough time and I'd appreciate it if you'd leave her be." Afterwards I went to sit down again.

My fellow friends, at the table, were all looking at Nick. He just sat there, processing what I had just said.

"What's wrong with Blair?" one of my other friends asked.

I shook my head, motioning them I didn't want to tell them. I knew Blair asked Rachel to keep it between them, and so I'm not going to tell anyone else.

"Is she alright?" another one asked, they both sounded really sincere. And as I looked around at the table, they all looked worried. They cared, whether they admitted it or not.

I looked down, at my food. "She's not doing well." I looked back up at them. "That message that was written on her locker... It broke her completely."

Nick went to sit down in front of me. "How so? Is she alright?" Even he was worried... I knew they were great people.

I sighed deeply. "She's depressed..." I sniffled. "She's... She's doing bad things to herself..." I looked down again. Just the thought of her hurting herself... It's too much for me. I don't want her to go through that.

Nick reached for my hand, as did my other friends. They were all supporting me, and I really appreciated that. It's really what I needed right now.

"Luke," Nick said, making me look at him. "We're all here for you, bud." He motioned to all of our friends at the table. They were all nodding. "And for Blair. She's not alone."

I smiled. "Thanks, all of you."